The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod supports Riga Lutheran Academy, Latvia—an online seminary offering a four-year Bachelor of Theology program in the English language. As one of RLA’s docents, last week I had the privilege of attending the semi-annual one-week Intensive in that Baltic country. 26 students from 13 different countries are enrolled in the rigorous program, studying to become pastors or deaconesses. However, a few of the students are already ordained and have been serving as pastors for decades, taking these classes as continuing education. One of them is Rev. Davis Wowa of the Lutheran Church of Malawi. He shared some unique insights on ethnic relations from his African perspective, explaining to us that he and his fellow Malawians are extremely grateful for the “white man” for two reasons. First, the “white man” brought the Good News of our Lord and Savior to his land—also called the “Warm Heart of Africa”—several centuries ago. It made me recall that wonderful statistic that the average Lutheran today is not an older person from northern Europe or from Minnesota or Michigan, but is 19 years old, female, and black (namely from central or eastern Africa). In fact, there are more Lutherans on the island of Madagascar than in all of North America! But then the Reverend added his second point: “We are also grateful to the ‘white man’ for coming to our land because that stopped the slave trade that had been going on for centuries, with Arabs stealing our people and shipping them across the Indian Ocean.” We praise God that Rev. Wowa (pictured, along with LCMS missionary Hayden Renser) is in our Riga Luther Academy cohort—a strong Lutheran pastor in the heart of Africa who shares his love of Christ with everyone he meets and even provides us white folks with historical facts that are like a breath of fresh air.
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