Sent...: D.R. Congo/Kinshasa

I've been in Tanzania for 2 1/2 busy days and I was planning to get this blog post written early this evening but ended up swapping travel stories with Pastor Paul Nolting until 10:00 pm. (more on Pastor Nolting's visit to Tanzania coming in a future blog post) So, I'm going to try to keep this brief.

I wanted to give a quick update on the visit to Kinshasa last week. This visit has been about five years in the making. But before I begin, I need to introduce you to Pastor Jacques Pondi Lumiangu who serves the Eglise Lutherienne Confessionnelle Sainte Famille au Congo. Which translates from French to English as Confessional Lutheran Church of the Family of Saints of Congo.

Pastor Lumiangu first became aware of the CLC through contacts on Facebook. He had been trained by visiting missionaries from France affiliated with the LC-MS. After successfully completing the required training seminars offered by the missionaries from France, he was ordained as pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo. He soon began to notice a lack of consistency in doctrine and practice between the French Lutherans with whom he trained and the other Lutherans he had been corresponding with. Most of the questions and warnings he raised seemed to go unanswered. He was led to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo. The congregation he was serving became an independent Lutheran congregation. It was also during this time that he began corresponding with CLC Pastor Tim Daub and eventually representatives from the CLC Board of Missions. Correspondence was difficult and slow going because of the language barrier. Because the DRC was once a Belgium colony, French is the official language. Pastor Lumiangu doesn't speak or read English and I don't read or speak French. It was sometime after these first couple of years of correspondence that our CLC Missionary to India, Peter Evensen, was denied entry back into India. The Bd of Missions decided to relocate Missionary Evensen to Togo (another French-speaking African nation) because of his familiarity with French and the need to assist Pastor Kossi with the development of the seminary in Togo. Missionary Evensen took over the correspondence with Pastor Lumiangu (along with a few other French-speaking contacts) and was able to make much better progress. In 2019, Missionary Evensen and I made an initial visit to Kinshasa to meet with Pastor Lumiangu and to discuss the necessary steps forward to establish a God-pleasing relationship of working together to spread the Gospel, a relationship built upon the firm foundation of unity in Biblical doctrine. With no idea that the Covid pandemic would prevent international travel for the next couple of years, plans were made for Missionary Evensen and Pastor Lumiangu to continue correspondence with a thorough review of doctrine. We anticipated that a colloquy visit would be scheduled in about a year. This, of course, did not happen in 2020 or 2021. Finally, with Covid under control, we could make plans for a visit. CLC President Mike Eichstadt appointed Missionary Evensen and me to represent the CLC for the colloquy and to make a recommendation following our visit.

Missionary Evensen and I made plans to meet in Kinshasa the last week of October. Peter flew in from Lomé, Togo, and I scheduled five days in Kinshasa as part of this eight-week visit to Africa. So, following the visit to Nigeria, Peter and I made our way to Kinshasa and were met at the airport by Pastor Lumiangu and several members of the congregation. The next day we spent the entire day reviewing a doctrinal questionnaire covering Lutheran/Biblical doctrine. Prior to our meeting, Peter and Jacques reviewed all 117 questions on the questionnaire through email. With me asking questions for further clarification and deeper understanding and Jacques doing the same, and Peter serving as the translator, we spent several hours discussing and reviewing the truths of God's saving word and their application to our lives and ministry. It was a blessed and truly profitable day. Following the colloquy, with both Peter and me, along with Jacques, convinced by Scripture alone, that the Lord had brought about a God-pleasing unity of faith, Pastor Lumiangu requested fellowship with the CLC. We assured him that we would recommend a declaration of fellowship to President Eichstadt. It was a wonderful moment, blessed by the Lord! I closed the colloquy with a prayer of thanksgiving and with requests for our Savior's abundant blessings on Pastor Lumiangu and the Kingdom work he has been called to carry out in Kinshasa.

The next two days were spent teaching Bible lessons to members of the congregation who gathered both days for a special two-day seminar. On Saturday, Missionary Evensen spent about three hours teaching Bible lessons (focused on rightly dividing the Word of Truth) to three men who have been studying with Pastor Lumiangu to assist with the Gospel ministry and to serve future preaching stations. Peter and Jacques will continue to study God's word via correspondence and annual visits and Jacques will then use these lessons to continue to train these faithful men for the ministry.

On Sunday, we were privileged to attend the worship service and encourage those in attendance with God's saving word and to pray for Pastor Lumiangu and the congregation that has placed itself under the spiritual care of the CLC.

Late Sunday afternoon I headed to the airport for a 1:00 AM flight that would take me from Kinshasa to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

It was a week blessed by the Lord! It was especially uplifting for me to witness God's hand at work as I sat and listened to Missionary Evensen use his God-given gift for languages to share, discuss, explain, and teach the truths of God's saving word in French!

“And in that day you will say:

“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;

Declare His deeds among the peoples,

Make mention that His name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord,

For He has done excellent things;

This is known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion,

For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”” Isaiah 12:4–6

Enjoy the pictures...