Pioneers

Women Pastors in Mbandaka

Sunday afternoons and evenings are sacred for many pastors, this one included.  After a busy morning leading worship and “tending the flock,” rest is much needed and much deserved.  The Sunday we were in Mbandaka, a group of pastors were kind enough to take their own Sabbath time to meet with us.  Later in the week we would meet with a large group of the pastors of the Mbandaka Post, but this evening we were meeting with just 4 pastors.  They were 4 of the 5 women pastoring churches in Mbandaka.  As a woman in ministry in the United States, I was particularly interested in this group of extraordinary women.

We sat and talked with these women and cooed at Noella, the baby one of the women brought with her, I felt as though I was in the midst of sisters.  Our conversation quickly turned to ministry. What was most remarkable about these women was how much their experiences mirrored the experiences of women in ministry outside of Congo.

Each woman talked about the challenge of being appointed to a church that was not altogether welcoming. They talked about struggling to claim their authority within a church not used to women in leadership. They live in a culture that is just beginning to accept women in careers outside of the home, a culture that is just beginning to allow women to get an education. As I pondered their strength, I thought about the women who came before me in ministry. I gave thanks for their faithfulness to their call and willingness to be pioneers. I am grateful that I do not have to endure many of these struggles because so many women before me paved the way. In my formative years, the associate minister at my church was a woman. I watched her lead worship, preside at the table, teach the Bible, and preach from the pulpit. I never for a moment doubted that I could be a pastor.  Yet I am also grateful for the strong women I call colleagues today.  Women with whom I can share my frustrations and my successes in ministry.  As I listened to these women of the Mbandaka district talk about the support they draw from one another, the ones who truly understand what they are up against, I felt even more gratitude for the witness of mentors and colleagues in my life. 

Welcome at Besenge Parish in Mbandaka

Together we shared our experiences of joy and struggle in ministry. Maybe it should not have surprised me to hear them speak about many of my own joys and struggles in ministry. We talked about balance between career and our home and family. We talked about long, strange hours spent with parishioners and preparing for worship.

But we also shared stories of the honor of a calling to serve God.  The delight of building relationships rooted in Christ, of building God’s kingdom on earth.

Cheryl preaches at Mbandaka III

I was humbled by these women. But more than anything I walked away knowing that while we live on different continents and we function in different cultures, we are all serving the same God, we are spreading the same gospel of grace and unity.  As we sat in the waning light of a busy Sabbath day, I realized that we are living the unity of Jesus Christ. What we have in common in Christ is far more powerful that the worldly experiences that divide us. Each time I put on my robe and stole, each time I step into the pulpit or into a classroom, I will draw strength from these women and I will pray for my sisters in Christ in robes, pulpits and classrooms in Mbandaka and at home.

Reflection by Cheryl Russell on the June 8 conversation with women pastors in Mbandaka.

Reflections on arriving and just being present...

Night had already fallen when we descended the stairs from the jet onto the tarmac in Kinshasa.  It was not particularly late, but darkness comes at 6:00 p.m. every day along the equator and our flight from Brussels had taken us across into the southern hemisphere, a first for most of us. It was a long day and a half of travel after over a year of planning but we had arrived!

Cheryl is our "co-pilot"

Christina points out the equator

Well, mostly…. We’d made it as far as the international airport on the outskirts of Kinshasa but it would be almost two more days until we would arrive with our partners in Mbandaka, about 400 miles northeast, and just a few degrees back into the northern hemisphere. Mbandaka is the capital of the Équateur Province and the home to the General Office of the Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo. It was also our destination for eight days

Our plane from Kinshasa to Mbandaka

spent with our partners in the Mbandaka District of the Disciples in Congo. Our group traveled the last leg to Mbandaka via a small plane flown by Mission Aviation Fellowship. Other options to reach Mbandaka include a two week boat trip up the Congo River or a somewhat sporadic commercial flight. Traveling by car, bus or van is not possible – there are no roads reaching even that modest difference. Though it is a sizable city, one must be very intentional about getting there. Mbandaka isn’t somewhere you are likely to happen through on your way to somewhere else. 

Disciples lining the road to the first church we visited

We had been very intentional about getting there. Besides the hours spent in transit and in transit lounges, we’d raised money and renewed passports, gotten immunizations and lots of information. We had planned and prayed and the time had come. And it was worth every minute. We were greeted as long lost relatives, come home at last. Of course, we carried gifts with us… many of them, items that are not readily available in Congo, especially in Mbandaka. But after traveling all that way and finally arriving in Mbandaka three days after we left Indianapolis, it occurs to me, this is definitely a place where just being present means more than anything.