Skip to main content

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” — Luke 23:42

Mission Connections
Join us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   Subscribe by RSS

For more information:

Mission Connections letters
and Mission Speakers
Anne Blair
(800) 728-7228, x5272
Send Email

Or write to
100 Witherspoon Street
Louisville, KY 40202

A letter from John and Gwenda Fletcher serving in Congo

Fall 2014 - Many thanks

Dear Friends,

A common practice in many American homes on Thanksgiving Day is for each person present to name things from the past year for which he or she is grateful.  If we were sitting around the Thanksgiving dinner table with you on November 27, the list of things we would name is extensive.

First of all, we wouldn’t be in Congo but for the regular and generous gifts from 31 churches and presbyteries and 34 individuals and families. And, secondly, we couldn’t stay here but for the prayers and encouragement of innumerable friends, family, acquaintances and saints unknown.

Thirdly, we are grateful for the organizations that strengthen and enhance the Congolese Presbyterian Church (CPC)'s medical and education ministries: 

  • Some of the children in the Ditekemena (“Hope”) Program for street children

    The Great Commission Fund of First Pres. Evanston, Ill., matched gifts from churches, presbyteries and individuals of the Congo Mission Network to complete the construction of a new school building serving over 1,000 students in Mwene Ditu, East Kasai. 

  • The Medical Benevolence Foundation sends funds and supplies and enables training, which help keep the CPC’s eight hospitals running. They also covered the costs of medical assessments for four handicapped street kids, provide major funding to enable the crucial renovations to the IMCK and Bibanga Hospital hydro plants and facilitate fund transfers for several CPC projects.  With MBF’s support and encouragement, IMCK is studying the feasibility of starting a high-quality surgical residency program.

  • The Outreach Foundation gave funds to ensure continuance of the CPC’s Computer and English Program for High School Girls, and mobility funds that allow us to get around so we can do our jobs.

  • The Wilson Rehabilitation Foundation has funded IMCK’s participation in the SIGN orthopedic program, which so far has helped 37 patients heal from serious and potentially disabling fractures.

  • The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley of Birmingham, Ala., through its partnership with two Congolese presbyteries has provided textbooks, principals’ offices, new desks, scholarships, four blocks of latrines, literacy training for women, and funds for the educational needs of the 23 children in the Ditekemena (“Hope”) program, which works to reintegrate street children into their families of origin.

  • The Mwene Ditu school building under construction

  • The Foundation of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala, has provided the funds for one year’s medical care for the 23 Ditekemena kids.

  • First Pres. Evanston, Ill., donated the money necessary for the annual meeting of the CPC’s three Education Administrators, enabling them to meet and develop a coordinated plan for the coming year. They also helped purchase a motorcycle for an Education supervisor, made it possible for CPC Education leadership to get together to write a grant proposal for a CPC-wide teacher training project, and contributed funds for books and supplies at Zapo Zapo Primary School.

  • First Pres., Normal, Ill., contributed scholarship funds and made it possible for the CPC to purchase a motorcycle for use by Education supervisors in East Kasai.

  • First Pres., Yuma, Ariz., supported the Computer and English Program for High School Girls and gave funds for the Ditekemena Project to plant a field with manioc, beans and vegetables and to soon dig and stock a fish pond to help the program meet the nutritional needs of the children. The church also supports four scholarship students at the IMCK high-school level nursing school and a program run through the IMCK church to provide food to indigent hospitalized patients who are malnourished.

  • The necklace-making women of Lafayette-Orinda Pres. Church, Lafayette, Calif., have generously contributed to the Computer and English Program for HS Girls, helped purchase a motorcycle for an Education supervisor, and provided school scholarships.

  • Swarthmore PC, Swarthmore, Pa., raised a large gift for the Computer and English program through their annual Alternative Christmas Shop.

  • A fracture patient being examined by a medical student

  • Myers Park PC, Charlotte, N.C., continues to support efforts to increase the capacity and transparency of IMCK’s administrative services, helps Tshikaji area schools with back-to-school costs, and remains a stalwart encourager of Dipa dia Nzambi pilot school for girls.

  • Broad Street Pres., Columbus, Ohio, is a faithful supporter of the IMCK fistula program and generous friend to the Computer and English program.
  • First Pres., Newberg, Ore., supported the costs for three girls to participate in the Computer and English Program for High School Girls and they’re in the middle of a campaign to help other girls this year.

  • Rivers of the World (ROW), on its annual trip to Congo,always brings a large number of trunks filled with vital supplies for CPC hospitals and otherwise supports CPC ministries through a lot of scholarships and support of the IMCK nutrition center, nursing schools, and funds for charity medical care.
     
  • PC(USA) World Mission staff share their experience, wisdom and counsel with us, our Congolese partners, and U.S. constituents.  They send out these letters, they handle the myriad complications that arise when trying to keep track of nearly 200 mission workers in 50 nations, and they faithfully, carefully receive and send on the gifts you donate for God’s mission around the world.

  • A great number of individuals—too numerous to name—have contributed to various aspects of the CPC’s education and medical ministries.  One young junior high student in California has twice rallied her schoolmates to raise funds for Dipa dia Nzambi Girls’ School.  Other individuals send gifts for textbooks, teacher training, charity medical care, medications, etc.  The list of donors is as varied and long as the list of needs and the methods of raising funds—sales of root beer floats, crocheting necklaces, Alternative Christmas Shops, benefit movie nights, rummage sales, auctions, penny jars, etc.—are as imaginative and clever as their organizers.

We are also grateful for the many of you who share your time and energy—some come to Congo (usually bringing trunks of needed supplies) to attend board meetings, volunteer and encourage the CPC through physical presence.  Others help Stateside by spending hours writing messages, researching grant possibilities, attending meetings, and spreading the word about what God is doing in Congo.

We’re thankful for our daughter, who handles our financial and legal affairs and runs countless errands on our behalf.  And for our son who tracks down obscure medical information for John, puts him in touch with cutting-edge experts, and “discusses” medical cases via email with him.

And last, but most emphatically not least, we are grateful to God for the gift of faith and the privilege of partnering with all of you and our Congolese brothers and sisters in the joyous task of sharing the Good News of his love and grace.

Thanksgiving blessings to you all,
John & Gwenda

The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 138
Read more about John and Gwenda Fletcher's ministry

Write to John Fletcher
Write to Gwenda Fletcher
Individuals: Give online to MI910005 for John and Gwenda Fletcher's sending and support
Congregations: Give to D501278 for John and Gwenda Fletcher's sending and support
Churches are asked to send donations through your congregation’s normal receiving site (this is usually your presbytery).

A group of our committed donors has pledged to match all gifts sent for mission personnel support now through December 31, 2014, up to $75,000. This means your gift today will be matched by a gift to support mission personnel around the world, wherever the need is greatest.  We invite you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to double the impact of your gift.  Thank you!

Topics:
Tags: