​Dear friends, 

The 2019 Indiana friendship tour is well underway! Despite 3 visa denials, 1 woman and 3 men from the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences were able to come be on this friendship-building adventure. They are all amazing people. Pastor Joseph Mulongo, Pastor Daniel Mumba, and Pastor Jackie Ngoy Mwayuma are all pastors and former DS's. All three of them are featured in our late co-founder's memoir The Last Missionary. Papa Londwa is the newest addition to the FPM team and serves the Lay Leader of the Tanganyika Conference. 

We are visiting a wide variety of churches and mission centers today and over the next week. Yesterday we visited the Midwest Distribution Center and Lincoln sites in Springfield IL, had supper and worship at our beloved Urbana Wesley Church and Foundation, and got back to West Lafayette around midnight to sleep. We got to know the three students from UIUC are coming on our trip to DRC this summer! 

Today we had lunch and amazing conversations with some of Jeff Newton's staff at Kokomo Urban Outreach, African-Americans who were meeting and talking deeply with Africans for the first time. They were excited about telling their "huddle" of kids about this tonight. We also had a tour and did a small service project to help with the food KUO sends home with kids each weekend. Now we are in Zanesville where we had supper, and Joseph and the entourage shared a program and answered questions.

Our friends have a presentation to share about the churches, missions, and struggles in Tanganyika Conference if you have a projector and screen. They want everyone to know how important the work of the United Methodist church is there and what hope it is bringing the Congolese. 

We are all pretty exhausted from the 2019 General Conference, but we feel it is as important as ever to share stories, learn, build family and strengthen friendship and connections through Christ and his body. 

Love,
Lana

Rev. Lana Robyne, FPM Board Member

Do you live in or near Indiana and yearn for the chance to meet some of the Congolese church leaders you've read and heard so much about over the years? Now is your chance. Several FPM members from the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences are delegates to the UMC's General Conference in St Louis later this month, so we've jumped on this chance to organize visits with United Methodist congregations around Indiana while they are state-side.  The following is a list of times and places where they will be. All events are open to the public. Contact Rev. Lana Robyne <[email protected]> for more details.

Kokomo KOU: February 28 noon
Zanesville UMC: February 28 6pm
Logansport First UMC: March 1  11:00am (luncheon: reservations appreciated)
Purdue Wesley Foundation: March 2 Noon
Lafayette Christ and W. L. First and St. Andrew UMC: March 3
Brownsburg Calvary UMC: March 4  8:30am breakfast
Columbus First UMC: March 4 noon

Indy Area :
University of Indianapolis: March 4 4:30pm
Indianapolis Faith UMC: March 5 morning
Meridian Street UMC: March 5 6pm
Carmel UMC: March 6 11am
Plainfield UMC: March 6 6pm

A Friendship-Building/Deep Listening Mission Journey
Sponsored by Wesley Foundation at Purdue & Friendly Planet Missiology
May 28 – June 27, 2019
Zimbabwe, Zambia, & DRC (Congo)   

Purpose of the Journey: to deepen relationships with our friends in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and DR Congo and seek mutual understanding of one another’s context. Worshiping, praying, working on projects, traveling and sharing adventures together help us to grow closer to God and each other as an international body of Christ.

Who: This trip is designed primarily with and for college students to build relationships with African students and young adults (active adults who work well with students are welcome to apply).

How Much: $4,400. Money for the round-trip plane ticket and travel insurance of $2000 is due by February 15, 2019. Another $1000 is due April 1 to make other travel arrangements. The rest is due May 15. A portion of the money will pay the way for Africa students, scouts, and pastors, to join with us on our journey.

The Trip: Flying into Harare, Zimbabwe, we drive 3 hours away to Africa University (AU) in Old Mutare near the border with Mozambique. We partner with students and staff in a variety of service projects and student activities at AU. To nurture friendships between students and better get to know each others’ experiences, we stay in residence halls, eat, worship, and travel with students. Participants may also learn about, visit, and engage with several Old Mutare ministries: Fairfield Children’s Home, Hartzell School, and the Old Mutare mission clinic.

After a week around AU, we explore Zimbabwe by mini-bus with several AU students – visiting Great Zimbabwe (ancient ruins), Hwange National Park (wildlife), and Victoria Falls (one of the wonders of the world). We then take public buses through Zambia, staying at a mission station or two for a couple nights to learn about churches and their missions in Zambia.

