LLDP participants in the November 2019 classes pose with LLDP instructors. [Left-most row, l-r diagonally ascending the stairs: Deputy Bishop Helmut Paul (FELSISA); District Pastor Daniel Mono (ELCT-SELVD); Bishop Emmanuel Makala (ELCT-SELVD); General Secretary Teshome Amenue (EECMY); Tsegahun Assefa, Director of Children and Youth (EECMY). Middle row, l-r diagonally ascending the stairs: Rev. Dr. Naomichi Masaki, LLDP Director; President John Donkoh (ELCG); and Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, LLDP faculty and General Secretary (ILC); Right-most row, l-r diagonally ascending the stairs: Rev. Dr. Bruk Ayele (EECMY); Deputy Bishop Mandla Thwala (LCSA); Bishop Modise Maragelo (LCSA); and Professor John Pless, LLDP faculty and Assistant Professor (CTSFW).]
During the first week of classes, Rev. Dr. Christian Ekong, Archbishop of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria, taught a course entitled “Ecclesial and Organizational Leadership.” Archbishop Ekong challenged the students to resist the “leadership syndrome” in which church officials compete for a higher position in the church. Instead, he said, they must understand that church leadership is about service. “If a leader is elected because he has merited a leader’s position, he is in the position of leadership to be served,” he said. “But if a leader understands he is called by God, then that leader will know he is called to serve the church.”
To that end, Archbishop Ekong guided the class into a Scriptural study of ecclesial leadership. Participants expressed gratitude for the class, noting that Archbishop Ekong could speak directly to the challenges and opportunities of church leadership in an African context—challenges they face on a regular basis. The current class of students in the LLDP all come from Africa, with participants in November’s classes attending from Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, and Ethiopia.
During the second week, Rev. Dr. John Pless, Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at CTSFW, taught a course on “Responding to Contemporary Issues and Neo-Pentecostalism.” The church faces new challenges in every era, and these call for a careful confessional Lutheran response. Dr. Pless provided timely assistance to the church leaders participating in the LLDP, providing resources, presenting the roots and manifestations of key contemporary spiritual and theological movements, and assisting participants in responding to issues facing their own churches.
The class discussed not only Neo-Pentecostalism but also contemporary theological issues related to the church growth movement, contextualization, women’s ordination, homosexuality, and Luther’s Two Kingdom doctrine, with particular emphasis on their relevance to the Global South. In addition, Dr. Pless introduced Herman Sasse’s writings as reliable theological contributions in answering contemporary issues.
New Resources from CPH
LLDP Director Naomichi Masaki and LCN Archbishop Christian Ekong show Dr. Ekong’s new book, Strengthening Integrity and Accountability in Church Leadership.
Students in November’s classes benefited from two texts recently published by Concordia Publishing House (CPH). The first book, Strengthening Integrity and Accountability in Church Leadership, is by Archbishop Ekong and served as a textbook for his course. “Church leaders are often exposed to temptations to profit because of their privileges,” notes a summary on CPH’s website. “When church leaders give in to these temptations to profit from the privileges of leadership, it gives reason to question their motives.” Instead, Dr. Ekong explains, church leaders are to emulate Jesus and the Apostles “who shepherded God’s people and protected them from the wolves.”
The second work is a reprint of Victor C. Pfitzner’s Led by the Spirit: How Charismatic is New Testament Christianity? When the book was first published by the Lutheran Church of Australia in 1976, “the Charismatic Movement was having a broad impact in denominations in North America, Europe, and Australia,” notes a summary on CPH’s website. Since then the movement has spread to other parts of the globe, making Pfitzner’s careful exegetical study of continued relevance. “This classic book on the subject has been reprinted to assist churches around the world in dealing with this challenge and in formulating a confessional Lutheran response.”
“CPH has been a most helpful partner to the International Lutheran Council and the work of the Lutheran Leadership Development Program,” noted Rev. Dr. Naomichi Masaki, LLDP Director and a professor with CTSFW. “It’s a blessing to work with them to publish these solid Lutheran resources not only for students in the LLDP but also for use by the wider Lutheran community.”
You can purchase Strengthening Integrity and Accountability in Church Leadership and Led by the Spirit: How Charismatic is New testament Christianity? at Concordia Publishing House’s website online.
“With the publication of these two works, we now have three books published by Concordia Publishing House that bear the LLDP logo,” noted Dr. Masaki. “The church leaders in our current LLDP class and I are deeply thankful that CPH keeps rendering such excellent work for the church around the globe.”
LLDP students also received copies of Hermann Sasse’s Letters to Lutheran Pastors during the November classes.
The Lutheran Leadership Development Program
The LLDP is a two-year certificate program of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). The program aims to provide Lutheran church bodies around the world with the opportunity to develop leaders who are competent in both solid confessional Lutheran theology as well as practical skills in leadership and resource management.
“It remains my privilege and joy to spend time with these wonderful men of God and the leaders of various churches,” said Dr. Masaki. “May the Lord continue to use the LLDP for confessional fellowship and to foster mutual support and encouragement among those who serve as leaders in their respective Lutheran church bodies.”
Dr. Masaki and LLDP participants display books received during the latest round of classes.
Nine participants attended the November sessions of the LLDP at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana: Rev. John Donkoh, President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG); Rev. Modise Maraglo, Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (LCSA); Rev. Mandla Thwala, Deputy Bishop of the LCSA; Rev. Helmut Paul, Deputy Bishop of the Free Evangelical Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA); Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Makala, Bishop of the South East of Lake Victoria Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT-SELVD); Rev. Dr. Daniel Mono, District Pastor of the ELCT-SELVD; Rev. Teshome Amenu, General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY); Mr. Tsegahun Assefa, Director of Youth and Children of the EECMY; and Rev. Dr. Bruk Ayele, President of Mekane Yesus Seminary of the EECMY. Dr. Ayele is a new participant of the LLDP beginning with the November 2019 classes.
Given that all current participants in the Lutheran Leadership Development Program hail from Africa, plans are underway to hold one of 2020’s LLDP two-week sessions in Africa.
You can support the LLDP by making a donation online. You can also make a donation by cheque to:
International Lutheran Council
P.O. Box 18775
St. Louis, MO 63118
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