A small village called Kafubu

Kafubu - Site of future school

When God gives a vision, it doesn’t always come with a clear path for how it will be accomplished.  In some cases, pieces of the same vision can be given to multiple people at varying times and places.  Like pieces of a puzzle, they don’t make much sense by themselves and we can be overwhelmed when trying to sort through them on our own.  Like Noah building the arc, Moses going before Pharaoh, and so many others, God reveals the end of the vision, or the promise, before the path, or means.  When the vision comes, we must have the faith to follow the path that God’s vision leads us down even when the end is not in sight.  Such was the case for those who received God’s vision to start a school in the small village of Kafubu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

More than three years ago, Pastor Aimé Mutombo from Lubumbashi was starting a church in the nearby village of Kafubu.  As he began to pray over the community and the needs represented there, the long distances children had to walk in order to attend school overwhelmed him.  In addition to long distances, he was also struck by high school fees, which caused most families to only send their oldest boys leaving many children without the opportunity for a basic education.  Together with Celestin Chishibanji, the superintendent of the South Katanga District, the two men began to receive a vision to build a school that would provide a good, affordable education to the families of Kafubu.  As a part of this vision, the two men felt led to purchase a plot of land near the church where the school would be built. 

In February of this year, my sister and brother-in-law (Andy) came to visit us at our home in Lubumbashi, DRC where we serve as missionaries.  They enjoyed many things that first-time visitors to Africa would naturally enjoy; the music, dancing, interesting foods, and beautiful landscapes.  They also immensely enjoyed fellowship with their Congolese brothers and sisters in Christ.  One of the places that we visited was Kafubu, and although they were deeply touched by what God was, and is, doing in this small village, they never imagined how God would use them to accomplish the vision that was given to Pastor Aimé nearly three years earlier.  God put it on Andy’s heart that he was to help build the school, but he didn’t know how.  The first Sunday after they returned to Ocean Springs, MS where Andy leads the worship team at Crossroads Church of the Nazarene, he was approached by one of the members of the band.  This person told Andy that God gave him a vision that their band would be playing in a concert on the beach, and this concert was going to help accomplish a call that Andy had already received.

 Over the next few days an event was planned that would draw bands together from several states to play a concert on the beach with the goal of raising eight thousand dollars for the school in Kafubu.  They sought donations, booked a venue, secured permits, and advertised diligently.  A short four months later, Congo Jam (www.congojam.org) took place.  With God’s help this one church was able to raise more than eleven thousand dollars for the construction of a school in Kafubu.   It is so humbling and rewarding to be reminded of the ways in which God works.  Even when we seem incapable, He will use us to accomplish His purposes.  Even when the road seems long and difficult, He will be with us at every step.  And even when the vision seems too big, He will follow through with his promises.