Mission News from Mulungwishi

Denver, Christmas 2005

Dear Friends,

When we look back over the past year, our hearts well up in gratitude to the Lord for His marvelous grace that has sustained the community and the work at Mulungwishi. The year has had many challenges for us. Congo is still very unstable and the chaotic economic situation continues to affect all aspects of people’s lives. We always celebrate graduations as miracles.

This year we had two!! Our Seminary graduation on June 26th brought celebration for 11 undergraduates and 5 master’s degree students. Thirteen women graduated from the Women’s School. The next graduation was our first for the School of Information Technology at the University. Fourteen students completed the program. Praise the Lord!! Interestingly enough, the government has asked our graduates to help with the computer registration of voters for national elections this next year. This registration is going as we write and we pray for the country as it prepares for its first real election in over 40 years!!!!

The outreach of the Seminary continues to grow beyond the influence of the local churches. Dr. Nkonge is working with World Vision coordinating spiritual growth and relationships between different Christian groups. He has held training sessions in Central African Republic, Kenya, and Congo.

Dr. Munene has spent over a month in Switzerland and Denmark. We came back to the States with Dr. Kongolo and Rev. Kandolo as part of the Hope for the Children of Africa initiative. We spent three weeks speaking New Mexico and parts of West Texas. This will be the beginning of a relationship between the New Mexico Annual Conference and that of Southern Congo. We are looking forward to see what the Lord will do through this partnership. Dr. Kongolo went on to teach in Senegal. We have also continued with the Masters of Leadership program partnering with Development Associates International.

This program is touching many church and secular leaders in our part of the Congo. Our own faculty is now teaching and mentoring a new class.

This year has also brought many visitors who have shared their love, gifts and talents with the community at Mulungwishi. Revs. Lynn and Kay DeMoss, from Muskegon, MI joined us for three months of teaching at the Seminary.

What a contribution they brought in the classroom and in the spiritual life of the community. They are also our ambassadors for the Seminary here in the States. We appreciate so much their commitment and dedication for Mulungwishi.

Roland and Monica Baumann, former Swiss missionaries to Congo, came to introduce solar cookers, which would help with the problem of deforestation. They also introduced the planting of artamesium, a plant that can be used in the treatment and prevention of malaria.

May brought medical Volunteers in Mission team of 12 doctors and nurses to minister in the city of Kolwezi and Mulungwishi. They saw and treated hundreds of people and kept 6 translators very busy. Their presence is part of the continuing connection with the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference.

A second team of 10 from Washington State and Oklahoma were involved in working with a children’s program and in repairing and painting parts of the high school and their faculty’s housing.

Several days after the second VIM team, Mulungwishi and our district hosted two combined Annual Conferences to the tune of some 650 people. It was a real challenge finding room for everyone and providing meals!!! Three teams of ladies (30 each) cooked and served meals for 6 days. Great “bonding” at 4 AM on those cold mornings starting charcoal fires. Bishop Katembo Kainda celebrated 25 years of episcopacy ­ please continue to pray for him and the church leadership.

Our third VIM team from NW Texas and New Mexico arrived along with their Bishop, Max Whitfield. His quiet servant ministry as part of the team, painting and repairing seminary student housing, really touched our community. It is not often you see a Bishop painting and cleaning up. It was also wonderful for him and the others to share with the Seminary professors and students. Each work team brought encouragement and Mulungwishi felt honored and blessed to have them share with us.

Each year also brings some very difficult goodbyes. Some of you may remember our sharing with you about Rev. Kasongo Munza, a graduate of the Seminary. He was the DS started 80 churches in 4 years. He had beautiful gifts of teaching, pastoring and evangelism. These past years, Kasongo has been serving in Zambia and working on a book about bringing the Reality of the Kingdom of God in the African context. His comprehension of the implications of the Gospel and its challenge to the local culture was very much on the cutting edge of what it means to be a Christian. This past two years, he was also battling with cancer. Kasongo passed away in October.

We all felt very privileged to have known him and called him friend. He leaves a challenge to all of us to continue the call to share the Kingdom of our Lord. We will miss him dearly. Please pray for his family.

Mulungwishi also said goodbye to Claus and Beatrice. Their contract with the Swiss and Danish Boards came to an end. Beatrice was instrumental in starting a new development and agricultural program on the station and the surrounding villages. Claus was the pillar of our computer program and getting the School of Information Technology off the ground.

As previously mentioned, we came back to the States in September to speak in New Mexico. Lori had to bow out as medical tests found that she had a benign tumor in the right parotid gland. She underwent surgery on November 7th. She is recovering well. We have had to extend our stay to take care of some other medical problems.

We are blessed and enjoying having the opportunity to be with our children.

We celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving together. Amber flew from Seattle to join us. We are staying in Denver with Michelle, Jeff and Andrew.

