Samaritan’s Purse portable Bible schools are equipping Congolese pastors to study and teach God’s Word in remote villages.
On the last day of classes in Bas-Uélé Province, Congolese pastor Bakutu Eyabawi Emmanuel was preparing his things for the trip 46 miles back home to the Soronga chiefdom—three days walk.
Church leaders from across the region prepared themselves for ministry with seminary-level training at our Portable Bible School.
He and dozens of other pastors were celebrating that they’d completed a months-long intensive portable Bible school hosted by Samaritan’s Purse in Niangara, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
For years, Pastor Bakutu stepped before the people of his village church, confident that God had called him to lead his congregation. He believed that God had chosen him for this task. But he’d never been trained.
He believed he’d been “called by God since the womb” to do it, so he did the best he could.
“I was trying to preach, but I didn’t know much,” he said. “I didn’t know what to say in front of the church. I didn’t know how to draw out themes from the Bible. I didn’t even know the books of the Bible. I was just skimming over.”
Bakutu didn’t own a Bible before the training. In his village, even pastors often shared the one Bible in their language.
“I had learned that Samaritan’s Purse was giving teachings about the Bible,” he said, recounting the day he decided to enroll in the classes. “There are many people in my village who need to hear. There are many families there longing for the Word of God. When they see me with a Bible, they will be very happy.”
This lack of access to Scripture and theological training is not unusual for Congolese pastors serving in the country’s remote interior. Churches can become vulnerable to syncretism and other errors as desperate need often leads to a reliance on their old ways of thinking.
Strengthening the Church in Difficult Places
As Samaritan’s Purse teams served the area through clean water and health projects, we discovered the vast need for well-trained church leaders. Through the Bible school, we brought seminary-level training to pastors. In places like Bakutu’s village, many people have endured years of hardship, including waves of armed conflict and violent displacement.
A large celebration followed the graduation of dozens of the Bible students–all returning to their villages with a deeper understanding of God’s Word and how to communicate the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their people.
Bakutu and other pastors studied doctrine, homiletics, pastoral care, church history, evangelism, and discipleship. For three months they studied together, stayed in houses of local church members, formed friendships with each other, and grew in their connection to God through His Word.
“I thank God for our friends at Samaritan’s Purse—for helping us with the Word of God,” he said. “They taught us well, and today I am happy. I received the ability to preach to people so that they would be converted, because I didn’t know what to say in front of the brothers. I was just skimming over. But God helped me, and now I fully recognize myself as a Servant of God.”
As he prepared for the long journey back to Soronga, Pastor Bakutu was already thinking of the families still waiting in his village—those longing for the Word of God.
“When I leave here,” he said, “I will be the evangelist and I will preach to my whole family, and everyone I meet. I will present the good news to them—and to anyone else who will accept.”
