Visiting the Church in the Congo

On a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we visited several places where The United Methodist Church is active. United Methodists there were happy and encouraged to see us. Life has been difficult and uncertain for them for many years but now they are hopeful that the new government will be able to make needed changes that will bring about a better life for all the people of the country.

But change will take time. The infrastructure of the Congo has been severely damaged and neglected during the years of struggle and the needs of the people are overwhelming. The United Methodist Church in the Congo is a growing church, with much vitality and life. The church there wants to be a part of the reconstruction process and it works hard trying to meet the needs of people but resources are in short supply.

Some of the things we saw and heard while we were in the Congo made us want to find ways to encourage greater support for the church there:

Institut Superieur Pedagogique (Advance #010330-7) is a church college in Kamina. We visited it on a Saturday afternoon. Many students came to be with us, even though most of the students had to walk a long distance to get there. Education is so important in developing countries and this college has made a significant contribution to the education of young people in that area of the Congo for many years. One of the district superintendents in that conference said that he prays that the college will still be there for his children when they are college age.

Institut Superieur Pedagogique has only one dorm on campus which houses twelve women. Everywhere we went they were emphasizing the education of women. Bishop Ntambo Ntanda in the North Katanga Annual Conference was with us as we visited the woman's dorm at ISP. He talked about his predecessor wanting women to be educated because he felt that in that way you educate the whole country.

There are many clinics and dispensaries in Partnership in Mission which list all Advance projects. We saw several of them. One was in Lubumbashi (Dispensary Program #008109-5) and the clinic at Nyembo Mpungu. One missionary said that the clinic at Nyembo is life and death to the people because it is the only medical facility anywhere in the area. The dispensary in Lubumbashi is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. but people ask for it to be open into the evening. The need is great but they only have four nurses and they would need at least two more in order to extend the hours. Money for medical programs in the Congo is urgently needed.

As we traveled in the Congo, we were often transported in one of the conference planes. Every conference has an aviation program and the planes are essential to the work of the church as well as being available for all kinds of emergencies. Almost always our travel was planned around the transportation of patients to the hospital. John Enright, one of the missionary pilots, said that recently when cholera was becoming a serious problem there was flooding and the only way to get medicine into the severely affected areas was by plane. Then he added that thanks to UMCOR they had the medicines to take, thereby preventing an epidemic.

We saw a program in Kamina for Homeless and Abandoned Children (#012729-1). That conference is operating three feeding programs for children in Kamina. There is great need and the church would do even more if it had the funds. There is currently a Bishops' Appeal entitled Hope for the Children of Africa (#101000-4). We certainly saw plenty of evidence that funding is needed for children's programs in every place we visited in the Congo.

People walked great distances to welcome us to the places we visited. They made welcoming speeches, and spirited songs and brought us flowers. They were happy to see United Methodists from the States. We are part of their hope for a better future and they are part of our hope for a more spirit-filled church. May all of us be faithful to each other and the Christ we serve.

May/June 1998