THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE DR CONGO AND SOCIO-POLITICAL ISSUES
4.2 THE BEGINNING OF THE PROTESTANT CHURCH IN THE DR CONGO
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of Congo, between 1942 and 1970), ‘Eglise du Christ au Congo’ (Church of Christ in Congo, between 1970 and 1972), ‘Eglise du Christ au Zaire’ (Church of Christ in Zaire between 1972 and 1998), and ‘Eglise du Christ au Congo’ (Church of Christ in Congo), from 1998 up to now.
At the creation of the CPC (Conseil Protestant au Congo) its objective was clearly stated:
The ‘Conseil Protestant au Congo’ is an organization serving all the Protestant Missions in Congo, its objective is to unify and develop the work of Protestant Evangelical Missions. Its motto is ’all one in Christ Jesus’ as it seeks to foster one church of Christ in Congo. It seeks also to relate the Protestant Christian Community effectively to the authorities and to Christian bodies in other lands. The Council seeks to serve all the Congo missions and missionaries in innumerable ways, not the least of which, in recent years, has been to seek to protect the Protestant Community from Roman Catholic domination and to stand for fair play and religious liberty.
It seeks to help the missions to collaborate with the Government in all that is best for the people of Congo, never forgetting that in all educational, medical and social betterment work, Christ must be uplifted, and in all things, he must have the pre-eminence. The ‘Conseil Protestant du Congo’
stands for Christian fellowship and co-operation (Bibi-Bikan, 2002:178).
The ‘Conseil Protestant au Congo’ thus set out to gather all the Protestant missions to face the civil authority and deal with the opposition against the Protestant missions instigated by the Catholic mission. The ECC strove for religious freedom while working with the indigenous people.
Explaining the perspective of the Church of Christ in Congo, L.J. Taylor states:
The Church of Christ in Congo must be a united church. A united church does not mean, nor can it ever mean, uniformity of belief or outlook, (…) elimination of the local church group, or of its attitude or importance, or of its type of worship. But a united church means that we examine together, first of all the things which divide us, (…) that we repent of our proud and scornful attitude to other members of [the] Christian community, that we regard the united body of Christ’s followers as the ideal for which he worked and died (Bibi-Bikan, 2002:181).
In 1970, the Catholic Bishop Malula, preaching in the Cathedral of Sainte-Marie in Kinshasa in the presence of King Baudouin, was extremely critical of the Mobutu government. Mobutu did not tolerate such criticism and accused the Catholic Church of
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interfering in political affairs. It is possible that at the time the thought arose in Mobutu’s camp of moving closer to the Protestant Church.
It might be true that the establishment of the Protestant Church organisation could be seen as, in a sense, ‘made by Mobutu’. On December 31, 1971, a decree was issued to all communities of Protestant churches to be assembled into one church, the ECZ (‘Eglise du Christ au Zaire’, or, Church of Christ in Zaire). The Mobutu leadership wanted the church to embrace the thinking of the MPR (‘Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution’, Popular Movement of the Revolution), the one and only political party at the time. It came down to using the church to strengthen political power.
In 1972 the political party decided to install in every single religious training institution (Protestant, Catholic and Kimbaguist) a committee of the JMPR (‘Jeunesse du Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution’, Youth of the Popular Movement of the Revolution). The Catholic Church’s opposition to this decision led to a conflict between President Mobutu and the Catholic Bishop Malula.
The Protestant Church did not seem to share the view of the Catholic Church. Some historians explain the negative reaction of the Protestants to the Catholic position as the result of their historical marginalisation by the Catholic Church which in the colonial past had been considered as the state religion, according to the convention of 26 May 1906.
In this context Komi writes :
Si on se réfère à l’évolution de l’Eglise catholique depuis la colonisation, on se rend compte de la situation privilégiée dans laquelle elle a vécu. Elle avait tellement de force qu’on pouvait la confondre avec le gouvernement colonial. Leurs intérêts se confondaient. Elle fut considérée comme un Etat dans un autre Etat.
Dès le lendemain de l’indépendance, l’Eglise catholique mit tout en œuvre pour se défaire du régime de Lumumba car elle croyait pour deux raisons majeures que ce dernier constituait un danger réel à sa suprématie. Il fallait combattre Lumumba d’abord parce que, semblait-il il fut d’origine protestante et ensuite à cause de sa vision nationaliste (Diakubikua, 1984:105).
In translation: If we refer to the evolution of the Catholic Church since colonization, we realize the privileged situation in which it found itself. It was so strong that it could be confused with the colonial government. Their interests were intertwined. The church was considered a state inside another state.
