Communauté des Eglises de Frères Mennonites au Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

History

Origins

Early Congolese mission attempt

An emphasis on African missions began January 24, 1912 when two American Mennonite groups-the Central Conference of Mennonites and the Defenseless Mennonite church-decided to create a common mission field for Belgian Congo. The new committee went by the official name Congo Inland Mission (CIM) (Juhnke 67). The first Mennonite missionaries, Lawrence and Rose Haigh, came to the Congo when still under Belgian rule in 1911. Aided by American Presbyterians and a Congolese evangelist, Mutombo, they established two mission posts, Kalamba Mukenge and Djoko Punda. Successful missions were marked by the training of their first Congolese teacher, Isaac Luabu, in 1915 and then the baptisms of seventeen people at Djoko in 1918 (Lapp and Snyder 52-54).

Founding of the Mennonite Church of the Congo

In 1912 Aaron A. Janzen and his wife Ernesta left for the Kasai district of Belgian Congo with the support of foreign missions within the Mennonite Brethren Conference. They too served on the Congo Inland Mission field starting in 1913 but soon Aaron A. Janzen left CIM in 1920 to start a strictly Mennonite Brethren mission post in Kikandji (Janzen and Hamm). After a realizing the poor location of Kikandji on a hill, they relocated the mission station ten kilometers to Kufumba which promised for more productive land (Lapp and Snyder 54). By 1926, they baptized their first convert, Luka Sengele, which led to thirty-seven others who were baptized. This laid the foundation for the Mennonite Church of the Congo (Toews and Hiebert 50).

Timeline

1905	The first BIC missionaries arrive in Bombay on January 6. The missionaries station themselves in Arrah, in north India. While they spend most of their time engaged in language studies, the Missionaries set up a preliminary Sunday service and Sunday school for those able to speak English. By October the the missionaries had baptized the first three converts: a Brahman and a Muslim father and daughter.
1906	The leaders of the BIC mission, the Angeneys leave the BIC for a different mission society. The 1906 General Conference directed the Foreign Mission Board to seek a capable leader to take charge of the mission. Meanwhile, the remaining missionaries conducted Sunday services, engaged in visitations, ministered to the sick, attempted to meet the needs of widows and conducted bible classes. The mission also expanded their ministry to education programs for women and the poor.
1912	Missionaries return home after struggling for seven years. In the end the missionaries were unable to establish a permanent mission in India. But they did give the next generation of missionaries valuable insights into what is required for establishing a successful mission in the region.
1913	Foreign Mission Board sends over a second group of missionaries led by Henry Smith poised to conduct a mission informed by the difficulties of the past mission in Arrah.
1918	The mission reached a benchmark in 1918 and had established three stations in Bihar: Saharsa, Madhipura and Supaul. After five years of mission work, Saharsa and madhipura reported to have two members and four inquirers; Supaul had 16 adherents.
1919	Marked the beginning of the church's orphanage ministry. The missionaries began by simply caring for a motherless boy but soon formed both a boys and girls orphanage each with their own school. The orphanages would eventually become the principle source of members for the church as it developed through the mid-century.
1922	The mission adopts a new statement of purpose to explain their shift in mission tactics. Because of the lack of response to their evangelistic efforts, the mission had already begun focusing their attention on various social ministries to address issues related to orphans, widows, education and health. To continue the mission's direct evangelical work, leadership began to hire Christian nationals to supplement the foreign missionaries.
1924	After a decade of mission work in India, Henry Smith dies of Smallpox. Leadership passes to Amos Dick who would give a lifetime of service in India. In 1935 the General Conference made Amos Dick the Bishop of the India Mission field.
1939	The church in India celebrated its Silver Jubilee with 151 baptisms of new converts; the Christian community now numbered around 200. The church recognized that it had been growing slowly. Likely the biggest contributing factor was the fact that evangelism had always struggled to make inroads into the Hindu community. The caste system had always been a hurtle for the likely convert. Essentially, in caste system conversion makes one equivalent to an outcast among their people. Which explains why the most converts prior to the mid-century the most converts were form lower castes whose members would likely loose less by conversion. But thankfully, the church's 25th anniversary would be seen in retrospect as a turning point for the mission and the growth of the church.
1945	The widely successful mission to the Santals begins. The Santals were a tribal group moving into the Bihar region. They were notably less bound to the Hindu caste system and were thus more responsive to evangelism. In fact, when BIC missionary Charles Engle originally contacted them he discovered that some of the Santals were already baptized Christians. Because of the Santals response to evangelism, a new mission, Banmankhi, was established within access of the Santal villages. This outreach to the Santal villages largely accounts for the fourfold increase of the Indian church in the decades following the Silver Jubilee. Among the Santals, several nationals rose up as talented leaders. Benjamin Marandi, an excellent church planter, began a church by himself that would swell to well over 1000 members before his active days of ministry were done.
1954	The first three India nationals are ordained by the church.
1955	The first constitution for the Brethren in Christ Church in India was written. Within the document, there was noted cooperation between the foreign missionaries and the native church leaders. Both would serve on the church's executive committee. Unfortunately the constitution was never registered as an official document. Subsequently, the document was only ever loosely followed. Among several new changes the constitution provided for a church chairmanship to be rotated among four regional superintendents. An interesting factor to note is that the first church Chairman was a missionary and not a national.
1967	A foreign missionary continued to sit as church chairman until 1967 when Chairman Harvey Sider indicated that he would not be available to continue being church chairman. Form this point onward the church chairman has been an Indian national. The first nationals to hold the office were Hem K. Paul, Surendra N. Roy, Patros Hembrom and Sohan Lal Bara. Following this movement towards integrating nationals into church leadership, the ordained leadership joined the mission/church executive committee. This was the first real opportunity for nationals to become a real part of the decision making process. Naturally this slowed the process down considerably, but it also furthered the development of trust, mutuality and holistic decision making.
1972	As nationals continued to take over the institutions of the church, it became increasingly important to have a constitution that was registered with the sate government. In 1972 a revised constitution was finally approved and registered in the state capital of Patna. Besides allowing the church to be recognized as a authentic Indian institution, the registered status, allowed for the church to receive funds directly from North America rather than through the mission. The document remains to be the basis for policy decisions in the Brethren in Christ Church in India.
1974	With the church officially registered, the Mission transferred ownership of all lands and holdings over to the national BIC church of India. And in 1974 the BIC Mission in India was officially terminated. This was the moment when the BIC in India became fully autonomous.
1997	The 13th Mennonite World Conference general assembly was held in Calcutta, India. Many members of Bharatiya Khristiya Mandali were in attendance. This was an eye opening moment for the BIC church in India since many of them had been previously unaware of such gatherings. Beyond revealing the broader Anabaptist community, it was also a moment to strengthen their faith as Anabaptist Christians.