Hospitality

It is very hard to describe the warmth and enthusiasm of a welcome celebration in DR Congo (or many other parts of Africa, for that matter).  Everyone who has experienced it seems to suffer for a lack of words that do justice to the experience.  You can get a glimpse of it in videos (2008 Partnership Video), but it is the very sense of being surrounded by people who are excited and overjoyed to welcome you to their home that is impossible to capture.  This is not something "staged" or arranged - this is so much a part of who the Congolese are.  They simply cannot imagine any other way to act when a visitor appears.

From the time we set foot on the ground in Kinshasa, until we finally enter the secure area at the airport upon our departure, we will be enfolded in the arms of the 10th Community - Disciples du Christ au Congo, and cared for as we would be nowhere else in the world.  For we are not just visitors,  to whom generous hospitality is always shown, but we are family.  In my last call with Rev. Ilumbe, I could hear the joy in his voice to speak of the "surprise" we will have on arrival in Mbandaka - what a blessing!

I have often imagined what it would be like if visitors in Disciples churches in the US received this kind of welcome.  What if we sang our joy at their presences with us?  What if we immediately invited them to share in our daily lives?  Would it change our very being?  Is this really a part of our faith?