What a trip and learning experience! It was an honor to accompany 16 seminarians and 2 professors- Dr. Rast and Dr. Quill- to South Africa for a little under 3 weeks. The goals of this excursion were manifold. Both Dr. Quill and Dr. Rast were invited to teach 2 separate courses, Homiletics and Church History III, respectively, to the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Tshwane, South Africa. Church History III served as a course that combined our seminarians with the SA seminarians, and was a 2 week intensive-like class. I was able to sit in the back of the class and work, with an ear to Professor Rast, refreshing my Reformation/ Age of Orthodoxy history. It was great!

Meanwhile, it wasn’t all work and no play for the group. In fact, when we first arrived, we were quite literally whisked away at the airport to the southeastern part of South Africa to visit the Ithala Game Preserve. This adventure proved to be quite the adrenaline rush as we interfaced with an elephant, rhinos, giraffe, wildebeests, zebra, warthogs…oh, the list goes on! Every kind of deer/antelope variety you can think of. Thankfully, no snakes, though.

We then traveled to Themba which was close by. We visited both the girls and boys school, and worshipped in Zulu with the boys’ school. It was beautiful as the congregation sang harmoniously and in unison hymns that we have come to know and love. We had nary an idea what they were saying, but sang and spoke as we realized that their liturgy mirrored ours, and recognized such pillars of our faith as The Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.

We then returned to Pretoria, and after the first week of classes, our second weekend was chock full of more education in the missions variety. We conversely traveled west, and visited 2 struggling missions in the countryside. The father of Dr. Weber (the rector at LTS), used to be a missionary at one of these sites, and you could see the hurt in this seasoned and weathered man’s eyes, as he looked around at the dilapidated buildings and church; he later explained all that had gone on in the efforts to spread the Gospel there in an evening lecture, where hundreds of missionaries and laypeople had been involved. Today you can go and see a very quiet, “people scarce” and compound-like set of buildings. There are farm animals grazing all around it; most notably, the steeple of the church now serves as a sheep pen. Quite the metaphor.

Finally, as the second week wrapped up and Church History III came to an end (And everyone received good grades), we treated ourselves to an authentic, great South African pastime: a Pro Rugby game! I think it is safe to say that rugby is like American football…on drugs. These guys are tackling each other, scrumming and throwing their bodies every which way without a single pad on. We later learned that the careers of pro rugby players are typically short, like 5 years. Well no kidding.

The purpose of my going along with all of these men [without developing a Smurfette complex] was to learn about the plans for the seminary, specifically in their hopes to start a deaconess program in the next couple of years. The interest is there, trickling down from both the faculty to the prospective deaconess students. It is just going to take time, money and labor. The seminary in South Africa is 4 years young. The vision and future is bright, but there is much work to be done, and limited resources. The seminary, like most, relies heavily on donations from people, churches and institutions around the world. They are off to a great start, but are always in need. Like CTS, their mission is clear: to form pastors (and eventually deaconesses) in the Lutheran Churches in and around Africa. We pray that they are comforted, strengthened and nourished in the Gospel as they carry forth the mission to send pastors. If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more, receiving their newsletter and/or making a donation, you can contact Dr. Wilhelm Weber at LTSinTshwane@telkomsa.net.