Following an administrative decision in June by the Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo intended to regulate the proliferation of evangelical churches in large Congolese cities, many of those churches suddenly find themselves in an irregular situation, reports William Minh Hào Nguyen in La Croix International (July 26). Revival churches stemming from neo-Pentecostalism have found a huge following in the country, even more so in recent years. “According to the Church of the Congo Awakening (ERC), one of the main structures federating this movement in the country, the number of churches increased from 12,500 in 2015 to over 42,300 in 2022, with 15,000 in Kinshasa alone.” In a crowded city, this is creating disturbances. Nguyen quotes a resident who said that he had no choice but to move, after no less than four churches opened their doors in front of his house, with singing starting at 5 a.m.
Source: World Revival & Salvation Ministries (https://www.wrsmworld.com/ministering-the-word-of-god-in-gomacongo/).
The Ministry of Justice stresses that there is no desire to limit religious freedom, “but aims to clean up the church sector to maintain public order.” One of the provisions is that churches should no longer be established less than 500 meters from each other. Earlier attempts to regulate revival churches had failed, but the ministry has now adopted a new approach by involving church federations themselves in a mixed commission in order “to define new criteria for granting legal personality to churches applying for it.” One of the criteria would be “the requirement for the religious community’s legal representative to have theological training recognized by the state,” and to have an administrative link with the ERC. However, the reform faces challenges, as the Pentecostal movement is decentralized and values church autonomy. Observers doubt that such a regulation can be implemented.
