Dream confirmed General Secretary’s call to Bible work

The Rev Christophe Kongo Kote, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Congo, stands on the now solid river of lava from the volcanic eruption in January 2002 that destroyed much of Goma`s infrastructure, including a Christian hospital, churches, schools, the Bible House and other facilities. Goma, DR Congo. Photo: UBS/Larry Jerden (DRC02DJ-134)

by Larry Jerden, freelance photojournalist

GOMA, DR Congo — The Rev Christophe Kongo Kote, General Secretary of the Bible Society of Congo, has an unusual story to tell about his call to Bible Society work.

“I was often sick as a child,” he remembers, “and that made me close to my mother. We would discuss many things, and I decided to become a doctor so that I could help those who were ill.

“One day, I had the feeling that I was going to serve the Lord. I said that the first thing would be for me to become a doctor, then I could see how I could serve him in that way.”

Thwarted

That plan was thwarted when he failed the exams for medical training. As for settling the issue of his call to ministry, he was much more successful.
“Later I understood that God was cutting my own project short so I would follow his will,” he reflects.

After university, he taught at a mission station and embarked on theological training.

Five years as a pastor followed, and then Mr Kongo left for the Protestant University in Kinshasa to study family care.

“I am convinced that if we can take care of families, we can help the church to grow,” he comments. “I am now working on my thesis.”

Mr Kongo was focused on his degree, his role as an associate pastor and a future in family ministry when he was asked to pray for a special ‘project’.

Deadline

“I was asked by one of my colleague pastors to pray for a ‘project’,” he recalls. “She was a member of the Bible Society Board, had applied to become General Secretary and asked me to pray for her.” Mr Kongo had purchased Scriptures from the Bible Society, but that was the extent of his knowledge of the organisation. Then, one month before the application deadline, the national association of Christian churches, the Church of Christ in Congo, decided to recommend one person to the Bible Society for General Secretary.

To Mr Kongo’s surprise, they nominated him!

He told the Bible Society that one of his friends had applied, and that placed him in an awkward situation. That’s when he remembered the dream a parishioner had told him about.

“It took two weeks for me to make my decision, and during that time God let me remember a dream that a Christian lady had told me about six years before,” Mr Kongo recounts. “She was praying for my ministry, and she had a dream in which she saw me directing Bibles being put into a big warehouse.

No sense

“Her dream made no sense to me at the time, but when I started praying about putting my name forward, it helped me understand that it was the will of God.”

The situation with his pastor friend also worked out. “I had told her about God leading me to apply, and when her church was praying about her application, they made a prophecy that she should approach me about applying with her,” he says. “So she told me that she thought it was God’s will that I apply.”

Mr Kongo was the last of 10 people to apply. When he was appointed in June 2001, he was as surprised as anyone. He began his tenure with some trepidation, feeling the apprehension of the staff.

“I just told them that this was God’s work,” he recalls. “I said that I didn’t know how long I would be there, but that for the moment, this was where God wanted me to be.”

Things have been going very well at Bible House, despite considerable challenges. “The staff have been through a lot, but we have worked through it and the relationships have become closer. Now we have more than a staff – we have a team.”

One of the new General Secretary’s first initiatives was to meet the distributors. “I wanted to explain my vision to them,” he says. “I wanted them to know that we must do our best so that we can take Bibles to individuals. We need to get the Bibles out of the Bible Society warehouse.”

Commitment

What was a loose band of independent contractors has now become a cohesive Scripture sales force with a spiritual and business commitment to the Bible Society (see World Report 374/34). Other innovations include a staff outreach (see World Report 374/32) and a drive to work with new groups of churches.

“We work with Roman Catholics as well as Protestants, evangelicals and others,” Mr Kongo explains. “One of our objectives now is to work with the independent churches.

Growing

“The need for Bibles is growing tremendously,” the General Secretary declares. “DR Congo is a large country, and we have not yet extended our work to all parts. In the next year we are planning to begin work in two provinces where we don’t have a warehouse.”

For a scholar and pastor who is relatively new to the Bible cause, it seems that Mr Kongo has not only caught a big vision, he also has equally big plans for fulfilling it. (WR 375/19 - 3.03)