Tenke District UMC

The United Methodist Church's Tenke District, DR Congo

Note: Until recently, the community of Tenke was part of the Lubudi district. Rapid church growth

(thanks in part to construction assistance) convinced the conference that it was time to make it a new district.

Above: The District Superintendent of Tenke (also serves as pastor of the main Tenke parish)

and his family. They showed us great hospitality, meeting us in the middle on the night on our freight train

adventure and hosting us at their parsonage for two nights.

The main United Methodist parish in Tenke, built in partnership with Henryville UMC in Indiana.

The pastor reports that membership is growing so quickly that it is already time to start planning

for the next round of construction.

Its hard to tell from the picture, but between this church sign and the parsonage is a cell phone tower

under construction! There are no internet cafes (in fact, the DS didn't know anyone/place in Tenke with a computer) in Tenke, but with the rapid changes in technology it is now possible to purchase a high-end cell phone and use it to connect a laptop to the internet. Of course, first the district would need to raise the funds for the cell phone, laptop, etc. (Perhaps your congregation would like to help with this effort)

A before & after image for you. Above is the parsonage we stayed in. No running water, but solid construction; what should be the minimum standard for parsonages in North Katanga. Below is old Tenke parsonage--actually better than many parsonages we've seen (side note: Dad slept in the old one years ago while recovering from malaria during his bike tour of the region).

See that stick structure? It's the beginnings of a temporary building they are constructing to house the February meeting of North Katanga district superintendents!

Above: Dad with "the Conductor," lay leader of the Tenke district

(former lay leader of Lubudi before the two districts were created)

I write more about him on the On the "Road" page.

Feel free to share these pictures, but please ask before publishing.