The last half of our journey will take place in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (in the far southern part of the country). We stay in Lubumbashi (second largest city of Congo), interacting with AU graduates and Friendly Planet Missiology friends, churches and their missions. After a few days, we team up with some FPM brothers and sisters to bicycle into the heart of rural Katanga, stopping along the way to listen deeply to stories, worship and pray, eat and stay with people of local United Methodist Churches. Once we arrive at our final destination, our bicycles will be given to a variety of church workers to further their ministries. We hope to have time left to take an excursion by boat before returning to Lubumbashi by small aircraft or land-rover.

Preparation and Follow-Up: There will be five required preparation meetings during the Spring Semester to learn about the countries, learn about impacts of different missiologies, and plan fund-raising opportunities. Virtual attendance of those not at Purdue is possible. Learning basic greetings is essential. Other background reading of history and language prep in French, Swahili, and/or Shona is encouraged. We will provide you with a journal to keep during the trip and have a final debriefing meeting after the trip. You are encouraged to speak to churches, events, and donors after your return.

Leaders: Trip leaders include many African friends including Rev. Joseph Mulongo, Director of Connectional Ministries North Katanga Conference UMC, and Rev. Dr. J. Glen Robyne, Co-Director and Campus Pastor at Wesley Foundation at Purdue. Glen has co-led four trips to this part of Africa, including bicycling with FPM in 2016, and lived at Africa University for five-months in 2006. Pastor Lana Robyne, a board member of FPM, has also co-led multiple trips to these areas. She will help with the five meetings, preparations, coordination, and assistance from the United States.

More detailed information is available upon request to [email protected] or [email protected].

Dear friends,
 
This year FPM began its process of metamorphosis. When we first started this adventure nearly ten years ago, we envisioned being part skunkworks and part advocacy-resource center for healthier mission models. In other words, we wanted to wanted to persuade folks to rethink their approaches to mission, and we wanted to walk our talk by putting our ideas into practice on a larger scale than we as individuals had done before. There was a problem in those early days, however. Our assertions challenged conventional wisdom about mission projects, and our work at the time looked like just some crazy people taking long risky bike rides. Who was going to financially support or even listen to us?
 
Thankfully, you believed in us. Over the years, those bike tours resulted in deep and lasting boundary-crossing friendships, which then resulted in fruitful collaborations on numerous locally-led projects and programs. Many lives have been changed and even saved by FPM-financed initiatives—especially since each year the El Dorado Nursing School produces another wave of nurses and midwives, and our graduated scholarship recipients are serving in rural communities all along the Congo River in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences. In July, we celebrated the grand opening of another collaborative project: the new women’s vocational training center in Mulongo, which to Teri’s surprise was named in her honor.
 
Now that we’ve proven the effectiveness of our missiology, it is time to re-embrace our vision of being a mission education resource center. Taylor, who just submitted her ThD thesis, Decolonizing Mission Partnerships, has a number of speaking and teaching gigs lined up this spring. Her calendar already includes teaching the Course of Study section on mission at Wesley Seminary, guest-speaking at Boston University’s Intro to Mission course, leading a workshop at The UMC’s North East Jurisdiction’s Mission Academy, and serving as a panelist at Global Ministries’ Bicentennial Conference. The manuscript to Biking Bob’s second book is currently being edited by Dr. Kate Koppy, and we plan to offer it and eventually other books for purchase in the coming years. For those who desire an immersive learning experience, Rev. Glen Robyne (Purdue U.) and Rev. Joseph Mulongo will be leading an FPM trip in summer 2019. The itinerary includes a tour of Africa U. in Zimbabwe, a visit to Victoria Falls, and a bike ride in North Katanga up to Mulongo, DR Congo. Spots are still available.      
 
Ramping up our focus on mission education does not mean we are abandoning our collaborations and strategic fundraising assistance for FPM leaders in Congo. In fact, we are in the process of officially expanding FPM initiatives into the Tanganyika Conference, with Freddy Kitwa (based in Kalemie) as our newest official team leader. We are counting on our friends like you to help us finance this work.  
 
As always, much of what results from your contributions to FPM cannot be quantified, but plenty of things can. Below are some of the ways we used your gifts in 2018:

Providing Full-Tuition Scholarships:

• 4 scouts—given in the North Katanga and Tanganyika Conferences to male and female active scouts with the highest scores on the national exam.
• 4 youth—scholarships, laptops, and a shared wifi modem for the university-level youth of The UMC’s Children’s Home in Kamina. Supplementary scholarships also given to the 2 additional youth studying at Africa University.  
• 15 female students at the El Dorado Nursing School. 10 blood pressure cuffs given to graduating students.

