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CEUM Pastor Speaks At World Mission Dedication Service
KEYSTONE, CO (June 26, 2002) - Wednesday night's dedication service for
Covenant short-term missionaries gave the Department of World Mission an
opportunity to introduce three guests from the Covenant Church of Congo
(CEUM).
One of them, Fohle Lygunda, CEUM's Director of the Cabinet of the
President and its legal representative, was interviewed by David
Stockamp, coordinator of church relations for World Mission.
Pastor Fohle discussed how passionate he was about spreading the message
of CEUM's mission to the Covenant in North America - a passion bore out
through a well-worded response to interview questions, in English. It
was a language Fohle had been studying for a few months since arriving
in the U.S. in late March.
"We asked God, 'How do we share our message to our people because we do
not know English,' " Fohle said as he described his urgent need to learn
English in three months in the U.S. "We are grateful to our Lord for
this opportunity."
Fohle stated that the CEUM's first commitment has been to mobilize the
1,200 churches (including 156,000 people) in Congo to mission
activities. He believes that God has called them to this vision despite
a lack of finances that has limited congregations in recent years.
Already, the CEUM has embarked in mission works to three different
groups of people. In fact, the President of the CEUM, Luyada Gbado,
recently reported that he has baptized 34 pygmies during the past two
weeks.
"Some churches say to me, 'Fohle, you are crazy, you have no money,' but
I say to them that I am called to preach the gospel," said Fohle...And
if
we allow God to be in us, we have the power to do mission."
Second, Fohle said God has called he and his church to train
missionaries, both for work in Congo and abroad. He is counting on the
fact that "God always acts more than what we expect," knowing that in
the midst of a decade or more of civil unrest the CEUM has managed to
continue its own ministry and seek other cultures to minister to.
"We need to be a light of hope to Congo...because life is a struggle,
life
is not easy," said Fohle. "But CEUM is called to these hopeless people.
And the ministries you started (in 1937), we are building upon them.
"Our God is an almighty God," Fohle continued. "He is not limited what
we are or by what we have. His mission is a powerful mission. It is a
worldwide mission. It is working with black people; white people, rich
people, poor people...and he can choose me to do this mission. That's
why
we say partnership is power...and our message to you brothers and
sisters
is that the partnership can be between white-white, black-black, between
black-white; this is the power."
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