Thank You For Your Partnership

Dear partners, 

Another year comes to an end, and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving and we are truly grateful for all that you have done to advance the Kingdom of God through our ministry.

Your giving this past year has allowed us to build a new shelter for our church in Kintambo (neighborhood in Kinshasa), build bathrooms, and plant a church in the province of Bandundu.  I need to put all of this in perspective so that you can see what all of this really means.

For about a year, we were able to get over one hundred people under that shelter for worship services, sheltered from the sun and light rains.  This resulted in many souls being saved, people being taught and encouraged to live lives that honor God.  Some people that we are reaching are staying away from church because of inadequate bathrooms.  The improvement we did in our sanitary installations allowed us to have something a little bit more adequate so that some felt more comfortable to come out and worship with us.

And finally the church in Kikwit 3, a village in the Bandundu province is a real success.  Week after week we receive great reports on the work that is being done there.  Material challenges are greater, but the joy and simplicity with which the people receive the good news is such an encouragement.  Since our presence in that village, we have had over 200 souls saved, an average of 80 people come weekly to worship there.   YES, you our partners, help us doing that.

We are so thankful.

We have new challenges for the New Year, and we need your help, continue to partner with us, so that together we can work on advancing the Kingdom of God. 

In Him,

Jean and Deborah Senga

Volunteers Needed

We are in need of volunteers, people that can help us in our events, and fundraising.

Your help is greatly needed. Please give us a call today or send us an email as soon as possible. We are organizing some orientation sessions for volunteers, on Thursday September 13^th and on Wednesday September 19^th from 7 to 8:30 PM. Please call us or send us an email to let us know that you are coming, and if it is a group tell us how many are coming.

Be creative, come with plenty of ideas, and be ready to be a part of God’s work in an exciting and fun way.

Please call 443-824-2584

Mission Opportunities

Short Term Mission Opportunities with Source Ministries

As Source Ministries looks to the future to extend the kingdom of God in the DR Congo, we are looking for motivated individuals who will let God lead them into the mission field. You might be a High School grad, college grad, or at any stage in life that would like to take some time away as you are searching the eternal “what next” question. We suggest a few months in the mission field; learn new languages, new cultures, and new people groups, while growing in your walk with God.

Consider the mission opportunities listed here, send out your resume with a cover letter and your contact information and you will embark on an adventure you can be proud of.

Open positions:

• Teacher assistant: for missionary homeschooling family. This is an opportunity to serve in the mission field, help the day to day teaching of three missionary kids, learn new cultures and languages, while growing and maturing in Christ.
• Youth ministers: help in the youth ministry of Source Ministries which comprises of 5 churches. Great opportunity for people considering the ministry. Opportunity to train and disciple young people for Jesus.
• Children ministers: help the children ministry of Source Ministries. Opportunity to work with children that don’t have the chance to go to school during the week and work with church children on Sundays.
• Construction crews: specific projects

Send resume and cover letter to egliselasource@gmail.com
You can also call us at 443-824-2584

No more Christianity 'as usual' part II, by Deborah

Shortly after making this decision to praise God intentionally at every opportunity, my husband and I left home today to assist in a prayer rally organized by FGBMFI at the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa. It was a wonderful evening filled with plenty of praise, worship, spontaneous dancing, and testimonies. One young girl shared how she and her mother went from the final stages of battling AIDS to complete healing and restored health! God is a healer. There is nothing too hard for Him! Right? So how can I leave an event charged with fresh reminders of God's omnipotence and get discouraged as we return to our car and see the gas tank once again dangerously close to E? Even as Jehovah Jireh echoes fresh in my ears? Well, today I was determined not to live 'as usual'.
Before returning to our SUV to drive home we made a stop at the Hotel's restroom. As I proceeded inside I met a very unwelcome sight. A lady about my age dressed in only a white blouse that barely grazed her thighs, applying heavy makeup at the mirror. I was repulsed at her indecency and angered by her sinful lifestyle. As I entered an empty stall to take advantage of the facilities, God spoke to me that He wanted me to share about God's love to this lady. I wrestled with God for a minute thinking of excuses (language barrier, evil spirits, etc...) until I caught myself starting to sound like Jonah. I realized this was a basic question of obedience. God said 'go', would I dare say 'no'? I remembered that at least until Monday I had committed to praising God. Wasn't sharing about His love a way to bring Him the highest praise, exponential praise???
So, I repented from my critical, self-righteous spirit and asked God to teach me. Teach me to see her like He does. Teach me to reach through the sinful imperfections and truly love, AGAPE. Then I stepped out. Trembling. Doing things out of the ordinary feels like walkin' on water, you can only do it as you keep your eyes on Christ. I went to her and in very quaky french asked if we could talk a minute. Then I poured my heart out to this lady. This stranger. This woman created by God. I told her about God's love. That it wasn't an accident that we met. About my niece and how God's heart ached for her to come home and how God feels the same for her. He is aching for her to come home to Him, to His purposes for her life. I asked if we could pray and she consented blinking back tears as we joined hands. I prayed in English and a little broken French, but I believe Jesus Himself was there praying with us in that hotel bathroom. I gave her our church card and my number to keep in touch, but I do not know where she is right now. I do know that neither one of us left there the same woman. Continuing in praise........

