Making an Impact

Making an Impact
God’s ways are above our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. We make our plans but God directs our steps. Below is a partial list of how God has expanded the efforts of Hope for Congo over the last eight years.

Hope for Congo is . . .

Invested in Projects
• Bible Distribution (10,000 Bibles to date)
• Safe Drinking Water (Ram pump supplies water to Ndjoko Punda and the hospital)
• Hand Drilling Equipment
• Training for Well Drilling
• 20 Hospital Beds
• Medical Equipment
• Tools for 4 Technical Trade Schools

Joseph

Invested in People
• Academic Assistance for 8 People in Post-secondary Education
• 2 Young Men Completed Education & Ready to Serve God
1. Joseph trained in areas of mechanical and electrical technologies,
He also studied agriculture and animal husbandry
2. Daniel received a degree in Theology from the Protestant University
He has the gift of evangelism
Both young men have said yes to God
They return soon to invest their time, energy, and skills back into the community
They will represent and assist Hope for Congo directly with projects in Ndjoko Punda

Invested in Healthy Partnerships
We have been blessed through collaboration with these groups:
• AIMM
• Church in Congo
• Congo Collaboration Group
Our goal is to continue these relationships and to expand our collaboration to include other faith-based organizations. Together we can create an even greater impact over a larger geographical area and population.

You Can Partner with Hope for Congo . . .

Our Congolese brothers and sisters our able to work for themselves. What they need are tools and resources to help their community move forward in areas of agriculture, community health, education and jobs that will enable them to break the cycle of poverty.
You can help the Congolese move forward and bring hope to the next generation.
Over the coming weeks we will expand on the details of this initial outline. In the meantime please consider how you may support the people of Congo through your donations and especially through your prayers. We are asking for your help.

Prayer Requests:

Daniel
  • Ndjoko Punda – May Christ intervene in this horrific situation.
    Reports indicate battles rage between the military and the militia. People are in hiding.
  • Pray for peace.
  • Pray for an end to the evil that is causing the violence and greed.
  • Daniel and Joseph planned to return to Ndjoko Punda.(Photo above is from their commitment ceremony at the Kinshasa church, their church family throughout their education and training while in Kinshasa) Hope4Congo was able to return them safely to Kinshasa. Praise the Lord. Pray for their safety in Kinshasa where they will remain for the near term. Pray for the safety of their Kinshasa church family as well.
  • Pray for wisdom and safety of all Christians working in Congo to Change this Powder-Keg Atmosphere

© 2017 Hope4Congo

Dedicated to the People of Congo

This week’s blog post honors Michael Sharp and all the other Christians (missionaries and nationals) who have lost their lives laboring for the people of Congo.

We also honor Zaida Catalan (Michael’s fellow UN worker) and Betu Tshintela (their Congolese interpreter) who shared the same grave with Michael.

It is believed the three died because of their work to bring peace and justice to the people of Congo.

Please read the link for more insight into Michael’s life, motivation, and work: http://mennoworld.org/2017/03/29/news/sharp-pursued-peace-around-the-globe/

Urgent Prayer Requests

  • Negotiations have broken down. The violence has increased for civilians including children, especially in south central Congo’s Kasai region which is home to many Mennonite congregations. Please pray for the people of the Kasai region. The situation is critical.
  • Pray for an end to the violence and greed. Only God can bring the balance of justice and grace that are so desperately needed.
  • Pray for the safety of those whose God-given work takes them into dangerous areas. May our Lord Jesus who made blind eyes see, make the seeing eyes blind of any who seek to do evil to His servants.
  • Pray that these recent deaths are not in vain. As God brought good out of the evil Joseph’s brothers intended for him, so may God bring good out of this situation. (Genesis 50:20)

Please pray with us.

© 2017 Hope4Congo

 

 

 

 

 

Sad News

Last week we sent out an Urgent Prayer Request for the safety and release of six kidnapped victims. If you did not read that you may use the link above to do so.

Today we received the following news:

Two Caucasian bodies have been found in shallow graves in the search area, one male and one female. Since no other Caucasians have been reported missing in the region, there is a high probability that these are the bodies of the American, Michael Sharp and the Swede, Zaida Catalán.

Dental records and DNA samples will be used to confirm the identities. This will take some time.

Please pray for Michael’s and Zaida’s families.

Please pray for peace in Congo.

© 2017 Hope4Congo

 

Urgent Prayer Request

IMPORTANT PRAYER REQUEST:

Six Individuals Were Recently Kidnapped
Michael Sharp (from Hesston, KS) was one of them.
Please pray for the safe return of all six people.

ADDENDUM: The following information is from an online source, BeniLuberoOnline. It has been condensed from a longer article, which was translated from the orignal French. We cannot verify the accuracy of the information or the opinions expressed concerning the political situation.

This conflict began in the summer of 2016 when this guru (traditional chief Kamuina Nsapu), at the head of a political-religious movement, decided to make a crusade against Kinshasa and its local representatives in order to denounce the corruption and the waste of the central State. The chief (Kamuina Nsapu) was killed in August 2016 during a particularly violent military operation. From the time of the death of this leader of the militia, the province was plunged into a spiral of reprisal-repression, which extended into the other Kasai provinces east and west.

