Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa

Since 1960 the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) has ministered as an autonomous partner church of the PC(USA) in the metropolitan area of Kinshasa and the western provinces of Lower-Congo and Bandundu. In 1963 the church started the construction of churches and schools with help from the Presbyterian Development Fund. The first churches were built at Yolo, Matete, Lemba and Ndjili and formed the first presbytery in 1970. New churches were developed, and in 1983 the CPK was divided into three presbyteries, which constituted the first synod.

The CPK has 152 congregations. Each of its three synods is composed of about six presbyteries. In 1995 the CPK had an estimated 40,000 communicant members, 10,000 active youth, 86 ordained pastors, and 21 candidates for the ministry. Two pastors have finished doctorate studies, one of them a woman. The President and Legal Representative of the CPK is Rev. Josué Tshimungu Mayela.

The CPK meets regularly in its own General Assembly and in church-to-church consultations with the PC(USA). It receives mission personnel and maintains a Committee for Cooperation to plan, coordinate and evaluate the specific joint programs. This committee consists of three representatives of each church, with the CPK president serving as moderator.

Evangelism and Church Growth

For establishing new churches, the Department of Evangelism and Church Growth of the CPK surveys areas where no evangelism is taking place. It makes contacts with the local population and worship is started in the homes of individuals. On the request of this developing church group, the department looks for a place to build a church building.

The construction and refurbishing of churches and the training of pastors and evangelists has been the main focus of the Evangelism and Church Growth Department. These efforts are funded by the Outreach Foundation, which is a validated support group of the PC(USA), the Project for Evangelism and Church Growth in Africa (PECGA), and the Booth Family Africa Fund. The International Cooperating Ministries (ICM), through an International Partnership of the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia (PEVA) with the CPK, is also involved in church construction of the CPK.

Leadership Development and Education

The CPK cooperates with the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) in a joint Committee for Presbyterian Ministries (CPM) to coordinate responsibilities for ministerial training at three different levels, in the Reformed Theological Faculty of Kasai (FTRK) in Ndesha, the Booth Theological College in Kinshasa, and in seven Presbyterian Pastoral Institutes in the different provinces.

Since the beginning of its ministries the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa has carried a large educational load with the administration of the church's elementary and secondary schools. The Department of Education coordinates the daily running of 52 primary schools and 35 secondary schools, which share the 50 school buildings built by the CPK since 1963. Most of these are in Kinshasa and Bandundu, and a few are in Lower-Congo. Besides its own schools, the department is responsible for five elementary and two secondary schools in extension. They were built by other denominations, which have since asked the CPK to administer the schools for them. Through its educational ministries, the CPK serves an estimated 30,000 students. The 1,400 teachers are college graduates with specialization in their respective branches.

The ultimate goal of the Department of Education is to help the youth develop Christian faith and ethics and expand their educational skills. It strives to provide quality Christian education in schools that are safe, sanitary, well-equipped and well-staffed. Courses of religion and Christian ethics take a central place in the schools of the CPK.

When the government returned the schools to the churches in 1977, after just two years of nationalization, the buildings were in disrepair and the furnishings had vanished. Because the Congolese government has failed to meet its financial obligations to provide for the teachers' salaries and school facilities, the church has to cover the costs of running its schools.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) / June 1999

In the 1990s educational institutions in Kinshasa have experienced severe disturbances from political unrest. In 1992-93 only three schools under the direction of the CPK maintained all its classes. In other secondary schools just the sixth year was kept open for students to be ready for national examinations. After 1993-94 all CPK schools have been open until the start of the 1998-99 school year. Following the eruption of a new rebellion in August 1998, a drastic economic decline allowed for only 25 percent of the students in Kinshasa to return to school.

With parents' contributions as their main financial resources, the schools have been struggling to provide the desired level of education and quality of facilities. Due to the continuous economic and political crisis, many parents cannot afford the school fees. Low salaries cause considerable turnover in staff. Didactic materials and equipment are scarce, many of the teachers do not have textbooks, and few students have any notebooks. Most of the instruction takes place through the medium of spoken word and blackboard.

To improve the educational system's existing facilities and quality of instruction, the Booth Family Africa Fund finances the costs involved in refurbishing the CPK school buildings and subsidizes the teachers' salaries.

Health Ministries

The Kinshasa Urban Clinics and the Kitchen Gardens are the two programs managed by the Health Office of the CPK.

The Kinshasa Urban Clinics are part of the government's plan entitled "Health for all." This plan enhances a program that is centrally coordinated by the Congolese government, but predominantly it is implemented and managed by church groups. When it is complete, all of Kinshasa's inhabitants will be within one mile of a primary health care clinic. The services offered at these clinics include prenatal and postnatal care, immunizations, well baby clinics, treatment of minor illnesses, and if necessary referral to regular or maternity hospitals.

