Preaching the Gospel BOLDLY!

In this blog I write mostly about the work we do. If you'd like to get some insights about our daily life here in Tanzania, see Paula's journal entry for November HERE.

Pastor Robert Loskira preaching the Gospel BOLDLY at the 2025

Wittenberg Lutheran Seminary graduation service

"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31)

Jesus' disciples underwent an amazing change following the day of Pentecost. Prior to being blessed with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, they were lacking in faith, and they bickered with each other about who would be the greatest. At the arrest of Jesus they ran for their lives, and Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all. But after Pentecost they proclaimed the crucified and risen Lord Jesus boldly, regardless of the fierce opposition which they faced. What a difference the Spirit makes!

It is this same spirit of bold proclamation of the Gospel that we seek to inspire in our graduates of Wittenberg Lutheran Seminary in Arusha. On November 30, 2025 we held our graduation service at Ambureni Parish, with 1 graduate from our 3-year seminary and 3 graduates from our 1-year Evangelism program. 

Faculty and graduates of Wittenberg Lutheran Seminary, 2025

Our 2025 seminary graduate is Amos Otiendo of Moi's Bridge, Kenya. He received several years of training at our CLC-sponsored seminary in Etago, Kenya (which has since closed). He is 60 years old and the father of four. At great personal sacrifice he has completed his education here, while his family remained in Kenya. He will serve as the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran in Moi's Bridge.

Left to right: Zakaria Dastani from Tanga, Tanzania; Amos Otiendo from Moi's Bridge, Kenya; Lazaro Joseph from Ruvu, Tanzania; and Emmanuel Chaliss from Tanga, Tanzania. The graduates of our Evangelism program (in the matching suits) intend to enroll in the 3-year seminary program in January. 

Pastor Robert Loskira preached the graduation sermon on Matthew 16:24-27, with the theme of "Giving Ourselves to Jesus, Who Gave All for Us." After the service and award of diplomas, church members and visitors gathered for a celebration meal, including the traditional whole roast goat.

We thank our gracious LORD for the opportunity to train these men for service in God's kingdom, and we are looking forward to enrolling a number of new men in the Evangelism program in the coming year. May they go forward with the true Word of God, speaking boldly of Jesus, the only Lord and Savior!

More photos and video are available HERE.

Other photos from recent events (click to enlarge)

Adult baptism by Pastor Robert Loskira, at the Maasai village of Mbuyuni

Weekend visit to Mwika congregation, near Mt. Kilimanjaro

Worship services at Mwika

Members of St. Peter's Lutheran, Kitale Kenya - Pastor Calvin Luvisha

Children of Hope Centre Children's Home - Iganga, Uganda

Opening devotion at Wittenberg Seminary

Please keep the following key dates in prayer for God's blessing!

• December 2 - Missionary and Paula Naumann depart for the U.S.
• January 8 - Missionary Naumann returns to Tanzania, departs next day for Uganda
• January 9 - Pastor Paul Nolting arrives in Tanzania
• January 12-14 - CCRU pastoral conference in Uganda
• January 13 - Seminary classes resume, with Pastor Paul Nolting at Wittenberg, Arusha
• January 19-21 - KCLC pastoral conference in Kenya
• January 22 - Paula Naumann arrives from the U.S. in Tanzania
• January 24 - Missionary Naumann returns to Tanzania from Kenya
• January 26-28 - TCLC pastoral conference in Arusha
• January 29 - Pastor Paul Nolting returns to the U.S.

FOR MORE CLC Foreign Missions News,

See Missionary Todd Ohlmann's blog HERE

Update - Safe in God's Care

Hello All - You may have heard about unrest and violent protests in Tanzania late last week. These were reactions to the elections that were held on Wednesday, October 29. A news summary is HERE.

Thankfully, I am not aware of any injury or loss of property among our TCLC churches. Paula and I had to hunker down in the safety of our home for a few days, and today (Tuesday) businesses and schools are reopening. Thank you for your prayers for the people of Tanzania. Please also remember our brothers and sisters who continue to suffer from repression in Myanmar, as well as the victims of the major typhoon that has inflicted much hardship in India, including among our churches there.

