I have heard stories of missionaries who walked for days to reach remote villages to preach the gospel, of those who worked alongside their Angolan brothers and sisters and who suffered hardship with them. They are remembered with much love and respect.
The anniversary celebrations
This year is the 130th anniversary of the arrival of those first missionaries and for three days in September 2008 our mission station here in Mbanza Kongo was host to approximately 3,000 people. They came from all over Angola – one couple even travelled from Canada to be with us – and they came to give thanks to God for those first pioneers and for all those who followed in their footsteps.
For me personally, I think the most poignant moment of the celebration happened during the opening ceremony when all those who had been educated in the school that used to be here on the mission were asked to come out from their seats and stand at the front.
There must have been about 100 men and women, many of whom were pastors. There had been many more of course but these were the ones still living. These men and women were a testimony to and the fruit of the work that was carried out so faithfully in the past.
I am now part of that ongoing story – what will be said about me I wonder when they celebrate the 150th anniversary! The party is over but the work goes on. Things have changed slightly: we now have new theories about how to ‘do mission’ but our goal is still the same – to make Jesus known, to alleviate suffering and injustice and improve the quality of life.
Joan Woodyer is a BMS mission worker based in Mbanza Kongo, Angola. Click here to go to her webpage and read her newsletters.