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Brass For AfricaThis is a brief account of the Langham Preaching training programme in Goma, the centre of unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as told by Muhindo Isesomo (Langham Preaching country coordinator), and two Langham facilitators, Gordon Woolard and Mike McGowan.
Once a year, the Langham Preaching programme in Congo (DRC) gathers together a small group of pastors, continuing the training in Biblical preaching. This year they chose a week in October and a city in the east of the country. It happened that the city was Goma, and the week was October 27-31, the week the troubled conflict in eastern DRC exploded.
‘We are very thankful to God for his protection during the seminar, and also for the brothers and sisters around the world who have been praying for us’, said Muhindo Isesomo. He described how 22 delegates had arrived from different parts of the DRC, except those from Kasai and Rutshuru, who were blocked by rebels. The training began on Monday, and so did the gunfire. ‘It continued right through the night, some of it very close and frightening’, said Mike McGowan. ‘The prison was on fire on Monday evening, and police killed a number of people. Civilians were shot. On Wednesday things erupted again when the Congolese army fled Goma, taking their tanks at top speed through the streets. A curfew was imposed, and there were rumours that the rebels would enter the city.’ The firing went on through the night.
The brothers from around DRC would not be distracted, and the training programme continued through the week until Thursday. They were determined to complete their level 3 preaching training, and were keen that the group of local trainers were equipped, ready to launch new level 1 training programmes in their home regions. Across the DRC there are now 27 local preachers’ clubs, with nearly 300 participants. They in turn are impacting countless believers in many hundreds of congregations. The ripple effects of the preaching training are substantial as, in many corners of this vast and troubled country, pastors and lay preachers proclaim the Word with renewed faithfulness, clarity and relevance.
‘I don’t know about Gordon’, Mike wrote. ‘But I spent the night in prayer. I think Gordon did too.’ They kept the lights off at night and stayed below window level, praying for the city ‘and especially for the traumatised children’, said Gordon.
‘Even after only four days we found that any loud noise would make you flinch. I’m trying to picture how a child would be affected living with this every day. I felt one night in bed that the situation presented me with a choice. Either the gospel is true, and it would make sense to be here in Goma for the sake of training people to preach the Bible; or the gospel is false, and it’s plain silly to train people to preach a myth that ends in oblivion. The gunfire cleared the brain to think objectively. I decided that Jesus is true and that it made sense to be where I was. I won’t kid you, though. It was good to walk back across the border into Rwanda.’
Gordon and Mike completed the training on Thursday and, against the odds, were able to leave Goma and join the staff of many NGOs leaving the country to the east, crossing the border into Rwanda. ‘We even had a certificate celebration on Wednesday night, with bullets flying round outside. We had to keep our heads down …’, said Mike. ‘The whole experience tested our faith in a living God to the limits, but he is there and he is faithful.’
Isesomo is a remarkable leader with a calm and cheerful presence. He stayed with the pastors, because there was more training to be done – and no flights to leave Goma. They worked together on the plans for equipping pastors in different parts of the country.
Isesomo has written to me: ‘We would like to develop training of pastors for people in Bandundu, Katanga, Bas-Congo, Equateur and Congo-Brazzaville. We hope the 10 people trained this week will start level 1 events in their different regions. Then we would like to train these trainers still further. We need more Bibles, bikes and motorbikes – this is a priority for the preachers’ clubs.’
He won’t stop. He knows what really matters for the church and for a nation in sustained crisis. It is God’s Word, in the power of God’s Spirit, that brings the gospel of Christ to needy men and women and has the potential to transform broken lives and shattered societies.
We need to pray for them. Gordon concluded, ‘I come home. They stay. I now follow the news from afar. They live the news each day.’
Jonathan Lamb
Director, Langham Preaching
