11th National Synod of the Anglican Church of Congo

We have just finished the 11th National Synod (governing body) of the Anglican Church of Congo. The last one was in 2021. Synod is always a massive logistical challenge with 75 delegates coming from 13 dioceses in DRC as well as Congo Brazzaville.

To reach Bukavu, where the synod was hosted, the delegates had to first come to Goma where we all took the 6-hour boat journey across the lake. Some had already taken 2 flights to get to Goma, others came via Uganda and Rwanda due to ongoing fighting in eastern DRC, others spent 5 days in Goma before the synod due to timings of flights, and some travelled more than 3,000 km.

Synod is structured around brief (?!) reports from every diocese and department, and work in commissions to discern and plan the future direction of the church. We thank God for a fruitful synod, even though the internet was down for the whole time, the building having been damaged in a storm a couple of weeks earlier.

From my perspective some of the encouraging decisions taken were

• To mobilise the necessary resources for evangelism to grow the church from 300,000 to 1 million in the next 5 years.

• To adopt the new catechism for the Anglican Church of Congo and to teach it to every church member.

• To create a new Department of Justice, Peace and Reconciliation to pursue the church’s prophetic mission and to encourage believers to engage in in the public square.

• To develop at least one income-generating project in every diocese on a journey to becoming more financially self-sufficient.

• To seek for bursaries for subjects other than theology for the wholistic development of the church

• To create a new diocese in Uvira in South Kivu

Synod closed with the mandatory 4 1/2 -hour service.

Other News

The security situation in the east is becoming ever-more precarious. Earlier in January the M23 rebels took the main town in Masisi and installed their governor. It was retaken briefly by the government but is again in the hands of the rebels. More than 100,000 people have fled as a result. 

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has withdrawn from the Luanda peace-process and is demanding that the Congolese government negotiate with the rebels, something President Tshisekedi has repeatedly said is a red line for DRC. Rwanda is coming under increasing international pressure to withdraw its troops from DRC and to stop helping the M23, but so far to no avail. See a brief BBC report here

Watch Again

If you missed Martin’s sermon on the BBC's Christmas Eve service and want to watch it, the whole service from St Mary's Warwick is available to watch again here on iPlayer for another 11-months … (only in the UK)

How can you pray?

• For the resources (human and financial) to action the decisions taken at synod.

• For Archbishop Ande and all of our bishops in the DRC (above) as they lead in difficult circumstances.

• For Presidents Kagame of Rwanda and Tshisekedi of DRC to engage meaningfully in finding peace in eastern DRC.