Again, we thank you for your continued prayers and support. Thank you for being faithful through the years to the Church in Congo and our family. We pray for you and for blessings in the New Year to come.

We have been reflecting on the word “RESTORATION” this Christmas Season.

We celebrate the birth of our Lord,
But even more, we celebrate that He is our risen Lord,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords!!
Because of Him, we are changed and RESTORED:
He RESTORES a right relationship with Him and the Heavenly Father!
He RESTORES right relationships with our family!
He RESTORES right relationships with our friends, co-workers!
He RESOTRES relationships with those we do not like and our enemies!
He RESTORES so we can share this Good News of
His Righteousness,
His Peace,
And His New Life!

As our hearts are crying and hurting for the killing, the suffering and the tragedies in our world, we pray for His RESTORATION.

We join with you this Christmas in praying for His RESTORATION to continue in all our lives!

General Background and Information about Mulungwishi and the Work:

We work in the southern province of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, our mailing address is in Zambia because the mail service in Congo is non- functioning. Mail is brought up to us by people who are traveling our direction. Our e-mail is: persons_mulungwishi@hotmail.com

We would like to have your help keeping us up to date with your e-mail address changes. Two other persons you can contact for further information are Rev. Lynn DeMoss, coordinator of Friends of Mulungwishi, and Jeanette Michelin. Their e-mails are:
puzisha @ verizon.net
JJMCMH @ aol.com     [without the spaces around the at sign]

In the Seminary, we continue to run between 40-45 students. They are for the most part married and have children. Many have been teachers or working with the local churches. About 10% of the student body are women. The training is at two levels. The first is a three-year degree (equivalent of a Bachelor of Divinity Degree). The Congolese University system follows that of Belgian’s where your first degree is for three years and you start in your chosen field. The students graduate, are ordained and are placed into the ministry in the two Episcopal Areas that we serve. After a minimum of two years (usually 6-8) certain ones are chosen by the Annual Conferences to return for a further two years for a masters degree. When you count all the families and their children, we have between 250 and 300 people in the Seminary community. The Seminary students are all on a full scholarship. It costs about $2500 a year. The scholarship includes tuition at the Seminary, education of the wife at the Women’s School, housing, medical, food, monthly stipend and children’s education. All of this comes from the outside, either from the US or Europe. The government is not helping. The students need the scholarships because the per capita income for the country is $90 a year. There is no way that most of them could afford to come. We therefore have a very rigorous selection process through the Conferences and entrance exams to choose those who come. Because of the scholarship, the graduating students are under the Bishops for their appointments. The wives attend the Women’s School and are trained to be in the ministry with their husbands. This is a three-year curriculum and includes Bible, language, health, nutrition, child-care courses, church history and hands on courses like sewing and knitting. We also train pastors for other denominations. We have also started a Masters Degree in Christian Leadership by extension with a University in the States. While completing this degree, students remain in their jobs while doing the course through seminars, reading, papers and practical exercises.

We are very fortunate to have very qualified and excellent staff for the programs at Mulungwishi. We have five Congolese PhD’s. who are past graduates of the Seminary. They completed further education in Europe, Canada and South Africa. Their experiences in other learning environments and commitment really help the level of the Seminary. We also have 6 Professors with Masters degrees. Then we have many visiting Professors. From visits made by the Board of Higher Education and others from Europe we have been told that our program is one of the highest and strongest in Africa, even comparing with Africa University. It has been important to keep the University at Mulungwishi going because very few of the Congolese can go to Africa University in Zimbabwe and the cost is much less and it is in their own country. It is important for the training of leadership for the future of the country. 50% of the population of Congo is under the age of 18!

The largest denomination in the Congo is the Roman Catholic Church. This is because of the colonization by the Belgians. During the beginning of the missionary movement, the Protestants divided the country up because it is so large (third the size of continental US). Church groups operate as individual denominations under the umbrella of the Church of Christ in Congo. There is very good cooperation between the Protestant churches.

Usually there is one dominant denomination in a region because they are the ones who started the protestant work in the area. In our part of Congo, the Methodists are the biggest presence. In the early days, the Catholics were antagonistic to the Protestants. However, now there is very good cooperation. The Muslims are very small (2-3%). They are growing slowly but most are from countries outside of Congo. Graduates from the Seminary have been recruited by GBGM to work as missionaries in other parts of Africa where there is a strong Muslim presence and can work in the French language. Currently we have Mulungwishi graduates serving as missionaries in Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia. Which is very exciting to see the work come full circle!!

