(Screenshot courtesy Prayercast)

Congo-Kinshasa (MNN) – More than 80 people were murdered by Islamic militants in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in recent weeks. The victims were allegedly targeted because of their Christian faith, says Voice of the Martyrs USA.

On May 31, the first 13 bodies were found in a northern village close to the Ugandan border. Killings with guns and machetes continued throughout the week in nearby villages. Since there are more than 100 armed groups operating in the DRC, it is difficult to discern the exact source of the attacks, but it is easy to understand the primary motive: hatred of Christians.

“We don’t know how they’re identifying targets or victims, but we do know that the ADF, the Allied Democratic Forces, have pledged allegiance to ISIS,” says Todd Nettleton with VOM USA. “They have in mind to set up an Islamic caliphate in this part of DRC.”

Radical Islam has been advancing southward into Africa, sweeping up more and more countries as it goes. ADF, though formed in Uganda, has begun recruiting Congolese and terrorizing the communities along the border. They are suspected of instigating the majority of the attacks.

“At this point, it doesn’t seem that the government and the army is able to stop these attacks or really even protect against them,” Nettleton says. “In the last few weeks… two men were approached by the ADF. They were asked, ‘Are you Christian or Muslim?’ One of the men said, ‘I’m a Christian’ and was instantly executed right on the spot.”

The other man claimed he was a Muslim and was heavily questioned about the Quran and Ramadan until he was finally released. This is just one example that Nettleton received through a conversation with a partner in the DRC during a VOM podcast.

(Screenshot courtesy Prayercast)

Against such extremists, Nettleton encourages the Church to use prayer as a response. “I think it’s our duty as fellow members of the Body of Christ to know what’s happening to them, to be able to pray for them effectively and knowledgeably, and also to be able to stand with them, to be able to serve them in their time of need,” he says.

He also mentions financially partnering with groups that distribute Bibles to local churches, VOM being one of them. Their goal is to equip believers with the Word, spiritually strengthening them against persecution.

“These are people who are our brothers and sisters that are being attacked, that are facing this difficulty,” Nettleton said. As terror advances through Central Africa, threatening our brothers and sisters, let us join in prayer for their spiritual strength and safety.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (MNN) — Conflicts in the city of Sake in the DRC’s North Kivu province have displaced 144,000 people since February 7. North Kivu’s capital, Goma, is overflowing with refugees and still under pressure from encroaching M23 group forces that block access to key roads.

It’s a complex situation with a staggering number of players. More than 260 local or foreign-backed armed groups exist within the DRC according to a 2023 survey by the government. (Learn about key groups such as M23 here.) 

Photo of sewing class in East DRC courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship

Ben Samuelson serves with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Ituri Province, the region directly north of the North Kivu hotbed. In the past two weeks, Ituri itself has had an upsurge of killings, abductions and burning of homes of civilians by non-state armed groups, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

In the midst of the chaos, Samuelson and the MAF team offer stability through a shuttle system between Ituri’s capital city of Bunia and three other major cities in East Congo.

“It doesn’t really matter what direction you take off and start flying (from Bunia). You are effectively always flying over militia activity at some point along that route,” Samuelson says.

MAF serves in three of the internally displaced persons camps in Bunia, offering local-led literacy classes, sewing classes, basic counseling services and more.

Nearly seven million people are displaced within Congo. Samuelson says one tiny hut in these camps might hold a large family.

Photo of Ben and Anna Samuelson with a literacy class graduate in East DRC courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship

“These people are scared for their lives, and they’re traumatized. It’s better to run away from everything they know, and come to one of these camps, than to have to live their life in fear every single day of this group that will come to kill them and to make their lives miserable,” he says.

Regarding extremist groups within the DRC, Samuelson calls their actions inhumane. He says it’s hard to talk about and is clearly the destructive work of Satan.

Pray for the MAF team as they serve in dangerous, pressured region. Learn more about MAF’s work in the DRC here.

Samuelson knows his team can’t solve the deep struggles facing the DRC. “But we have the chance to help some people, you know. We have the chance to serve the people that God has placed in front of us,” he says.

Join MAF in lifting up this complex crisis before the Lord, who knows and understands every detail. Pray for wisdom for leaders, long-term peace in the nation and the hope of the gospel to reach millions of suffering people.

Header photo courtesy of MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti via Wikimedia Commons. People from the Kibumba – Rutchuru axe who fled the combats between FARDC and advancing M23 rebels, set camp in Kanyaruchinya 4km north of Goma, the 1st of August 2012.