 
Supporting Children and Youth:

• Sponsored two scout jamborees (Tanganyika and North Katanga), including assistance with uniforms. Note: The scouts at the jamboree in Mulongo served as pallbearers and protocol at Biking Bob’s funeral this past summer.
• Funded the creation of 45 “birth kits.” These kits are given to mothers at the hospital in Mulongo who lack the means to purchase essential items such as blankets for their newborn child.  

 
River Transport:

• Our boat continues to be used to transport cholera meds and other supplies to villages along the river in addition to providing transportation to delegates of the Tanganyika Conference. This year, it also became a means of transport for those wishing to attend Bob’s funeral in Mulongo.  

 
Construction Funds:

• Distributed 620 roofing sheets for church construction.
• Provided parsonage roofing materials in Kalemie.
• Provided funds for the construction of the church in Mpemba
• Financed the construction of a guest house in Kabongo (an income-generating project of the conference’s United Methodist Women)
• Began building the Bob Walters Memorial Church.

 
From our homes to yours, we wish you peace and joy this Christmas.

Your friends at FPM
 
(Taylor, Joseph, Lana, Freddy, Teri, Willy, Bishop Mande, and all the team) ​

by Rev. Lana Robyne, FPM Board Member
​
In the warm, tightly packed United Methodist conference center in Kamina, official reports had been going on all afternoon. Some eyelids drooped and a few heads nodded in the post-lunch slump. At least I’ll admit mine were. Other people were sitting up as straight as they could on the long wooden benches and fanning themselves with papers from that day – a bulletin from morning worship or the conference agenda with the stapled pages folded over to reveal how far behind on the schedule we’d fallen. Some were undoubtedly fanning themselves with their tightly clutched revised copy of Amendment 1. We were all anxious about the outcome of our lengthy debate over the issue of gender equality. Delegates were already predicting the three-day conference would probably be extended another day. That is not uncommon, but the prospect especially worried those hoping to travel to Mulongo for the memorial service of the Rev. Dr. Bob Walters. It also worried the eight clergywomen who were scheduled to fly to Lubumbashi as soon as the plane returned from Mulongo so they could make it to Africa University in time for the African Clergywomen’s Leadership Conference.

Then an announcement was made. 

Suddenly, elated ululating broke forth among the tense crowd and a voice called out singing with great confidence. Euphoric United Methodist women in their green print uniforms with yellow scarves practically jumped up from their seats and joined in singing. Clergy wives and female lay representatives harmonized as they excitedly excused their way down the crowded rows toward the aisles. Clergywomen clapped and sang along with the joyous song as they danced toward their sisters in the center of the church. A few shy female youth delegates at the back and some visiting choir members soon joined in. A good number of men were grinning and clapping with the women. The excitement was infectious! The only thing is, not having a translator at the time, I was quite confused. When someone came out of the ecstatic crowd and pulled me to join the dance. “What happened?” I practically had to shout. “It passed!” the person yelled back into my ear. Amendment 1 had passed! Now my heart soared with all these women and this conference.

I admit it took a moment to sink in. I have visited many of my Methodist brothers and sisters in the DRC as well as Zambia and Zimbabwe since being a visiting chaplain at Africa University for a semester in 2006. I have also been blessed to spend time with amazing church leaders who value and empower women clergy. I have been impressed by the creative, determined, and effective female clergy I have met. At the same time, I have heard personal testimonies of intense resistance to girls and women’s education, pressure for girls to marry and start a family too young, challenges for widows and women abandoned by husbands trying to provide for families, gender discrimination for women in ministry and other jobs, and sexual misconduct girls and women face. I have read many reports about systemic rape and sexual abuse in Congo, not just in war zones but in homes, schools, orphanages, and even churches by trusted adults. Thus, I had not dared to get up much hope in Amendment 1 (theologically affirming gender equality).

Nor was it obvious which way the vote would go since another version of Amendment 1 had been unanimously defeated here the year before. Each conference had to debate and vote again on the corrected version that focused only on gender discrimination for girls and women, not the gender of God.  

After an explanation of all this by Bishop Mande, a government dignitary confirmed that this amendment did not break any Congolese laws, and there was opportunity for three speeches for and against. Speeches against the amendment included one man’s argument that Eve was created secondarily from Adam’s rib. Another clergywoman argued both men and women are created equally in God’s image. From the tension in the room, I am not sure anyone had a clear prediction about the results.

So, it was all the more exciting and affirming for women that this version of Amendment 1 had not only successfully passed this time, but passed overwhelmingly by the North Katanga Annual Conference, male and female, clergy and lay, young and old.  

​

The FPM blog will soon be returning with a new writing team and new look.  To access our original blog with stories primarily written by our late co-founder, the Rev. Dr. "Biking Bob" Walters, click here.