I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-3

The latest news from Missionary Ohlmann's travel to Nepal, and being denied entry into India, is HERE.

Mt. Meru this morning, with the jacarandas in bloom

"Well Done, Good and Faithful!"

In this blog I write mostly about the work we do. If you'd like to get some insights about our daily life here in Tanzania, see Paula's journal entry for October HERE.

“Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” (Matthew 25:21)

This past Sunday at Ambureni Lutheran in Arusha, Tanzania, we celebrated the grace of God in a service of remembrance of the Lutheran Reformation. We remembered how Martin Luther became faithful, that is, full of faith. Through the power of the true Gospel, the Holy Spirit revealed to him the Scripture truth that God had declared him to be fully forgiven and righteous, as his free gift, because of the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Thus filled with true saving faith, he became a courageous preacher of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, from Scripture alone. He bore up under personal dangers and duress, leading the way free from the spiritual wilderness created by the Roman Catholic Church. Down through the centuries, countless thousands have benefited from the faithful service of this man and others like him. There is no doubt that he has already received the Lord's commendation, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

At this same Reformation service, we also remembered the faithful work of another servant of God. Pastor Nathan Lengutai served for many years as a confessional Lutheran Pastor here in Tanzania. He went through his own Reformation when he left a larger, false-teaching fellowship in order to serve in the TCLC. In more recent years he has been a teacher of future pastors at Wittenberg Seminary. He recently retired from teaching due to declining health. We are thankful to our Lord for this faithful servant and others like  him, and we are confident that when the Lord calls Pastor Lengutai home someday he will likewise be commended by our Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.” 

Here are a few photos from the service (click to enlarge):

Wittenberg faculty members, students, and Pastor Lengutai

Pastors Jeremia and Lengutai, following the service

A meal for all was enjoyed that afternoon

A video of the sermon I preached for the occasion is HERE

Some of the young men celebrated God's grace with dance and song, HERE

Pastor Lengutai's remarks (with English translation by Pastor Jeremia) is HERE

A few other recent photos (click to enlarge):

Students, faculty and staff at our home

On the way to our remote sister church, "Gembock wa Hadzabe" Lutheran church

The congregation after worship; we showed the "Jesus Film" the previous evening

A video clip of the church choir is HERE

Overnight accommodations for Pastor Jeremia and me

We visited this and two other small congregations on the way

FOR MORE CLC Foreign Missions News,

See Missionary Todd Ohlmann's blog HERE

Unless the LORD Builds the House...

In this blog I write mostly about the work we do. If you'd like to get some insights about our daily life here in Tanzania, see Paula's journal entry for September HERE.

During the September Wittenberg Seminary break we took advantage of the time off to visit a number of TCLC outlying congregations. The first visit was a flight to Zanzibar Island, where Pastor Peter Msifune leads a congregation made up mostly of migrant construction workers. Later in September we drove, with Pastor Jeremia, to visit pastors and churches in mainland Tanzania. To give you an idea of where these places are:

Our main purposes were to strengthen our brothers and sisters in faith, and to conduct local outreach by projecting the "Jesus Film," twice in the Swahili language and once with the Maasai version. The script for this film is entirely from the Gospel of Luke. The pastors then have the opportunity to conduct an ongoing Bible study on Luke's Gospel, with a study guide which I provide for them.

In this way we hope to assist the churches in our fellowship with building God's house, in the sense of 1 Peter 2:5 "You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 

In many of these places the people are in need of a literal house of worship. They may be in homes, or in rented buildings, or in simple structures of stick-and-mud walls with bare floors. Part of the work of our CLC Mission Development Fund (MDF) is to assist these people with church building. In every case the congregations themselves are to provide the majority of the resources, such as donated land, blocks for building, volunteer labor, etc. The MDF then may assist with finishing materials, like the metal sheeting for the roof. Sometimes there is a long wait for these funds, because of MDF places priority on funding seminaries, on-going pastoral training, Bibles and Christian literature, and the like. Patience is often needed, but bit by bit God's house grows, both in a physical and, more importantly, spiritual sense.

In all of our efforts it is important to keep in mind that real growth in God's kingdom depends on His gracious will and the power of His Word: "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain," Psalm 127:1. We look to Him for His gracious will and blessing on our work!

