The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the largest (the area of the US east of the Mississippi) and most populace (almost 100 million) countries in Africa. It is the world’s largest French-speaking country, in the global top 10 in terms of birth rate and urbanization, and in the bottom ten in terms of per capita income. Congo has endured instability for the last 25 years — over 3 million people have died in eastern Congo since 1996 — but is experiencing increasing development and stabilization. The church has not been able to provide a transformational witness to help Congo’s profound spiritual, economic, and social challenges.
Goma is one of the most strategic cities in the country — with over 1.5 million people living in an exceptionally beautiful but exceptionally troubled part of the world. Congo’s population is overwhelmingly young — 47% are under 14 — yet its youth are tremendously underserved. Lack of high-quality education, systemic poverty, and ongoing violence put continuous strain on their lives.
There are very few youth groups, programs, or gathering spaces available to them. Many youth are left to fend for themselves and figure life out. We would love to initiate a program to provide places and times for youth to meet up, meet Christ, and grow together. We want youth to have opportunities for creativity, expression, and exploration of their identity in Christ within a safe and loving environment.
Our team’s mission is to create and nourish an intentional, intercultural, creative community committed to living out the gospel in ways that expand the global Church and meet real-life needs in our city and region. We want our city, Goma, to be a city on a hill for the entire country, starting with our street and neighborhood first. We want to be radically implicated in the needs, capacities, and dreams of our neighbors — whoever God puts in our community. Currently our team works in education, entrepreneurship, renewable energy, and counseling sectors.
Our team is impact-oriented and deeply committed to our context and community here, and are looking for others ready to go all-in on building God’s kingdom in Congo together with colleagues here. We are seeking an engaging, passionate Goer who is passionate about young people and helping them pursue Christ and impact for His Kingdom in places like Congo and beyond, who will work to create opportunities for the youth community to gather and grow in Goma. Currently there are very few spaces for young people to gather in Goma, and no engaging youth group types of opportunities. This could include broader ways of connecting with young people including English language practice, technology/gaming, arts and drama, or other passions that can be shared.
No special skills required but a deep passion for youth, cross-cultural teams and language learning are big pluses.
People applying for this placement should be self-starters, energetic, and impact-driven problem-solvers. There are many challenges to living in the Congolese context, but people who are ready to put forth great effort will likely also derive great meaning in seeing how even small inputs make a huge difference in the communities we serve.
The person filling this placement should have some training or experience working with youth, and a heart and calling for this population and their families.