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Jean Bete President of Newly Formed CEUMA
BANGUI, CAR (October 7, 2005) - Leaders of the Covenant Church in Congo (CEUM)
recently participated in the historic installation of the president of
its newly formed sister church in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Rev. Jean Bete was installed as president of the new Communaute
Evangelique de l'Ubangi en Mission en Afrique (CEUMA), which is a French
name meaning the Evangelical Community from the Ubangi, in Mission in
Africa, says Keith Gustafson, Covenant World Mission country coordinator
for Congo. "They wanted something that preserved the CEUM name, but
indicated that this was not just a church limited to one geographical
location, but was expanding as God was leading them," Gustafson notes.
The Sunday installation service was held in a palm branch-covered
shelter in the village of Kpalongo, about 15 kilometers west of Bangui.
An organizational meeting for CEUMA was held in the same shelter a day
earlier. Participating in the installation were Dr. Mossai Sanguma, CEUM
president, and former CEUM President Gbuda Luyada - they both laid hands
on Bete during the service of installation and consecration (see
accompanying photo). Several other church officers also were installed.
Sanguma addressed the gathering, basing his remarks on the text found in
John 13:34-35: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love on another." Sanguma, who
in the past has had to flee into the jungle to escape violence in Congo,
encouraged the gathering to love not only each other, but their enemies
as well.
The service was filled with music, including a men's chorus that sang
two pieces written especially for the occasion. "I went with three
songbooks - French, Lingala and Sango - so I was ready when we sang the
first song in Sango," says Covenant missionary Karen Andrews. "It was
well-sung, but when they pulled out the golden oldies in Lingala, the
place really rocked."
Bete, a Central African, was already well known to the CEUM because of
his work for nearly 20 years in the Covenant-Free Church mission office
in Bangui, which provided support services to missionaries and to the
CEUM. That office closed in May, which made him available to take on the
new responsibilities. Following his installation, Bete introduced Aimee
Thontwa, who will direct women ministries.
One Congolese attendee from the Ubangi region recalled how Covenant
missionaries originally brought the gospel to the Congo and noted how
the CEUM has now spread the message to the Central African Republic. One
day it will be the CEUMA who will spread the gospel to countries like
Chad and Sudan, the observer predicted.
"For the past five years, the CEUM has been talking about starting a
church in the Central African Republic," Gustafson notes. "Earlier this
year, they began the formal process of being recognized by the Central
African government as a legitimate Protestant denomination in CAR.
Because the Democratic Republic of Congo and CAR share a common border,
there has been much commerce back and forth."
Gustafson points out other areas of common interest between the two
countries that further complements formation of a new church group in
CAR. "During the wars in Congo, when the CEUM's area was cut off from
Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, Bangui became the link for getting
supplies, fuel and communication links," he recalls. "All the medicines
that Covenant people provided for medical work in Congo transited
through Bangui. Northwest Congo also serves as the breadbasket for
southern CAR. Covenant World Mission and the Evangelical Free Church
Mission have shared an office and guest house in Bangui, because it is a
very convenient point of entry into the work we do in Congo.
"When there has been unrest in either Congo or CAR, refugees have fled
to the other country," he continues. "International borders in Africa
often don't represent people groups, and there are shared cultural and
language identities between some of the peoples in both countries."
In 1986, the CEUM sent two teams to visit places in the Republic of
Congo and in the CAR as possibilities for mission outreach. In 2002, the
mission department of the CEUM sent a small team to visit specific
communities in CAR and decided it was time to establish a new
denomination there, one with close relationships to the CEUM in Congo.
Currently, there are some 10 congregations in the new CEUMA organization.
"The CEUMA is the vision of the CEUM church and their leaders,"
Gustafson points out. "It is being undertaken in faith with few
financial resources, but it has already been well received by the
Congolese community in CAR. Before this time, Congolese believers had
worshiped in local churches in CAR, and many remain in those churches.
But the CEUM represents something like the immigrant churches that were
the beginning for the Covenant in North America."
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