Lay-Member Ministries Plant a Church and School in Unentered Territory

By: Albert Biselele, West Congo Union Mission, and Adventist Review

Thanks to the ongoing efforts of two regional Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) ministries, there is one less area in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) unentered by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The new congregation in Tschela is, according to some local leaders, the result of God’s blessing through these ministries, which worked together with the local conference and union church administrative regions to establish a church and a school.

Leaders reported that more than a year ago, a media ministry begun by a church member called Precious Present Truth began broadcasting the Adventist message in the area through a television channel called Digital Congo. Through this broadcast the owner of a local radio station started to hear the Adventist message in his native language. The radio station manager began to watch the program faithfully and became so impressed with the messages that he requested permission to broadcast them on his radio station.

The impact of that decision by the radio station manager was almost immediate. Soon after the broadcasts began, many people in the area started searching for an Adventist church they could attend. But because this was an unentered area, no Adventist churches were available nearby. The Precious Present Truth ministry contacted another ASI ministry named Train Them To Fish, which conducts evangelism in DRC, for help. Train Them To Fish leaders agreed to provide a Bible worker for the area, and eventually 19 people were baptized.

Now that they understood biblical truths such as the seventh-day Sabbath, these new Adventist Christians faced a schooling problem. Their children were enrolled in public schools that required attendance during Saturday (Sabbath) hours. The ASI ministries worked together with officers of the Lower Congo Field of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to open an Adventist primary and secondary school in the area for children of these believers.

Local leaders believe that God provided teachers for the school when, on October 22, 2018, 41 teachers were baptized and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They also reported that during the first week of enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year, 450 students were enrolled, and another 400 students enrolled in the second week.

According to regional church leaders, the school is renting a building on a nearby farm. “Now we request prayer and assistance in building a school of our own and a church for this new Adventist community,” they said.

The original version of this story was posted on the East-Central Africa Division news site.