“Though the fields produce no food, though there are no goats in the compound, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk 3:17-18 (adapted)
ELKHART, Indiana (AIMM/Mennonite Mission Network) – The terror continues in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country has experienced horrific violence for centuries due to slave traders and colonization. In the past two years, atrocities hit the Mennonite heartland in the Kasaï provinces with renewed severity, displacing 1.4 million people and creating food insecurity for more than 3 million.
National government strategies have encouraged political and ethnic rivalries that turn neighbors against one another with resulting rape, mutilation, and mass killings.
“It’s been hell on earth, not only for Mennonites, but for many peace-loving people in the same area that have gotten caught up in the [chaos],” said Rod Hollinger-Janzen of Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, after a visit to Mennonite churches in the Kasaï provinces. AIMM and Mennonite Mission Network serve the Mennonite churches in Congo with a unified approach.
Macaire Kilambo is a lay leader of Communauté Mennonite au Congo (Mennonite Church in Congo), the largest of the Anabaptist denominations in the country. He also owns a transportation business based in Kinshasa, the capital city. About a year ago, Kilambo received inspiration to confront the powers of destructive chaos with extravagant worship.
Kilambo and Jean Pierre Ilunga, another Mennonite lay leader, organized a choir tour to Mennonite churches in Bandundu Province, which borders Western Kasaï Province. Though violence pursued the multitudes of fleeing families, it didn’t follow them across the Loange River, which is the provincial line. Many internally displaced people found hospitality in the homes of Bandundu Mennonites who shared whatever resources they had.
Members of the young adult choir from Kinshasa, La Voix du Ciel (Voice from Heaven), were enthusiastic about the opportunity to be messengers of hope to people who were suffering so much. Despite their own difficulties to find jobs and to complete university studies in a severely depressed economy, the youth began their tour on July 21, 2017.
The choir chose “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world” as their message to churches in Gungu, Mukedi and Kikwit. They organized three-day worship celebrations in each location, inviting local choirs to join them.
Kilambo reported that attendance was high, the energy was life-giving, and “God’s Spirit was present, so that the faith, hope and love of many were increased.”
The light of Jesus’ love was also shining brightly in Eastern Kasaï Province where Robert Irundu, national youth president for Mennonite Church in Congo, held a Bible camp from Aug. 23-27. Many of the 242 campers (157 boys and 85 girls) walked for three or four days to participate in worship, Bible studies, a sports clinic, and a soccer tournament.
The campers also held a public rally in the province’s largest city, Mbuji Mayi, with the mayor in attendance. Three campers shared their testimonies of their traumatic encounters with Kamuina Nsapu, one of the area’s violent militias. After watching Kamuina Nsapu troops rape and decapitate members of their families, two of the young men escaped, but one was conscripted. Fighters are empowered by occult practices and require their conscripts to perform acts of allegiance that conflict with Christian faith and the sanctity of human life. The prisoner described how God helped him to escape from this evil situation. Thirty youth indicated their desire to follow Jesus and were baptized.
Mennonite churches in Mbuji Mayi helped to provide food for the campers, including the gift of a goat. Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission also gave funds for the camp.
“Our Congolese sisters and brothers cling to the cross and the promise of God’s salvation,” said Steve Wiebe-Johnson, Mennonite Mission Network’s director for Africa. “Sacrifice and struggle are not optional parts of the journey. Their lives seem so far removed from the lives we live in North America, but we are called to the same vision of praise around the throne of God."
