Sister Barbara served the immigrants and refugees at Salem and Shalom in 2018. She is a Deacon of Word and Service and was new to Indiana but familiar with life in eastern Africa having spent 25 years in Kenya with her husband, Malcolm. They now live in central Florida.
Douglas Mmari served as developer of the Shalom International Ministry through a partnership of Salem Lutheran Church, the ELCA, and Indiana-Kentucky Synod. He is currently in Tanzania. He originally began his ministry here in the fall of 2014.
Douglas and his wife, Upendo, returned in Tanzania in 2016.
A life-long Lutheran, Douglas worked as an itinerant Evangelist and Bible teacher, mainly with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). With Upendo, they founded Hope Ministries Tanzania a weekly radio broadcast. He runs the ELCT radio broadcast in Tanzania, responding to questions from a biblical perspective. He earned his Bachelor of Theology from International Covenant University, Florida and Master of Divinity at Association Free Lutheran Bible School in the Minnesota.
85 experienced the Holy Spirit in action at our Vigil of Pentecost on Saturday May 19, 2018 It was called “Harambe, A Time for Music.”
Generally, a Vigil is a time of expectation, sometimes awaiting a
following celebration. Harambe is a Swahili word loosely meaning “coming
or pulling together.” On the Day of Pentecost the church celebrates when
the person of the Holy Spirit came in power. This gift permitted
disciples to communicate the mighty works of God in several languages.
We communicated God’s mighty acts through different
forms of music, dance and food.
This was an expectant celebration in word, song, dance and community. A
momentous coming together. Thank you to all who participated, including Rev. Michael
Cobbler of South Bend, Bishop Bill Gafkjen of the Indiana-Kentucky
Synod, ELCA, and Rev. Dr. Joseph Bocko, Program Director of African
National Ministries with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We
also thank our church guests: Holy Spirit Led Church and the Kenyan Indy
Fellowship.
MINISTER MMARI'S WORDS TO THE INDIANA KENTUCKY SYNOD ASSEMBLY – JUNE 5, 2015
We all know that Shalom is a Hebrew word that has a
broader meaning than the English word “peace”. In the Bible, the word is
also used to mean: safety, welfare, well-being, prosperity, security,
friendship, health, soundness and completeness. (NAS Exhaustive
Concordance and NASB translation)
The Shalom Ministry is mainly focusing on reaching
out and ministering to the Sub Saharan Africans, of which most of them
are refugees from Rwanda, the Congo and Burundi. Listening to their
stories, some have lived in the bush, refugee camps and out in the
streets for years – no electricity, no home, no property, no medication
and no meaning of life. They still shed tears when they remember the
brutality that they saw and experienced. We also have people from other
countries such as Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Central Africa, and
Algeria who are here for different reasons.
What do all these people need? They need SHALOM. This
is the foundation of the name. Shalom that comes from God alone, on
account of the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the ministry and mission which He has entrusted us with.
We have two major strategies of reaching out to these
people: Withness and witness. This is what Jesus did with his
disciples. We regularly visit with them and meet them at their point of
their needs. Offer rides, because they don’t have cars, they don’t have
driver’s licenses because of the language barrier to sit for the exam.
Be their interpreters in hospitals, in pharmacies, government offices,
etc. Teach them the use of common things, such as the quantity of liquid
soap in a wash machine or gathering letters from the mail box.
Withness
goes hand in hand with witnessing. All of these refugees are not
Lutherans. Some have religious affiliation and some have never been to
church at all. Our primary goal is to reach them with the message of the
gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. The Prince of Shalom. Then, invite them to
attend the church worship and other events such as youth retreats,
family picnics, special events, ESL classes, etc.
We are working parallel with Salem Evangelical
Lutheran Church, in which I am also an Authorized Worship Leader – with
all the diversities of color, language (English, Swahili, Shona, French,
Rwandese) and culture. God has made us one, in love, fellowship and
mission. We enjoy the singing through other tongues and styles, the
meals from different countries, etc. Indeed, we are God’s family.
Let me end by thanking the ELCA, the IK Synod, the
Ministerium, the Good Shepherd congregation, the Lamb of God and many
others who have supported us in different ways. And thanking you all in
advance for starting a partnership with us today. This is God’s mission.
We are God’s children. God bless you all.