Christian Education, Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC)

The Christian Education Department of the CPC has the job of developing training materials for laity and clergy and for implementing various training opportunities across the church. Regular visits to the churches are one of the tasks of the department, which seeks to serve a church membership of 2 million Christians. This fund provides critical support for the department.

Congo Presbyterian Church Educational Ministries

The Congo Presbyterian Church supports education in a variety of ways. Contributions to this ECO will help the PC(USA)'s partners furnish schools with teaching materials, training teachers, repairing facilities and building new ones, all to meet the needs of the growing school-age population.

Education for Kinshasa, CPK

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has collapsed, but our partner church, the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK), is educating its young people even under the most difficult conditions. Contributions will be used for basic educational support, books, chalkboards, desks and repairs.

Faculty of Reformed Theology of Kasai, Nedesha (FRTK)

The FRTK is a vital pastoral training institution in this growing Congolese church. Funds are needed for student financial aid, classroom supplies, fuel and spare parts for the school's vehicle.

Faculty of Theology, Yaoundé

Established in 1962, the Faculte de Theologie Protestante de Yaoundé (Yaoundé Faculty of Protestant Theology) educates approximately 150 French-speaking West African seminarians. The theological school offers a M.Div. degree and, in conjunction with seminaries in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a doctoral program. Used for programmatic, instructional and faculty needs, funds from this ECO project will advance academic standards at the seminary and prepare students for their ministries today. Stimulating Protestant theological education in Africa is a crucial challenge.

Protestant Faculty of Theology, Protestant University of Congo

The Protestant Faculty of Theology provides training for the leadership of the church. It is open to students from other churches in Central Africa.

IMPROKA (Kasai Literature)

Even in the midst of turmoil in the country, IMPROKA, the Protestant printing press, continues to provide Christian literature and training materials for the church in Congo . Funds are needed to purchase paper and other printing supplies.

PEVKO: Project of Evangelism in the East Kasai

This fund provides support for an evangelism program approved by the CPC to reach out beyond their current geographical coverage in the East Kasai region, especially to villages with no churches.

Bulape Hospital and Community Health, Congo

Bulape Hospital is a 130-bed facility in the isolated Kasai area. Contributions provide continued support of general medicine, pediatric, maternity and surgical services.

Christian Health Center, Mubji Mayi

Mubji Mayi Christian Health Center provides a full range of medical services including vision care and a family planning clinic, serving a rapidly growing population in the East Kasai region.

Presbyterian Church of Kinshasa Clinics, Kinshasa, Congo

The Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa is setting up 24 health zones to meet the needs of the urban poor. These primary health clinics have been sorely stressed as a result of the political transition. Because of the refugee influx their patient loads have increased and the stocks of medicines and medical supplies are seriously depleted. Funds are needed to restock the clinics.

IMCK Community Health

Overall health care and well-being of the local populations depend upon complex factors, including activities and behaviors of the community that reduce the risk of illness. IMCK partners with communities in helping them take responsibility to evaluate and find solutions to their own problems including sanitation, hygiene and nutrition. Contributions to this ECO help build communities and prevent suffering.

IMCK Good Shepherd Hospital

IMCK Nursing and Laboratory Technician Schools

The central function of IMCK is education. The nursing and lab schools currently provide the Democratic Republid of Congo with hundreds of trained health care professionals. Only through education is development possible. Contributions to this ECO will help provide scholarship subsidies and training materials.

Kitchen Gardens, Kinshasa

This program provides seeds to impoverished families in the city of Kinshasa, helping them to grow small urban gardens of highly nutritious crops to supplement their diet.

Lubondai Hospital

Lubondai Hospital is an 80-bed reference hospital, serving the population of the rural West Kasai region since 1933. Contributions will help to replace dilapidated medical and surgical equipment.

Luebo Hospital

Luebo Hospital, the site of the first Presbyterian health program in the Congo, was pillaged in a civil conflict but has been rebuilt by villagers in its catchment area. Contributions will provide essential equipment and drugs.

Networkers Malaria Prevention Program

NewWorkers projects in malaria-stricken nations provide mosquito nets and prevention education to protect families from malaria, the disease that is the leading cause of death among young children and a serious health threat to pregnant women.

New Malaria Initiative

Malaria kills more than 1 million people annually, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria claims the lives of 3,000 young children every day. The 2006 PC(USA) General Assembly has responded to malaria's tragic toll by calling for a collaborative malaria initiative that will broaden and strengthen the PC(USA)'s current malaria prevention program. This effort is to begin with the formation of a special committee, to be composed of representatives of Presbyterian church partners in Africa and U.S. Presbyterians. The committee will develop an international plan of action to address the scourge of malaria and present the plan to the 2008 General Assembly. Contributions to this ECO will support the work of the proposed special committee.

Water for All

Without clean water, good health is impossible. In many parts of the world people suffer chronic and life-threatening illness and children die needlessly for lack of accessible clean water. Funds for this program provide technical assistance, equipment and training to develop sources of clean water in needy communities.

Women's Health International

In much of the developing world women's health is undermined by traditions and practices that leave women disempowered, marginalized and living in poverty. Gifts to this fund will support a range of programs, including health services, education and economic development that improve the well being of women.

Valerie and Walt Shepard teach in the seminary at the Booth Superior Institute of Theology. Walt, an ordained PC(USA) minister, also devotes part of his time in a pastorate at the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa. For Walt, this is a return to the country of his youth. This is also a return to the mission field for Valerie, the child of missionary parents Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. When Valerie was a baby, her father and four other missionaries were killed in Ecuador by the Auca tribe. Later, when she was 3, Valerie went with her mother to live with the Auca. “My mother was able to tell about Jesus’ life and show that killing is wrong,” she says. Her mother is the author of the book Through Gates of Splendor. 

Larry and Inge Sthreshley were both born and raised in the Congo by missionary parents. They’ve now served with PC(USA) for 20 years in Africa, mostly in Congo. Larry is director of Project AXxes, a large rural health organization that builds and maintains a health infrastructure for rural Congo. AXxes focuses on health outcomes (as opposed to building institutions) in southern and eastern Congo, including regions caught up in what has been called the “world’s deadliest war.” Larry heads a team of 50 people that has an impact on the health of 8 million people—fighting malaria, TB, malnutrition, and childhood illnesses such as diarrhea and respiratory infection.

Women's Work, CPC

The Department of Women of the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) operates various programs to minister to the spiritual needs of the women, while also recognizing the difficult conditions in which nearly all of them live. In addition to organizing opportunities for shared worship, prayer and Bible study, the department teaches women skills that will help them meet physical needs of their families, such as making soap, tie-dying clothes to sell, gardening and nutrition. Support for this ECO will help the department implement its many programs.