Mennonite Weekly Review

BUKAVU, Congo — Among the hundreds of Mennonite Brethren churches that dot the landscape of Congo, one stands apart.

Jamie Munday, lower left corner, who serves with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International, meets with leaders from the Mennonite church at Bukavu, Congo. — Photo provided by Jamie Munday

L’Eglise Mennonite du Grand Lac (Mennonite Church of the Great Lake) is an unusual church for a number of reasons.

Unlike its sister churches in the western Congo started by North American missionaries, EMGL is the fruit of Congolese seed, tracing its roots to a band of church planters from the capital city, Kinshasa, 13 years ago. The pastor preaches at the main church in Bukavu and oversees six congregations just outside the city.

Perhaps more atypical is the church’s location — 3,000 miles removed from the nearest sister church. Perched high above Lake Kivu, Bukavu would be celebrated for its lush jungle and stunning vistas were it not an international focal point of violence. Bukavu is at the crossroads of conflict stemming in part from the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.

For many in the church, their lives have been characterized by fear and suffering.

Worship is in a makeshift tent awkwardly situated on the side of a hill. Wrapped haphazardly around an unstable wooden edifice were strips of off-white canvas marked with the U.N. identification characteristic of the countless refugee settlements in the area. The letters “EMGL” scrawled beneath a small cross on a handmade pulpit were tiny indications this was a house of God.

It would be understatement to say EMGL has suffered hardship.

“The church was birthed into violence,” said Dieudonne Kalamuna, a medical doctor and founding member of EMGL.

A joint effort by Congo’s three Mennonite conferences, the church was planted in 1996 only months before rebel soldiers bombed and subjugated the city.

Kalamuna and his family were forced to leave the city under U.N. decree. He recalls hearing word that his hospital had been attacked and the patients massacred upon evacuation of the staff. Shortly afterward, he and his family returned to Bukavu where he continues to work.