One of the Diaspora Network's key values is prayer and fasting. We believe one of the most important and renewing gifts the immigrant church brings to North America is a deep commitment to prayer and fasting. We want to invite the broader Church to join in on what God is doing, and so each week as a network we pray with and for a specific group in diaspora. We often highlight a leader and church of specific diaspora group here on this blog and share how they have invited us to pray with and for them. All are invited to participate every Friday over Zoom (10-10:30 am CST). Click the link below to join us!
For this last week of February, we are praying with and for the Congolese (DRC) diaspora 🇨🇩
As of 2020, there were about 110,537 Congolese diasporans in the US
Texas has the highest number of immigrants from the DRC at around 6,000 people. The DFW area (North Texas) has somewhere between 3,500-4,000 Congolese immigrants, followed by Houston at a little over 1,000.
While the number of Congolese in Austin is difficult to estimate, organizations like the Austin Congolese Association are actively working to establish unity and support among the local Congolese community, as well as welcoming Latino refugees through community sponsorship.
When asked by Christianity Today on how the Gospel came to the Congolese in his region, Lazare Sebitereko Rukundwa – a theologian and founder of the Eben-Ezer University in Minembwe, Eastern DRC – shared this:
“We asked the old people who were there what happened, and they told us they didn’t understand. There was this wind of revival, the Spirit of God moved across the forests and the savanna where they were living, and people just moved from one place to the other, looking for the church or for a pastor or an evangelist to pray for them.”
The Congolese diasporans in Houston, Austin, and across the U.S. have brought this wind of revival with them, and they continue to share the Gospel with courage and boldness
Austin Churches:
El Shaddai Baptist Church (their church choir is in the video below)
Source of Life Church (in the Rundberg and N Lamar area)
Houston Churches:
Evangelical Church of Jesus Christ – Congolese
Prayer Points:
Peace in Congo: For violence and fighting to cease, for peace in the region, for righteous govt officials
Gratitude: For the gifts of perseverance in faith, despite the suffering, hardship, and atrocities that the people have experienced, and for the radical hospitality many Congolese show towards others even when life has been difficult.
Multiplication: as Congolese churches from different ethnic groups multiply, that they would share resources and practice unity in the midst of the mission of church planting
Next Gen: for the Congolese growing up in the US to claim their faith as their own, and not just seeing it as something that only belongs to their parents’ generations
Mutuality: For Congolese churches that are using shared space owned by non-immigrant churches. For good relationships and that there would be more than just sharing of space but a true sharing of life and ministry together.
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