In January 2025, following a period of intense fighting, M23 rebels took over the city of Goma, DR Congo.

During the violent conflict, millions of people were displaced, thousands were killed or seriously injured and homes and livelihoods were destroyed. Those caught in the crossfire were left fearful, traumatised, weary and crying out for peace after yet another breakout of brutality.

The wider world and the media lost interest in the crisis in Goma pretty quickly – but CMS supporters rallied and responded with prayerful generosity. Thank you.

So, what’s been done, what is the situation like now and what does the future hold? Let’s take a look.

Rapid relief, hundreds helped

In the aftermath of the violence in Goma, CMS partners were able to provide rapid assistance to more than 700 people, enabling them to get basic necessities like food, water and medicine.

In addition to this, our partners brought comfort and counselling to people who had witnessed the slaughter of their loved ones, and who needed someone to talk to begin working through their grief.

And with increased numbers of people looking to the church for help and hope, pastors received resources and support to cope with the demand, and to begin discipling newcomers to their churches.

Life on the edge

The situation in eastern DRC remains critical, as people work to recover and rebuild. The rebels in charge ordered all displaced persons to return home – but many have no homes to return to. There are reports of hospital raids, mob violence, sexual assaults and an atmosphere of fear and exhaustion.

Commitment to Congo

The people of DRC have suffered the effects of violent conflict for 25 years. It’s a longstanding struggle that requires long-term commitment to bringing about change.

CMS is committed to seeing long-term transformation in DRC and other countries where armed conflict has wreaked havoc for far too long.

Against a backdrop of destruction, we are steadfastly dedicated to raising up disciples – people who will show what it means to live in the way of Jesus. To promote love instead of hate and peace instead of war. Strengthening church leaders, helping people – especially children – work through layers of trauma and empowering people to break cycles of poverty and violence are all pieces of the puzzle.

Only Jesus can bring about the kind of change we want to see in DRC and beyond. So, let’s keep going with Jesus, with each other, to the edges.

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After a desperate start to an unexpected journey, Betty eventually found peace, healing and hope in a refugee camp in northern Uganda.

by Camilla Lloyd

Back home in Lainya county, South Sudan, Betty Kigeni used to help her brother look after his children, who had already lost their mother.

When the war came to their village, they didn’t have time to plan their escape.

Very quickly, gunfire was all around them. Taking the children by the hand and leaving everything else behind, she and her brother ran.

As he looked back, Betty’s brother was shot down.

What could Betty do? For the sake of the children, she had to keep running. They ran all the way to the border with Uganda, where they were taken to Bidibidi refugee camp.

They were safe now, but Betty’s brother, and the children’s father, was gone forever.

Wasting away through bitterness

Betty had left South Sudan, but what had happened there stayed with her.

She was safe in a refugee camp, but she couldn’t move on from the fact that her brother had been killed. Her emotional pain caused her chest pain and made her not want to eat.

Over time, she became very thin, wasting away through bitterness towards those who had killed her brother.

Like many others in the refugee camp, she couldn’t see a way through her pain, and seriously considered suicide.

Healing through forgiveness

A ray of hope came in the shape of a small black device, about the size of a phone, which someone handed her one day.

This, she discovered, was a digital audio player (DAP), and it played Bible stories such as the story of Joseph being betrayed by his brothers but later forgiving them. This story particularly resonated with her.

Betty was also invited to a trauma healing group, where she could open up and talk about her trauma when she was ready.

Gradually, Betty’s life started to change.

Through meeting Jesus, spending time in God’s Word, sharing with others and actively working at forgiveness, she has found God’s healing and now has peace in her heart.

She has even been able to forgive those who killed her brother, and others can see the difference in her. She started eating normally again and has returned to a healthy weight.

Without the trauma healing programme, Betty says she would not be alive today. “Because of this message of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, now I have hope.”

Now, she wants to share the hope of Jesus with others.

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Despite serious risks, our mission partners won’t stop bringing God’s love to the war-torn parts of our world.

Every gift you send strengthens this mission.

Church Mission Society began in 1799 with a group of Christians, including William Wilberforce, who said yes to Jesus’ call to follow him to the edges. Today, we continue to share Jesus’ love in more than 40 countries.

