ELKHART, Ind. (Mennonite Mission Network) – In February, a global village came together to raise the rafters of the new building to house the Kanzala Mennonite Church in Tshikapa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Three years ago, high wind and torrential rains destroyed the previous building, located at the national headquarters of Communauté Mennonite au Congo (Mennonite Church in Congo). However, despite the absence of roof and walls, the congregation continued to gather every morning for prayer.
The Kanzala congregation saved money and contributed labor to make and fire bricks from the clay of a nearby river. When the walls were erected, Congolese Mennonites requested the help of North American builders to place the rafters for the cross-shaped edifice.
Download full resolution image.Arnold Harder, a long-time mission worker in Congo, led a five-member team from North America in response to the invitation. Although officially retired in Mountain Lake, Minnesota, Harder has made more than a dozen trips back to help with various projects. Harder and his wife, Grace, served with Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and Mennonite Mission Network from 1968-2005.
Adolphe Komuesa Kalunga, president of the denomination, said that North American teams “serve as a lever to lengthen the arm” of the Congolese Mennonite Church.
“The presence of these multiple work teams is a stimulus and encourages our common calling,” Komuesa said. “We are convinced that there will always be brothers and sisters from North America who will walk alongside us in our evangelism efforts.”
Johann Zimmermann, architect from Washington, D. C., worked with Liévin Kuzamba, the building’s architect, to design mahogany rafters that could sustain the weight of the large roof.
The highlight of two weeks in Congo for Merrill Gingerich was the bond created by laboring side-by-side on a common project. Gingerich, a dairy farmer from Milford, Indiana, found humor in attempts to communicate in many languages – a reversal of the confusion created in the Genesis account of the Tower of Babel, where the workers left their task because of an inability to understand one another. In Tshikapa, united by the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, the contours of the church roof took shape through the efforts of people speaking French, English, Tshiluba, Kipende, and occasionally Portuguese (when Zimmermann’s subconscious would flashback to similar projects in Mozambique where he had previously served).
“We worked well together, despite the inability to speak each other’s languages,” Gingerich said.
Congolese Mennonites didn’t wait to worship in their new church building until it was completed. Prayer and praise occurred at the construction site each morning before the day’s labor began. And, worshipful work happened after a Sunday service benediction when the men of the congregation combined their strength to move the 1,300-pound rafters into position for winching skyward.
Women and children also did their part, carrying bricks, wood and water. Sometimes classes were dismissed at the nearby Mennonite elementary school to increase the labor force.
Due to a delayed plane and an all-day rain, the North Americans lost two work days and had to leave Tshikapa without putting the final rafter into place. Several weeks after their departure, church administrators gathered for a national conference and made the installation of the remaining rafter part of their agenda. The only remaining task before total completion of the Kanzala church building is to put on the tin roof.
Tom Nickel, from Mountain Lake, Minnesota, and Joe Shetler, from Milford, Indiana, were also members of the North American team.
