May 21, 2008

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As you read this, I will already – God willing – be in Congo.

I've been there before. As a twenty-two year old, wet behind the ears, recent college graduate I remember stepping off the plane in the capital, Kinshasa, for the first time. No jet bridge into an air-conditioned terminal. Instead, we walked into a drape of heavy, hot, humid air. It wrapped around us, provided resistance to our forward movement, a physical weight.

I remember getting lost in the crowd at the airport, meeting missionaries Bob and Jane Williams who would be a touchstone of the familiar in a culture where I was the stranger. They told me to boil the water, Clorox the lettuce, eat what was put before me, accept hospitality gladly.

The Congolese hospitality was amazing. Arms opened wide, stories of life and faith shared, food and drink at every home, no matter how rich or poor.

I was just a beginner adult. Congolese Christians helped form me. Gave me my first real job – a big one – and trusted me to do it. Create an adult literacy program for this united protestant church of 50 denominations and 200 languages. (I thought I was there to teach some classes!) Trained me in adult education and grant writing. Sent me back home two years later competent and more mature.

Now I go back – nearly 30 years later. What has changed, I wonder. When I was there, the country was caught in the Cold War grip of a military dictator. Now they have endured a decade of "the first African world war" where armies of five countries and rogue militias have caused the deaths of 5.4 MILLION people. Infrastructure – always challenged – is worse today than ever. Two centuries of systematic pillage and massive theft of natural resources by the rest of the world have left their mark on a people poor in things but rich in spirit.

There are more Disciples in the Congo than in the United States and Canada today! They are a vibrant and growing church. They have established their own missions now – in Kinshasa and in the other Congo across the river.

This is a trip about partnership – between two strong churches. I will meet my counterpart, Rev. Bonanga Eliki, President and Legal Representative of the Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo. Nine of us will be travelling together as the Indiana Region of the Disciples church in the United States and Canada establishes a formal partnership with the Mbandaka District of the Disciples Church in the Congo.

It is a trip that honors a long-standing partnership from missionary days, a partnership that has evolved over the years. It highlights a relationship of mutuality where both partners give and both receive.

I go with such expectation – trepidation. The lure of the exotic will be strong – elegant women in colorful garb, travel by dugout canoe, the call of tropical birds, the dizzying heat of the equator. But this is a time for all of us to be much more grounded. When Jesus says the kingdom of God is among us, it is a call for a reality check of how we are living vis-à-vis our extended family of God. Not a call to guilty paralysis, but an invitation to make real the mutuality of our partnerships with brothers and sisters in Christ. The relationship with Congo has been forming Disciples in the US and Canada for a long time. My prayer is that we will prepare ourselves, through a lived and genuine partnership, to be shaped some more.

Sharon E. Watkins
General Minister and President

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)