Right now, as conflict rages worldwide, people are dealing with staggering trauma, grief and loss. Your gift can help CMS mission partners bring urgently needed trauma support and meet people’s basic needs for shelter and food.

• £25 could support our work to come alongside adults and children weighed down by trauma.
• £45 could train CMS partners around the world in sharing the life-changing love of Jesus.

Your gift now can help bring hope and healing.

Thank you for your gift.

The post Working at the edges appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

With only four ordained priests in Asuncion, the capital city, and 10 in the Chaco region, home to some of the Original Peoples, Christians belonging to Anglican churches in Paraguay are calling for urgent action to train future leaders.

In 2020, indigenous churches presented an official request to work towards indigenous leaders in more senior roles. As a result the vicar general, CMS local partner Agustín Maidana, is working to train more leaders in indigenous communities and increase the numbers being ordained. Agustín is also clear on the need for urban and indigenous churches to work more closely together.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the majority of training had taken place at the Anglican church’s centre at Rio Verde, but this limited who could join due to the cost of travel to the remote venue and lack of space.

Taking training on the road

So this year, Agustín, his wife Teresa and another couple, Gustavo and Rebecca Flores, have been travelling to four different communities (Makxawaya, La Patria, El Estribo and Sombrero Piri) to run a range of training sessions. Rebecca trains volunteers to lead Sunday schools, increasing church engagement with the youngest generations where that had not always been happening. Teresa runs sewing workshops, to build income generating capacity for those who had no other way to earn.

Agustín and Gustavo focus on leadership training. Deacons, pastors and pastoral assistants participate in a three-year programme, with attendance recorded to ensure that participants have been in 95 per cent of the classes. Agustín explains that this is to emphasise the importance of commitment from those who seek positions of leadership – and those who attend regularly receive the most benefit.

One deacon, Gumercindo Torres, a candidate for ordination next year and member for the Chaco church on the diocesan executive committee, is working with younger people. He draws on study he has undertaken and uses the Abundant Life course to connect and share with younger people.

Open to opportunities

One significant factor in delivering the training programme is the high levels of illiteracy in the Chaco. Of those currently training, around 95 per cent did not finish primary school. This limits options for training outside the region or for widening perspectives.

In contrast, pastor Elvio Cabanas had access to a better education, giving him opportunities to work at the ministry of education with oversight for Chaco areas. During the pandemic he returned to the indigenous community of Sombrero Piri and has been sharing his experience. Along with Elvio came his son, who has grown up with the dual indigenous and urban influences, and who has a certificate in sports coaching. He has begun to use football to connect with young people. Through that contact, they have been invited to services at the church.

As a fruit of Elvio and his son connecting, there are a good number of young people involved in the church there. Music is a big thing for the younger people – so Elvio’s son started forming a group of singers, to help the younger people to engage.

Expanding vision

As Agustín observes, “Academic training as a base [can help] to bring about holistic change and vision for something wider.”

Agustín highlights that part of the challenge of developing leadership in the Chaco is sharing that vision among urban centres, “for them to have a view wider than their back yard – for them to see areas of the Chaco as place for ministry and mission.” He continues, “One of main things the urban church could learn from indigenous churches is in the simplicity and depth of their faith in the Lord… One of our challenges is how to link churches in the Chaco with churches in urban centres.”

And are there encouragements in the midst of this struggle?

Agustín reports: “Today, thanks to the Lord, we are reaching at least 240 people [with training], although not all are registered in the workshops.

Tears of gratitude

“There is greater verbal contact with everyone in the language that most of us on the team speak (Guarani), especially with women: young people, mothers, grandmothers feel included, they love to praise the Lord with songs. And despite the fact that many of them do not know how to read or write, they learn orally and understand the message of the songs, since many of them are precious hymns and Psalms full of biblical truths.

“These moments of praise and adoration are really very precious, where sincere prayers of repentance and renewal of faith arise in several of them amid tears of gratitude to the Lord. It is really a joy to hear them and see them sing with so much love despite their rather shy personality and the difficult situations that surround them.”

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In northern Argentina, the church recognises that it still remains divided, reflecting the racial and social splits of wider society.

