A letter from Inge Sthreshley in Congo
November 8, 2010
SNAPSHOTS
Dear Friends,
The blue Congo flags were going up on either side of the main roads in Kinshasa, the grey walls were getting whitewashed and the trash on the streets was getting cleaned up. I had never seen Kinshasa this clean or looking so festive. It was the week leading up to June 30 — Congo’s Independence Day. In a few days the Democratic Republic of Congo would be celebrating 50 years of nationhood. As I drove through the city I wanted to get a snapshot of the flag-lined roads. This was a historic moment!
Snapshots … history … hmm? I started wondering what was happening in Congo 50 years ago, not just politically, but with Presbyterian missions. What would a snapshot of that time look like? What about 100 years ago? I started doing some reading.
1910 — 100 Years Ago
First I turned to William Sheppard: Congo’s African American Livingstone by William E. Phipps (Geneva Press, 2002). I discovered that in December 1909, William Sheppard, one of the first two Presbyterian missionaries to Congo, resigned from the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM) after 20 years of service. Sheppard and Samuel Lapsley had arrived in Congo in 1890. Lapsley had died from malaria in 1892. (During the early years of mission work in Congo only one out of four missionaries survived their first term of service.) Sheppard had persevered. At the time of his departure from Congo, there were a small number of Presbyterian missionaries at the APCM mission stations at Luebo and Ibanche in the Kasai region. The Presbyterian churches there had 7,705 members, and Sheppard spoke of 400 educated evangelists in Kuba villages.
Just a couple of months before Sheppard resigned, charges had been dropped against him in a libel trial brought by the Kasai Company. Sheppard and William Morrison, another Presbyterian missionary, had been speaking out for years against the atrocities and the forced labor Congolese endured at the hands of state and trading agents involved in the rubber trade. These atrocities had decimated entire villages. Sheppard’s reports and trial brought international attention to the oppressive rubber trade. They contributed to the Belgian government ending King Leopold’s rule of Congo as his private domain and enacting the free trade law that outlawed the use of compulsory labor by trading companies like the Kasai Company.
1960 — 50 Years Ago
In 1960 the headquarters of the APCM was located in Luluabourg (Kananga), the capital city of the Kasai province. According to mission scholar Virginia Pruitt, the APCM had 102 missionaries preaching, teaching and healing in the region. On November 2, 1959, the mission granted autonomy to the Presbyterian Church in Congo (CPC). At the time the new denomination was comprised primarily of people from the Baluba and Lulua tribes. The creation of the new denomination took place amidst mounting tensions between the two tribes. Violent conflict between Baluba and Lulua peoples would continue for several years with the Presbyterian missionaries caught in the middle.
Congo received its independence from Belgium on the June 30, 1960. Within days of independence, the army mutinied in cities across the country. On July 10, 1960, Belgian paratroopers intervened by dropping into Luluabourg. Mass evacuation of Europeans and all Presbyterian missionaries took place the following day. But within a week a small group of missionary men returned. In January 1961, 45 Presbyterian missionaries were back on the field.
In that first year of independence, Congo’s first president and prime minister had to deal with tribal conflicts, wars and two secessionist movements. The United Nations was called in to restore order and fill key technical positions vacated by Belgians who had fled. The U.N. would remain for four years to keep the peace. It was a period of rapid change and intense upheaval.
2010
Today there are just a handful of Presbyterian missionaries in Congo, but the CPC is large and thriving. There are more Presbyterian churches, hospitals, health centers and schools than there were in the 1960s. The focus of PC(USA) World Mission is now on partnership, capacity building and facilitating communities of mission practice. Missionaries now often help link Congolese congregations and presbyteries with international partners.
Congo’s first free and democratic elections were held in 2006. With four years of peace in the western and southern parts of the country, these regions are on an upward trajectory economically. But in the eastern part of the country, Congo’s natural resources continue to be its curse. Metals used in the electronics industry are extracted and sold, fueling militias and funding a 14-year war in which soldiers use sexual violence as a weapon. Again the U.N. is in Congo trying to help keep the peace.
As in the early 1900s with the rubber trade, Presbyterians have been active in calling for action by governments and companies to stop the abuses and atrocities that are being committed in the east. Much of the violence can be linked to the extractive metal industries. As I write this, Larry is in Goma, giving oversight and direction to a program called “Ushindi” that helps survivors of rape and gender-based violence get access to medical care, legal and social services.
What will a snapshot look like in 2060? My prayer is that it will find Presbyterians in the United States and in Congo continuing to be faithful in sharing the Good News and, as Sheppard wrote in a letter about 100 years ago, continuing “to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and succor the distressed.”
Thank you for your support. We have a lot to thank God for as we look back on the history of Presbyterian missions in Congo and as we celebrate with our Congolese brothers and sisters in Christ this year marking 50 years of independence. As we move forward in partnership, may we continue to “run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Inge Sthreshley
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 55
