First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, GA

800 South Enota Drive    Gainesville, GA  30501
 

Protestant University of Congo By Alma Bowen, Ministry of Missions

   The Protestant University of Congo in western-central Africa received $8,961.05 from our church’s 2006 World Mission Conference. The University in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was created in 1959 by five denominations with overseas missions, ncluding Presbyterian Church USA. It has survived a number of civil wars and was “reborn” when the Congo abandoned a quarter century of Marxism in 1990. The University’s mission is to produce “Christian leaders inspired to serve God and the nation in faith and in truth.”
   Today it has about 5,000 students. Other founding denominations are American Baptists, British Baptists, Methodists and Disciples of Christ. Churches in other denominations also give support. In 1995, the University’s Board of Trustees created the North American Liaison Bureau (NALB) with the main purpose of raising funds, especially for scholarships. Cleda Locey, a member of our church, was the first woman named to the NALB. She is serving a six-year term and once brought the NALB members here to our church for their annual meeting.
   Because the Congo is a former French colony, the University teaches in the French language, its books are in French, and all of the NALB meetings are conducted in French. Cleda Locey always has an interpreter at the meetings. The University offers degrees in theology, law, business and economics, and its newest addition is the College of Medicine. Students in the College of Medicine must sign a contract to practice medicine in the Congo for at least two years after graduation. More information can be found at this site http://www.pcusa.org/worldwide/congo/cpc.htm

Copyright [2007] [First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville]. All rights reserved. 
770-532-0136    800 South Enota Gainesville, GA