Democratic Republic of Congo

The 2006 Congo Choir Tour

By Sue Fricks

Various members of the Congo Mission Network (CMN) decided at our 2005 annual meeting to bring to reality the idea of having a Congo Choir at the 2006 General Assembly. That GA meeting was to be in Birmingham, Alabama, in the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley, named for the first Presbyterian Missionaries to Congo in 1890. Those CMN members who became the Congo Choir Tour Planning Team recognized from the beginning that only by God's grace would this dream come into being.

By monthly conference calls, some phone calls and millions of emails, plans were made with our two Presbyterian Congolese partners to bring together six male and six female Congolese singers from around their denominations. Most of those selected did not know each other before gathering in Kinshasa, the national capital, for preparation five weeks before departure. Not all spoke the same languages. Thanks to the efforts of PC(USA) Mission workers Larry and Inge Sthreshley, preparations went well. Happily all 12 selected choir members received United States Visas ten days before they left Congo.

Meanwhile preparations in the USA were proceeding feverishly. Collaborations between presbyteries, churches, and various mission and peacemaking committees resulted in establishing a 68-day tour around 12 states of the USA east of the Mississippi River. Many thousands of Presbyterians and others heard and saw the Chorale Presbytérienne du Congo during their visits in 18 Presbyteries and six Synods.

These talented ambassadors for Christ shared the hope and deep faith of the Congolese. They were a living testament to how God has blessed the work of our Presbyterian Missionaries in Congo by creating more than 4 million Presbyterians in a country that too often is known in the USA only for its violence, warfare, hunger and disease.

Mission Funds raised during the tour were designated for education in the Democratic Republic of Congo via UPRECO, the University administered by both Congolese Presbyterian denominations. More than $89,000 was raised for these purposes and is being used to further the educational needs of the Congolese.

Challenges only strengthened our awareness of the obvious work of the Holy Spirit. After only one third of the tour, a drunken driver totaled the empty church bus lent to the choir by a church in Alabama. The fast thinking and generosity of folks in Newcastle Presbytery kept the tour going only a few hours later than planned. Other Presbyterians pitched in to supply transportation from Ohio to Louisville to Indianapolis and on to another site in Ohio. The use of three more loaned church buses enabled the choir to complete its journey. Three family deaths of choir members, including the husband of one, deeply saddened all but their resolve in the face of their grief inspired and awed all who heard the news.

It was apparent throughout the whole Congo Choir Tour effort that "with God all things are possible ..." There is no way that any of this amazing adventure would have happened had God not been opening doors, hearts and minds all along the way.

Get more information about Presbyterian involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo.