On Mission to a Pygmy Community

By |Published On: October 23, 2020|Categories: Disability in Mission|

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Matthew 28:19-20

Hello, my name is Daniel Kyungu and my home is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa. I shared my life testimony in an earlier blog titled From Rejection to Church, University, and Business Leadership in the Congo. Although I have a disability that impairs me from walking, God has allowed me to serve as a pastor, a church denominational leader, and a university professor.

What happens when people first hear and respond to the gospel but there is no church in which they can learn, worship, or minister to others?

In such situations, scripture teaches that we should plant new churches through existing churches and appoint elders in every church (Acts 14:23).

I would like to share a report about our mission to a Pygmy community in which my church was privileged to participate. This involved evangelizing the first Christians and training their first pastor.

Discovering the Pygmies.

Around 372 miles from my city, Lubumbashi, there is a mining town called Manono. Because it is in our parish, we have spiritual responsibility to the people in that region. The pastor of the Manono parish informed us a community of Pygmies live almost 25 miles from the city.

The Pygmies struggle to survive.

First, they face harsh social rejection by the Bantu society which occupies and governs their region, so they are not integrated into society. Not only do the Bantu marginalize the Pygmies, they are presently at war with them.

Second, the Pygmies live in extreme poverty which results in inhumane conditions. Most of them do not have clothes, food or even basic provisions. Many Pygmy children suffer from eye infections, but they have neither medication nor hospitals. They also lack schools, although they desire to attend school. Even though we have not yet focused on people with disabilities, the general situation is terrible, and we expect that it is even worse for people with disabilities.

The Pygmies responded to the gospel and started a church.

To add to their extreme conditions, the Pygmies had never heard of Jesus Christ.

So, having discovered that Pygmies resided in our parish, our Church sent an exploration mission. Once we saw their spiritual need, we took the gospel to them starting in the village of Sailoma. Joyfully, many of them accepted Jesus Christ and were baptized in response to Jesus’ commission:

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).

As a community, the Pygmies received the Gospel with great enthusiasm. They told us that they had lived in darkness for a long time and were now thankful that they had come to faith. They have told us many times that one of the great punishments they suffered in the past was that the gospel had not been brought to them before.

Pygmies with disabilities.

Although we know that there are people with disabilities among the Pygmies, we have not had the opportunity to seek them out for all of the people have such great needs. Part of the problem is that the area where the people live is remote and inaccessible.

The Pygmies as a community are hidden from the rest of society. Pygmies with disabilities are even more hidden. Nevertheless, some Christians from Manono walk 25 miles to the Pygmy community to comfort them. As you can see, we are really just getting started in our ministry to the Pygmies.

Kaido becomes a pastor.

Recently, we have begun leading training in evangelism to those who received Christ. On the first evangelistic mission, Kaido quickly stood out from the crowd because of his burning love for the gospel. Although he rejoiced the good response to the gospel among his people, he mourned the years of darkness before the people received the good news message. Because of his strong desire to follow Christ and share the gospel, we identified him as a leader who should help others come to Christ and grow spiritually. He received a brief training and began to watch over and nurture the faith of others. His desire was to strengthen the souls of the disciples by encouraging them to continue in the faith (Acts 14:22).

Due to the crisis between the Bantu and Pygmies, we offered Kaido brief and informal training. This focused on pastoral courses and evangelism. Although his training was not a full institute program, a pastor from Manono, Pastor Lele continued to follow up and disciple Kaido. Several months later, he became a pastor.

If it were not for the hostilities that had broken out in this area between the Bantu and the Pygmies, Kaido would already be in Tanzania receiving extensive pastoral training at the Majaida Biblical Institute. But right now, this is impossible due to the wars.

Tragic clashes between the Bantu and the Pygmies.

As I write this blog, hostilities between the Bantu and Pygmies continue to rage. The Pygmies fight for their independence from the Bantus. These battles are violent. Most of the Christians to whom we brought the gospel have lost their lives. Others have fled far from their homes. Many Bantu were killed as well.

Future plans for the mission to the Pygmies.

The vision of our community is to identify and train other Pygmy leaders so that they can bring the gospel to their brothers and sisters. This will include people with disabilities, like myself. Our vision is to train them to be Christian leaders that will make disciples of Jesus Christ among the nations.

Written By—Daniel Kyungu

KYUNGU TCHIKALA Daniel is the responsible pastor (Bishop) of the first community of the Church of Christ in Congo: “Africa Inland Church Congo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo”.

Edited by David C. Deuel & Nathan G. John

Disability in Mission

Disability in Mission: The Church’s Hidden Treasure outlines a radical change in approaches to missiology, missions, and praxis for the twenty-first-century global cultural context. It explores a pattern whereby God works powerfully in missions through disability and not in spite of it.

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