Please Pray for our co-worker Johan, who comes from the South African Navy - He is still currently in the Congo.

You can listen to the interview on Redeemer Broadcasting: https://s3.amazonaws.com/redeemer-broadcasting-podcasts/apa/apa_020125_Update_on_the_Congo_and_Missions--Dr_Peter_Hammond.mp3

Here is also a recording from the From the Frontline podcast: https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/from_the_frontline_podcast.html

Following is some of his updates to our Mission:

"Blessed good morning. I pray that all are well in CTN. I regret that a 2nd bout of Malaria, Typhoid and parasitic infection, as well as the side effects of Quinine, along with low blood pressure had slowed me down since Sunday before last. I push ahead to finalize my inputs for the 2025 CBFC Congo River Evangelism plan. Lack of electricity and low output solar systems are hampering the delivery of critical decision-making documentation. May God continue to bless all the FF missions and related work. I just received the e-mails of the past 4 days on my phone. Internet connectivity remains erratic here in Kisangani. Lately Wi-Fi is equally dismal!

"For the sake of the Congo River village outreach to start soon (pending the recruitment, logistics, training and basic equipping with camping utensils such as compact eating utensils and ground as well as rain sheets) the acquisition of a Yamaha 15 Hp 4 Stroke outboard motor ($ 6 000) has moved up the prayer list and the request for mission partners in finance. Re-investigating an Iridium satellite phone is also a priority. Even within 100m of a cellular tower, Internet is not good all along the Congo River and its tributaries. My first area to cover will be 400km down-river in the CBFC Yakusu Ecclesiastical District. One of 16 CBFC districts and 14 missions planted by the BMS and CBFC (Communaute Baptiste du Fleuve Congo) between 1878 and 1972.

"The indigenous (Baptist) churches in the DR Congo are well established, yet poor financially and in neglect regarding continued deep rural outreach. My humble water borne missions efforts are aimed at re-ignite and encourage the resuming of deep rural village outreach in the Congo River Basin in the DRC territory, working from Kisangani.

"Not all villages are reached. Some are not discipled, have no Pastor, a church had not been planted, Bibles or Audio Bibles were never taken there or either the Gospel had never been preached because witchdoctors or headmen prevented it, or current generations had never heard the Gospel of Good News preached there. Many do not practice any form of agriculture. Not even Farming God's Way. Conservation needs to be taught.

"It is so that the DR Congo is very regulated. Overly so. Also, regarding church structures and permissions. It took me a long time to re-establish myself in legitimate and accepted co-operation with the CBFC Kisangani, in the wake of the BMS and the early missions vessels, the Goodwill and the Peace.

All by grace. Praise God!

Thank you very much to every missions partner who makes a contribution via FF. May God bless you all at and around FF.

Yours, in Great Commission purpose, Johan Meintjes

+243 826 790 361 (In association with FF for Mission to the Congo)”

(Kisangani was formerly named Stanleyville, located on the Congo River in the eastern part of the central Congo Basin, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the country's fifth most populous urban area, with an estimated population of 1,602,144 and the largest of the cities in the tropical jungle of the Congo. Kisangani is located approximately 2,100km from the mouth of the Congo River, making it the farthest navigable point upstream. Henry Morton Stanley founded Kisangani as Stanley Falls Station in 1883).

An estimated 18 million people are spread out in often very isolated villages in the Congo River basin. Their daily existence is desolate, and they desire more in life. The Congo River is very deep at places. It is a fast-flowing river up to 16km wide in the rainy season. The distance from Kisangani to Kinshasa is 1,734km and there are 14,000km of riverbanks to reach when the many tributaries are considered. River blindness caused by the black fly is prevalent and often goes untreated... The Congo river basin is a most strategic and neglected mission field.

Who we are?

A mission enterprise in association with Frontline Fellowship.

What is our goal?

To mobilise and coordinate an effective mission to evangelise and disciple the unreached people in the Congo River basin.

Why do we do it?

The work of Dr. David Livingstone and the Baptist Missionary Society had suffered some neglect by the late 1950s. God’s Great Commission work along the Congo River is not complete. Establishing sustainable missions in central Africa regions is historically very challenging. At Frontline Mission any challenge, especially a neglected or restricted access area in war torn regions of Southern Africa, cannot remain as it is, but must be overcome, reached and served with the Gospel or Good News.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" - Mark 16:15

The strategy:

1. Record the village GPS location and description as unreached or reached as part of the church planting program.

2. Start or continue the saturation church planting model (stream) and schedule the three-year Pastor Training program which is done from the nearest town at six-month intervals.

3. Establish and expand the local pastor’s mentorship program.

4. Make sure the villagers receive Bibles in their local language.

5. Move on to the next isolated, unreached, or un-discipled village.

6. Relieve outreach team members as international partnerships and circumstances allow.

7. Remain in prayer for provision and perseverance.

8. Do river trading between riverside villages to help with mission sustainability and local goodwill.

9. Establishing missionary logistic, outreach, and rural development routes, - in this case between Cape Town (RSA) and Kisangani (DRC).

"And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" - Matthew 24:14

See more detailed information, photographs and videos here: https://www.frontlinemissionsa.org/congo-river-mission.html