Ministry partner update: ICOMB – September 2017

The International Community of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB) is made up of 21 national churches in 19 countries with approximately 450,000 members. ICOMB exists to facilitate relationships and ministries to enhance the witness and discipleship of its member national churches – connecting, strengthening and expanding.

The Crisis in Congo

A contact (who we can’t identify for security reasons) shared about a Congolese church worker who said: “I have talked with many people who have seen their loved ones hacked to death. They are now living with hunger, lack of medical care and a dullness of spirit that surely must be [psychological] protection against too much spiritual and emotional pain.” Armed conflict has displaced 1.4 million people including 8,000 Mennonites in Congo. People have fled, leaving fields and animals behind.

Our Mennonite Brethren members are taking in refugees – also on the Angola side of the border. Please pray for Gerard Mambakila, president of CEFMC (MB conference), and for the Communauté Mennonite au Congo who have appointed key people to work on this crisis. Your prayers mean a lot! Seven Anabaptist organizations are working together to raise funds and awareness of the crisis, which has been largely ignored by Western media: International Community of Mennonite Brethren, MB Mission, Mennonite Church Canada Witness, and Mennonite Mission Network, in addition to MWC, AIMM and MCC.

Read more about the crisis and MWC’s response here.

—David Wiebe, executive director

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