Ethical leadership, living well together set the tone for 2025 Congo Mission Network Conference
The annual conference will be held online and at sites in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — The Congo Mission Network (CMN) will host its annual conference on Oct. 23-25 at Stillman College and Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Registration is free for online attendees outside the U.S. Otherwise, there is a $25 fee. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) staff, Global Ecumenical Liaisons, Congolese and college students can also register for free. The in-person attendee fee is $125 before Sept. 1 and $150 afterward.
Register here.
The conference theme, “Ethical Leadership and the Church: Living Together,” echoes and supports church-led initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo to bring about peace in war-torn eastern Congo. Goals include enabling peace and “living well together” for all in Congo’s culturally diverse communities, schools and churches. Conference participants include representatives of churches of the Presbyterian Community of Congo (CPC) and the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK).
The National Episcopal Conference of Congo (Roman Catholic), and the Church of Christ in Congo (Protestant), of which the CPK and CPC are members, recently launched a blueprint for peace called “Social Pact for Peace and Living Well Together in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes Region.” It is a response for churches to the rebel warfare that has killed and displaced millions since 1998.
The Rev. Dr. Isaac Kalonji of Kinshasa, the President and Legal Representative of the CPK, will give the conference keynote presentation on ethical leadership.
This conference will recognize the long history between the American and Congolese Presbyterian churches. The relationship began in 1891 when the Rev. William Sheppard, an 1884 graduate of Stillman College, and the Rev. Samuel Lapsley helped establish the first American Presbyterian mission in the Congo at Luebo. They were supported by the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley that now bears their names.
U.S. and Congolese churches remain close, with partnerships around education, healthcare, feeding programs, housing, women’s and youth ministries, and more in Congo.
The Rev. Ellen Sherby, Manager for the International Global Ecumenical Liaisons in the Global Ecumenical Partnerships ministry area, and Doug Tilton, Global Ecumenical Liaison, will speak about the new role of the PC(USA) regarding global engagement. Jimmy Shafe, board member of Education Congo and director of Congo Hope, and Nate Houghton, co-founder and president of Congo Leadership Initiative, will speak on finding new models for funding missions in Congo.
The Rev. Laurie Loveless, convener of the New Castle Presbytery Congo Partnership in Delaware, will speak about the new strategy in the Kasai region of Congo to train congregations to foster and secure more permanent homes for vulnerable children.
The Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK) will lead a session on cultural diversity, focusing on the Bantu and Batwa peoples of Equateur Province. Dr. Serge Makolo, Director of the Eye Clinic and former director of the Christian Medical Institute of the Kasaï (IMCK), will speak on education and ethical leadership. The Rev. Dr. Simon Kabue, Rector of the Presbyterian University of the Congo (UPRECO), will address racial and ethnic reconciliation in church and family life.
Jeff Boyd, longtime mission coworker in Congo, will introduce a free Android phone app that now offers the Misambu ya Kutumbisha (“Songs of Praise”) hymnbook written by Congolese in local languages. The app is already in use in one of CMN’s partner churches in Congo.
There will be tours of the Stillman College campus, Brown Memorial Presbyterian, and sites in Tuscaloosa and beyond with a focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the American struggle for civil rights. Attendees will learn about Sheppard and his wife, Lucy Gantt Sheppard, their ministry to the Congolese and their challenges to both colonial and ecclesiastical racism.
Other conference highlights will include:
- A talk on the legacy of Maria Fearing of Gainesville, Alabama. Born into slavery, Fearing later graduated from Talladega College and became a missionary to Congo, where she taught children and founded the Pantop Home for orphan girls. There will be a post-conference pilgrimage to her gravesite.
- A presentation and quilt exhibit by internationally acclaimed quilter Yvonne Wells of Tuscaloosa.
A full conference program will be posted on the CMN website when it’s finalized.
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