Frank and Anne-Marie (USA) worked in France with IFES, then in Switzerland with Emmaus Bible and Missionary Training Institute, from 1952 until retirement in 1991.
The ‘Igreja Evangélica dos Irmaos em Angola’ (IEIA), or ‘Evangelical Church of the Brethren in Angola’, organised a special week of celebration at Kuito, a city in the central province of Bié in Angola, where assembly mission work began 125 years before, in order to praise God for His extraordinary goodness in the midst of unspeakable suffering. The celebration lasted eight days, from 26th July to 2nd August 2009, and 600 assembly delegates from across the country attended. The special Sunday praise and worship service held in the football stadium attracted around 5,700 people.
Flashback
Older readers will remember pioneers such as Frederick Stanley Arnot and T. Ernest Wilson, who came to Portuguese West Africa to labour in rudimentary conditions amongst animism, idolatry and the slave trade. The vision of these workers was to establish indigenous, autonomous, New Testament churches. The first mission station was established in 1884 at Kwanjulula, near Kuito (then Silva Porto). Other missionaries came during the following years, including my own parents, Albert and Petronella Horton, who served from 1924-1975 at Kavungu in the Beloved Strip, which stretched across south-central Africa from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
This missionary period lasted for just over 90 years until 1975, when, after the country gained independence from the Portuguese, civil war broke out, leading to the evacuation of most missionaries. Twenty-seven years of civil war brought the country to its knees, causing half a million civilian deaths and forcing 4 million refugees to flee to neighbouring countries. There were unspeakable atrocities – the two sides showing horrendous inhumanity towards each other.
After their return to the USA in 1975, my parents wrote a book of memoirs, concluding with this prophetic testimony: There is our confidence. Satan always overreaches himself, and God always works most wonderfully when everything seems to be most against Him. Not one of His purposes can ever fail, let His enemies rage as fiercely (and as helplessly) as they may. At the last, ‘He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision’. Amen! (‘Africa, Oh Africa’, by CMML, 1979, p141).
Although the civil war did not officially end until 2002, when elections took place, refugees began to return as early as 1995 and reconstruct on the ruins. In the Alto Zambeze, for example, elders organised Bible teaching conferences for believers, using the Bible my father had translated into the Luvale language. Across 15 of the 18 provinces of Angola the IEIA (pronounced Yeiyah) now counts 500,000 believers meeting in 2,000 local assemblies in a country three times the size of France. In order to be accepted by the new government as an official church group, the IEIA set up a loose organisation with a representative committee in Luanda.
This is only one church group among others! It was my privilege during my second week in the country to travel through areas where the Congregational churches (‘Igreja Evangélica Congregacional em Angola’ - IECA) and Synodal churches (‘Igreja Evangélica Sinodal de Angola’ - IESA) are active. According to one estimate, 60% of the 19 million inhabitants of Angola have been Christianised, but there is a question as to how many have completely broken with fetishism and the power of the witch doctors.
Back to Kuito
I was invited to attend in honour of the memory of my parents and to contribute to the celebration. The conference was well organised, as were the logistics for guests.
The football stadium was barely big enough to accommodate the participants. The 600 delegates sat on benches on the field, with the public filling the stands on the north side, and special guests and speakers seated to the south. Two ladies’ choirs sang in Bantu languages, and a music team led the worship, partly in classical hymns, partly in contemporary, rhythmical, harmonious songs, mostly in Portuguese. Marjorie Beckwith (Canada), Iris Floyd do Nascimento (on DPG Angola 1955-00) and Ruth Hadley received plaques honouring their contribution in service. On the closing Sunday, in response to the slogan IEIA yesterday, IEIA today, IEIA tomorrow, Gavin Aitken (USA), missionary to Brazil, preached on the centrality and supremacy of Christ, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8). I was moved by the affection, gratitude and respect shown to the missionaries, the vast majority of whom had left the country 34 years before. Nowhere was there a hint of criticism.
On Monday we went to the inauguration of two primary schools - one in Kuito, the other 18 km away in the country at Kawango, the reconstruction of which was largely financed by the IEIA. The provincial government welcomes this collaboration, endorses Christian teachers and pays their salaries. On Tuesday the delegates went to the site of the first mission station at Kwanjulula, gathered around the small graveyard, and in a profoundly moving, simple ceremony, sang hymns of praise in various Bantu languages.
From Wednesday to Friday delegates met in the Kuito chapel for a series of seminars devoted to spiritual, social, cultural and even political aspects of church life, present and future. Gavin gave a series of Bible studies on Proverbs 1, Felix Muchimba (Zambia) summarised the History of the Open Brethren and I gave talks on New Testament Church Principles.
Saturday was a special day. In the afternoon the 600 delegates marched through the city under police escort, to declare Christ. A final touch to close proceedings on the second Sunday was when the governor of Bié Province invited leaders and guests to a special banquet held in the new gymnasium. Dr Alexandre Saul, General Secretary of the IEIA Committee at Luanda, invited Iris to cut the 125th anniversary cake.
Evaluation
Years before in Angola, the Lord had sent out His disciples as lambs among wolves. He had chosen the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him (1 Cor. 1:28,29). And that in the face of the boast by a Marxist leader that in 20 years not a single church would be left in the country. Once again, simple, meek, gentle, kingdom citizens have been at the cutting edge of kingdom advance.
There are indeed many subjects for praise and some for prayer. The right balance needs to be maintained between the secretariat and assemblies, respecting the autonomy of the local church and the authority of the elders. Preoccupation with numerical growth should not be at the expense of growth in knowledge of the Scriptures, depth and maturity. In Angola, wisdom is needed to manage cooperation with government authorities, where the danger of corruption is ever possible. Finally, our Angolan brothers and sisters need our encouragement to persevere, producing maximum fruit from minimal financial and material resources. Pray for continued growth and consolidation.