2007-03-20 issue:
Stories from Congo
A message of peace
by Anna Groff
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A church-to-church relationship
To explore a church-to-church relationship between two Mennonite conferences in Congo and Mennonite Church USA, a delegation of 13 people traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Central Africa, for two weeks in February.
The group, of various ages and church positions, spent a week in the capital, Kinshasa, and another week divided into smaller groups (see box, page 11) to visit three Mennonite communities in more rural areas, staying in homes and visiting churches.
The conversation between Mennonite Church USA and leaders of the Congolese churches began at the Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Zimbabwe in 2003. Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, says a church-to-church relationship works to meet one of the denomination’s goals of nurturing global relationships.
Schrag told delegation members and church leaders during a debriefing session three reasons for a church-to-church relationship with the two Mennonite groups in Congo: the churches are similar in size, both have resources and gifts to share, and the Congo church thrived during and after its missionary presence.
A message of peace
The democratic election in 2006 brings some hope to Congo, but the memories of past devastation remain. Congolese people faced violent colonization, government corruption and two wars from 1996 to 2003.
In 2006, Congo ranked number two in the list of failed states, behind Sudan and before Cote D’Ivoire. Failed states can no longer provide basic functions, such as education, governance or security, due to violence or poverty.
Mennonite churches bring Christ’s message of peace to these dismal times. While meeting with the delegation members who traveled to Tshikapa in February, Pastor Kikuga Mavule, a provincial president in Tshikapa, said war has many dimensions. Weapon violence is one dimension, but there is also violence in people’s hearts.
The social dimensions of peace involve resources for people, Mavule added. “A person who can’t eat and is hungry can’t have peace,” he said, and it’s the same for shelter and education. Mavule said the message of peace always has importance and relevance and should not be neglected during conflicts within the church.
Mavule cited the late Mukanza Ilunga as the person who emphasized the peace message in Congolese Mennonite churches. Ilunga, who grew up at the mission station in Kandala, attended Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., in 1975 and graduated with a master’s degree in Christian education.
Ilunga returned to Congo, served as a Congo Mennonite Church (CMCO) leader and worked closely with missionary Levi Keidel. In 1979 and 1980 he attended three Mennonite World Conference-sponsored international peace commissions. In 1981 he organized a seminar on nonviolence for all three Mennonite groups in Congo: CMCO, Congo Evangelical Mennonite Church (CEM) and the Mennonite Brethren Church of the Congo.
Ilunga became a major voice for Mennonites in Congo, according to Jim Bertsche, who served in Congo for 25 years and wrote a history of Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission. With Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), Ilunga started a partnership, National Inter-Mennonite Committee (CONIM), among the three Mennonite groups in Congo to promote Anabaptist concerns for peace, love and justice in Congo.
Mavule said seminars on evangelism and peace continue at various capacities in Congo. Last year, representatives of the churches and MCC sponsored four day-long seminars in seven locations in Congo. Pastors then returned to their congregations to share what they learned.
The Great Commission
Mennonites in Congo evangelize within Congo and in surrounding countries. Pastor Damien Kakhenda, coordinator of missions for Congo Mennonite Church (CMCO) in Tshikapa, says in past decades only foreigners were seen as “missionaries,” and Congolese people only served as pastors. Now both can carry the term missionary.
Kakhenda says members of CMCO feel called to follow the Great Commission. For example, Kakhenda says the CMCO churches consider Télésphore Nsengimana “their missionary.” Nsengimana, a Catholic man from Rwanda who came to Congo as a refugee, married a Mennonite woman in Congo and became a Mennonite.
About seven months ago, Nsengimana returned to Rwanda and hopes to plant a church to bring the message of peace. The message is important for people here in the middle of a crisis, he says.
Earlier, Kakhenda himself sought possibilities for church planting. In 1998, he traveled to Republic of Congo (the country west of the Democratic Republic of Congo) with funding from Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission. During Congo’s Civil War in 1997, people in Tshikapa had helped the refugees from Congo, and in turn those refugees suggested the idea for a church plant in Congo. However, the CMCO church lacked funding.
Kakhenda says people feel encouraged to see Congolese missionaries. He says Komuesa Kalunga Adolphe, president of CMCO, has freed up the administration and made it less centralized so this “work of the Spirit” can occur.
Church histories
(From Anabaptist Songs in African Hearts, Good Books, 2006 and Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission)
1. Congo Mennonite Church (CMCO)
• Congo Inland Mission (CIM) formed in 1912. After independence in Congo in 1960, CIM ceases to be a legal entity.
• Congo Mennonite Church formed in 1960, and relates to African Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM).
• In North America, in 1972, CIM became AIMM, now a partnership of six North American Mennonite conferences.
CMCO is the first and largest Mennonite church in Congo with its membership listed as 85,400. Its headquarters are in Tshikapa, West Kasai.
2. Evangelical Mennonite Church (CEM)
• A group of Congolese Mennonites in the province East Kasai organized in 1962 obtained legal recognition in 1966 and later became Evangelical Mennonite Community (CEM) in 1970. CEM relates to AIMM.
This group formed after the independence in 1960 and conflict occurred between two groups, the Lulua and Baluba. The Baluba people, including many Mennonites, returned to their traditional homeland in East Kasai, where AIMM and Mennonite Central Committee worked with rehabilitation. Separated by geography and political barriers, they organized themselves as a second Mennonite church of Congo.
CEM is the smallest of three Mennonite-related conferences in Congo, with 86 congregations and about 24,000 members. Its headquarters are in Mbuji Mayi, East Kasai.