Our big concern is for the Advance Special giving for the Seminary and University. It used to be that all the professors were missionaries so their salaries were paid by GBGM. Also, there was always someone in the States on furlough who was beating the bushes raising money for the Advance for the Seminary. Today, with almost all the professors being Congolese, their salaries now come out of the budget and they do not have the opportunity to come to the States to raise support. This means we have to raise more money with less people to do it. These past three years we have been able to work with three American Conference areas who have relationship with Congo through the Hope For the Children of Africa Program. This will help to have a conference wide interest and commitment. We have many churches, across the US, who give to the Advance for the Seminary and now the University, but it is a constant battle, as pastors or mission priorities change, to keep the interest going. The Board of Global Ministries will pay our way to speak to our Covenant Churches but not for projects like the Advance so we usually zigzag across the country trying to connect both our covenant churches and Advance givers. It is also up to us to produce any pictures, brochures or publicity that we need for this purpose. We cannot accept as many students as before and the cost of the training has gone up so we are constantly on the edge for finances. This year we had over 400 who took the entrance exam and we only had places for 12!!!

The UMC in our part of the Congo is growing in numbers and in outreach to their community. Under the leadership of the UMC there are social programs, hospitals, clinics and schools. In 1960, at independence, there were 20,000 UM in our region. Today we are at about half a million! Four years ago, both Bishops and representatives from the Katanga Province Annual Conferences asked the Seminary to create a University. Since the Seminary was already accredited by the national university system, we could add other schools so as to branch out and minister in other areas. Three years ago, we created the Katanga Methodist University by adding the School of Information Technology and the School of Education. We wanted to get the computer school going because the country needs to catch up with the rest of the world. We graduated our first class this past year. Interestingly enough, the government has asked our graduates to help with the computer registration of voters for the first vote in the country since independence. This registration is going on as we write and we pray for the country as it prepares for it’s first real elections in 40 years!!!

Mobuto Sese Seko, a military dictator, ruled the Congo for over 30 years. He was overthrown in 1997 and replaced by the military opposition with Kabila.

A year latter rebels in opposition to Kabila, with Rwanda and Uganda attacked the Eastern areas of Congo and we have been in a civil war since that time. Kabila (father) was assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Kabila stepped in. This war, which has included 6 countries from the outside, has destroyed more than half the country (cities, towns, hospitals etc. and mission stations) and resulted in over 4 million deaths, mainly women and children. The horror has yet to be really fully revealed. It is estimated by the U.N. that over a thousand people are still dying daily because of lack of medical and food. Many are living and hiding in the bush, their gardens, lands ravaged by soldiers. In the past three years there has been a shaky peace brokered and with the help of western agencies and we are hoping to have the elections this next year. Our station, Mulungwishi, is in the very South and our area as not had the damage and destruction as in other parts of the country. Life is very difficult for the average person and the economy is in chaos but schools, etc. function and small commerce continues much to our amazement! Most people have been living hand to mouth. The government is not paying salaries regularly or sometimes not at all to teachers, soldiers and other governmental agencies. Families have to pay a certain amount each month for their children to go to school or university. Most institutions or programs, that are running, are under various Church management or NGO’s.

The reason for so much of the war and power struggle is Congo’s vast mineral wealth, which is at this time not very controlled and therefore everyone has their hand in the black-market and in taking minerals out. There is an article in the newest BBC News that show young men digging gold out by hand and shovels. There are no safety regulations and many are killed by cave-ins and incorrect methods. The author of the article was let down into a pitch and told to walk a kilometer in the black tunnel and then he would find the shaft off to the left!!! Two men had died the week before because of lack of oxygen! The report states that in the year 2004, the nation of Uganda exported over $61 million worth of gold when they do not have functioning gold mines??? Rwanda and Uganda have said they have pulled their troops out but they are still there and living off the Congo riches. The HRW quotes that “the Congolese citizens deserve to benefit from the country’s rich resources not be cursed by them.” The major problem is that the western mega businesses are racking in incredible benefits while the Congolese themselves are dying!!! It is the same story for the important cell phone metal coltan, which chiefly comes from the Congo. Think of how much our cell phones cost and the service??? The question is how we as Christians can speak to these issues???

The real crunch we are facing as an institution is two fold. The first is in terms of faculty. The Seminary is in good shape with our staff. However we need more faculty for the Schools of Computer and Education. The second is in terms of finances. We are running the University on what we use to get for the Seminary. We are also looking into ways to make the University more self-supporting. We have tried various agriculture programs but because of the chaotic situation in the country, it has not been profitable. We really need help in raising awareness of what great things are happening in Congo through the UMC and invite others to partner with us.

David and Lori Persons

Congo mailing address:
P.O. Box 22037
Kitwe, Zambia
Africa

U.S. mailing address:
1707 S. Deframe St
Lakewood, CO 80228

Our Email address is Persons_mulungwishi @ hotmail.com  [without the spaces]
Please remember that our email system is elementary. So be patient with us.

This page was last updated 12/18/2005