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After independence, the Catholic Church made every effort to get rid of the Lumumba regime because it believed for two major reasons that he constituted a real danger to its supremacy. Lumumba had to be fought, first because, it seemed, he was of protestant origin and next because of his nationalist vision (Diakubikua, 1984:105).
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The Protestant Church meantime willingly supported the regime and its professed ideal of restoring authenticity. The position of the church was made abundantly clear in a declaration of its National Executive Committee, meeting between 2 and 9 February 1972, and in the Christmas message of the National President the same year.
The National Executive Committee declared:
Nous soussignés, membres du comité exécutif national de l’Eglise du Christ au Zaïre, réunis en session extraordinaire à Kinshasa, capitale zaïroise, du 2 au 9 février 1972, déclarons solennellement notre ferme soutien au Président-Fondateur du Parti National, le MPR, chef du gouvernement et général d’armée, le citoyen Mobutu Sese Seko. Nous appuyons avec soulagement la lutte combien noble pour l’authenticité.
In translation: We, members of the National Executive Committee of the Church of Christ in Zaire, meeting in extraordinary session in Kinshasa, capital of Zaire, from February 2 to 9, 1972, hereby solemnly declare our firm support for the President-Founder of the National Party, the MPR, head of government and army general, citizen Mobutu Sese Seko. We support, our hearts light, the so noble struggle for authenticity (Muntu-Monji, 2013:75)
In his Christmas message, the National President of the ECC stated:
Ainsi beaucoup de nos frères ont posé la question, « Quelle est la position de l’Eglise vis-à-vis de la politique de l’authenticité zaïroise ? » D’abord, ce n’est pas notre rôle de définir la politique de l’authenticité zaïroise que nous connaissons tous, car le chef de l’Etat, qui est Président-Fondateur du MPR et qui est l’auteur même de cette politique, l’a bien expliquée partout dans ses meetings et dans ses discours (…) Pour l’Eglise du Christ au Zaïre, sa position vis-à-vis du MPR est claire et nette. En effet, pour elle, le MPR est un mouvement de tous les Zaïrois. Selon les paroles même du Président- Fondateur du MPR, à l’heure même où un Zaïrois nait, à la même minute, il est automatiquement du MPR.
L’Eglise doit donc se poser une grande question ici : « Qu’est-ce que l’Eglise ? » La réponse est que l’Eglise est le corps du Christ, c’est-à-dire tout le peuple de Dieu. Or, tous nos Chrétiens (hommes et femmes, vieux, adultes et enfants) sont tous membres du MPR qui tire sa politique dans le recours à l’authenticité (…) Car là où est le peuple, c’est là où se trouve
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l’Eglise. Tout le peuple étant dans le MPR, l’Eglise n’a pas de choix (…) » (Muntu-Monji, 2013:75-76)
Translated as: So many of our brothers asked the question, ‘What is the position of the Church vis-à-vis the policy of the Zairian authenticity?’ First, it is not our role to define the policy of Zairian authenticity which we all know because the Head of State, who is the President-Founder of the MPR and who is the author of the policy, has explained it well, everywhere in meetings and in his speeches (...) To the Church of Christ in Zaire, her position vis-à- vis the MPR is very clear. Indeed, to her, the MPR is a movement of all Zairians. In the very words of the President-Founder of the MPR, once a Zairian is born, he belongs at that very time and automatically to the MPR.
The Church therefore has to a crucial question here: ’What is the Church?’
The answer is that the Church is the body of Christ, that is, all the people of God. But our Christians (men and women, old people, adults and children) are all members of the MPR which moves in its policy towards authenticity (...) For where the people are, that’s where the Church is found. All the people being in the MPR, the Church has no choice (...)"
The Protestant Church acted the good boy and, one day, Mobutu declared in a speech:
“Jamais je n’ai eu de problème avec les protestants, ni avec les kimbanguistes, parce qu’ils ne reçoivent pas de mot d’ordre de l’étranger» (Diakubikua, 1984:111). This means,
“Never have I had any problems with the Protestants or the Kimbanguists, because they do not get their instructions from abroad”.
Thus, the Protestant Church came close to be an instrument of the state. In an effort to gain the confidence of national church leaders, Mobutu granted them during the synod of Kinshasa the highest civilian award, the ’Ordre du Léopard (Order of the Leopard). It was a clear sign that the government wanted to curry favour with the Protestant Church leaders and, even, make them beholden to the head of state by, in a sense, incorporating the church in Mobutu’s revolution, ensuring that from that side, there would be no opposition (Garrard, 2013:136).