Masisi is a territory about 2 hours north west of Goma where conflict never seems far from the surface, including in the church. The Anglican Church has a parish in the busy heart of Rubaya, a town in Masisi. The parish land is small and the location is both unsuitable for the current church building but also able to generate some income from renting the land to traders. It is one of the few parishes in the Diocese of Goma that has this income-generating potential.

Before the Bishop of Goma died he had taken a decision to relocate the parish to a more suitable location. Most of the members relocated but a small group from the parish refused, including the vicar. With intent to sow division this group tried to recruit others to oppose the archdeacon and the bishop. The vicar was moved to another parish, but also refused and so was suspended. 

They had been the ones who had been collecting the rental income and they wrote to the bishop to say they no longer wanted to be under his authority wanted to leave the Anglican Church. They were told that they were free to leave but that the land belonged to the church. They sent a letter of apology to the bishop, which the bishop accepted but at the same time he instructed the vicar of the new parish to start collecting the rental income which would be used for the benefit of the whole archdeaconry, as the old parish prepared to move its worship. 

When this original group came to collect the next instalment of rent, they were told of the new arrangement, which resulted in violence, criminal damage, a court case and a prison sentence. The sentence was commuted with the intervention of the church, subject to paying $1500 damages, which they don’t have. The diocese paid $500. The group paid $250 but $750 remains. They were also suspended from church.

Each week for a number of weeks, fringe members of this group have been coming to worship at the new parish and have publicly sought forgiveness from the church for sowing division. With me now in post the 5 remaining members travelled 2 hours to Goma to the diocesan offices to request a meeting. I asked them why they had come and they said their main request was for a new vicar! We asked them to stay in Goma and to return the next day whilst we invited their Archdeacon and the vicar of the new parish to meet.

At the meeting we were able to agree that the next Sunday would be the last Sunday they met in the current church building and that their parish was being re-located as per the previous instructions of the bishop. Also, that they needed to accept the authority of the archdeacon, who would decide as and when to lift their suspensions, but could also look to help them with the final debt repayment, as they were still liable to prison. We also agreed that this group would work with the new parish on an evangelistic campaign the following weekend to help to cement any reconciliation and to focus on growing the local church.

Torrential rain delayed the start of the reconciliation seminars, which eventually took place, followed by an open-air evangelistic campaign on the Saturday and an archdeaconry-wide service of reconciliation on Sunday. Over the course of the weekend 40 people came to faith for the first time and another handful recommitted their lives to Jesus. On Monday all of the clergy from the archdeaconry jointly bought a padlock and symbolically locked the existing church building in a public show of unity. 

The only disappointment is that the group of 5 never took part and are still suspended with a $750 fine to pay. Please continue to pray with us that they return to the new parish to seek forgiveness and reconciliation, and that the church in Masisi is able to build on its new-found unity.

9 December 2020