A start in Moliambo

The new district pastor at Moliambo, Mozart Mulama (his true given name), introduces the first day of a district-wide retreat featuring reflections on the church and life-giving change in our villages.

Pastor Mulama is the new district pastor in Moliambo. In fact he is so “new” that the old district pastor’s family is still living in the pastor’s house and he himself hasn’t yet moved to Moliambo. But he has spent this week working at Moliambo – gathering pastors, deacons and deaconesses together for three days of training and starting a four-day retreat for members of the 14 CBCO churches in the district.



Yesterday was the first day of the retreat. More than 500 adults packed into the long, narrow cement-block building with a tin roof, the Moliambo center church. This was a remarkable show of enthusiasm from people who (from all reports) have been discouraged by church leaders and the difficulties of life. Someone asked Pastor Mulama, “How did you get so many people to actually respond to an invitation?” It’s a mystery even to him. But it is clear that many people hunger for renewal in their churches.



But we even saw signs of unexpected and encouraging openness as we drove into Moliambo yesterday morning. The last four or five kilometers the road winds down through red-clay hills to the church center. We found villagers out in force, fixing the road, and hardly anyone asked for a handout. This is unusual. Only a few days before the road had been in very poor shape. But by 7:30 that morning every place where heavy rains had gouged deep gullies out of the road holes had been filled. The road was mostly leveled and mudholes filled in. We learned later that Pastor Mulama had met with village chiefs, partly to tell them about the retreat, partly to urge them to improve the infrastructure that is their link to the outside world.

Three of us from the Lusekele team responded to Pastor Mulama’s invitation: Philo Bidimbu, whom a few of you may have met; Philippe Kikobo, ACDI’s lead extension agent; and me. Philo spent an hour talking about how deacons and other lay leaders can be effective leaders of life-giving change in their congregations and villages. Philippe gave a similar message to a group of intercessors.



I talked to the gathered group about how working hard is often not enough. Farming “smart” as responsible stewards of God’s land is part of the deal. I illustrated this with examples of how disease-resistant cassava can unlock opportunities that the average poor farm family doesn’t even dare to hope for right now.*

What all three of us want people to understand is that God has already prepared a blessing for us and even for our non-Christian neighbors. This is a blessing that would guarantee basic food security for the average family. This is a blessing that would make it possible for every child to get a primary education and most to get a secondary education if they are motivated. This is a blessing that would make primary health care accessible to most families. Our churches can be the channel of this blessing. And I hope that the resulting changes in our congregations would give us an opportunity talk about God’s love, his concrete provision in our lives, and his purpose for us and for the world.



Pray for Pastor Mulama, the pastors of those 14 local congregations in the Moliambo district, and the lay people that came together for reflection this week. Pray that this is a week not just for enthusiastic worship and encouraging Christian talk. Pray that leaders will capture a vision and turn it into concrete, life-transforming action and powerful witness to the many non-Christians who live beside them.


*I have said this before. Mosaic-resistant, high-yielding varieties can double or triple cassava yields in central Bandundu province. A typical family could move from having a surplus of about 14 sacs (about $130 worth) each year to having from 45 to 80 sacks of surplus (worth $400 to $720 a year). Yet there are still literally hundreds of villages in our working area who know practically nothing about the blessing that God is offering farm families.

Building a simple tractor wagon

How do you build a simple tractor wagon from boards and an old LandRover rear axle? Emmanual Souza is helping me answer that.

“I don’t really care about the money. I just want Lusekele to make some headway.” Emmanuel Souza and I were looking down at the rear axle from an old cannibalized LandRover. “Pretty soon you will have palm fruit bunches coming out of your ears and you will need a way to transport them. I’m glad to help.”

Those are rare words in a world dominated by project-induced dependence where many people are looking for the next patron to get themselves through the year. He was casting a vote for a renewed rural economy based on shared knowledge and local innovation. And the thing that struck me most was that it was done in the spirit of Paul’s admonition to the Philippians: “Look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own.”

Last year Emmanuel was sick for months with some ill-defined digestive track problem. His energy dissipated. He hardly got out of bed. Almost everyone thought he would die. But he didn’t. He says that God healed him. Over the last couple of months he has gained strength and regained some of his long-term interest in adapting simple technology to the local people’s needs and opportunities. He is a gifted mechanic and millwright. Joining me in a do-it-yourself tractor wagon project was a way to keep a hand in life.

The rear wheel assembly of the LandRover will make a perfect axle for a simple wagon able to carry ½ to ¾ tons. ACDI’s immediate concern is to quickly move palm fruit from its own plantations to the small oil extraction installation here, save money, and free workers for better plantation maintenance.

However, more fundamental concerns drive me. First, make the plantation and oil extraction operation profitable. That’s kind of a strange concern for a missionary. But the long term ability of the Baptist church’s extension program to help members and their neighbors depends on stronger local income. A profitable business provides the surplus that makes it possible for a few believers to serve others and proclaim God’s good news.

Second, innovation, combining the best of our own experience with the creative inspiration that comes from God, is part of our mandate to join God in the continuing creation of this world. Building a suitable wagon out of local materials and discarded hardware is a local solution to a local need. It demonstrates in a very small way that God has NOT destined us to live within the limitations of our current poverty.

Third, small successes help Lusekele Christians to maintain hope and a measure of enthusiasm. I want people to have enough confidence in God and in themselves that they are willing to take well-considered risks that have a good chance of creating new opportunities. An old proverb says, “Nothing succeeds like success.” My colleagues in the business and technical side of the Lusekele ministry need a few good successes.

Emmanuel tests out an idea as we cobble together a tractor wagon for transporting palm fruits and other produce.

We finished half the small wagon bed yesterday and played around with ideas for mounting the axle. Kester, the Lusekele mechanic, is scrounging around Vanga for parts we lack. In a couple more weeks we should have another very small piece of the Lusekele sustainable ministry puzzle in place. Emmanuel’s willingness to serve others with his experience and enthusiasm encouraged me. It echoes Jesus’ orientation to life : “He was humble and walked the path of obedience . . .” – for others, for all of us.