Congolese Mennonites welcome Mennonite Church USA Delegation
By Marathana Prothro
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of CongoCongolese Mennonites representing two of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mennonite conferences, Communauté Evangélique Mennonite (CEM) and Communauté Mennonite au Congo (CMCO), welcomed delegates Feb. 2 from Mennonite Church USA who traveled to the country in an effort to explore and build church-to-church relationships.
The Mennonite Church USA delegation includes members representing a broad cross-section of the denomination who have been called to help Mennonite Church USA make global connections by relating to Congolese Mennonites in a way that is focused on mutual learning and appreciation of each other’s gifts. The Mennonite Church USA Executive Board has named making new global connections as one of four churchwide priorities to help Mennonite Church USA become a missional church.
When visas were denied, only two members of a delegation from Democratic Republic of Congo were able to spend time in the United States following the Mennonite World Conference gathering in Pasadena, Calif., in summer 2005.
While building global connections is a priority for Mennonite Church USA, Congolese leaders said they are excited about linking with American Mennonites through church-to-church relationships and it is a goal their congregations support.
A group of representatives from CEM and CMCO spoke with the delegation Monday to welcome its members and share their hopes for the possibilities that may come from new church-to-church relationships.
“We hope that your presence among us will help us redefine what it means to be together and help each other become better churches,” said Alphonse Tshiala, a CEM pastor of a congregation in Kinshasa, via a translator Monday.
Past president for CEM Rev. Pascal Misakabu of Kinshasa was one of the Congolese leaders working with Mennonite World Conference to begin the process of pursuing church-to-church relationships between church bodies in the two countries.
“Both churches (the Congolese Mennonite churches and Mennonite Church USA) were interested in pursuing this and going through with this experience to see what would happen,” Misakabu said via a translator.
He said an important factor in CEM’s decision to go through this process was the willingness of congregations to participate and support the effort.
“If the base of the church – the congregation – wasn’t on-board with the idea, then it wouldn’t be worth pursuing,” Misakabu said.
Misakabu said the people of his conference are behind the effort of connecting with Mennonite Church USA congregations.
Executive Board member and delegation member Addie Banks, New York, said she has experienced “extreme hospitality” since landing in Kinshasa Saturday night.
“I have felt that everything (the Congolese) have done has been prepared in advance for us and has taken time, taken investment and it’s been inconvenient, but they’ve done it anyway,” she said. “This is just the way they are. When I experience that kind of hospitality in the distress that they are under, I see Jesus.”
After landing late Feb. 3, the delegation went to a Methodist and Presbyterian guesthouse in Kinshasa where it stayed until Feb. 6 when it split into three subgroups to visit Kikwit, Tshikapa and Mbuji Mayi for six days.
While in Kinshasa, delegates split into four groups to visit different Mennonite congregations in the city and met with local educators, students and a group of women theologians from CMCO, CEM and the Congolese Mennonite Brethren church.
Members of a Communauté Evangélique Mennonite congregation in the Kinshasa township Banana welcome delegation members Steve Penner of Reedley, Calif., and Vicki Smucker of South Bend, Ind. Photo by Marathana Prothro
From left, Congolese theologians Tshiyanze Crodelive Tshikay and Tenda Tangiza Swana greet delegation members Addie Banks and Sharon Waltner, moderator-elect for Mennonite Church USA. Photo by Marathana Prothro
