Over 30 years ago, Udo Wahl (from Germany) and his wife felt called to serve the Lord in Namibia. Today, it is clear that their vision to ‘entrust God’s Word to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others’ (2 Timothy 2:2) is bearing fruit.
In 1996, the Wahl’s established the first Gospel Outreach Christian Leadership School in the capital Windhoek. Today, they assist former students who have established ten Bible schools in Namibia so far, one in Angola and another one in Zambia. Over the years they trained several hundreds of students. Derek Prince’s Bible resources are a trusted part of the study curriculum.
“We are not merely offering academic training; we want to empower the people at the frontline, the Christians that do the work daily in the villages. People who would normally never have the chance to get any theological education. People who have the heart and calling to do what God had called them to do.” (Udo Wahl)
This passion resonates with the heart of Derek Prince Ministries to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. It is through faithful people like Udo and his team that disciples of Jesus Christ are made and equipped for ministry.
The Importance of Bible Training
In a video about their work, Udo emphasizes the need for Bible training.
“We must help our brothers and sisters and equip them for service so that they can mature as Christians and do what God has called them to do. Jesus Christ called us to go and make disciples. How do we make disciples? By teaching them. The teaching ministry is so important.”
Udo continued to explain how Derek’s resources are being used in their Bible schools. “We are using Derek’s books as a reference for our staff members, both for their personal studies and for preparing their lessons. Every staff member is given a copy of Foundational Truths For Christian Living. The books are also made available to the students in our school library. At the graduation ceremony, a copy of this book is given as a gift to students whom we believe that they have the gift of teaching.” In addition to the books, they are also making use of several teaching messages of Derek Prince on YouTube for staff development and in class.
Hooked to Derek’s teaching
In 1991, Udo worked for an organization that hosted the EuroVision Mission to Europe Conference in Karlsruhe (Germany) at which Derek was the key speaker. The theme of the conference was interpreting God’s prophetic revelation for the church and the world at that time, especially for Europe. Udo has a vivid recollection of those meetings.
“It was such a blessing to see this man of God (in the true sense) and sit under his teaching. After that, I was hooked and bought all available books in German and later in English. I bought all the audio tapes of that conference and played them for many years. I also downloaded the Teaching Letters which are a great source for my private study time. Over the years, when the app was developed, this became a big blessing to me as well.”
Namibian DPM website
Recently, Udo contacted the Derek Prince Ministries office in South Africa, expressing his desire to use more of Derek's video teachings to relieve their staff from teaching all classes by themselves. For this, he was especially considering the Foundation Series and the Roman Pilgrimage series. Because of the faithful donations of DPM supporters, these digital resources could be offered to him freely.
Through this contact, Udo also learned about the recent launch of the Namibian Derek Prince Ministries website. Currently, it contains mostly English content, but Afrikaans resources will be added as translations progress. “It is great that you are making Derek's spiritual legacy available in many languages and on every continent. This ministry is such a great blessing to many,” Udo responded.