The divides run largely along urban and rural lines, with indigenous Amerindians, including the Wichi and Toba, being the majority in the rural areas of the vast Chaco region, and Criollos, people of European descent, mainly living in the cities.

“It has to be said that much has been done to overcome it,” says Bishop of Northern Argentina and CMS mission partner Nick Drayson, “but a situation of real equality still feels a long way off.”

There have been centuries of suspicion and hostility on both sides, but local partner Marcos Humacata represents a new generation looking to bridge the gap.

Eye-opening reality

Marcos is an Argentine pastor who leads a team planting a church in the city of Salta, on the edge of the Chaco. When Marcos returned to the area, after his training at the Centre for Pastoral Studies in Santiago, Chile, he felt that it was time to focus on the urban church. Given the long history of church in the Chaco, he was under the impression that there wasn’t much more to do there.

But when he met he met his brothers and sisters in Christ in the Chaco on a visit with Stephen McElhinney, director of SAMS Ireland, Marcos’s perspective began to shift. He realised that they are all part of the same church despite the geographical and cultural gaps between them.

Marcos is now committed to building relationships with indigenous Christians and talks to the urban church about his journeys into rural areas to increase awareness. Others at his church in Salta cover his role while he is away, meaning that Marcos can give 20 per cent of his time to language learning and travelling to indigenous areas for training and ministry.

Risking relationship

When Marcos was invited to join in delivering training for leaders in the indigenous church, he was fearful: asking “will people understand?”, particularly as he doesn’t speak the Wichi language. Yet having participated, he notes, “I rely on my identity in Jesus, not my abilities. Through this training I have become more motivated and enriched with a wider vision and faith. I’ve been helped to have a bigger picture – and I can take that back to the church plant in Salta.”

A major challenge for Marcos is language – he is learning Wichi, but can’t yet deliver training in the language. “When I speak and train in Spanish, it shows a lack of respect for the Wichi, though they are respectful to me. I prepare a worksheet in Wichi to use during the training, but I would like to be able to speak it.”

As a Latino, Marcos has questioned what he has to share with the indigenous church. Yet he has been reminded that, just as in the urban church, “we need people able to share life with love. Jesus shared, ate with and was among people, alongside them – he demonstrated love through his life not just his words.” This means investing time in people, coming alongside them, suffering with them as well as sharing the word of God. He adds, “We need to understand people’s way of life. What are the empty spaces in the heart where Jesus needs to be?”

Gospel is the bridge

Despite his fears, Marcos reports: “I received feedback from Wichi brothers, commenting on how important the training and fellowship time were for them, but even more so seeing how the gospel creates a bridge that unites us despite the differences that may exist.”

“There are many challenges that arise, in the travel distances (sometimes more than eight hours) and learning the language, but I see how our Lord uses this connection to strengthen our ties between the indigenous church and our church here in the city. It encourages us to serve and love each other as brothers in Christ.”

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Christians in northern Argentina stand at a crossroads. Indigenous Amerindians have felt their traditional culture destabilised as deforestation continues. Their young people can access more and more of contemporary culture through their mobile phones, yet many of its benefits seem out of reach.

Many young people feel a lack of hope for the future, resulting in alcohol problems and disturbing suicide rates.

So a key task for leaders, explains mission partner Nick Drayson, Primate of the Anglican Province of South America and Bishop of Northern Argentina, is to help their people go deeper into the Word of God, to be excited and encouraged by what they find there as they engage with the hard-hitting realities of day-to-day life.

Thanks in part to CMS supporters, the urgent need to train and equip many more church leaders is being met by a cross-cultural collective.

Journeys to leadership

A team of Wichi leaders, mission partners and Criollos (Argentinians of European descent) lead a four- to five-year programme of training for those preparing for ordained ministry. The trainees are already active in their churches, helping to run services, women’s groups or discipleship courses, and some are lay leaders of their congregations as there is no pastor in their church.

Many have grown up being part of the church, but their journeys to leadership have varied.

One shared his testimony of going far from the Lord, and far from home, and becoming addicted to alcohol. At his lowest point he stumbled into a church and sensed the presence of Jesus calling him to repent – and from that point he has not drunk alcohol again. He returned to his village and became an active church member before training for ministry.

