Letter from Mike: Congo – May 2019
As I write, I am traveling home from the impoverished country of Democratic Republic of Congo, where God is doing an amazing work. During my trip I thought often about Matthew 4:16, “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.” Even today, the world holds some very dark areas, spiritually speaking. Many have never heard the gospel message of Revelation 14. Of the 41 million people in Western Congo, tens of millions have never even had an opportunity to hear God’s last warning message. In fact, a majority of the cities and villages in this region have no Seventh-day Adventist church. The people are left to believe in the evil traditions of ancestor worship and to seek counsel from witch doctors for guidance in their lives.
For the past year and a half, Mission Projects International has been working with a team of twenty Bible workers led by Thomas Ongasa, a faithful Seventh-day Adventist pastor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our mission together is to plant churches in the darkest places of the DR Congo. Many of these remote villages can be reached only by foot or 4-wheel drive.
Before being sent out into the field, the workers attend a training school to give them a thorough understanding of public and personal evangelism. After their classroom education, they work in a local church under a faithful pastor who supervises and guides them. This gives them training in organizing church services and preaching. During my trip, I visited with all twenty of the Bible workers we support to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and to see the churches they have raised up. I saw firsthand how God is using these Bible workers to reach the unreached!
Emmanuel, one of the Bible workers hired by Mission Projects, is working in the region of Bandundu, a remote area on the Wamba River. The Lord has blessed this faithful brother’s work. In just a year and a half he has established three new churches and is working to raise up a fourth. Through his energetic enthusiasm to share Christ’s love in the Three Angels’ Messages, more than 110 people have been baptized. When Emmanuel shared the Sabbath in his first public campaign, many were convinced of the truth from the Bible. The village chief attended that meeting, and he was convicted of the truth and decided to surrender to the Lord. To follow through with his decision, the chief donated a plot of land to build a bush church and there began observing the Sabbath along with a large group who had also taken their stand. A few weeks later, as some of the new believers were going to church, they saw one of their number going out to work in his cornfield. The chief and several others approached this man and warned him not to work on the Sabbath. The man said he was going to work anyway. That day he had a terrible accident. Many who heard about it were convinced that the Sabbath must be God’s day of worship. The man’s accident actually helped more people to listen to the Bible worker’s message! A mighty work began in this area and has been spreading like wildfire throughout the surrounding villages.
Mission Projects would like to hire more Bible workers to plant many churches in the dark areas of the Congo. Our first goal is to have fifty Bible workers fanning out through this land. To support a Bible worker costs less than three dollars per day. If you feel impressed to help send more Bible workers into dark regions, mark your donations “Congo Workers.”
Yours in letting the light shine!