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Failing peace in Congo prompts an overabundant harvest

The United Nations plans to begin withdrawal of their peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of Congo in two months' time. There are concerns for the civilians in the Congo's east because of increasing rebel violence, reports MNN.

Sam Vinton with Grace Ministries International says, "The troubles that have taken place in the Congo, and just the general situation in the country, something has made people very open to the Gospel."

GMI's two-year old evangelism program "Reaching Congo Students" has seen phenomenal response. From January through March, three of the teams doing village evangelism showed the DVD "The GodMan" in 43 different villages where 1,129 people (mostly students) responded to the Gospel.

The team has also taken OneHope's DVD "The GodMan" into hundreds of rural villages along with evangelism training with the local church. As a result, more than 100 adults were saved in house-to-house tract evangelism.

In fact, Vinton says, "Over 14,000 people have made a profession of faith in Christ. We're now starting a very strong push on follow-up using booklets that we're printing to take these converts down the steps of prayer, worship and Bible study."

It's a good problem to have, but they need help. The Congo is GMI's oldest mission field. They're using all avenues of their outreach to facilitate the evangelistic thrust.

There are four missionaries working with the Grace Church in Congo in evangelism, church planting, education, literature, medical work, and community development projects. GMI-trained leaders for over 500 churches are trained through a fully-accredited Grace Theological College, Pastors' School, and 16 Bible institutes.

One teacher training college, 75 high schools, and 145 grade schools are run by the national church. There is also a large medical center with two Congolese doctors functioning in a Muslim area where there is a focus on planting churches in the surrounding unreached people groups.

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TAGS: Congo peacekeepers rebel violence Grace Ministries International village evangelism Grace Theological College

[05/06/2010]

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