Democratic Republic of Congo (MNN) – Decades of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo have created the fourth-largest internally displaced persons crisis in the world.

Reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) say 6.3 million displaced persons live in the DRC.

The majority of these people live in East Congo, which includes Ituri Province, where Ben and Anna Samuelson serve as missionaries with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

Anna says it’s hard to put into words how the ongoing fighting has impacted people near their base in the city of Bunia.

(Photo courtesy of MAF)

“Everyone that you meet either has a story of being displaced, or probably has a displaced person living with them. It impacts everyone in our region so personally. There’s obviously such large-scale effects. But it’s also like every person is individually touched by violence and the instability there,” says Anna.

Mission Aviation Fellowship has served in the DRC for the past 63 years, providing transportation in a time and place where few things are certain.

Anna tells about a Congolese friend who had to turn around due to militia activity while trying to drive from Bunia to another town for her job.

“She said she was so thankful for MAF. She knew she could turn around and come on Monday on a flight, otherwise she would have had to keep going. She wouldn’t be able to charter a flight to get herself there. But she can get there safely because of the (MAF airbridge) shuttle.”

Ask God to bring stability to the DRC and the hope of Christ to those caught in the middle.

“We have these opportunities every single day that we work with airport officials, with passengers, with (air)strip agents, with whoever. Each of these are opportunities to be a light for Christ and to show the love of Christ in these situations,” says Ben.

“Each and every day, it’s the Lord’s work that is being done. And if the Lord is not working with us, then there’s not much that we can do. So (we’re) just trying in every chance to reflect all the praise to God in everything that we’re doing.”

Pray for wisdom, encouragement, and protection for the Samuelsons and the MAF team as they live in conflict-ridden East Congo.

Header and story images courtesy of MAF.

Democratic Republic of Congo (MNN) — The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to suffer loss of life and massive displacement as conflict rages on, especially in East Congo.

Last week, the armed group M23 blocked off main roads to the capital city of North Kivu province, cutting off its more than two million people from food sources. M23 is one of 120 armed groups present within the DRC.

Photo of North Kivu Province (bottom, dark red) and Ituri Province (top, bright red) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Ben and Anna Samuelson serve with Mission Aviation Fellowship in East Congo. Ben tells us there are a multitude of reasons for the decades of violence in the DRC.

“There are still those ethnic or tribal militias or attacks that will happen against a certain other tribe. There (are) outside influencers that are trying to get access to natural resources within Congo,” Ben says.

“Congo is one of the wealthiest nations in terms of natural resources in the country, even though the people don’t ever end up seeing that wealth. But outside influencers benefit from an unstable region. There (have been) many cases of inciting militias and such to keep the region unstable for their purposes.” 

Amid lack of government support, tribes and villages create their own militias for their own causes and defense, which adds to the chaos. “Some religious extremism as well has come up and been the cause of other militia and fighting that goes on in the area,” Ben says.

The recent concentration of fighting within North Kivu may be tied to its proximity to other countries that historically have influenced the DRC, says Ben.

He adds, “With a country with as poor of (an) infrastructure as Congo, it becomes very hard to have a lot of control in the east, when all the primary governance [Kinshasa] is just under one thousand miles away in the West.”

The DRC currently has over 6.3 million displaced persons according to UNHCR. Many hope and call on President Felix Tshisekedi, who began his second term in office in January, to dramatically improve national security.

(Photo of DRC courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

“Sometimes it feels really hopeless when we read the numbers of how many displaced and how many killed,” says Anna. “(Please pray) for the elected officials, that they would have wisdom, and that they will be honest.” 

Mission Aviation Fellowship operates in Bunia, the capital city of Ituri province, which lies directly north of North Kivu and also deals with militia activity. Pray for their protection and for stability in the region.

“[Pray for the team] to not get discouraged when we hear about all this terrible stuff, but to just see the opportunities that God has placed in front of us, that this is something, this is a person that we can make a difference in their life today,” Ben says.

Header image is courtesy of MONUSCO Photos/Wikimedia Commons. 

Congo-Kinshasa (MNN) — The United Nations could scale back food aid beginning this month in the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to funding shortfalls. Over 25 million people face emergency levels of food insecurity in the DRC, making it one of the world’s largest food crises.

General elections will be held in December, but a recent crackdown on protestors raised concerns about the upcoming vote.

