Disciples History Moment for March 2, 2025
Last week I mentioned that during today’s Disciple History Moment, I would tell you something about the Disciples that is surprising! You may know that the Stone-Campbell Movement is a global movement, and, while membership has declined (as has nearly all churches in America), where do you think is the largest concentration of Disciples in the world? The largest congregation is the Community of Disciples of Christ in Congo (CDCC), in what today is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire.
It was founded in 1889 and has been affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States since its inception. The church functions with 33 ecclesial regions and two extensions: 1) Equator, Bandundu, East Congo, and 2) Lower Congo and Kinshasa communities. Its 540 congregations serve 800,000 members. The church has six general hospitals and 147 health care centers. So, it is the largest group of Disciples, whereas, in the US, Disciples number around 300,000.
These communities where the CDCC congregations are located face many socio-economic problems, yet they remain resilient and faithful. They are struggling with the effects of years of a brutal colonial government, and civil war. Years of malicious interference by surrounding countries (primarily Rwanda and Uganda) and the international community, war, and systematic corruption have negatively impacted health care, education, and development programs. Much of this in the east DRC is over natural resources gold, diamonds, and cobalt and is exacerbated by over a 100 rebel and armed groups supported by Rwanda and Uganda. This violence has displaced 7 million people within the country and forced more than one million to seek asylum beyond the country’s borders. In 2024, 27 million people are in need of support as a result of conflict, food insecurity, climate impacts and epidemics. Since the beginning of February 2025 a new, unidentified mystery disease has affected 419 individuals and killed 53 people.
Normally, we think of “History” as being in the past, but, the present becomes past history almost immediately. And so, “History” has a present dimension. Therefore, the current history of the Community of Disciples of Christ in the Congo is an important part of Disciples history.
Let’s pray for our brothers and sister Disciples in the Congo.
Rev. Kevin K. Adams
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