Title: Disciples celebrate 100th year of mission work in the Congo
Date: April 21, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
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INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- Disciples veterans of central Africa mission work gathered here April 17-18 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) mission work in the Congo.
On April 17, 1899, the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU) transferred its Bolenge mission station on the Congo River near Mbandaka to the Disciples, who were represented by pioneer missionaries Royal and Ava Nichols-Dye and Ellsworth Faris.
Disciples Congo missions researcher, the Rev. Paul Williams, told a gathering at Southport (Ind.) Christian Church that Disciples had longed for a central Africa mission opportunity for years before the historic exchange at Bolenge. As early as 1885 a Disciples fact-finding mission to Europe reported that establishing an entirely new mission in the Congo would be very expensive.
In 1895, the Foreign Christian Missionary Society decided to organize a Disciples missionary presence in the Congo. Ellsworth Faris and Harry Biddle left Boston for exploratory work in central Africa in March 1897. After traveling throughout the area then known as the Congo Free State, Faris and Biddle applied to the ABMU to gain Disciples sponsorship and oversight of the Bolenge mission station.
An ailing Biddle, en route to the United States for recovery, died in the Canary Islands in 1898 -- less than a year before the 1899 assignment of the Bolenge mission station to the Disciples.
Early Disciples mission work in the Congo focused on evangelism, education, medical attention and development of rudimentary industrial skills. However, "the true foundation of the Church of Christ in Bolenge can be placed at the feet of Josepha," Williams said, telling the story of one of three Congolese Christians encountered by Disciples when they arrived.
Josepha, wracked by a limb-twisting disease, ministered at evening campfires. Young men and boys associated with the Bolenge mission shared workday stories, sang and prayed. Josepha, Williams said, would interpret the gospel and witness to "the love of Jesus Christ and salvation in His name." Soon the evening meetings outgrew a single fire, and the Congolese began to use the Bolenge sanctuary for their gatherings.
In 1903, the Church of Christ at Bolenge had 24 members. Within 10 years, the indigenous Disciples of Christ Church in the Congo numbered 1,000; within 30 years, 21,000; and at the end of the 20th century, the Disciples of Christ Church in the Congo membership is estimated at 600,000.
From the end of the 19th century to the dawn of the 21st century, more than a hundred Disciples and Common Global Ministries partners served in areas now part of the Republic of the Congo and the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).
Because of intense civil conflict in the area, Disciples and Common Global Ministries Board personnel withdrew in 1991. Africa Office Executive Daniel Hoffman, Common Global Ministries Board, sustains the North American Disciples and United Church of Christ connection with the autonomous Disciples of Christ Church in the Congo. In addition to staying in close communication with Congolese church leaders, Common Global Ministries has continued grant funding for hospitals, schools, evangelism training and church administration since the 1991 withdrawal of mission personnel.
The civil strife in contemporary Congo has parallels in the church. "As the country has been in turmoil, the church has been in turmoil," Hoffman said. The energy invested in administrative leadership squabbling drains energy from mission. "In spite of that, the church continues its work," said the Africa executive. Small congregations in the rain forest, along rivers and in Congolese cities are carrying on effective ministries. "We don't always hear that story," he said.
Hoffman and Congolese Disciples leaders share the hope that Common Global Ministries mission personnel can return to the Congo. But Hoffman suggested that the present conditions might be a "time of grace" -- that will further the objective of Disciples mission work: the strengthening of the indigenous church.
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