In this series, those involved with CLC foreign missions profile one aspect of our overseas endeavors.
On December 6, 2025, we celebrated the graduation of three men from the Mount Horeb Bible Institute near Amousoukopé, Togo, West Africa, which is about ninety minutes north of the capital city of Lomé. We started in March 2021 with ten students, but for various reasons seven dropped out over the course of study.
The graduation celebration was attended by over two hundred people. The students invited friends and family to join them for this joyous occasion. The students worked hard over these three plus years. Our curriculum (which was written primarily by the late Pastor and Seminary Professor David Lau) is more rigorous than any of their previous schooling, but they greatly appreciate the depth of our teaching.
Graduates with Seminary Professor Peter Evensen
The Église Évangélique Luthérienne de Confession du Togo (EELCT, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Confession of Togo) does not have any vacancies, so we are working with the students to help them start preaching stations and congregations. EELCT President, Pastor Kossi Blewu, has resumed his radio program on a station based in Assahoun, about twenty minutes south of the seminary. Previous callers have expressed interest in attending our services, as they have noticed a difference between our preaching and what they typically hear from other pastors on the radio. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a church in the area. Pray that we will be able to start one there.
One challenge here is that most prospects simply do not have the means to travel very far. It is akin to the olden days in the U.S. with parish churches where people would attend the local church that was within walking distance or a short ride away.
Education does not stop at graduation. On February 24-25, 2026, we held the first national pastoral conference at the seminary/EELCT center. The five current pastors, the three graduates, and a man from the previous class attended, along with Deborah, who leads a women’s and children’s ministry.
The afternoon of the first day was interrupted by a heavy rainstorm. The seminary classroom has a sheet metal roof, and during rain it becomes too noisy to hear anything. The rain blowing in from the mostly open sides forced us to all move to the center of the room and wait until the rain subsided so we could continue our session.
Classroom damage from the heavy rainstorm
After finishing on the last day, when we preparing to return to Lomé (where I live), an even heavier rainstorm hit. The heavy winds tore off a metal panel from the roof of the teacherage and it started raining in the room in which I stay when teaching seminary. I am thankful we were finished, and that I wouldn’t have to spend the night on the soaked bed. It also tore off about a quarter of the seminary classroom roof.
Despite the rain, the conference was a great opportunity to encourage, with God’s Word, the current and new laborers of the harvest. Pray that they will continue their work with a holy zeal inspired by God’s grace in Jesus. And pray that the Lord will provide the new laborers with fields and a harvest.
is a full-time foreign missionary for the CLC.