wfn.org | Disciples celebrate 100th year of mission

["Disciples Off. of Communication"<wshuffit@oc.disciples.org>]

work in the Congo
Date: April 21, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Clifford L. Willis
Email: CWillis@oc.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

99a-25

	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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