3. A third group
The Mennonite Brethren Church of the Congo, which relates to Mennonite Brethren Mission and Services International and AIMM, is also in Congo, but not part of the church-to-church relationship.
Democratic Republic of Congo timeline
1908—Established as a Belgian colony
1960—Gained independence
1965—Col. Joseph Mobutu declared himself president in 1965 and changed his name to Mobutu Sese Seko, as well as the country’s name to Zaire.
1997—Mobutu’s regime ends by Laurent Kabila’s rebellion and the country is renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1998—Multinational war breaks out
1999—Cease-fire signed, but some fighting continues
2001—Laurent Kabila assassinated, so Joseph Kabila, his son, is named head of state
2002—Kabila is successful in negotiating withdraw of Rwandan forces in eastern Congo
2003—Transitional government set up with Kabila as president, along with four vice presidents representing the former government, former rebel groups and political opposition
2006—Kabila inaugurated president in December after democratic elections
Patrick Mulumba
Patrick Mulumba pastors the church at the CMCO headquarters in Tshikapa. Mulumba, a pastor for 17 years, says 200 people attend the church on an average Sunday. Some Sundays are particularly full, and children climb in and out of the open-air windows, he says with a smile.
At Mulumba’s church, the words, “Look at only Jesus” are painted on the front wall in Tshiluba, a tribal language in that region. Children, youth and older adults make up most of the attendance. Mulumba says middle-age people are often away from home looking for work, so they cannot regularly attend church services.
Mulumba says he remembers when missionaries told the Congolese not to be too loud or to use drums during worship services, but now they include dancing and drumming.
Mulumba grew up Catholic but began to interpret the Bible on his own as a young adult, so he became a Mennonite. He says his favorite aspect of serving as a pastor is preaching.
Lambertine Mumbanda
Lambertine Mumbanda, the president of Congo Mennonite Church’s (CMCO) women’s groups, grew up in Nyanga and attended a Mennonite girls’ school. While growing up, she witnessed the leadership of women older than her. “We saw how our mothers served Christ in churches growing up,” she says.
Mumbanda specifically admired Mama Kafuchi, the president of women’s groups at the time. Mumbanda said she taught the other women about family life, serving in the church and housework. When Kafuchi (and her predecessor) grew old, Mumbanda felt called to take their places, to serve as the third generation of woman presidents. “I have accepted the work of God,” Mumbanda says.
She says women make up 70 to 90 percent of the church, as most men are out looking for work, so they cannot regularly participate. Tshikapa has an unemployment rate of over 90 percent.
As president, Mumbanda facilitates visits to sick women, holds offerings for them and chairs meetings of women’s groups. Mumbanda prays while she walks seven kilometers to her work in Tshikapa, the headquarters of CMCO. She has three daughters and one son, and her husband is a businessman. Transportation remains a major difficulty for Congolese Mennonites in Tshikapa, with flooded and rocky roads.
Adolphine Tshiama
Adolphine Tshiama, a director of a primary school in Tshikapa, says she values education for women in the church.
At her wedding, her father gave her two gifts: a Bible and a songbook. He told her, Whether you have an education or not, a husband or not, the Bible will always give you strength.
“Women come from various levels of intellect,” Tshiama says. Without knowing how to read and write, one cannot study Scripture and grow spiritually, she says. Many women in Congo marry young and are illiterate, and men are given priority in education, she says.
Before she officially became a church leader, she counseled other women during difficult family, marriage and spiritual circumstances. Now she is “on call” for counseling day and night.
She also helps women start small business ventures at the market, such as selling food or clothing and gives seminars on cooking, sewing and HIV/AIDS education. The women’s groups also designed a fabric with the logo for the CMCO church and made dresses and shirts from it.
David Mundayi
David Mundayi, director of Agricultural Development Service in Nyanga, says communities like Nyanga have evangelism, but it is not enough to sustain their lives.
In March 2006, Mundayi restarted the Agricultural Development Service in Nyanga, which Fremont Regier began in the 1970s. The service provides rabbits, pigs and beef to people in villages and offers animal-raising education. It’s a project of the church but serves all people, whether they are part of the church or not, he says.
Komuesa Kalunga Adolphe, president of CMCO, invited him to re-establish the program and provided funds and resources, such as a motorcycle for Mundayi to use for transportation to villages.
Mundayi, who studied economics at the University of Kinshasa, initially thought the project would be easy but now realizes the challenges of working with a small budget. Still, Mundayi says, it’s been successful, especially through the help of volunteers. They started with eight rabbits and now have more than 50; they started with three pigs and now have 15. Mundayi has hopes one day to run a large rabbit reproduction center.
James Kamba
James Kamba, an ophthalmologist and writer, grew up at the missionary station at Kalonda. The mission station included missionary homes, a hospital, primary and secondary schools, a church building and service buildings, such as a garage. The buildings remain and continue to function, even with limited resources such as medication, education supplies and more.
As a child, Kamba attended the Mennonite schools and church at Kalonda and was baptized. As he grew, he had Bible studies with missionaries and volunteered at the hospital, but he said he did not have a personal encounter with Christ. “Many years passed, but I was not a Christian,” he says.
At age 20, Kamba had a vision of a man in his home. This vision convicted him of his sins, and at that point he became a Christian, he says. “I began to go to church in a different way. … I understood Jesus is here,” he says. “The Jesus I have now is my own Jesus.” Kamba says he has experienced God’s grace through physical healing and protection by angels while traveling.
Kamba still lives in Kalonda with his wife and eight children, and he practices ophthalmology in Tshikapa. Kamba also writes church music, more than 100 songs in several languages, as well as proverbs.