No more Christianity 'as usual' by Deborah

I just can't stop praising our God from whom all of life's blessings flow! Some of you have followed on Facebook about the tragedy of my niece turned to triumph. From Wednesday July 12th to Friday July 14th we were all crying out to God on her behalf, the MD state police and investigators were on the case without any leads. It looked hopeless, but GOD! One of my dear intercessor friends declared that a word of knowledge would come forth that would lead Morgan to be found. Friday night in prayer my husband announced that she would come home within a few hours. Praise God, that is exactly what happened! Why do we get surprised when we see God perform His Word?
I learned of her return upon awakening Saturday morning and immediately wanted to give thanks to God so I could continue my day. Isn't that what we do, we pay our dues when God answers our prayers by giving Him a thanks and move on? He woke me up in the Spirit as I was praying to Him. "You just spent two days barely eating or sleeping, crying to Me, and telling everyone you could about your request. I have answered your cry. Are you going to do any less to thank me?" This just shook my comfortable Christianity. It rocked my little world. So I decided right then and there to spend at least until Monday morning making a concerted effort to speak praise and thanks to God at EVERY opportunity. Since that time I haven't been the same......

2013 Project

Source Ministries in it’s three years of existence has considerably increased. We total 4 places of worship to this day:

• At Eglise Source d’Eaux Vives with Jean Senga as Senior Pastor we get close to a 100 persons in average for Sunday attendance,

• At Source Intarrissable with Pastor Dominique Lopaka, we get a Sunday attendance of about 70 people,

• At Cite de Vie with Pastor Jules Kalombo, we get a Sunday attendance of about 20 people. Cite de Vie has been facing some major challenges and will be forced in the coming weeks to temporary stop Sunday worship to join Source d’Eaux Vives on Sundays until February 2014.

• We also have Source d’Eaux Vives English service that meets at a different location, with Jean Senga as Senior Pastor. It is mainly composed of internationals working in Kinshasa. We have an average attendance of 20 people on a Sunday and can reach 60 people if everyone comes on one Sunday.

Starting this July, we go into provinces to start the process of church planting. Four of the ministers that were trained this year will go to start the process.

We have started recording a TV show that will address the issue of the impact of Christians in the market place. According to statistics, the DRC is 80% Christian, but it is also one of the countries with the highest rate of corruption in the world. Our prayer is that in the next week or so, we will close a contract with a local TV station for the diffusion of the show.

As you know, most of what we do has the ability to be self sustaining at least by 50%. What we usually need is a start up, or a push, to go to the next level. That is what we need for 2013.

The landlord for the grounds on which Source d’Eaux Vives meets wants us out of his property by March 2013. The rental situation in the DRC is very chaotic…a local church in Kinshasa, not far from us, got their rent increased 10 times the price of the original contract. By March, we would like to purchase our own property, so that we can make plans to build on it.

Here is the list of objectives for the 2013 Project:

• Raise enough funds to purchase a property for the church Source d’Eaux Vives

• Help the church Cite de Vie to start back Sunday services by February 2013

• Raise funds to support the families of the leaders of our churches.

To achieve these objectives and others we are planning a trip to the US this summer and are organizing:

• Raffles

• Auctions

• Mission nights

• We will have presentations and will speak at different churches and organizations

• Other fundraisers as opportunities arise.

Please plan to participate in these or even to organize some as we welcome any help we can get.

Thank you, and may God richly bless you.