Church leaders find Gospel opportunities amid the fear and uncertainty, but daily life remains difficult. One pastor tells World Missionary Press:

“Although there’s a glimmer of hope, members of our churches who fled the fighting are still in makeshift camps. Our missionaries are not yet able to move easily. Please join us in prayer for the return of a lasting peace.”

Last year, a nationwide evangelical alliance in the DRC asked WMP to send them outreach material. “They have 53 different communities of denominations and five million-plus believers in their groups,” WMP’s Helen Williams says.

“They’re going into the streets, door to door; they are reaching these people.”

Support from believers like you put 182,000 Scripture booklets in the hands of indigenous missionaries last year. Help restock their supplies through WMP here.

Scripture booklet distribution in DR Congo.
(Photo courtesy of WMP)

“One of their pastors wrote, ‘The requests for literature are coming in from all over. New converts are asking for literature, and we don’t have the resources,’” Williams says.

You might end up helping someone like Gilbert meet Jesus. Read Gilbert’s story here.

“He was addicted to drugs and said, ‘I could have died as a result of drunkenness.’” Williams says.

“‘I was given literature from World Missionary Press and told that God still loves me. From that moment on, I began to distance myself from evil. I am now in Jesus.’”

The growing radicalization of Muslim populations has affected the Central African Republic (CAR), Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda, where little persecution or terrorism previously existed. Pray for front-line workers in these areas as they teach foundational truths needed to combat radical Islam. (Photo, caption courtesy of VOM USA)

Congo-Kinshasa (MNN) — Terror plagues a majority-Christian nation in central Africa, and it goes by a three-letter name: ADF. The Allied Defense Forces (ADF) claimed 55 deaths in the first two weeks of August, killing 19 people in a single attack.

Based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the jihadists frequently target Christians in the eastern region. ADF terrorists killed 72 believers during two weeks in March and 80 Christians over ten days in April.

The Islamic canon inspires the terrorists’ brutality.

“I [recently] discussed [this persecution] with an imam, and he said, ‘We have steps before we kill Christian.’ If [a Christian] repents, changes his faith, and becomes a Muslim, it’s fine. If not, they (Muslims) have all this authority from their god to kill that Christian,” Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s VP of International Ministry and Operations Riadh Jaballah says.

“When they kill Christians, it’s part [of their] doctrine.”

IS celebrated killing “over 100 Christians” in March.
(Photo, caption courtesy VOM Canada/al-Naba)

Militants formed ADF in 1995 to overthrow the Ugandan government. Partnering with the Islamic State gave ADF the funds necessary to grow. It gave the Islamic State a foothold in Central Africa.

“Islamic State started many years ago in the Middle East and North Africa. These terrorists jump from one area to another, creating terrorism and hatred [in the name of] Islam,” Jaballah says.

“It’s like a virus; we find them everywhere.”

Voice of the Martyrs Canada collaborates with partners in the DRC to offer hope through theology of persecution courses.

“I teach the course in Arabic and French and have another colleague [who teaches] in English,” Jaballah says.

“We’re not scared about persecution; it’s part of our faith. We need to face the situation and be witnesses to the persecutor.”

Pray persecuted Christians will hold fast to their faith and trust in the Lord.

“The voice of truth is the voice of God. It doesn’t matter if the persecutor succeeds in silencing [Christians] through intimidation or killing; God is here,” Jaballah says.

Header and story images courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada.

DR Congo (MNN) — Every Child Ministries serves kids and their families in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with support services and Gospel hope. But earlier this year, ECM also launched a new Deaf ministry initiative!

ECM’s Lorella Rouster says, “We got started in this just last year when we realized that many of the unreached people groups of the world are the Deaf communities.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Before ECM launched their new Deaf outreach, all Gospel ministry to the Deaf in DR Congo was in the East. Western DR Congo, however, had no ongoing ministry presence to the Deaf.

One of the biggest needs ECM discovered in western DR Congo is many Deaf children in hearing families don’t have the chance to learn sign language.

“They really don’t have any way to communicate with anybody,” Rouster says. “They don’t understand anything in church, they don’t understand sign language without being taught it or having the experience with others who know it, anything on television, anything on radio — they’re cut off from everything.

“We have been trying to get some children into the special Deaf school where they can learn sign language, and therefore they can be exposed to the Gospel as well as having the opportunity just to make a decent life for themselves.”

You can sponsor a Deaf child in the DR Congo with ECM and give them the opportunity to know God’s love for themselves!

Click here for ECM’s child sponsorships.

Please pray for Deaf children and their families in DR Congo to embrace relationships with Jesus Christ and, in turn, minister to other Deaf individuals in their community!

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries.