Ongoing civil war could not keep some 200 delegates away from the first Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Camporee to be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ongoing civil war could not keep some 200 delegates away from the first Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Camporee to be held in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event was held August 1 to 10 at the William Booth College, Kasungulu, on the outskirts of the capital city of Kinsahasa.
The theme of the event was “Youth, Your Redeemer is Coming,” says Baraka Muganda, the first Adventist world church youth director to visit the country. He reports that attendees had to fly in because the war has made the roads in the region unsafe for travel.
Formerly known as Zaire, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been ravaged by ethnic strife and civil war since the 1960s. Local Congolese youth director Pandi Bamue Kabasu wants to establish a strong Pathfinder presence in the country. He says the church needs to focus on young people in order to build strong Christians for the future.
“It’s not easy to be a Christian with the war going on,” says Kabasu. “But I’m glad we have many young people standing firm for the Master.”
Eighty percent of church membership in Congo is under 30 years of age. There are some 420,000 Adventists in the Democratic Republic of Congo worshiping in more than 1,200 churches.
