ReachGlobal is the world missions arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Jim Snyder is ReachGlobal’s international leader for Africa. Jim, his wife Ruth and their family have long been a part of our church family at First Free Rockford, even as they spent years living as missionaries in Africa.
Jim also works closely with local and national ministry in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where First Free has supported Tabitha Centers, GlobalFingerprints and other ministry throughout that nation.
With First Free being one of four American churches involved in the Congo Consortium, we spoke with Jim about the continuing opportunities for our church to engage there. This is the second of two parts.
I know you have had to cancel travel plans to DRC this spring. Is it considered a dangerous place to go right now?
Yeah. And that comes and goes. Over the years—we’ve been there since 1985—Ruth and I had to leave for a couple of evacuations. We’ve had times when we were not able to go to the country because of Ebola, political upheaval, a number of things that people would be afraid of. (The U.S. State Department currently advises Americans not to travel to DRC.)
I’m sure you get this question a lot. How do you do it? To someone who lives in the safety and comfort of America, it sounds unthinkably dangerous to go regularly to a place like Congo.
Security-wise, we always lean heavily upon our national partners to guide us. And then sometimes we can get better information than they can about circumstances. But by and large, on the ground, they know what’s going on. We also have people like myself who have years and years of experience there to better be able to interpret what we’re hearing and where things are headed.
So, that plays in hugely to our capacity to allow teams in when things might be a little bit uneasy. If they’re uneasy, we’re going to always err on the side of caution. We can also largely anticipate those times when things are headed in a negative direction, and we stay away from it. There’s no reason to jump into trouble.
But the funny thing about this is, in the middle of all this craziness, ministry is still happening. And it’s not being done by white people in a context where we’re making the decisions or we’re making everything happen. It’s all being done by Congolese who live there. And this is kind of normal.
How different does that look today from when you first went in 1985?
Everything then was happening because white people were there. And it was financed. It was managed. Very little actual ministry that we were involved in was taking place exclusively by Congolese or Zairians back then. (DRC was called Zaire from 1971-97.)
The national church was functioning. It was going and growing. (Today) those ministries that we were bringing in, and even now Tandala Hospital, are fully functional without us. We come alongside them to be able to help them do things better. But for a period of time back then, they couldn’t live without us.
What can a church like First Free Rockford learn from the church in Congo? We tend to think of that only going one way.
There are a lot of opportunities to come alongside it. Invariably, every time we send a team of people, they come back feeling like they received more than they gave.
In what ways?
Anything from food to care and love and encouragement and just the experience of being able to see the church outside of the realities they have ever experienced before.
It broadens your view of the kingdom of God.
It does. A lot of people focus on that whole thing like, “I’m going there to do this” (specific task). And then they come back and they realize that what they went there to do was a very small part of the whole picture.
I believe that understanding that bigger kingdom mindset makes them feel like they better understand who they are and their role in the Kingdom. And makes them more sensitive to the things of God here.
It helps them better understand how to pray for the people there and their needs, as well as for those who are actively involved in ministry there all the time. The challenges that they face, everything from transportation to sickness to just trying to communicate on Zoom when it isn’t working.
Opening people’s eyes to the reality of ministry in a different context. To the bigger dimension of doing ministry. They can come back with a different mindset about what missions are all about—that God is calling all of us at some level to engage. Not certainly all to go, but all to engage. That’s a huge win.
It’s not necessarily a global versus local mindset, either. I think you said it. You just become more aware of the kingdom and what it really looks like.
You begin to realize that you are not irrelevant, or that a particular circumstance is not irrelevant to you.
I often have shared this with others: God has created every individual uniquely. And that’s not a hard sell. People understand that. To do certain things, to experience different circumstances, but in every one of those realities to reflect Christ in their context. I also believe that God created every church uniquely, with the makeup of who attends that church, with the leadership of that church, to be able to have a unique imprint, in a cross-cultural context, that no other church could have. And so what First Free brings to the picture is different from any of the other consortium churches. But they have the capacity to influence a ministry in a cross-cultural context in a way that no other church could ever have.
To that end, I believe exploring that and looking for opportunities to express that are a piece of what God has designed the church to be.
Some teams from the consortium are planning to go to DRC once it’s safer again. Does that involve First Free?
No, it doesn’t yet. I’d really love to see a couple of teams go, whether it be back to Kinshasa or I would really like to see some teams get up to Gemena (in the northwest).
What do you envision them doing?
Again, What am I going to do? (laughs)
You got me. Try it this way: What are some things happening there that people should see and experience?
We have different ministries. There’s one where people with manual skills teach different aspects of a trade that could be used there. Spending time praying for people, like widows and orphans. Getting to see what’s happening with GlobalFingerprints, or with the disability ministry. Maybe people with physical therapy or occupational therapy skills that could go and work with people with disabilities. There are opportunities in the medical realm at the hospital, from areas like surgery to working with nurses to help them develop different skills.
Some of the (First Free) women have been involved with what we used to call White Cross—it’s now called Caring for Congo. I’d love to get them there to see what their products are doing there, how they’re being used.
There’s just a lot going on. A lot of opportunities for people to do teaching, training and equipping at different levels.
Like you said, you might go with a task in mind and then realize God has something way bigger than you ever imagined.
And it’s not so much about you giving as you participating — and then seeing what God is going to do with that.
You mentioned all churches having a unique makeup and calling. Can you take that a little further for First Free?
I believe that in the future of missions at First Free, people should expect big things. There will be opportunities for us to engage very significantly. For individuals in the church to engage significantly. And for communities to engage with those individuals who are themselves significantly in ministry.
It needs to be a part of people’s thinking. If it falls off the radar, that God might use you in a significant way or a big way — and it doesn’t have to be internationally, just in a significant way — then somehow you’re missing what God wants for you.
Very informative interview, Jim and Jim. As always, I’ve learned a lot.
As a very unimportant side note,. who is the lady to Jim’s right in the picture?