GEMENA, CONGO (November 13, 2003) – More than 200 people greeted the five-member Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) delegation upon its arrival at the Gemena airport today following a four-hour flight from Kinshasa, the capital of Congo.
The delegation, led by ECC President Glenn Palmberg, also includes Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Department of World Mission; Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief; Jerome Nelson, a Central Conference coordinator; and Bob Thornbloom, a Covenant missionary who coordinates technical support in Congo. Traveling with the delegation are Pete Ekstrand, World Mission regional coordinator for Africa; Keith Gustafson, country coordinator for the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Covenant Church of Congo (CEUM) President Gbuda Luyada.
Purpose of the trip is to visit CEUM ministries and confer with CEUM leaders on the ministry partnership of CEUM and the ECC. The delegation left Chicago Monday evening and is scheduled to return November 22.
Those greeting the delegation included Rev. Langba Duale, who serves as the Bokonzo (Gemena) region Responsible Pastor and conference superintendent. “There was a group of young girls that did a special dance to welcome us, followed by a greeting and presentation of a bouquet of flowers to President Palmberg,” reported Ekstrand, who also is serving as a special correspondent for Covenant News Service. “Following this we drove to the Bokonzo church where we were greeted by about 1,500 people.”
The delegation was officially welcomed to Congo and Gemena during a special worship service at Bokonzo, said Ekstrand in an email report via satellite telephone (there is a seven-hour time difference between Kinshasa and Chicago). “The service included choirs, offerings, greetings, preaching by Glenn, Curt and Jim and the presentation of a gift from the CEUM to Glenn. Over 1,100 people were at the service.”
An even larger crowd – estimated at more than 5,000 individuals – greeted the delegation at its next stop in Karawa following a brief 18-minute flight. Ekstrand described the crowd as huge – “all singing and waving their arms in greeting. There was a beautiful welcome including dancers, a speech of welcome and the presentation of flowers,” Ekstrand continued. “The welcoming crowd had waited much of the afternoon for the delegation to arrive . . . and included the Responsible Pastors from the neighboring regions, representatives of the medical services, the many schools at Karawa and government authorities.” Following the airport welcome, the group moved to the church for a brief welcoming ceremony.
“We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of hospitality,” said Sundholm. “The sense of companionship and connectedness is extremely evident.” Sundholm’s reaction was echoed by others in the group: “the welcome was simply overwhelming;” “really we have nothing in our white American culture to compare this to;” “the Congolese have a spirit of honoring and welcoming guests which touches each of us deeply.”
To read earlier news coverage of this historic trip, visit the links below:
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