A Call to Action for the Congo

"Let us seek to be like Jesus in our devotion to the forgotten of the earth who have nothing to recommend them but their poverty and their heart-hunger and their tears."

A.W. Tozer

When Jesus was asked by the teacher of the law, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus told him the story of the Good Samaritan and then ended it by asking the question the lawyer should have been asking. "Which one of these (the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan) was a neighbor to this man?" You see the question is not to figure out who your neighbor is, but whether or not you are being a neighbor to anyone God makes you aware of.

I'm writing this morning to make you aware of your neighbors in the Congo and to ask you whether you will choose to act as a neighbor to them. Did you know . . .

• 5.4 million people have been killed in the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1998. More people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined.
• 45,000 people die every month in what is being called Africa's World War. This is the deadliest conflict since World War II.
• One of the primary weapons used in this particular war is rape. 80% of women living in the Congo today are victims of rape and 75% of all the rapes that take place in the world happen in the Congo.
• The violence has forced civilians to flee their homes and head for already over-crowded IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps where it is virtually impossible to access health facilities, find clean water sources, and locate nutritional food. Most deaths are a result of these types of conditions, an indirect result of the violence.
• The Congo has been named as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for children, whether they are killed by the violence, die from desperate conditions, or are recruited by the rebels and forced into unspeakable acts of violence themselves.

Who will be a neighbor to these people? Here are some practical ways you can love them as you would wish to be loved.

1. Pray that God would bring justice on all who seek to do evil in the Congo.

2. Pray for believers in Jesus Christ in the Congo to have the courage to stand firm in the face of this intense violence and proclaim the unwavering hope found in Jesus Christ.

3. Write your congressional leaders. Here are some links that may be helpful.

For Texas Senators and Representatives Addresses: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc&state=tx

For info on what to write as a sample letter: http://community.wr.org/Page.aspx?pid=1290

4. Consider giving financially to relief efforts in the Congo. $50 will allow a family to survive for a month. What would God have you give? http://community.wr.org/Page.aspx?pid=1274

5. Grow your understanding of and empathy with those struggling to eat daily by fasting or restricting your diet to basics like rice, beans, and flour.

Please consider how you ought to respond and then do what God leads you to do.

"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" Proverbs 24:11-12

For additional information, check out these sobering videos.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3706833n

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7700111.stm