Andrew Symes’ Congo Diary, Part Three
Day Five
Sunday morning I was again taken to St Peters, this time for the “English Service” (Church of Nigeria Rite) which began at 8 with a formal procession, hymns and the opening liturgy of Morning Prayer. The intercessions and the preaching were heavily Pentecostal in style, with the volume turned up to maximum on the microphone, and the band ramping it up in the background. The service was supposed to end at 10 to make way for the Lingala service, but of course by 10 the preacher had only just got going. At the start the congregation was meagre but by 10 the room was packed with maybe 250, who then streamed forward for the anointing with oil. By 11 the Nigerians, with a majority of young men with their own small businesses in Kinshasa, had drifted away, hearts stirred by the worship and preaching; the Congolese stayed and were joined by others for the next service.
After an early lunch Anthonio and I were taken to the airport for the flight to Lubumbashi. Quite a long haul, as the plane touches down en route at Mbuji-Mayi, a mining town in the middle of a vast area of rolling green hills, wooded valleys and flat sandy expanses. Lubumbashi is about 1200 miles south east of the capital, near the Zambian border; that fact, plus its mines and its distance from the war zones have made it relatively prosperous but with a rapidly increasing population with serious poverty in the new shanty areas. My accommodation was again in a guest house not far from the Anglican Diocesan Centre, this time more comfortable than in Kinshasa, in a complex that had been a centre for Brethren missionaries but is now used as a stopping off point for many mission organisations.
Day Six
As before, a group of youth leaders had assembled, coming from various parishes in and around the city of Lubumbashi. After worship together we embarked on a slightly different programme for the workshop. The Bishop, to whom I had paid respects with Anthonio early in the morning, had requested something on “spiritual growth”, so we spent the three and a half sessions in an overview of Ephesians. During the breaks it was great to hear some of their testimonies of faith, their ministry among young people in the townships and villages in the region, and their hopes for the future.
After we had finished the programme mid-afternoon, I was taken on a tour of some of the development projects closest to the Diocesan Centre. In one room in the compound disabled girls were being taught to make dresses and other items using hand operated sewing machines – they desperately need more. This and other projects for girls and young women is run by Ursule Tshama, a young mother passionate about helping to improve the lives of the disadvantaged in the name of Christ. Then, after perhaps a twenty minute ride away we turned off the tar road and entered a much poorer area with dirt tracks and mud brick houses. Here we visited St Boniface Parish, where Bertin Subi is the minister and also the Diocesan Director of Development. Members of the congregation help in a project to assist orphans whose parents have died, usually of AIDS. The orphans have been taken in by relatives who often do not have the resources to care for them, so the project makes sure that the children have food, clothing, school uniforms and money for school books etc. The orphans come to the church some afternoons for various activities and I met a group of ten when I was there, ranging in ages from 2 to 11, and a man and two women who were looking after them.
Day 7
It was just after morning prayer when Anthonio phoned to confirm our flights back to Kinshasa for the following day, only to be told that flights on Wednesdays and Thursdays had been cancelled due to work extending the runway! What they didn’t tell us at the time was that they had rebooked us for the Friday flight but that meant I would miss my flight out of Congo on the Thursday evening. Anyway I had to put it out of my mind as a group of clergy and lay ministers arrived for the workshop on marriage. Unlike in Kinshasa, this time it was a group of just men. Another very encouraging time, with interesting interaction as before. There was a lot of laughter and also serious discussion as we took one of the suggestions about reasons for problems in marriage – “the wife does not submit” – and used it as a basis for discussion on the responsibility of the husband in Ephesians 5:24f. What might “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church” look like in practical terms, especially in a nation where the church can set an example in a context of endemic sexual violence?
This time it was one of the older clergy who raised the questions “can you explain why in Europe now, men can marry men and women can marry women? Are there really church leaders who agree with this? What Bible are they reading?” I used this as an opportunity to attempt to explain Western individualism and secular humanism, beginning with Descartes’ first principle of human existence “I think therefore I am” being in contrast with the African first principle “I am because we are”, to which the Christian would add “by the grace of God”. These godly pastors, often poorly educated but with a keen intelligence, understood very well these “worldview issues”; that as Christian we need to take a step back from culture, ask why people believe what they do, and bring these beliefs before the searching gaze of the true light of the world. At the same time we deal pastorally with individuals, as our struggle is not against people so much as against false ideas and spiritual powers behind the confusion that exists.
From mid afternoon we were able to rush around and sort out our flights – although it wasn’t all fully confirmed until Thursday.
Day 8 and 9
I was able to get some rest in the guest house, write most of these reports, and respond to some important emails. But also on both days we went out in the afternoon to visit various branches of the Kimbilio street children project. This was started by an Anglican missionary and still has strong links to the Diocese of Katanga, but is now a small NGO supported by a number of organisations and is interdenominational. The main work consists of homes where boys and girls sometimes as young as five or six, who have ended up on the street for various reasons, are taken in, fed and clothed, and then either reunited with their families after negotiation and possibly support, or living in a more permanent hostel. The stories of some of these children is heartrending: glue addiction, petty crime and being beaten up for the boys, rape or prostitution for the girls. There seems to be a network of local full time workers and volunteers, as well as a couple of European volunteers who I met – these two young women as well as looking after the children give classes in French, English and Maths to the local volunteers as well. There is regular prayer and worship surrounding it all.
Day 10
Anthonio and I did get a flight back to Kinshasa, and I was able to spend a longer time with the Archbishop before heading back out to the airport for the late evening flight. In the end I got home only 30 hours later than planned!
My strong impression is that the Anglican Church in Congo, while smaller numerically than its better known northern neighbours, is in good health; it wants to be Bible-based, evangelistic and GAFCON-affiliated, but also is determined to be fully involved in providing relief to the suffering, development of local communities and the reconstruction of the nation.
Part 2
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