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Blessings to you all!

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The intensive courses give LTS students the opportunity to learn from experienced international lecturers. We are grateful for this privilege of having Prof. Pless and Dr. Corzine at LTS, and thank all who made this trip possible.

On the photo, front, from left to right: Dr Corzine, Dr Pless, Rev Hanfato. Back: Dr Hiestermann, Mr Schütze

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It has been a beehive of activity at our seminary since the last newsletter.

There was a graduation, we had several guest lecturers, whose reports are included. 

We’ve also received feedback from the Council of Higher Education regarding our application for accreditation.

Please keep the LTS in your prayers, as we navigate the accreditation process, which is almost done.

Thank you for all the support and prayers.

Click here to view or download the newsletter.

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My colleague, Dr. John Nordling and I travelled together to Johannesburg, South Africa on May 20-21, 2023 to teach two-week courses.

It was a privilege to return to LTS to teach an intensive term course on “The Pastor’s Devotional Life” for 23 students plus several pastors who audited the course. The course sought to help students discover the importance of the pastor’s own spiritual life in God’s Word and prayer as essential for faithful ministry. Among the topics covered in the lectures were:

• Prayer in the NT;
• “Prayer: Pre-Reformation to the Present” (K. Korby)
• Contemporary Spirituality vs Lutheran Faith
• Luther’s Oratio, Meditatio, and Tentatio
• “The Theology as Askesis” (O. Bayer)
• “Twenty Questions on the Relevance of Luther for Today” (O. Bayer)
• “Acedia” (St. Pietsch)
• “How the Pastor Cares for his own Soul” (B. Giertz)
• Praying the Psalms
• Praying Luther’s Small Catechism

In addition to teaching three hours each day, I preached for Matins on May 23 (John 17:1-11) and on May 30 (John 7:35-37). I also was the preacher on Pentecost Sunday at the English Lutheran Congregation of Acadia. On Pentecost afternoon, I led the youth group of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Pretoria in a study of “The Small Catechism as a Prayer Book.”

Due to the generosity of donors in the USA, I was able to bring 20 more copies of Luther’s Large Catechism with Annotations and Contemporary Applications for students and pastors. Now all of our current students have a personal copy of this book for use in classes and beyond. I was also able to bring 15 copies of Lutheran Preaching? Law and Gospel Proclamation Today for senior students. 1517 generously provided a number of their most recent publications for the library as well as some copies for individual students. Students who received What is Christianity? By Francis Pieper were especially appreciative of this brief monograph from 1517. I hope to bring copies for all students when I return in February.

While at the seminary, I had the opportunity to meet with interim Bishop David Tswaedi of St. Peter’s Confessional Lutheran Church and Bishop Davidson Wawo of Malawi who were visiting the LTS campus.

As is our custom, we concluded the two weeks with a braai. This time we were especially pleased to welcome to the braai, Pastor Jeff Skopak (Grace Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, FL) and pastoral colleagues from SELK, FELSISA, and LCSA as they were beginning a workshop on leadership.

Thanks to Dr. Heinz Hiestermann, Rev. Mintesinot Birru, other LTS staff members, and students who made the visit enjoyable. God willing it, I look forward to returning to LTS to teach again in February, 2024.

-John T. Pless

June 5, 2023

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Report about LTS Intensive Courses 09^th March 2018

by

Rev. Mbongeni John Nkambule

It was a joy and an honour for us at the LTS to have Professor John Pless and Dr. Sibongiseni Sithole among us for two weeks of intensives. It was a good combination indeed. Professor John Pless serves at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and Dr. Sibongiseni Sithole (LCSA) currently serves as an isiZulu translator for the South African Bible Society.

The students were able to attend these intensives in great numbers as the regular classes were suspended to allow the students enough study time under the guest professors without worrying about regular classes as well. In exchange, we maximized the benefits received from the visiting professors. As usual, we had also guests and visitors from various area congregations attending the classes as well. Some of them were pastors serving congregations, while others were either vicars or lay leaders. It was a blessing to our students to be among and interact with people with such significant congregational experience.

Professor Pless taught Luther’s Catechisms (Chief Part 2: The Apostles’ Creed) in the morning, while Dr. Sithole taught his Introduction to the Old Testament course in the afternoon. Our students gained a lot from them. One could pick that up from their vote of thanks at the end of the courses. We thank those congregations that paid for their travelling fees and the books Prof. Pless brought for his students and for our library. He has been doing this for years now – we are most grateful. Praise be to God for giving His church faithful servants like you, who support the seminary tirelessly.

At the end of professor Pless’s class, he hosted the entire campus for a braai, as is his custom. Thank you to him and to all who made it possible for him to do so. During the braai, certificates were issued to those who attended the course. The braai was an enjoyable event indeed. There was enough time to chat and catch up as a seminary family in a very relaxed way.  May the Lord of the church touch the hearts of many, so that financial and prayer support of the seminary can continue and so that more and more pastors and deaconesses for the confessional Lutheran church in Africa may be trained.

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