Republic of Congo

It was Portuguese sailors that first explored this region along the Congolese River and introduced European trade to the inhabitants. The national people were receptive of these visitors, and upon a treaty between their king and a French official, the French Congo, or Middle Congo, became a colony of France and a friend to the settlers. Roughly thirty years later, Middle Congo joined three other countries to form French Equatorial Africa and its own town of Brazzaville became the administrative center. This town is also remembered in history by becoming, for a short time, the symbolic capital of Free France when the Axis powers assumed control of Paris during WWII.

The region took the first steps to freedom in 1958 when the French Equatorial Africa separated, once again, into separate and self-administered colonies. The Republic of Congo gained entire independence two years later. Not long after independence, a Communist government was introduced and enforced for approximately twenty-five years. A short attempt at democracy followed. After a civil war, the former Communist president, who had been in power since 1979, once again assumed control. This president continues to administer the country and subdued the occasional unrest which surfaces.

This tropical country is nearly the size of Montana and home to nearly five and a half million citizens. The production of petroleum is one of Congo’s largest industries. It is one of Africa’s most urbanized nations, with most of the population located in the south near the capital. However, the country’s economy is still very unstable. The country’s several civil wars have contributed to the general poverty and nearly half its citizens live below the poverty line. The official language is French. A French-based trade language is also frequently spoken, and the most common indigenous dialect is Kikongo. Most of the country follows either Catholicism or Christian-based cults that have largely syncretized with spirit-worship. Very few have access to the Truth, and those in the sparsely populated jungles have even less hope of ever hearing the Gospel.

Missionaries in Republic of Congo: