LCMS World Mission Blog

LCMS World Mission is pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Rodewald has been selected to serve as the regional director for Africa, replacing Dr. Paul Mueller, who served in that capacity from 2005 through December 2008. Mike had been working closely with Paul as an interim regional director in anticipation of the Mueller family’s return to ministry in the United States.
 
Mike’s new duties include serving as a member of LCMS World Mission’s international mission team; providing spiritual care and nurturing the Africa regional team; identifying, appointing, and supervising area facilitators in Africa; and maintaining relationships with mission societies and partner churches.
 
Mike and his wife, Cindy, and their three boys, Caleb (16), Jacob (14), and Seth (11), currently reside in Pretoria, South Africa. Mike has been serving as LCMS World Mission’s area facilitator for southern Africa, where he is well-known and respected by the leaders of the International Lutheran Council church bodies in southern Africa. Mike is looking forward to working closely with the LCMS Africa regional team, and has plans to visit with all of the LCMS partner churches within the coming year.  
 
According to Rev. David Birner, associate executive director, International Mission, “Mike brings a great deal of passion for ministry, a profound sensitivity and respect for African perspectives, and an intense commitment to collaboration and partnership with African partners. His perceptive and careful missiological, analytical ability will be a great addition to an outstanding team of international regional directors.  
 
“It is also with heartfelt gratitude and thanks on behalf of LCMS World Mission, the missionaries in Africa, and the Lutheran partners in Africa that I recognize the dedication and accomplishments of Dr. Paul Mueller, upon whose work Mike will build.”
 
Trained as a teacher, Mike served as a missionary in Liberia from 1981 to 1987 with Lutheran Bible Translators (LBT). In 1987, Mike returned to the United States and completed a master’s degree in linguistics. While studying, he met Cindy and they were married in 1990. The two returned to Liberia in 1991. While serving in Liberia, the Rodewalds worked closely with LCMS missionaries until civil unrest resulted in the evacuation of all foreign workers in 1992. The next year, Mike and Cindy accepted an invitation to Botswana by the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa to work as an LBT missionary with the languages of Botswana. They first worked among the Kalanga people and then among various other people groups of Botswana. In 2007, Mike completed a PhD in missiology from Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. His dissertation was entitled, “Observing Sacred and Profane in Animist Worldview.”