His father killed by Simba rebels in the Belgian Congo in 1964 and himself injured, young Ken McMillan resolved to return and continue the work his dad started. Twenty years later, Ken returned to serve as a doctor, with his wife Ginny, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Ken shares his survivors’ story here.

The passing of Margaret Hayes has caused me to look back at my own time as a captive of the Simba communist invasion 60 years ago. It strikes me that the survivors – both Congolese Christians and UFM missionaries – went through insults, injuries, and a fiery trial that Peter mentions. And both have been “blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon (them).” (1 Peter 4:14). 

For UFM, it meant the loss of 19 missionaries, including six children, killed by enraged Simba soldiers in late 1964. My father was one of the martyrs. But they, and the thousands of Congolese, did not die in vain. Nor did we survivors survive in vain. God’s glory is clearly resting on his people. Even through several rough post-rebellion periods, there has been steady and sustainable growth in the Communauté Nation du Christ en Afrique (CNCA) community birthed by UFM back in 1931. 

CNCA’s headquarters is in Kisangani, a city in the middle of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), rain forest. During my working visits to CNCA over the last 30 years I have witnessed real recovery, especially at the four UFM martyr sites – Aketi, Kilometer 8, Banalia, and Bafwasende. I joined villagers in cleaning up the graves and memorial markers. I heard their stories and helped them imagine what each site could be. When faithful donors helped pay for cement and metal roofing for each of the four churches, local believers provided manual labour. At each site, God used Congolese leaders to realise those houses of worship for his glory. 

At Aketi, believers had been making bricks since 1985 to build a martyr memorial building in honour of Bill Scholten, the first UFM missionary to die at the hands of the rebels in 1964. One of his pupils, Dauly, pursued medical studies with the help of UFM, and has served the CNCA community over the last 45 years as a God honouring family man and popular pediatrician. Aketi now has a large church building as of March 2017. (The Aketi congregation is pictured above). 

The few believers in the village of Kilometer 8 (near Kisangani) are blessed to have Pastor Mutulua (pictured below). He had migrated in the mid-1980s from another province and felt called to start a little congregation in memory of martyr Hector McMillan. A durable chapel, dedicated in 1995, now stands where my father fell. Banalia is the locality of former CNCA head bishop Assani. He was very grateful when UFM missionary Maizie Smyth found enough money to help build a large memorial in memory of the 11 missionaries who were slaughtered at the ferry landing in 1964. It was dedicated to the glory of God in 2011. 

The fourth martyr memorial church was dedicated in 2014 at the oldest UFM station of Boyulu. It now serves the population of nearby Bafwasende, where six UFM missionaries were executed in 1964. Elysee (pictured below), daughter of Paul Magundi, is from this area, and is a prominent leader of the CNCA women’s ministries. She now leads an annual thanksgiving gathering to remember all 19 UFM missionaries who were slain in 1964. She loves to challenge young and old Congolese to give their lives to God in life or in death. 

Without Aluwa, the skillful mason and general contractor of CNCA, it would not have its current infrastructure. He personally traveled thousands of kilometers, supervising the building of some 30 schools, health centres and churches, including the four martyr memorial churches, all dedicated to the glory of God.

And without Pastor Tambana (pictured below), now the current administrator and project director of CNCA, the community would be years behind in its general progress. Tambana believes God’s glory is seen in leaders as well as their projects. He would like friends of UFM to pray for the current president, Mehuma; he suffered a partial stroke that has left him handicapped; a CNCA General Assembly needs to happen sometime in 2025 to make leadership decisions.

Compared to its influence before the 1964 Rebellion, CNCA now has expanded to over 3,000 congregations in 14 of DRC’s 26 provinces – an estimated 5- to 10-fold increase – led by nine bishops and five senior pastors. Members now number 875,000!

Please pray for these bearers of the Lord’s glory in a troubled land. Thanks to them and hundreds more, CNCA is maturing and multiplying. May the Lord of the Harvest continue to use his Spirit-filled Congolese, and believers’ intercession, to grow the Church in DRC.

To him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations (Eph 3:21)

Ken McMillan is the eldest son of Hector and Ione McMillan who served with UFM in what was then the Belgian Congo in the 1960s. Ken and Ginny served in DRC in the 1980s.