Catalytic Boost

The Democratic Republic of Congo is not exactly known for its great reputation of unity. Rampant tribalism and ethnic divisions have kept this country fragmented for years, even within the church community.  That’s why the meeting I attended this week in Kinshasa was so unusual.

I’ve been hosting a first-time visit to DRC by two friends who represent a missions-minded American foundation and thought it would be good for them to hear first-hand reports from national church leaders. Thinking we could have a nice, intimate conversation with ten or fifteen leaders, I was surprised to see our room packed out with over forty-five men and women representing most key national churches and ministries.

In order to help my friends gain a broad perspective, I asked each participant to address questions related to evangelism strategy successes and hindrances. Although each report started out addressed to my guests, it soon changed as people in the room began realizing they were hearing things from each other they had not known before. This was especially true between resource providers, like Scripture Union or Crusade and the actual church denominations that have been struggling to implement new evangelism strategies. It was pretty cool watching the lights come in the eyes of these men and women as they began swapping business cards right there during the meeting in order to connect later.

Equally impressive to me was the long detailed list of obstacles and hindrances discussed during the meeting. Going far beyond the typical gripe of not having enough money, these folks listed sophisticated issues such as lack of credibility of those ministering to professional businessmen, cultural differences over the issue of possessing more than one wife, and racial discrimination between bantu Africans and newly converted pygmy Christians.

By the end of the day, six themes emerged as topics everyone agreed needed more follow-up: youth outreach, holistic evangelism, church planting methods, media, electronic technology, and leadership training. Before we parted for the day, a plan was set up for future meetings on each topic.

Little did I dream that an innocent request for an informational meeting would eventually become a catalytic boost of encouragement toward partnering together in national evangelism for DRC.