Footsteps of Faith in War-torn Congo
“You want 15,000 copies of BCM’s Footsteps of Faith Bible lessons on the death and resurrection of Christ? To be delivered to DRC? Exactly where is that?”
Located at the center of the African continent, DRC, or Democratic Republic of Congo, is Africa’s second largest country, roughly one-quarter the size of the United States with a population of 68 million. Formerly Belgian Congo, DRC was renamed when it attained independence in 1960. Rubber, diamonds, gold, oil, and numerous other mineral reserves make it one of the most naturally wealthy regions on Earth. But as memorialized in the Joseph Conrad classic Heart of Darkness, that wealth spawned one of the most brutal colonial eras ever documented. Once Portuguese explorers discovered the Congo in the 1500s, slave raids and trading decimated its population. Under Belgian colonial rule, millions more died through forced labor and horrific working conditions in rubber plantations and mines.
Independence did not bring peace. A succession of dictators and rebel uprisings destroyed much of the infrastructure built during colonial days, including DRC’s network of roads and railways. Then after some unstable years in the late 1990s following neighboring Rwanda’s crisis, full civil war broke out. While it officially ended five years later, tribal fighting and rebel raids continue to this day, especially in eastern DRC. The war and its aftermath have resulted in the death of four million people, with more than three million people internally displaced. News headlines are a constant succession of atrocities.
And yet in the midst of undeniable darkness, God is building His Church in the Congo—and BCM International is privileged to play a role. While after five hundred years of Belgian rule, more than 80% of Congolese consider themselves “Christian,” much of this is a syncretistic animism that places more faith in witchdoctors than the Bible. But missionaries have been taking the gospel into DRC since the 1800s, including well-known missionary explorer David Livingston. The largest Protestant denomination in DRC today is CECA, a French acrostic for the Evangelical Church in the Center of Africa. Founded in 1912 by Africa Inland Mission, CECA has a membership of between one and two million, with over 1,000 local churches concentrated mainly within a 200-mile radius of northeast DRC, but including new church plants in Kinshasa, the capital, and Kisangani, DRC’s second largest city.
Margery Dickinson (left)
BCM missionary Margery Dickinson served in partnership with Africa Inland Mission in DRC from 1970 to 1984, teaching Bible Clubs in public schools and villages and training hundreds of Congolese Christian children’s ministry leaders. During that time Margery translated BCM’s Footsteps of Faith curriculum on the life of Christ into Bangala, while CECA Christian Education leader Samson Dhedonga translated it into Congo Swahili. These were first run off by the hundreds on mimeograph machines, then printed by the thousands at the Brethren Church’s Nyankunde Press in DRC, later reprinted at AIM’s Rethy Press, and eventually by BCM’s own press in Philadelphia. During those fifteen years, 17,000 copies of Footsteps lessons were disseminated to trained church leaders throughout CECA’s northeast corner of DRC. BCM’s Bible Club program became the official children’s outreach for the Christian Education Department of the CECA denomination.
During the war years, most expatriate missionaries and aid personnel were forced to evacuate from DRC. Hospitals, printing presses, church buildings, and Christian schools were damaged. Christian literature, including much of the BCM material, was destroyed. But despite staggering obstacles, CECA churches have continued to grow and remain true to the Word of God. While few expatriate missionaries have yet been able to return, a new generation of Congolese Christian workers are committed to carrying the gospel across their own war-torn land.
Cover of Footsteps of Faith, New Testament, Volume 2, in Bangala.
Due to health difficulties, Margery Dickinson left DRC in 1984 for a new ministry in Member Care at BCM headquarters in Philadelphia, but she continued in regular contact with her co-workers back in the Congo. In 2001 CECA leadership wrote Margery, telling of their need for 8,000 copies of Footsteps of Faith through the Gospels, Volume 1, covering Christ’s early life and ministry. Donations provided $8,000 to print the books in Bangala and Swahili at Kijabe, Kenya. DIGUNA, a German Mission group specializing in evangelism, transported the materials into DRC just before tribal warfare devastated Bunia, where CECA is headquartered. Despite the chaos and some loss of material, the curriculum volumes were distributed among CECA churches. But with the continuing conflict and resulting difficulties in communication, little was heard about their impact.
Then on May 22, 2008, Margery received a letter from CECA Christian Education Director, Rev. James Djadri. The Bangala and Swahili churches were using the Gospels, Volume 1 on Christ’s life and ministry. Now they wanted 15,000 copies of Volume 2 on Christ’s death and resurrection. It was a tall order, but God began to open doors. Cistern Materials Translation and Publishing Center in Nairobi, Kenya, under director Sam Chege and manager Jefferson Kabiro Gathu, are a team that is eager to spread the gospel through the printed word. They agreed to print all 10,000 copies in Bangala and 5000 in Swahili for $10,100. Donations soon covered this, and in March 2009 the Cistern team finished the 10,000 Bangala Footsteps lessons, followed in April by the Swahili lessons.
DIGUNA representative with Congolese children.
But how to get them into a country where much of road and air travel has shut down? Enter DIGUNA again. An acrostic in German for The Good News for Africa, DIGUNA works in DRC under the evangelism department of the CECA church, and also serves in Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. Its members specialize in mobile evangelism, using 4-wheel-drive vehicles to reach remote areas. Half of its two hundred missionaries are African nationals. Having seen the effectiveness of Footsteps materials in evangelizing children, DIGUNA committed to transporting all 15,000 copies into DRC at no cost to BCM.
PRAY for peace in DRC, and for safe transportation of Bangala and Swahili Footsteps materials among the Congolese churches, a difficult task given road conditions and instability. PRAY for the impact of Christ’s death and resurrection on Congolese hearts to bring them to faith in a Savior. PRAY that CECA’s once-flourishing Bible Club program will be revived, and that through it many children will be discipled for Christ.
