For Davison Mutentami, the chance to attend the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference in Minnesota this past summer provided a much-needed reminder. "To have brothers and sisters in the faith in WELS makes me happy and proud because I am encouraged that my church is not limited to Zambia, but covers the world," he says.

Mutentami is a pastor in our sister synod the Lutheran Church of Central Africa (LCCA), which was begun by WELS missionaries more than 50 years ago. Baptized at the age of two, he remembers his parents brought him to church every Sunday. He counts it a blessing WELS established a mission in Zambia, his home country. “I am always happy because I hold in my hands the true teachings from the Bible,” he says.

Mutentami is one of about 50 national pastors in the LCCA, which serves WELS’ largest world mission field—more than 50,000 souls between Zambia and Malawi. Why did he become a pastor? “The motivation came from the Lord himself. Spiritually, I thought the Lord was calling me to serve him.”

The path to the ministry was not easy. To support himself and his family while studying at the church’s Bible Institute, Mutentami grew vegetables. He made just enough cash to survive. Certainly there were times he considered quitting. He remembers telling his wife, Lister, “If this is what it means to serve the Lord, then it is tough going.” He also remembers her encouragement: “Hold on and continue so that we can see what is ahead of us.”

Now that he is a pastor, the going is still tough. His congregation can’t afford to pay him more than survival wages—he and Lister are raising three girls plus an orphan child. Things like cars and laptop computers, which most American pastors take for granted, are out of the question.
There are spiritual challenges to ministry in Central Africa as well—witchcraft and adultery are pervasive. Perhaps most disheartening, Mutentami says, is that many Zambians see the church only as an organization that can save them from poverty, not their sin. “Because of the poverty level, they ignore my message of the sweet and correct gospel,” he says. The preachers who seem to get attention, he says, are “the deliverers who supply them with foodstuffs.”

But the growth of the LCCA is a testament to the work of the Holy Spirit even in a challenging mission field. It’s that same Spirit who sustains Mutentami. “My biggest joy is to serve in God’s kingdom,” he says, “and to see souls saved.”