Mennonite Weekly Review

KINSHASA, Congo — Mennonite Church USA leaders returned to Congo Nov. 11-24 to follow up on a delegation visit 21 months ago and made progress in relationship-building that exceeded their expectations.

From left, Mennonite Church USA moderator Sharon Waltner, national director for women’s work for CEM Marie Claire Kamwanya Meta, women’s president for CEM Florence Nsumbu and women’s secretary for CEM Josee Mbombo Bintu enthusiastically share their hopes for women in church leadership. — Photo provided by MC USA

Moderator Sharon Waltner and associate executive director Ron Byler were in Kinshasa and Mbuji Mayi to strengthen relationships with two conferences of Mennonites in Congo — Communaute Mennonite au Congo, or CMCo, and Communaute Evangelique Mennonite, or CEM.

In Kinshasa, Waltner and Byler participated in the Mennonite World Conference Forum, a three-year process bringing together youth, women and pastors with leaders of the two Mennonite conferences and the Mennonite Brethren to talk about how they relate to each other and to Mennonites in other parts of the world.

“The best process is one that bothers us, one that provides sufficient resistance to enable progress,” said Toss Mukwa, group facilitator. He cited electricity and gearshifts as examples of how resistance brings forward movement.

Congo churches want to work for self-sufficiency by forming partnerships at all levels of the church. They want unity among their churches, and they want to be an active part of the global church community.

Mukwa encouraged participants to think about the future and the gifts each member has to share.

“God is showing us new things, and that usually means change,” Waltner said. “Change is hard in Congo and the United States, but with God’s help and with our prayers for each other, we can exceed our expectations.”

With Tim Lind, an MWC staff member assigned to work with Congo and Mennonite Church USA leaders; and Rod Hollinger Janzen, director of Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission; Waltner and Byler returned to Mbuji Mayi, more than 500 miles east of Kinshasa, where they had visited with part of the previous delegation in early 2007.

They met with Benjamin Mubenga, CEM president, Mathieu Shimatu, vice president, and more than a half dozen women and men who are key church leaders. Leaders of the two churches talked about the opportunities and challenges of being faithful churches in their cultural settings.

CEM leaders showed their incredulity at the realities of church life in the United States.