On Sunday, Aug 22, Rev. Mossai Sanguma was elected as General Secretary in charge of medical work for the ECC (Eglise du Christ au Congo, aka National Protestant Church of Congo). He presently serves as the President of the Congo Covenant Church (CEUM) and will continue in that position through the end of his term in 2012. The elections took place in Kinshasa, DRC. Here’s is a photo of some of the ECC Synod discussions:
In this new role, Rev. Sanguma will have these responsibilities:
- Work with all the overseas partners of the ECC that support the medical work of the ECC throughout DR Congo. These partners provide financial and personnel support.
- Determine the critical needs and issues with the medical services of the 65 denominations that are a part of the ECC. These denominations have 90 hospitals and 600 health centers in the 11 provinces of the DR Congo. Talk to the President of the ECC about how to respond to these critical needs including seeking funding.
- Visit the medical schools of the DRC, talk to the Christian doctors who are graduating and encourage them to sign up for two year residencies in any of the ECC hospitals through an ECC sponsorship. At the end of their two year commitment, encourage them to continue to serve ECC hospitals.
- Encourage the expansion of the doctors’ residence program. As an example Rev. Sanguma said that if the Karawa hospital had 2 or 3 specialists they could receive residents for training. It is up to the CEUM and the Covenant together to try to provide these specialists.
- Work with the Minister of Public Health to seek additional subsidies for the medical work. Just this month the Ministry agreed to take on the paying the salaries of the medical staff of all ECC hospitals throughout the DRC.
- Work with international partners like SANRU (Rural Public Health for All), the Global Fund, IMA and others to expand their support for medical work in Congo as well as seek additional partners.
In response to this, Rev. Sanguma said, “this is significant for the CEUM because it indicates that the CEUM has become like a model church in the Equateur province. The government in the province looks to the CEUM as a light and has sought the CEUM as a partner.” He also thanks the US Covenant Church and the Department of World Mission for their support: “All my skills I learned from them and in the US through their support of my studies. I want the DWM and ECC (US) to be proud of this election.”
Here are some prayer requests that Rev. Sanguma gave us:
- Wisdom as this is a very huge job
- Safety and security in travel throughout the country. The job requires a lot of travel.
- Wisdom and strength particularly for the next almost two years as I will have two jobs at once, President of the CEUM and General Secretary for the ECC
- For the CEUM leadership to be strong during this time
