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In the bustling city of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a street near the center is lined with businesses selling pulpits for the evangelical preachers who are multiplying in a traditionally Catholic country that the pope will visit on Tuesday.
“The pastors come here” says the vendor Frederic Kimbaya, who specifies that the majority are evangelicals. “It’s good business,” he says. Since the 1990s, evangelical churches have been gaining popularity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a message addressed to the poor in this country of nearly 100 million inhabitants.
Catholicism has traditionally been the majority religion in this huge country in central Africa, which gained independence from Belgium in 1960. Despite its immense mineral wealth, this country is one of the poorest in the world. About two-thirds of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.
Gauthier Muzenge Mwanza, a sociologist at the University of Kinshasa, says the country’s protracted social and political crisis explains this proliferation of evangelical churches. The decline of Catholicism also stems from the dictatorial government of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country from 1965 to 1997.
The dictator encouraged evangelical pastors to weaken the power of the Catholic Church, an independent force in the country that often united the opposition against Mobutu. “Anyone can start a church,” says Mwanza, as there are no legal restrictions.
– Miracles and money –
Today, many evangelical leaders in the Congo call themselves archbishops and prophets, some even consider themselves apostles. They are eloquent and impeccably dressed. Some even have their own TV channels. Most also promise their congregation a better life, money or even love, according to Mwanza.
The only thing that is asked of the faithful is to pray, dance and give donations to the preacher. However, political scientist Christian Ndombo Moleka says that some of the Catholic converts to evangelical cults are beginning to return to the church of Rome, as the miracles promised by their adopted faith are slow to come to fruition. Revivalist churches – a Protestant stream that believes in a religious awakening – are experiencing a crisis comparable to their former heyday, he explains, as more and more people question their moral conduct, their politics and their “relationship with money.”
Despite everything, evangelical churches continue to be found throughout the city of Kinshasa, a megapolis whose population is estimated at 15 million people. It is difficult to estimate their exact number. But last year a Congolese lawmaker pushed to close 10,000 churches accused of corruption.
– “Wolves” –
Emie Kutino, a sharply dressed preacher, rejects accusations that revivalist churches are pocket-oriented. There are “wolves” that exploit people’s misery among both evangelicals and Catholics, she says. “There are also the real ones, who do a great job,” adds Kutino, who has a bachelor’s degree in theology, one Sunday before church service.
Kutino’s husband, Fernando, is the founder of the “Victory Army” in Kinshasa, which is one of the oldest revivalist churches in the city. He was jailed between 2006-2014 on gun possession charges and now lives in France after suffering a heart attack. Emie Kutino claims that these charges were politically motivated, as her husband criticized the government in power.
“If it weren’t for the presence of the churches, this country would fall apart,” he says, pointing to the ravages of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo. “But we pray and in church we can offer something to the widow and orphan,” he adds. Kutino is not Catholic but she says the Pope’s visit on January 31 will be a “blessing” that can promote peace.
