The Anglican Church was planted by a Ugandan, Apolo Kivebulaya, in 1896. It is a small and growing Church of around 550,000 in DRC, most of whom live in the East of the country. There are 14 Dioceses.
Statistics are very unreliable in DRC, but most of the population appear to identify as Christian though many are either nominal or also attached to traditional religions.
Both our link dioceses prioritise evangelism, leading to growing congregations and the opening of new parishes.
Both bishops speak excellent English (and several other languages).
PRAYER
Regular prayer updates are available, but ongoing prayers requests include:
• Praise and Thanksgiving for all God is doing especially for lives being changed by the Gospel, for growing churches, the extraordinary work of the Mothers’ Union, ongoing training events, Church schools and all the work amongst children and youth.
• For peace and reconciliation work across the dioceses and the nation.
Aru - Boga – Chester Link Established 2008
Aru and Boga Dioceses are found in the North East of the DRC, bordering
Uganda, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
• Population c. 110,000,000
• Size: 2.35 million sq km
• Almost 10 x size of UK, 2nd largest country in Africa
• Rainforest – second largest area of rainforest in the world
• 42% of children have stunted growth through malnutrition
• Health: Cholera, Measles, Ebola, Mpox ….
• 250 Ethnic Groups and languages.
• Main shared languages are French, Lingala and Swahili
• Rich in resources, esp. mining: gold, copper, cobalt, uranium, zinc … Many nations want these resources.
• >100 armed groups, notably’ M23’ Tutsi-led, supported by Rwanda. Huge influence of the DRC’s surrounding nations.
• 6m died since 1996. A further 6m currently displaced internally. Eastern Congo is the most insecure.
SOME HISTORY
• Former Belgian colony, initially as the personal possession of King Leopold 1885 – 1908. Massive atrocities.
• Independence from Belgium in 1960. Mobutu Sese Seko grabbed power amidst chaos in 1965.
• Renamed Zaire 1971 by Mobuto up to 1997 when Mobutu was ousted by Laurent Kabila (who was assassinated in 2001).
• Elections in December 2023 returned President Felix Tshisekedi for a second term.