Rev. Gui Kasongo, preaching to the congregaton at Kinshasa.

Pastor Kasongo Gui Kabeo returned home on Nov. 16, 2011, from a missionary trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Everything will be fine,” he assured us over and over again before he left a month earlier. “It is God’s will that I go!” But this was no easy trip to make for a man who had left his Congolese homeland for political safety about ten years ago. Those who helped him plan his trip worried for his protection while there, and prayed for an uneventful and a safe return to his home in the U.S. Of course Pastor Gui was right, and God was with him all the way! 

Pastor Gui carefully planned his trip before leaving the U.S. to include visits to three cities in the Congo; Kinshasa, Kasai and Lubumbashi. He would stay in each place for over a week, and would preach at their worship service, help them plan for building a church, teach them our Lutheran doctrines and train church leaders to carry on the training after he left. It was near the capitol city of Kinshasa that he was also looking forward to dedicating a new church structure that his own congregation here in Milwaukee had helped to fund. But he learned that this congregation was not to be included in his visits as he was told there were very serious political problems there and he would need to stay away.
 
Always positive, he said, “So it turned out well because I got to see many other people instead. But sometimes you worry about your life.”

He was directed to another church in Kinshasa that welcomed him for his first stop on his mission trip. He led them in worship with the help of an interpreter. Even though Pastor Gui knows French and many African dialects, there are some he does not know, so the interpreter was necessary. He then spent days training the leaders in our Lutheran doctrines. He divided the group up into small cell groups for better explanation. He used catechetical materials translated into French that he had obtained with the help of Rev. Dan McMiller, mission executive of the South Wisconsin District. The people asked him many questions about salvation through justification, baptism, the Lord’s Supper and the Apostle’s Creed. They received the teachings with faith and joy—so joyful that they praised God with singing and clapping their hands. “They are very good singers,” Pastor Gui said. “I liked their singing very much!”

In small groups, Pastor Kasongo is able to teach the Lutheran doctrines more effectively. This group is from the church at Kasai.

A similar pattern was followed at each stop. From Kinshasa he went to Kasai, where he also visited a “poor clinic” that offered medical help for the sick and homeless. Occasionally someone from the church would ask him to come and visit their home and to pray with them. They needed assurance that their sins were really forgiven by God’s free grace. At the end of each day he spent time with the children of each congregation, giving them some cookie treats he had brought with him. His final visit was to the congregation in Lubumbashi where he followed the same routine, and from there he began his journey home, even though he was asked to stay longer.

How would he sum up his missionary visit to the country where he was born and raised?

The children were also eager to learn more from Luther's Small Catechism, the French translation provided by the South Wisconsn District.

“If I were to summarize,” he said, “it’s to bring them back to the Word. To see people who are hungry for the Word of God because the teachings of their church have been corrupted by leaders not seeking God but seeking other things.” Pastor Gui went on to say, “As Lutherans we want to bring them back to the purity of the Word by teaching them justification by grace alone; the meaning of what we believe in the Apostle’s Creed; the real meaning of baptism, where God himself is meeting with His people and the Word connects with the water; and the true meaning of the Lord’s Supper, how the real presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of the congregation.”

It seems very likely that this will not be the last trip to the Congo for our modern-day “Apostle Gui,” but that he will surely be welcomed back! Meanwhile he faithfully serves his people of the International Lutheran Church of Zion in Milwaukee, where they meet at Benediction Lutheran Church.

You can click here to see a slide presentation of Pastor Gui's mission trip to the DRC!