20 clergy ordained

Last weekend I had the immense joy of ordaining clergy into the Church (15 as deacons and 5 as priests) from across the whole of the diocese. I have had the privilege of teaching most of them over the last 6 years, and they have all been tested in ministry, and have parish leadership experience. Many are already leading churches.

The service was held in the school playground adjoining the cathedral as the cathedral is too small (as well as being bomb-damaged from a previous war and now sporting a slightly wonky wall.) The service came in just under 4 ½ hours, and the persistent rain could do nothing to dampen the joy and the wild dancing of the many hundreds who came. With these ordinations we have seen a huge leap clergy from 66 to 81.

The ordinations were followed by the Diocesan Council where we heard from each of the archdeacons in turn. We heard of stolen fields, kidnappings, displacement, violence, poverty and fear. But we also heard that in every archdeaconry, there were over 100 baptisms last year, in every archdeaconry we had bought land and build churches, and in every archdeaconry, we held large-scale evangelism campaigns in churches and in schools. In every archdeaconry there are also hundreds of confirmation candidates waiting for the security situation to improve so that the bishop can travel safely to confirm them.

Photos: 15 newly ordained deacons; the queue for food after the service; before the College of Bishops waiting for the bus to leave on its 10-hour journey on uneven roads;

A long trek to the College of Bishops

Roughly every year, depending on funding and the security situation, the Congolese College of Bishops meets. It is always challenging to get everyone together face to face, but Zoom just doesn’t work well enough in DRC for effective decision-making. By way of example the archbishop called an emergency Zoom meeting recently with 24 hours’ notice. 3 bishops gave their apologies due to poor internet and a further 3 never received the message.

For last month’s College of Bishops most of the bishops travelled through Kampala, Uganda before making the 10-hour overnight coach journey to Arua in northern Uganda and then crossing back into DRC, to the Diocese of Aru, Archbishop Ande’s diocese.

During the meeting God gave us real encouragement as we heard about growth in every single diocese, through a clear focus on evangelism (aiming to grow the Anglican Church of Congo to 1 million by 2030) and a concerted effort to teach the new catechism to every Anglican in every parish in the next 2 years.

Bishop Sabiti, from Kamango diocese, was not with us, as he had been unwell for some time, and sadly he passed away while we were in Aru. Kamango will now be one of 5 dioceses that will, in the next 18 months, have an election for their next bishop. The others are Kinshasa, Kasai, Butembo and Bukavu. Episcopal elections are often fraught with tribal positioning and personal lust for power. ‘Losing’ candidates frequently leave the church or seek to destabilise the elected bishop, as happened in Goma with the election of our first bishop.

How can you pray?

• For the 20 clergy who were ordained as they continue their ministry with a greater leadership responsibility

• For peaceful elections and transitions in the 5 dioceses listed above

• For lasting peace and security in eastern DRC