Jean, Deborah, Micah, Jonathan, and Michelle

Village Trip to Bas-Congo

On Friday 13th, 2012, we set out to go to a village in Bas-Congo to show the movie "The Passion of the Christ". Every year we have shown the movie to hundreds of people and we have seen many giving their lives to Jesus as we have an altar call at the end of the movie.
This year we decided to go to a village in Bas-Congo, where there is no electricity, no opportunity for them to see any kind of film. The location and name of the village we did not know. We just chose to go in a specific region, find a village of descent size, stop and show the movie. Ten of us, in two vehicles loaded with all the equipment needed, left Kinshasa for Bas-Congo under a very hot sun.
At our arrival in the village we found, we started noticing a change in the weather. Yes not long after, the rain started...we could not show the movie! Willy one of the faithful ministers of our church with one of the local young men set up the screen in case the rain would stop. While we were setting up, a group of 3 ministers of the church went to neighboring villages to tell people about the movie. When they came back they were all wet, we got in the vehicles for shelter and waited, and waited...When I realized that it seems that we will not have the chance to show the film, I decided to set up the sound system in the back of one vehicle, sing songs and then preach the gospel giving a chance at the end for those who want to receive Jesus to do so from their home. The sound system could be heard in 2 other neighboring villages.
I decided after a moment of singing to go out in the rain (light rain) to praise and worship God. I was followed by my faithful wife, and later by some of the ministers we came out with, and finally the whole service was held as people came out to sing with us, the gospel was preached by pastor Charlie who came with us, we prayed over people and God was glorified. It was truly a glorious night.
Tired after this wonderful time, we realized we did not set up our tent, worst we did not know how to do it. It was the first time for me to camp out, especially to have to set up camp. With the help of our three kids, we were able to set up the tent.
In the morning after the morning public prayer, we received people coming from the other villages who heard the message the night before and wanted also to come for prayer. I preached that morning before going to baptized people in the nearby river.
Remember the young man that helped Willy set up the screen? His name is Simon, he was so hungry for God that he was always there. He received Jesus, got baptized and will come to our church in Kinshasa next Sunday. Simon will help us leading a cell group in that village. He will come to the church in Kinshasa for training and will help us with any future projects we might have in that village.

We have decided to help the locals with their crops. As we pray with them, we want also to help provide seeds, and if possible some kind of technical support.
When we arrived in the village, we parked across a structure made with palm branches that serves as a 'church'. When we asked for the pastor, we were told that he was traveling. We asked for those who work with him, they too were not available. We learned later that night that the 'church' was for the god of the blacks, a local religion centered on traditional beliefs rejecting Christianity saying it is the religion of white people. We have heard of these people becoming violent toward Christians. We could see the oppression of this religion over the people. They heard the gospel, but preferred to stay home or far off because they did not want to be seen. We saw people who wanted to be baptized but did not come forward. One of the person who got baptized did not say a thing to anyone. She just came along with us. When she felt that it was her turn, she just stepped forward to be baptized.
In the morning we had the visit of one of the leaders of the 'church' of the god of blacks. He was not happy, he advised us to contact them in the future for any activity we would like to do in that village. We also had the visit of members of the family of the chief of, Kikeba, the village, the traditional authority in the village. They were happy to see us, but they also advised us to have their approval before doing anything.
Thank God for Simon, he is the person that will make sure that all this is taken care of in the future.
We came back to Kinshasa as planned, came from the fresh air of the country, to the pollution and a special 40 minutes reality check stuck in traffic. It has been a glorious weekend. No movie, but the gospel! The movie will be for another time in Kikeba.

Remembering the cross!

Friday April 6th, 2012 found us marching through the streets of Kinshasa, bringing people to the cross of Jesus. After parading in the neighborhood of the church with one of our young ministers dressed as Jesus and carrying a cross, people followed us back to the church where we projected the film "Passion of the Christ" for all to be reminded of the horrific suffering which our Savior endured for our sake. At the end of the film over 150 had been impacted and 7 came forward to surrender their lives to the Lord. Now that's a 'good' Friday!

Ministry Anniversary

Just a little toddler 3 years old. By the grace of God, we have accomplished a considerable amount of things. Check out our slideshow, goals and projects, so that you will know how to thank God for what He has done and start praying for us for what is coming ahead.
Thank you all for your support and encouragements!

Ministry Goals

In the last 3 years, our focus has been Kinshasa, the capital city. We have been already preparing to go out into the provinces of the DRC. We are training "ministers" who will be able to go out and help launch ministries.
In July by the grace of God, we will be in the provinces of Bas-Congo, and Bandundu. Prayerfully by the end of this year, we will have planted churches in those provinces.
Last month, we encountered some problems with our landlord (church). We have to leave his property in exactly one year. We saw in this the opportunity for the ministry to go to the next level. We want to buy a property and start building the church. It is a very bold project, but we thought maybe the bible is right when it says....nothing is too hard for God (Jeremiah 32.27).
We are asking our Congolese friends everywhere in the world, if you have a property in Kinshasa, that can be used to build a church, please consider a rent-to-own deal with us. Truly God has need of it.
Finally in our short term goals and projects, comes one that is very important for us, and actually for the survival of the mission in the Congo. Some very needed rest and relaxation time for the family. We need a vacation! The ministry requires for us to give more, but we feel that there is very little left to give. So we are planning to sell our Toyota Land Cruiser (Prado) for the trip to the USA. Please pray for this, we have a buyer, but he is having difficulties getting the money that is needed to purchase the vehicle. We decided to not wait for him anymore, please pray that the vehicle will sell.
Then we have to think about our stay in the US. We need a host home, if not host homes. During our time in the US, we plan to have fundraisers. Please help us organize them. I am planning, also, to work in our time there to pay for our expenses in the US, we need help finding temporary work.
We are truly excited for what God is doing here in the Congo. The opportunity to come and share with you in the US is just wonderful. Please join us in the efforts to reach out to people of the Congo, we believe that God will bless you for your prayers, support, and encouragements.
In Him,
Jean