Congress is in Session

They are calling it the 5th Congress on National Evangelism. Held in a big meeting room at the Shaumba high school in Kinshasa, this is a significant event for the leaders of Protestant churches here in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since this event is hosted by my friend, Bishop Nyamuke, head of the ECC  department of evangelism, I received an invitation some time ago to participate and help out with some of the planning for it.

The central objective of the Congress is to breathe new life into a five-year-old plan that has five key strategies for advancing God’s Kingdom in DRC:
1. Plant new churches where they are needed,
2. Encourage mature discipleship amount church members,
3. Help children aged 4 to 18 develop a Christian world view
4. Teach families how to become centers of Christian education
5. Reach the least, poorly and unreached populations of the country.

Jon & Bishop Nyamuke

Two themes have particularly impressed me from the many presentations given during our sessions. The first one is a deep concern over the perception that DRC is facing increased pressure from the West to adopt a liberal social agenda that includes inclusion of gay rights into the mainstream of its culture. The examples given of how this agenda is already being pushed by conditions put on aid grants from the U.S. is startling and discouraging.

The second theme, which is much more encouraging, has to do with the amazing number of resources already available for the ECC and its member churches. Dozens of national and expat organizations exist now in the DRC with great curricula, books, training courses, etc. in French but the problem is that most churches don't even know they exist. This Congress has been good for exposure of these resources, but much more needs to happen for full national access.

As Bishop Nyamuke and I, plus a small team of four, discuss this, we agree to launch a new, concerted thrust  to help promote this national plan of evangelism during the next two years. We've even given it a name: MissioCongo. Besides replicating this Congress in some regional mini events during the next few months, MissioCongo will also involve a new prayer strategy for evangelism, new communication strategy using text messaging and newsletters and a new evangelism resource website.

When I was invited to this event, I knew I might be asked  to share something sometime. I didn't expect I would be giving the opening devotional, a plenary session on stewardship and host the open mike sharing period at the end of each day. But I am thrilled to see the positive impact that seems to be happening here and pray that this MissioCongo follow-up plan truly keeps the churches in DRC pressing forward in advancing the cause of Christ in this huge country.