Pandemic pause

Inevitably, as with regular discipleship training and baptism or confirmation classes, running leadership training during the Covid-19 pandemic has been very difficult. Border closures and isolation rules meant people could not travel for training, and here, it’s not a case of simply transferring training online. Too many people lack the necessary technology or even access to a sufficient mobile signal.

Finally, in late 2021, the trainers were able to run a session that had been planned for July 2020. Almost 100 students signed up from 23 congregations, most between 30 and 50 years old, and a third were women. Despite the gap between sessions, 31 (out of 41) students invited after completing three previous years of training were able to continue, and are now half way through their formal training. Other trainees had completed two years of training already.

The trainers work hard to balance three areas of emphasis – character, Bible knowledge and ministerial experience. Mentoring from pastors in the students’ own contexts provides vital reinforcement for their learning.

In another encouraging development, some local churches have arranged their own training workshops. Mission associate Chris Wallis reported, “I participated in a workshop organised by a local church in Alto de la Sierra, covering praying for the sick and the history of the Anglican Church. Members of other Anglican churches in the area also attended. In Potrillo a church recently led sessions on leading a service and lay leaders.”

Opportunities out of limits

During the pandemic, lockdowns in the Chaco area of northern Argentina have been strict, particularly in Formosa province, home to assistant bishop Crisanto Rojas. With the help of his son, Crisanto was able to get a computer with internet, and he took part in Zoom meetings with other bishops and with local committees.

“It has been a hard year,” says Bishop Crisanto, “with a number of older colleagues dying, and conflict between churches that want to continue meeting and others that want to obey the rules. Yet it has been encouraging to see how some younger leaders have made good use of radio and WhatsApp to communicate with more isolated churches and leaders.”

Assistant bishop Mateo Alto lives in an isolated area, and has not able to connect with leaders online or by phone very much. Yet there have been opportunities, he explains: “The lack of meetings due to the pandemic has allowed me to pass lots of time talking to the younger leaders about their responsibilities and what it means to lead God’s church.”

Pray

Please pray for the leadership trainees as they pick up their training programme amid all the current uncertainties of Covid-19. And pray that the example of local churches doing more to equip and train their own people will catch on.

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For many years people in mission have walked with indigenous groups in the Chaco regions of Paraguay and northern Argentina. Now communities stand at a crossroads, as older leaders pass the baton to new leaders who will face new challenges.

Amerindian indigenous lands, culture and the people’s very existence is at risk. These communities have been some of the most sidelined in countries where the majority European-descent communities set the agenda. Deforestation for agriculture destroys communities and ecosystems, and drought and flooding events along the Pilcomayo river have disproportionately affected these communities.

Standing together

Over many years people in mission have translated the Scriptures into local languages (Wichí, Toba, Chorote and Enxet, among others) and walked with communities in Argentina as they fought a decades long legal battle to have their rights to the land recognised – culminating in a ruling in the Inter American Human Rights Court.

But more than this, people in mission have simply valued these communities as those created in the image of God and precious to him.

CMS mission associate Chris Wallis comments, “The missionaries who went before are remembered with great affection, for living with people, eating with them, sharing their lives. Sticking by them in a society that was often hostile.”

Nurturing leaders

Worshipping communities took root and grew in the Chaco – and Western leaders have been accompanied and then replaced by leaders from within indigenous groups. In the Diocese of Northern Argentina, assistant bishops Mateo Alto and Crisanto Rojas are from the Toba and Wichí communities respectively.

Yet over the last few years a number of pastors and other leaders within Christian communities in the Chaco have died – and there is an urgent need to raise up younger leaders to pick up the baton in their generation.

Connections are increasing between the indigenous communities and communities of European descent, particularly as younger generations leave their villages for education or work and online platforms make connection from indigenous areas more viable.

The next generation of leaders will need to be able to navigate the cross-cultural challenges and opportunities of being part of two cultures, and to be able to build bridges between them.

Church planter Marcos Humacata is a great example of this. An Argentinian of European descent, he was nervous when asked to help deliver some training for Wichí church leaders, as he was only just beginning to learn the language.

