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August 2007 |
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There is nothing that can prepare you for the sensory overload of Kinshasa, DR Congo. The civil war and crises of the past decade have swollen the city with refugees while Kinshasa's infrastructure has degenerated. Despite the incredible poverty, Kinshasa is a city with new hope after the recent elections.
MBMS International hosted a mission consultation in Kinshasa in June
which brought together the mission leaders of the DR Congo MB
conference as well as our joint appointment missionaries that have been
sent from DR Congo to South Africa and Angola. We also participated in
the annual ICOMB (International Community of Mennonite Brethren)
meetings which included representatives from the 20 MB conferences
around the world.
Several hours after we had arrived in Kinshasa an ICOMB delegate from
Brazil in a mild state of culture shock turned to me and asked what I
thought of all we had seen during our brief city tour. In response I
asked him, "What three things will remain in life? Will they be our
bank accounts, homes and cars?" He smiled at me and said "probably
not."
1 Corinthians 13:13 says, "Now these three remain: faith, hope and
love. But the greatest of these is love." I encouraged him to look
through that lens during the next week and let me know what he was
seeing. My friend from Brazil came to me several days later after an
incredibly inspiring church service and said he was seeing an abundance
of faith, hope and love. The values of the Kingdom of God were
changing how he viewed DR Congo.
The world puts its price tags on all kinds of things that have little
value in the Kingdom of God. Let's invest in that which will remain!
We are currently responding to an urgent need for a communication
network linking the various DR Congo MB Church districts with email and
short wave radio. If you're interested in supporting this project you
can designate funds to project 0562.
Ministry Highlights
-The mission teams serving this summer in "creative access" countries
are reporting God's protection and some amazing open doors to share and
live the gospel.
-The Prada and Funk families, missionaries in Peru, report that a
neighbor of theirs recently trusted Jesus Christ as her Savior. Liz
initially made contact with the church through English classes taught
by last year's TREK team and has slowly been opening up and attending
Sunday services.
Items for Prayer
-Our new discipleship books for believers in North Africa need to be
distributed into countries where these materials cannot be shipped
through the mail. Please pray for open doors and creative strategies.
-Pray for our missionaries from DR Congo- Masolo Mununga, serving in
Angola and Baudouin & Marie-Brigette Nsulunka serving in South
Africa. Pray that they would continue to see increasing fruit of their
ministry and pray that many will trust Jesus and experience life
transformation as a result of the witness of these faithful laborers.
Randy Friesen
 Click here to download a Vision for Mission in PDF format 304.21 Kb
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