Fothergills In The DRC: The First Two Years

January 2013 - 3 weeks after we arrived

I can’t believe that our first two years here in the DRC is nearly at an end.  23 months ago, we arrived in Lubumbashi tired, hot, and ready to serve the Lord.  It’s hard to believe that this first term is at a close. The things that were the most difficult at the beginning are the things that barely faze us now.  Of course, we think about electricity, water, internet and other things related to comfort as the things that were hard for us at first. Though now we realize that the difficult things are much deeper than these minor annoyances.  The hard things are the mindsets that bring people down and hinder the work of the Kingdom.  We have come a long way in these 23 months; we are forever changed by the Congo.  I can’t quite explain how we’re different, but it’s clear that we have all been deeply impacted. 

October 2014 - 6 weeks before we leave

Connor doesn’t remember the US at all, except for his family members that we keep in contact with via video chat.  He arrived as a scared, shy boy who wouldn’t shake anyone’s hand but gladly frowned at everyone.  The Congo hasn’t made him an outgoing person, but he greets people in whichever of the three languages that they choose to use and almost always shakes hands with a smile.  Macy came to the Congo excited to live in Africa, but was the first of us to be thrown deeply and fully into the French world a few days after we arrived.  Through school and church she has made many friends and grown up with a diverse understanding of cultural differences; specifically concerning opportunity and justice.  I know that Jill is different too.  She has grown in her confidence as a minister and is being used to empower other women to do the same.  Not only does she keep our family afloat in an ever-evolving process of problem solving, but she also inspires others with gentleness through relationship building.  I know that I’m different too, but it’s hard to explain how. Perhaps we’ll ask Jill for a synopsis of how these last two years have changed me.  I can tell that I’m different in the way that I see people and am filled with hope.  My close friends know that I like to play the part of the pessimist and the complainer, but the Congo has striped this of me.  There is too much potential, too much that God is poised to do, for me to not be changed by His hope and to see it in the people and the powers here in the DRC.  The Congo, no less than any other place, needs the saving grace of the Lord.

We have seen many amazing things, proof of God’s power and love for the DRC.  New churches have been started, new leaders have been raised up, and the Gospel has been spread.  We have become witnesses to the Lord’s mighty hand and redemptive Spirit.  People at war have laid down their arms, people in personal conflict have come to peace, and God has brought physical and spiritual healing to so many.  We have seen with our eyes, and heard with our ears, felt with our fingertips and we cannot forget what the Lord is doing in Congo.  There’s no way to know what the Lord has in store for us or how long we’ll be in the DRC, but I am sure that God will make us witnesses to many more examples of His goodness and will continue to use them to change us.  Let us be changed!

Even Greater Things

I have always believed that the Bible was true.  But it wasn’t until I moved to Africa that I realized how true the Bible was for me, personally.  I had studied the Word, meditated on it, prayed over it, and taught it to others.  But for some reason, there are certain things that I just didn’t fully grasp, various instances where it seemed that the message wasn’t entirely relevant.  Again, it wasn’t that I didn’t believe the Bible to be true, but perhaps living in Africa has helped me to realize that the Bible is true, even for me.  Take the following verse:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

Jesus tells us clearly that if we are his believers, we will do not just what he has been doing, but even greater things than those.  At times, we have misused this verse, thinking that it is telling us that Jesus will provide us whatever possessions or desires that we ask for in his name.  A simple examination of this passage in context with the proceeding and following verses reveals these words as an exhortation to continue the work that Jesus himself was doing.  Even though Jesus will go away (v.19), he assures his disciples that another advocate (v.16) will come and give us the power to continue Christ’s work on this earth.  It is for this work that we have the promise that Jesus will not hold anything back from us; the Holy Spirit will provide all that we need.

Since coming to live in the DR Congo, I have experienced many things that I haven’t experienced in other places.  Crowds of thousands have followed me as I walked through city streets; God has made me a witness to his power through divine healing; and at times the Word has flown through me to prophesy to those needing redemption.  Perhaps living in Congo has reminded me so much of the stories that I’ve read in the bible, that I have allowed the Spirit to work through me in ways that I didn’t understand and couldn’t claim to be my own power.  