In February 2017, the cycle of violence increased after the circulation of a video, which showed Congolese soldiers killing at point blank range some of the Kamuina Nsapu followers who were armed only with sticks. The video caused a great stir. The government initially denied its authenticity before authorizing the formation of the commission to investigate what seem to be summary executions of civilians.

Several days later, three communal graves were discovered in connection with the violence, which had taken place since the Kamuina Nsapu insurrection. The militia groups swept toward the town of Kananga to seek revenge, but they were stopped in the outlying areas of the town by the army. The militia groups ransacked the grounds of a convent.

On 11 March, 18 militia fighters were killed in skirmishes with the police at Mwene-Ditu, at Lomami in ex-Kasai-oriental. The security crisis took a completely different form the next day, Sunday, 12 March, with the disappearance of two foreign UN experts who were on a mission in the region: the Swedish woman Zaida Catalán, the American Michael Sharp and four Congolese men who were accompanying them. A “kidnapping” denounced by the Congolese government who accused “negative forces.” Monusco, the UN mission in Congo, is actively pursuing an investigation and accuses, like the Congolese authorities, the Kamuina Nsapu of being behind this kidnapping.

PLEASE PRAY for the safe return of all six people.

© 2017 Hope4Congo

Praise & Prayer Ongoing Need

Youth in Kahemba wait for the movie after soccer clinic

The photo above shows some of the dear ones we hope will be used of God to make a difference in their country because of the difference God has made in their lives.

Prayer Request:
Tensions seem to be heating up in Congo once again. Please remember the situation in your prayers regarding the delayed election. Pray for wisdom and peace.

Read the article at the link below for additional news:
http://abcnews.go.com/

©2017 Hope4Congo

 

Soccer Success

Would you practice soccer at 5:30 a.m.?

Last week I promised you’d be hearing more about the Transformational Leadership Seminars conducted by Congo Leadership Coaching Network, CLCN). I think you’ll be pleased to read the praises contained in this preliminary report from Charles Buller (CLCN). The following excerpts focus on the success of the soccer clinics.

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The soccer clinics were planned with regional youth leaders for more than one afternoon during the seminars. We had several goals for expanding these clinics:
• To reach more youth with the evangelistic message of salvation in Christ
• To present a vision and basic tools for discipleship for those already following Christ
• To broaden the sense of ownership and involvement in the vision for these events among the national youth leadership team
• To interest the leadership of the regional church in the youth and their formation as young leaders
• To deploy the multiple gifts of the coaching team in the soccer clinics.

Our goals were reached far beyond my expectations. These youth events became a significant part of our ministry and had a meaningful impact in many young lives. The leaders gathered for the adult seminars witnessed the importance of youth ministry.

Andre Kalenga (center, white shirt) exhorts youth at the end of soccer practice.

I could write volumes on how and why I believe the clinics were such noteworthy successes, however I’ll condense my thoughts on the subject in two basic observations or convictions.

1. Andre Kalenga became a burgeoning transformational leader. It was exciting to see him develop over the course of the two weeks that we were on the road. Major growth occurred in his life! His presence on the trip meant he also got to take in the adult seminars, which clearly impacted his own life.

Andre teaching at Kahemba

I think he was equally surprised to see how powerfully God used him to mobilize hundreds of youth. He knew he had to step up or it wasn’t going to happen. At first he was a bit hesitant, but quickly took on the leadership mantle. The youth respected and followed his leadership.

His style was authentic to who God made him to be and his gentle, but direct way of leading proved most effective. He modeled the principles of leadership that we seek to impart in the seminars.

In order to participate in this trip, Andre had to seek permission to be excused from two weeks of classes at UCKIN. This was a big price to pay.

I believe his leadership set the course for some new patterns in these sports clinics. He involved the coaching team all along the way and each of us shared in some aspect of the teaching and the exercises on the soccer field.

2. The reformatted clinics, spread out over four days, with the accompanying discipleship and evangelistic content were a powerful one-two punch. This magnified the impact of the gospel and the importance of the church in participants’ lives.

Youth met for workouts in the early morning (note the 5:30 a.m. practice photo above). Then gathered for a teaching at 4:30 p.m. followed by soccer-triangle drills from 5-6:00 p.m. At the end of the clinic a final match day was held. These final games gathered hundreds of spectators.

Reconciling Players after a fight

If a disagreement occurred between participants the coaching team could stop the games and reconcile the players. This added benefit due to the coaching team’s involvement turned the whole event into something of an evangelistic and discipleship experience.

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If you’ve been following this blog you already knew that Robert Irundu sent his national vice president, Andre Kalenga to lead the soccer clinics this time. You may not have known that Hope4Congo supports Andre in his Theological studies at the Protestant University.

Praise & Prayer:
• Praise the Lord for how He provided this opportunity for Andre to grow in his leadership skills
• Praise the Lord for the effectiveness and willing participation of all the leadership team
• Praise the Lord that the regional churches saw the importance of youth ministry
• Praise the Lord for the evangelism and discipleship that took place at both the youth and adult seminars
• Pray that the Lord will continue to provide funding for the training of young leaders like Andre
• Pray for wisdom about continued soccer clinics alongside the leadership coaching seminars
• If it is God’s will to continue them, pray that He will bring forward leaders for the soccer clinics
• Pray for God’s direction regarding the potential for more leadership coaching seminars this spring

© 2017 Hope4Congo