Since the beginning in 1983 the CPK has started six clinics. Some of these clinics have specialty services such as an ophthalmology program, a maternity ward, or a dental service. AIDS education will be included at all of the clinics. The fees for these services are low, but they approach the limit of what the average Congolese could pay.

Since it is nearly impossible for the clinics to be self-financing, the program is subsidized by the Medical Benevolence Foundation. The Presbytery of Eastern Virginia (PEVA) has funded the construction of the facilities.

The Kitchen Gardens is a gardening program, in the area of the CPK health centers, that maximizes the use of home gardens to improve family nutrition and to supplement family income. The program has a significant impact on reducing malnourishment in children at risk by addressing the root causes of malnutrition.

Christian Education

Christian education for youth is offered in Sunday school classes, through religious education in the CPK's primary and secondary schools, and during the weekly chapel services in these schools. Congregations organize Bible study and prayer groups, women's and youth groups, and choirs. To raise the consciousness of new members, the formation of lay committees is encouraged. Training for Sunday school teachers as well as for chaplains is provided.

Youth Ministries

The Youth Department of the CPK puts forward a major effort in the training of youth leaders. Twenty-four members of the Youth Council are involved in ongoing courses. The department offers management and financial courses to Presbyterian youth leaders and sponsors the training of Scripture Union leaders. During days of reflection devoted high school students share with junior high students their experiences of choosing a vocational track within the public education system. The department further organizes AIDS awareness seminars. Presbyterian youth run a number of self-development activities.

Women's Ministries

Women's work has been organized since 1964 and serves the women and families of the 152 congregations of the CPK. The Department of Women and Families encourages women to hold weekly prayer meetings in their parishes and to provide the needy in their communities with clothes, food and other necessities. It organizes seminars at the presbytery, the synod and the community levels for the women's spiritual growth and for the education of women on issues related to health, nutrition, family planning, gardening, economics and politics. The department holds workshops to teach women special skills and to encourage them to initiate small economic projects.

The majority of the Presbyterian families consist of the poorest and uneducated members of society, with most men unemployed or not receiving their salaries. Consequently women are taking on initiatives to provide for the nutritional and educational needs of their families. Small economic projects help supplement the income for their families and include needle work such as crocheting, knitting, sewing and embroidery, African fabric-dyeing, soap-making, preservation of fish, bread-baking, and poultry farming. The department itself tries to finance activities with a large gardening project and a knitting project for the production of baby clothes on knitting machines.

The Department of Women and Families has put much effort in the construction of the Women's Center. Eventually this center will consist of a conference center and guesthouse to host religious classes for adolescent girls, seminars on women's development, and workshops for training in economic and domestic skills. It will also have facilities to host meetings at the community, synod and presbytery levels. Women's contributions over the last two decades have realized the first stage of this project. The economic crisis, however, has minimized the women's financial capability and the construction of the second stage of this center has nearly come to a halt.

In its multiple ministries, the Department for Women and Families of the CPK reaches out beyond the boundaries of its own community. In 1997 Kinshasa experienced an influx of refugees fleeing the capital of the neighboring Congo Republic, Brazzaville, after the outbreak of a bloody civil war. Although the population of Kinshasa itself was still recovering from a rebellion that finished just months before, the women of the CPK responded on several occasions to the needs of these refugees by offering money, food, clothes and other necessities. In collaboration with the International Red Cross and the United Nations refugees association, UNHCR, the donations were distributed in the refugee camps on the outskirts of Kinshasa. This initiative was later reinforced when the PC(USA) Presbyterian Disaster Assistance channeled its financial help to the refugees through the women of the CPK.

The Presbyterian churches in the Congo affirm the participation of women in the overall life of the church. For many years women's ministries have been a vital part of the church. Nevertheless, women are rarely represented in decision-making bodies and in international delegations. Women themselves have recognized the lack of formal education as an obstacle to participation. Although they are invited to become pastors, few women choose to pursue this ministry. The first and only woman minister who pastors a congregation within the CPK was ordained in 1978.

Community Development

The CPK's Department of Development has existed since 1970 and has proposed the implementation of different projects. However, in its definition and concept of development and the church's participation in it, the department struggles to identify the needs and solutions of the local population and to help them in the administration of the projects.

The Presbyterian Cooperative for Saving, Lodging and Agriculture (COPELA) is an entity that works separately from the Department of Development. COPELA is building houses in a cooperative under the CPK. One-fourth of the cost of a house is contributed by residents , the balance intended to be paid later.