The Executive Leader of the Church Mission Society, the Revd Canon Philip Mounstephen, reflects on a recent visit to Democratic Republic of Congo.
When you cross the border into Congo everything seems to run out. There’s no more tarmac, no more mains electricity, no water supply except what is pumped from the ground. Crossing the border itself, we were told, would not be a piece of cake. We were met by a Congolese colleague from the Diocese of Aru who took our passports and went off to no fewer than three different offices to get the necessary approval, each time leaving us in the car. So far so good – but it was the last place, we were told, that would be the hardest. But when we got there, on the outskirts of Aru itself, we were welcomed as honoured guests by a gentleman who, significantly, had a Bible on his desk.
But it wasn’t just his faith that opened the door for us. It was also evident that the local diocese, and its inspirational Bishop, Titre Ande, are held in the very highest regard, and we were shortly to discover why.
The reason we were in Congo (“we” being myself, Steve Burgess, CMS Africa Manager and Karobia Njogu, of our sister organisation CMS Africa) was to meet the Bishops and Archbishop of the Province de l’Eglise Anglicaine du Congo and to consider how we might best support Archbishop Masimango as he develops a strategic plan for the Province.
We had a very productive meeting. But in Aru there was much else to see that bore eloquent testimony both to the Church’s past history – and to Bishop Ande’s entrepreneurial vision and energy here in the present. Interestingly much of that was enshrined in an unusual medium – in sculpture, no less!
Outside the Cathedral there’s a painted statue of an evangelist, holding a Bible in his hand, gesturing towards the Cathedral. It’s not a statue of a white missionary, but of someone black. And that reminded me that the gospel was first brought to the (then) Belgian Congo by a Ugandan evangelist, Apolo Kivebulaya. And indeed much of the story of the worldwide spread of the gospel has not come about through the activities of western missionaries, but through the initiative of local Christians, keen to share the good news that they themselves had received.
In the middle of a roundabout in Aru (not that the traffic demands it!) is a memorial to Pat Nickson, a CMS mission partner who founded and led the very impressive Institut Panafricain de Santé Communitaire (IPASC, or in English the Pan-African Institute of Community Health). Pat’s dedication, commitment and long-term service is rightly honoured. But IPASC is only one of innumerable institutions founded by Bishop Ande and the Diocese, which goes a long way to explaining the warm welcome we had at the border. The government of DRC provides almost nothing – but the Diocese provides everything: schools, hospitals, clinics, vocational and theological education, a centre for people living with HIV, even a school of dentistry: the list goes on and on.
Back in Arua in Uganda I noticed a plaque at the airfield recording the fact that it was opened by the former President (and dictator) of Congo (then Zaire) Mobutu Sese Seko. The plaque also records the title he gave himself: Kuku Ngbendu Wa Zabanga. The translation of this is contested, but it certainly could mean, “the cockerel that leaves no hen untouched”. If so it’s a chilling title. The story of Congo, from colonial times onwards, has been one of the most appalling rape, both metaphorical and literal, of its resources and its people.
Contrast that with a statue we saw in preparation in Aru, to stand outside the theological institute, of one person washing another’s feet, each looking directly at the other, eye to eye.
It’s a very powerful antidote to the record of Mobutu and many others like him. But it’s exactly that spirit of service that we saw enshrined in the life of the Diocese of Aru. It was humbling and inspiring to see, and it’s huge privilege for us to work in partnership with them as they follow Jesus in the most challenging of circumstances in humble, loving, foot-washing service.