Faith is a Force for Change in Congo

The Lambeth Conference this month will bring together leaders of the Anglican community from all over the world, among them Bishop Titre Ande of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Bishop Ande also spent four months in Oxford recently, as Missiologist in Residence with the Christian Mission Society (CMS), where Sally Jarman caught up with him to ask about the issues for the Anglican Church in Congo that he will share with the Conference.

THE fact that Bishop Titre Ande finished secondary school, let alone studied at Birmingham University, is unusual for his and later generations in Congo, he tells me. It is something he is passionate about changing:

‘Education is a priority for our country today, not just in the sense of memorising history, but in the formation of the personality of a person, enabling them to think critically, with clear vision. This has the power to transform our society.’

In a country still reeling from the ravages of a bloody five-year civil war, that has been described as possibly the worst emergency to unfold in Africa in recent decades, it is to the Christian Church that the government has turned for the schooling of its people. The majority of schools, at least in Bishop Ande's own diocese of Aru in North East Congo, are Church run.

Adults who were forced to leave school early are also being encouraged back into the classroom to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills. Chaplains work with pupils, young and older, offering a spiritual dimension to the education process.

Spiritual training is urgently needed for leaders in the Anglican Church in Congo, says Bishop Ande:

 ‘In Aru, almost 80 per cent of pastors and catechists (lay ministers) were not able to finish primary education. Yet these are the people who are looking after the new Christians, and already training others.’

A key element of the training should address the historical emphasis of local Christian teaching on the importance of getting to heaven, he believes: ‘We need to stress that life starts here, and that heaven is related to life here. People need to understand this because  it has the power to transform our society.’

He says that people also forget the importance of spiritual development when widespread poverty means they are desperately  searching for physical and material change:

‘The Anglican Church must try to connect the spiritual and material, so that people will understand that you can't separate the two - material development grows out of spiritual growth.’

Although not the area most affected by Civil War, Aru's 20 rural parishes are still witnessing the legacies of the fighting.

Tension is common in villages where young men, who left to be soldiers or join militia rebels, are now returning home to a less than warm reception:

‘There are lots of problems. Often these young men will have been involved in the destruction of schools, health centres and houses, and the deaths of civilians, in their own communities. Many people have lost members of their family and, knowing who killed them, now find themselves having to live with the killers.

‘The Church is involved with reconciliation of these divided communities, working on an individual pastoral level, and organising conferences to talk about forgiveness and how to move forward. Both sides are victims here, pushed into that situation by wider circumstances. There is a lot of work to do.’

Tribal tensions are also a feature of the diocese. At the Anglican theological college in Bunia (where Bishop Ande was principal for nine years before becoming Bishop in 2005) a different model for community life ran during the civil war, as a counter-cultural witness to the violence on the streets outside. Students from different tribes, with an historical mistrust of each other, worked and ate side-by-side, building trust and understanding.

Bishop Ande explains: ‘We are a stronger country if our people consider themselves citizens of one country, rather than concentrating on personal tribal identity which can be manipulated to turn man against man.

‘The model of community at the college was good testimony to the possibility of a different reality for tribal groups; a good starting point. One of our aims now is to send out pastors, not just to their own tribal areas, but to others, crossing and reducing tribal barriers. Faith is a strong element in helping people realise a common humanity.’

As in other African countries, AIDS is another issue for Congo, and most districts in the Aru diocese run ecumenical education and medical programmes. The Aru Mothers' Union, of which Bishop Ande's wife, Maturu, is president, is active in this area with spiritual and material care for victims and their families.

The link with Mothers’ Union across the world (including a special link with the Oxford Diocese MU), as well as with organisations such as CMS (which has been working in Congo since 1896) helps the Anglican Church in Congo to retain a global perspective, believes Bishop Ande - something he considers important both for strength and understanding of its faith.
He considers himself lucky to have grown up in a Christian family which valued education and encouraged him to continue his schooling right through, eventually, to Birmingham University. This, he says, broadened his understanding of his faith beyond the context of his own experience to encompass the wider world - something which has shaped his ministry, since his ordination as a priest in 1995.

Before becoming Bishop of Aru, he worked as a chaplain at a secondary school and a hospital. His qualifications from Birmingham helped the Anglican theological college in Bunia, where he became principal, gain government accredited status.

Recently he has been pursuing greater understanding once more at the CMS Crowther Centre for Mission Education, in Oxford. As Missiologist in Residence, Bishop Ande has been researching for his PhD thesis, as well as helping the organisation to ‘think through missiological issues of the majority world’.

Bishop Ande is looking forward to his first  Lambeth Conference this month, reflecting that it will be  an opportunity for unity and prayer among people who share the same identity, and to listen and exchange experiences of ministry, developing a greater understanding of our faith in a global context.

Missiology Explained
MISSIOLOGY can be described as the study of theology and practice of Christian engagement with the world around, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.