Entrée et sortie du christianisme : L’État actuel de l’Église protestante dans certains milieux ruraux de la République Démocratique du Congo [Entrance and Exit from Christianity: The Current State of the Protestant Church in Certain Rural Areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]

Abstract

This article, written in French,  provides an overview of Protestantism in rural areas of the provinces of Kwango, Mai-Ndombe, Kwilu, Kongo Central, and Ituri, highlighting the main challenges facing the churches.  The study is based on a qualitative methodology combining participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis.  The results indicate, first, that evangelism in rural areas is a largely unexplored field of research.  They further show that a form of “Protestantism without the Bible” is developing in certain rural areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  This form of Protestantism is vulnerable to African religious movements that perceive Christianity as a religion imposed by colonizers.  While the influence of Protestantism is in decline in the rural areas studied, these movements are experiencing rapid expansion.  The biblical and theological foundations of rural ministry show that Jesus and his disciples were involved in both urban and rural ministry (Matt 9:35, 10:11, 28:20; Luke 9:1–6; Acts 8:25).  Based on these observations, the article proposes a missionary model that combines a dynamic moving from the village to the city and another moving from a city to the villages and cities of the world.