Congo-Brazzaville

The Adventist work in the territory of today’s Congo-Brazzaville was organized in 1972 as Republic of Congo Attached Mission Station. It was renamed in 2017 as Congo Region, and then officially reorganized in 2021 as a mission by the West-Central Africa Division following the recommendation of the Central African Union Mission. It is one of the five countries that make up the Central African Union Mission, which is a part of the West-Central Africa Division.

Statistics (June 30, 2021) for Congo Region: 16 organized churches; membership, 1,293; population 5,657,000.¹

Overview of the Country

Congo-Brazzaville (also called The Republic of the Congo, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo)² received its independence and became a republic on August 15, 1960. The country was formerly part of the French colony of Equatorial Africa. Five nations border it: Gabon and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Cameroon at the northwest; the Central African Republic to the northeast; the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the east and south. The country is dominated by Bantu-speaking tribes, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. 

Origins of the Adventist Mission Work in Congo

The Adventist Church in Congo started through the missionary efforts of Nicolas Sangouet, a Congolese, who lived in the Central African Republic. Sangouet accepted the Adventist message in the Central African Republic through the ministry of Pastor Kolongonda, who came from Cameroon. Sangouet shared his newly found faith with his family and acquaintances in Congo whenever he visited them. As more people in Congo were attracted by the Adventist message, Sangouet informed Pastor Jean Kempf, the president of Adventist Mission in the Central Africa Republic.³ Jean Kemf resided in Bangui, the capital of the Central Africa Republic, and traveled to Congo to meet Sangouet in 1971. Only one year later, in 1972, encouraged by Jean Kempf’s report on the work in Congo, the then Central Africa Union voted to send Kempf to Congo as Congo’s first official Adventist missionary.

As the Adventist mission work in Congo progresses, more workers were needed. A group of members from Congo was sent to Zima for training at the Adventist Church seminary located in the Eastern part of the Central African Republic. Among those who went to the seminary were Lucien Ngonziegue, Jean Firmin Bidzimou, Norbert Ngotimi, and Marcel Essouli. After completing their training, they returned to Brazzaville to help with the evangelistic work. Bidzimou was sent to work in the south of Brazzaville, where he baptized Philipp Milandou, Alphonse Mbouala, and Jean Moukoko. They became the first licensed ministers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Congo. Pastor Milandou was the first licensed Congolese pastor to work in Congo. He came to Congo to work as the publishing director in 1980.⁴

In 1974, Kempf bought a field to build the first Adventist Church in Congo. In 1975, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was officially recognized by the Congo government. Jean Kempf built the first Adventist dispensary in Congo, which was formally inaugurated in 1977. He established small groups that later became churches in Potopoto and Ouenze. Unfortunately, in 1978, with the arrival of communism in Congo, many churches were closed, including the Adventist churches. The Adventist dispensary was ceased as the property of the new communist regime. Jean Kempf was forced to leave the country. From 1978 to 1990, many attempts were made to reopen the Adventist churches in Congo with no success.⁵

After the fall of communism in Congo and with the establishment of democracy, a new official recognition was granted to the Adventist Church in Congo in September 1991. Between 1992 and 1993, the Church operated under the umbrella of ADRA, because of political instability in Congo, and with Gary Wagner as the director. Gary Wagner could not stay long because of the political climate in the country, and Pastor Asso from Cameroon replaced him. In 1994, Pastor Ruben Concesao was elected as the president of the Congo Station, with Pastor Jean Moukoko as the secretary and treasurer. When the civil war started in 1997, the evangelistic efforts were focused on Pointe Noire .⁶

More Recent Developments

Congo has had a slow growth in membership. Historically, the Adventist mission work has faced major challenges in Congo such as communism, the civil war, and political instability. Beginning in 2000, Congo has known social and political stability, which has helped the Church to develop. In 2002, the membership of Congo was 534, and in 2012, the membership grew to 757. In 2021, the membership was 1,293.⁷

The Congo government returned the Adventist dispensary to the Adventist Church on September 7, 2017. Since then, the Mission of Congo has been working and looking for help to rebuild the hospital.⁸ When the hospital was opened, the Church contributed by providing healthcare to the community. Today, through the youth and women's ministries, the Church is making a difference by providing services to the community.

Sources

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Notes

1. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2022), https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=13444.↩

2. Congo is not to be confused with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which adjoints it on the south and east.↩

3. Philippe Meliandou, retired pastor from Congo Mission, interviewed by the author, Bangui, Central African Republic, April 28, 2017.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. Ibid.↩

6. Ibid.↩

7. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.↩

8. Jean Moukoko, a pastor from Congo and former executive secretary of the Central African Union Mission, interviewed by the author, Bangui, Central African Republic, April 28, 2017.↩