One of these times, the Holy Spirit positioned me to know a man who would soon be on his deathbed.  Upon arriving in Lubumbashi, I made it a habit to speak to my neighbors.  Most people are locked up behind their walls in my part of town, so I began to spend most of my time with the workers and other people who were more accessible.  Shortly after making friends with the young men of the neighborhood, they began asking me to teach them about the Bible.  Most of them had been conditioned to accept that they weren’t allowed to know much about the Word of God.  We started meeting as a small group for prayer and bible study.  They soon began to ask for a church, but sensing that I myself didn’t have the time to devote to it, I declined.  God had other plans.

Six months after the bible study had started, I arrived home late at night from a meeting with local pastors.  At first, the two men running at full speed behind the car unsettled me, but I soon made out the figures of brothers Shadrak and Mechak.  “Come quick” they shouted through tears, “our father’s dying!”  We ran quickly around the corner and while still a good distance from the house I could hear wailing.  – In the Congolese context, wailing is a required process that goes on for days with family and friends after the death of a loved one.  People from the neighborhood had already started gathering around the house to pay their respects and wail with their friends. – I hesitated to go in.  I started to doubt what I could do, me, alone.

The air in the house was thick as people were crowded in; crying and wailing at the top of their lungs.  I reluctantly pushed passed the other family members and saw Papa Jean – as he is known in the neighborhood – laying on his back, still.  I began to call out to him, but there was no response.  I put my hand on his chest to feel if it would rise and fall with his breaths.  Even through his shirt I could feel that he was burning hot.  The young men beside me were openly weeping.  I shrugged my shoulders and turned to them looking for the right words to say.  Just then, a small voice rose in the back of my mind.  “Ask in my name,” it said, “and I will do it.”  My hands returned to Papa Jean and I began praying and asking God for healing.  A few minutes later, as we were still praying, he began to move in his bed.  After another few minutes, he was sitting up and responsive.  I put my hand on his shoulder to steady him and noticed that the fever was gone.  The boys tried to keep him in bed, but he stood up and walked out of the house.  There in the presence of the small crowd he began to testify that God had healed him.

My head was spinning.  “Is this what really happened?” I asked myself as doubt began to creep in.  The Holy Spirit had just done a mighty work through me, and yet I found it difficult to believe.  I was humbled and bewildered, and did the only thing that I could.  I prayed thanking God for what he had done and asked for forgiveness for my disbelief.  In the three months since this time, the Holy Spirit has continued to use Papa Jean to build the Kingdom.  We started a church soon after that night, and another one a short three weeks later.  Even now, more preaching points are being established through Papa Jean’s connections.  When we are open to being used by the Spirit, the Spirit will accomplish these “greater things” in and through us.  Let us pray that we may be open, sensitive, and obedient to the Spirit.

A Meeting With God

Today, I find myself overwhelmed by God’s goodness, by His mercy, by His presence. It’s one of those times when you feel Him, you are moved by Him and you sense the Holy Spirit among the others you are with.

I was seated on a couch, packed in the living room of one of our pastor’s homes, with 21 other pastors and their wives. It was the 4^th monthly meeting of pastors to take place in Lubumbashi. The air was a bit stuffy, mostly because the temperature is starting to rise again, the room smelled of fish, rice and beans in preparation for our fellowship meal. Macy and Connor were outside playing, talking just loud enough that I could make out what they were saying in French and the District Superintendent was sharing from Isaiah 60.  “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” Quietly, a voice began to sing a hymn, another joined and soon the room filled with beautiful harmony and rhythmic clapping. With united voices, we prayed for our churches, we prayed for each other, we prayed for those close to us who are sick and we prayed for different needs around the world. And, in the midst of it all, the Holy Spirit was moving.

I’m so thankful for times when God reveals His glory; those precious moments each day when he says, “I’m here.”