Growing the Church in Walikale

Every day I get news from Walikale, and usually it is encouraging. Walikale is our archdeaconry in the forest, ‘rediscovered’ by the diocese about four years ago to become one of our main mission priorities, where there is an open door for the Gospel. The short video that sets the scene is here.

Since 2024, the church in Walikale has gone from a handful of struggling groups of believers to 17 churches, each with their own trained leader, their own land, their own church building. 19 leaders have already finished two or three years of theological training or are in the process of being trained.

Since July we’ve planted four more churches, following evangelism campaigns, where the churches come together every few weeks to preach the Gospel in a new location. Last weekend was the turn of Nyasukula, a suburb of Walikale Centre, where we have just built a secondary school. Over 500 people heard about Jesus, and over 200 put their trust in him. In the evangelist’s report there were also 3 people delivered from demons.

This new church in the school (below left) will be led by Rev Francois, who has just returned to Walikale after 7 years, having completed further theological study. The school is the first secondary school in the area, a response to the demands of the population after our visit in summer 2024, and in line with our vision to train and equip Congo’s leaders of tomorrow.

Nyasukula’s chief told us, “The Anglican Church in Walikale is a blessing from the Lord. We suffered for a long time without school; our children had nowhere to study. Today, the Church has responded to this need by bringing us not only the Word of God, but also education to contribute to our development.”

But for some, following Christ is not an easy option. This is a young man’s testimony from another campaign, “Even though I was teaching in Protestant schools, I was still living in sin. By God’s grace, I met an evangelist who spoke to me about Jesus. I confessed my sins, and now I am a child of God. My father insisted that I renounce my faith, but I told him I am ready to lose everything to gain Jesus. I was dismissed from my job because of my faith, but I am happy because I am saved. God is my Father. I thank the Lord for sending the Anglican Church to Walikale”.

Karibu (Welcome to) Walikale

A guesthouse (above middle) is the other main project in Walikale as we build for the future, with the idea that one day it will become its own diocese. When we visited in the summer of 2024 there were few accommodation options and they were all expensive. So, we decided to build our own guesthouse, with 4 standard rooms, 2 VIPs rooms, and a lounge/seminar room.

Two carpenters made the gruelling journey from Goma by motorbike but then worked incredibly efficiently and finished the structure of both school and guesthouse in a matter of weeks. Once we’ve done the electrics, plumbing and tiling, we’ll be ready for guests. Karibu!

The guesthouse should start to generate income to maintain the momentum for mission and ministry in Walikale, but we’ve already started using it. Last month we hosted a training for all the catechism teachers across the archdeaconry.

No trip to Walikale would be complete without arriving with a couple of extra motorbikes laden with missional tools. So, this time, accompanying Rev Innocent (above right), the carpenters and the returning students were two chainsaws, some musical instruments and some heavy-duty speakers system that no self-respecting Congolese evangelism campaign would be seen without (top).

Other News

The option for the cathedral land fell through in the end, but the next day we thank God that we had the chance to buy the second instalment of a large plot in the centre of town where we will relocate and rebuild our flagships diocesan schools. But we haven’t given up on the vision of a diocesan campus.

Catechism training has finished across the diocese, and we have started to teach the catechism now in every parish, to every believer, over the next two years. 7,000 catechism booklets arrived last week to assist the process.

How can you pray?

• For peace. The former president, Joseph Kabila, has just been sentenced to death for war crimes. There are ongoing discussions in Washington and Doha. But the population is losing hope, and the situation is volatile.

• For the roll-out of the catechism across the diocese, that is produces a deeper discipleship.

• For two major construction projects about to start – a community radio station, and a theological college.