“I rely on my identity in Jesus, not my abilities,” Marcos says. “Through this training I have become more motivated and enriched with a wider vision and faith. I’ve been helped to have a bigger picture – and I can take that back to my church plant in Salta.”

Mission partner Nick Drayson, Primate of the Anglican Province of South America and Bishop of Northern Argentina, says: “There are some excellent young leaders (lay and ordained) who are fully conversant in both cultures, and the future will depend on them.”

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Thank you to all who gave to our Christmas appeal. We are thrilled that you gave over £46,500 to help CMS people in mission like Bisoke Balikenga in DR Congo to share the peace of Jesus even amid violent conflict.

Working with the Anglican Church in Congo, Bisoke started a peace centre in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri province in eastern DRC. Ituri is a region rocked by tribal fighting.

Thousands of people have fled attacks in their villages and travelled to Bunia in search of relative safety – with 200,000 displaced people now in the area.

They are in desperate need of food, water and shelter, and are deeply traumatised. Many women and girls who arrive at the peace centre have suffered sexual violence, and been rejected by their families as a result.

Finding faith amid turmoil

As the fighting spreads, the peace centre is now at capacity. Bisoke and his team provide clean drinking water, food, soap and help with medical bills where they can. Trained counsellors also help people cope with their trauma.

People like Regina, who lost eight children before her remaining daughter was kidnapped. Through counselling and prayer, Bisoke says, “She now prays for others, and is really transformed even though life is not easy for her.”

Bisoke reports that people are finding faith in God, even amid turmoil. In late 2021 Bisoke was preparing to baptise 20 people, with the bishop coming to confirm 22 more.

Bisoke says, “Praise the Lord for his work – even though we have great challenges, God is transforming his people. We are happy that more are giving their lives to Jesus.”

Bisoke comments that those attending a discipleship course each week “are vulnerable people and they are still suffering, but everyone is taking the decision to do God’s work”. As they grow in faith, people are improving relationships with their families and then others in the community.

Listen to the children

Bisoke is also concerned for the next generation – and in August he led a service specifically for children at the peace centre. He tells us, “The children were so happy it was their day. Many of them are orphans whose parents have been killed….

“They have seen many bad things and they went through our programme of counselling. Now they love to come to church. They sang about building peace and some of them gave testimonies, which was so hard. They asked all the people to love one another.

“Hearing what the orphaned children were saying through their songs, the adults were moved to tears. The children asked the adults, ‘Please, we need peace in order to have a positive future. Adults need to make peace, and we need to pray and trust God to give us peace.’

“Finally they said we cannot have peace when we still don’t love one another. They would like to visit other children with their message of peace and unity.”

Breaking the cycle of violence

Bisoke is committed to equipping people who have undergone trauma and violence to break the cycle and work for peace. At special peacebuilding seminars, he says, “more people came to Jesus and asked forgiveness. The seminars help participants not to pursue revenge, but they are going to forgive those who did bad to them. Some are saying that they will not seek revenge but they are going to build peace. We need to pray for them.”

Early in November local government people from different tribes came together for a peacebuilding seminar. Bisoke comments, “Now we can see our centre is not only for the Anglican Church but for the whole community.”

The community have suggested that a radio station would be a good way to reach more people with a message of peace.

Building peace together

Bisoke is not alone in seeking peace in this area. In November, CMS-Africa and CMS organised a multilingual online consultation involving over 100 people from the dioceses of Aru, Beni, Boga, Butembo, Goma and Kamango, as well as from the peace centre, the Anglican University of Congo and local and international organisations.

The theme was “making new disciples in a context of conflict”, and participants considered how to work together to raise up followers of Jesus who will work for desperately needed peace.

Even in seeming darkness, Bisoke is seeing the hope of Jesus and shares, “We are so happy that more displaced people are becoming the tools of building peace and talking about the Word of God.” With fighting coming closer and closer to the centre, he says, “We are running more risks because the devil does not like people to build peace with the help of our God. God is helping us a lot.”

Thank you

With your continuing support, CMS people in mission can continue to work together for peace in communities torn apart by conflict, helping people to reflect Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

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The post “The devil does not like people to build peace” appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).