{"id":137,"date":"2017-04-09T16:22:37","date_gmt":"2017-04-09T21:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/?p=137"},"modified":"2017-04-09T16:22:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-09T21:22:37","slug":"at-what-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/2017\/04\/09\/at-what-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"At What Cost?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThen he said to them all: \u2018If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me\u2019.\u201d Luke 9:23<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Dear friends,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow much do pastors and the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) contribute towards continuing education?\u201d\u00a0 I am often asked this question by ministry partners and I could recite the metrics:\u00a0 Pastors give $4.00 in participation fees for the 4 day seminars and $2.00 for a subsidized practical theology book.\u00a0 The CEUM provides 4 capable pastoral trainers who are tasked with the continuing education program and minimally compensated for their commitment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Pastors.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[137]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-140\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Pastors-300x113.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"113\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Pastors-300x113.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Pastors.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But beyond the metrics there are plenty of other costs which came to light as I tabulated the questionnaires of pastors who attended the recent Wasolo and Bumba\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/animoto.com\/play\/3v3qJWufGUb3S1jzBQtwug\">continuing education seminars<\/a>.\u00a0 Pastors were asked how long it took for them to come to the seminars and whether or not they had difficulty along the way.\u00a0 Over half of the respondents said they did have problems.\u00a0 Here are some of their comments:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe road was so bad, lots of pain.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMy feet became swollen.\u201d \u201cThe sun was so hot.\u201d \u201cMy bike pedal broke off.\u201d \u201cI got sick and was hungry.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIt rained a lot.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThe police took my money.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMy handlebars fell off.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe took two boats and they made us pay a lot of money.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe ran out of fuel.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cState officials made me pay a bike tax.\u201d\u00a0 .\u201d\u00a0 \u201cIt took me five days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And how did they come?\u00a0 They came on foot, bicycle, motorcycle, boat, and commercial truck.\u00a0 All were glad to have come.\u00a0 Why did they do this?\u00a0 They were coming in search of growing in their Savior at the cost denying themselves, experiencing hardship, and undergoing considerable risk.\u00a0 There are no garages, no AAA, no hotels, no restaurants, and extremely limited communication.\u00a0 You can get an idea of what roads they came over by viewing the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/animoto.com\/play\/eTu9cYrvP0dP1FMsYaTLaA\">Congo Road<\/a>s video.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Roads.jpg\" rel=\"prettyPhoto[137]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-139\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Roads-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Roads-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/105\/2017\/04\/Congo-Roads.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While the monetary contribution is minimal, one must keep in mind that the Democratic Republic of Congo ranks among the 10 poorest nations of the world with a $484 per capita income. \u00a0$4.00 is a lot, especially if your congregation only has 8 people.\u00a0 But the real cost became more clear to me in learning of their stories of how they got to the seminars, which emblematic of just doing life and ministry in the Congo.<\/p>\n<p>May the dedication, commitment, and thirst of these pastors, serve as an inspiration as we continue this Lenten season\u2019s journey to the cross!\u00a0 May the Lord bless you!<\/p>\n<p>David Stockamp<br \/>\nMissionary &#8211; Evangelical Covenant Church<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/david-stockamp\/\">http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/david-stockamp\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=137&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThen he said to them all: \u2018If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me\u2019.\u201d Luke 9:23 &nbsp; Dear friends, \u201cHow much do pastors and the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) contribute towards continuing education?\u201d\u00a0 I am often asked this question by ministry partners and I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[391,24081,308],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-congo","tag-covenant-church","tag-education"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>At What Cost? - Center for World Christian Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/cwcs\/2017\/04\/09\/at-what-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At What Cost? - Center for World Christian 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