Photos from the trips follow; click to enlarge. First, from the flight to Zanzibar Island:

Pastor Peter Msifune of Zanzibar (left) and some church members

Pastor Msifune and congregation, following the "Jesus Film"

We enjoyed the sights of Zanzibar Island during some free time

Next, our trip in the trusty Toyota Rav4 to Moshi, the Maasai Ruvu District, and Korogwe:

Meeting in Moshi with some TCLC Himo area pastors and elders

Overland across the dusty tracks in Maasai land, to Pastor Israel's church

Pastor Israel, his wife and children, and some nieces and nephews

Permanent church under construction

At 10 pm the church gathered for the start of the "Jesus Film" at Pastor Israel's church

Next morning - inspecting the Maasai cattle

Pastor Israel, seminary student Lazaro, Pastor Jeremia, and me in my Maasai "shuka"

Setting up for the "Jesus Film" in Korogwe

The crowd grew considerably as the film progressed

After Sunday church in Korogwe (Pastor Kimemele on my right)

With the September break now over, classes have resumed for the six students at Wittenberg Seminary here in Arusha. By God's grace we'll finish the school year with graduation on November 30.

FOR MORE CLC Foreign Missions News,

See Missionary Todd Ohlmann's blog HERE

"Making Do"

  In this blog I write mostly about the work we do. If you'd like to get some insights about our daily life here in Tanzania, see Paula's journal entry for July HERE, and her journal for August HERE.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12

One of the striking features about life here in Tanzania is the way most people get by on very little compared to the prosperity we enjoy in the U.S.A. For example, many American children have shelves and closets full of toys. Here it's common to see the neighborhood children enjoying themselves immensely with playthings made from discarded items, such as this homemade top, tire and stick, rag-ball, and homemade pull toys:

Few of our neighbors have a refrigerator. Even if someone gave them one, they wouldn't have much use for it, because they lack enough income to buy food for more than a day or two in advance. In addition, the electricity to run such an appliance would be an added financial burden. 

Yet, both children and adults generally seem to have a bright outlook on life, as they "make do" with what they have in terms of earthly wealth.

Wittenberg Seminary and our sister churches here in East Africa also get a lot practice in "making do." Many of the churches have no building of their own, and those that do often have to get by with a stick-and-mud structure like Pastor Bayo's church in Karatu:

Our seminary students have nothing like the extensive modern campus enjoyed at most American universities, or even facilities like our modest ILC accommodations in Eau Claire. They "make do" with small, simple dormitory rooms and classrooms:

"Making do" is what Paul wrote about in the Philippians verse quoted above. He had learned the secret of contentment, regardless of material abundance or lack thereof. He was content because of the overabundant riches of God's grace in Christ, which are also ours through faith in Jesus. "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich." 2 Corinthians 8:9

People sometimes like to jokingly say, "No money – no money problems!" There is some truth in this on a certain level, but we often meet people here in East Africa who have severe problems because of lack of resources. We Americans are fabulously wealthy in comparison to most of the people in less privileged parts of the world. This can present us with challenges as we seek the best way to impart God's true riches to them. While we dare not shut our hearts to those in obvious need with nowhere else to turn, we know that constant small and temporary fixes are not truly helpful to the people around us. 

Paul was content, no matter the outward circumstances, because of the true riches of God's grace in Christ. We aim to encourage the same kind of contentment that places its trust firmly in God's providence, in whatever station he has placed us. "Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." (1 Timothy 6:6-8) Yes, we do respond to dire outward needs as we have opportunity. Sometimes we recommend and channel help through our CLC Board of Missions; sometimes it is with our own modest offerings. The most important thing, though, is to hold forth the riches of the Gospel and to train others to do the same. In this way, the real treasures of forgiveness and life in Christ Jesus are imparted to many. This is the permanent wealth that gives true contentment. This goes beyond the grave, to life eternal!

Extras: Video of the Wittenberg Seminary Choir, August 3, 2025 at Ambureni Worship:

At the home of Pastor Jeremia, with his daughter Maggie and granddaughter Malaika:

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FOR MORE CLC Foreign Missions News,

See Missionary Todd Ohlmann's blog HERE