In several cities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo – Uvira, Beni, Goma, Bukavu – United Methodist communities continue to live and gather despite a deteriorating security situation and difficult living conditions in a region scarred by recurring wars for more than 30 years. The pastors appointed there must constantly adapt their pastoral practices: comforting grieving families, keeping worship going, and offering informal support in the face of fear and uncertainty.
Two pastors agreed to share how their ministry has changed and what drives them to stay. The Rev. Mtaka Rigobert is pastor of Sayuni United Methodist Church and superintendent of the Fizi District in South Kivu. The Rev. Furaha Katchiko, pastor of Ibanda United Methodist Church and superintendent of the Bukavu District. Both serve in the Kivu Conference of the East Congo Episcopal Area.
Daily life upended by the security crisis
For Mtaka Rigobert, the contrast with years past is stark. “Before, things were fairly good, despite life’s hardships. But now, we are adapting to the situation we find ourselves in. We are in such a conflict-ridden war zone,” he explained. He describes a life now governed by caution: having to be home before 6 p.m., and communications that struggle to get through. “We are living as if in ancient times. If you need information, someone has to travel to bring it,” he said.
Mtaka recalls, for example, learning of the death of a fellow pastor and circuit leader only after a long delay. “We went to bury him, and some people were already lamenting: ‘Why did you come so late, when a servant of God has died?’” Despite this, he refuses to see it as a reason to give up: “Life is very complicated right now, but we adapt. As pastors of the faith, above all, we adapt to this situation. We cannot abandon the faith; just because we are in a security crisis – well, giving up would not honor the work of the Lord.”
Staying no matter what
Both United Methodist pastors root their perseverance in a long-standing faithfulness to their congregations. “We committed ourselves to the community, and we accepted from the very beginning that we would serve the community,” Mtaka Rigobert said. “We cannot give up because of a few waves that come our way. We must endure, and that shows that we are in the faith, and we will always continue to endure despite whatever life brings. We will always stand with our community.”
For Furaha Katchiko, it is “my calling and my love for my community” that keeps her at her post. In Bukavu, she described ministry as “hard work that requires a great deal of wisdom, experience, and commitment.”
Supporting the grieving and the destitute
With families who have lost a loved one or lost everything, Mtaka Rigobert relies on closeness and prayer: “We draw them close and we bring them into prayer. If hardship comes our way, we must bear it well and accept that it can happen to anyone.” He also continues his pastoral visits during moments of calm, going to families to share “a few messages of comfort and of holding fast to the faith of our church,” and to encourage them to “stand firm in the face of every obstacle.”
Furaha Katchiko describes a similar approach, made up of “prayer, contact, consolation, counsel and giving.” Day to day, she and her colleagues practice “mutual aid, home visits and sharing the word of God.”
Asked about a recent moment that strengthened her faith or that of her community, Furaha Katchiko points to a concrete act of solidarity among clergy in Bukavu: a collection organized to support colleagues who lost everything in a recent fire in the city. Asked about changes she has seen in the life of her congregation, she speaks of “encouragement and commitment to face the challenges” – a collective mobilization rather than a retreat.
Signs of hope
Mtaka Rigobert, for his part, finds the renewal of his faith in the very existence of God: “The existence of God always makes us very strong, because we serve our Lord. It truly moves us to live a historic moment in our faith, a moment we cannot forget.” He adds that pastors themselves are on the front lines, walking with their members through these difficult times, “and that pushes us to endure and to know that if there is still life, tomorrow we can once again experience everything we want and everything God is preparing for us.”
Asked about signs of hope despite the hardships, he describes a region facing several overlapping crises – war, conflict, and disease, including the persistent threat of Ebola – while affirming his conviction that this period will eventually come to an end: “We know that one day this must end, and we will once again know happiness. Our God, who is our protector of peace, will always protect us.”
The church’s irreplaceable role
Both pastors stress the place the church holds for communities searching for direction. Mtaka Rigobert recounts that in the hardest hours, it was church members themselves who came looking for answers – where to go and how to stay safe. “We were able to restore them in the faith,”he says. He believes the church today plays “a major role that perhaps even our government cannot ignore,” by helping many families avoid giving in to panic and hastily fleeing their homes.
Furaha Katchiko sums up this pastoral and social role in her own way saying it’s like “being a parent, with a vision of peace and unity in Jesus Christ in every aspect of life.”
What these pastors can teach the church elsewhere
Beyond their testimony, these two pastors point to a few concrete practices that others around the world can draw on when facing conflict or divisions within their own communities:
- Stay focused on ministry rather than on the conflict itself. Neither Mtaka Rigobert nor Furaha Katchiko dwells on the actors or causes of the security crisis – their words remain focused on caring for people, not on taking sides. It is a stance that protects both the pastor and the cohesion of the community.
- Prioritize physical presence, even when limited. Despite travel restrictions, Mtaka Rigobert continues his pastoral visits whenever a moment of calm allows – a deliberate choice not to let fear replace human contact.
- Organize solidarity among clergy, not just among church members. The collection set up by Bukavu pastors for their colleagues who lost everything in the fire shows that a mutual support network among clergy can be as essential as support for church members.
- Make prayer a collective anchor, not just an individual one. Both pastors return to prayer as a public, shared act – a way to rebuild a sense of community when the rest of social life is fragile.
- Name hope without minimizing the ordeal. Neither claims the situation is simple; yet both articulate a horizon – “this must end” – that avoids both denial and despair.
A call to United Methodists worldwide
Asked what they would like to say to United Methodists elsewhere in the world, both pastors issue a twofold appeal: for prayer and for tangible solidarity. “May they hold prayer gatherings for us – that is the first thing,” Mtaka Rigobert asked. “We are their brothers, and the Bible urges us to help people in their hour of difficulty. If they have the means, they can help wherever they wish, and that can always strengthen us and help us endure in the faith.”
Furaha Katchiko also calls for advocacy “for a ceasefire and the restoration of peace in eastern Congo, so that we can develop,” while urging people not to forget those who are suffering elsewhere in the world: “There is someone who has not eaten today.”
From Fizi to Bukavu, these two pastors embody, each in their own way, what it means to “lead courageously” in a region where war is not an episode but a reality spanning more than 30 years: staying, praying, walking alongside people and refusing to let insecurity define their ministry.
This article is part of The United Methodist Church’s new vision – “Love boldly, serve joyfully, lead courageously” – and specifically its call to “lead courageously.” Published as the denomination highlights this theme in October 2026, this story illustrates in concrete terms what it means to lead courageously for pastors who have faced, for decades, a conflict that has never truly ended.
Chadrack Tambwe Londe coordinates French-language content in Africa for United Methodist Communications and is a UM News correspondent. He is based in Congo.