Bless Ministries Centre Tabitha
Buhimba, Goma, D.R. Congo
My name is Othniel Mabonde Mweniyamba, Pastor of the Bless Ministries Centre Tabitha located in the Buhimba area of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
I was the eighth son my family and considered as the hope for the family's success. I was clever student in school and obedient to both my parents, which earned me privileges and favor from my parents.
One day my mom told me the story of my birth. She said, "Your dad married me when he was pagan drunker, smoker and fighter. We stayed with your father who was not saved and did not care about religion. I got seven children with your father and he was still living his own life. When I was pregnant with you, our eighth child, I started observing changes in your father. He no drank alcohol ad did not get into fights anymore, and stopped causing trouble. The day I delivered you in the maternity ward, your father got saved and he was baptized. Among all the children I had with your father, you are the one your father touched and took in his hands. You were the beloved son of your father. You were the unique son we brought to the church for a dedication. When our Pastor asked me the name of the baby we told him he doesn’t have a name. The pastor began praying and blessed you on the altar to the Holy Spirit and gave you the name of Othniel.” This is how you were named."
When I was 6 years old my dad registered me in school and I was admitted in standard One. When I was in standard Four, I felt the call to form a group of singers in our school. My classmates were interested in joining and I went to another class to get others interested in our group. I was able to form the singing group with twenty students. I completed my primary school as choir leader and God blessed my studies.
Bukavu
In high school I continued singing. When I reached the standard form Six, I felt the call to be baptize to the Pentecostal Church of Bukavu in the South Kivu Province. The same year I did my state exams in a group of 50 students. I was one of the 9 who passed and received a certificate. My dad and my mom were all happy with my achievement in school.
I was being encouraged by my parents to study at the university, but I was not sure what I wanted to study. Because I did well in my lower level of education my father was excited that I could be the hope for his family to have someone study at the university. One morning I was on my way to church when I met a four year old child as I walked on the road. The young boy kept referring to me as a pastor. He told me I needed to study in the field of theology, but I thought he was being foolish. I made the decision to go and study agronomy, the science of soil management for crop production.
In my second year at the University I married Madame Rachel Butunga, who was a teacher in the primary school. We were married on April 18th, 1993. The ceremony was at the Pentecostal church of Bukavu. Right now we have 4 children: 3 boys and 1 girl.
One day I was in the village of Musuku Mulombozi, at 1:00 am in the morning when I fell into a deep sleeping. I heard a voice calling me: "Othniel!" "Othniel!" "Othniel!" "I know you want to be an engineer, but I, the Lord your God want you to go back and register in Theology. I will support you and support your life." From that hour until morning, I was confused about starting the first year again? I didn’t accept what I heard, but the same message came to me on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I was refusing the call to study theology.
On Friday the Lord said to me: “Othniel because you don’t want to hear me; I will give this opportunity to another person, and I will see who you will become.” I asked the Lord to please accept me. He replied: ‘’Othniel my righteous ones will live by faith." I remembered Hebrews 10:38 “But my righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.”
God commanded me to live by faith, and to trust him in all I do. I went to register for studying theology. I studied for three years and completed 52 courses of theology. After I finished my studies, God told me to move to Goma. I left Bukavu and now I am in Goma where I joined the church of the Nazarene. I obtained a volunteer position as the secretary of the District in 1998. I became an evangelist from the Church of the Nazarene in 1999. One year later a became a pastor of one of the local churches.
In 2002, I received a full scholarship to go and study theology again in Nairobi, Kenya. I transferred my studies to the African Nazarene University located in Ongata Rongai, Kenya in 2003. In 2007 I completed my Bachelor Degree in Theology. After graduation I returned to my home town of Goma, but life was not easy there because I was unable to find work in Goma.
One day, the Lord answered my prayers by giving me a position with the church of Christ in Congo as the office of in charge of communication. We had a team of Baptist pastors come from Canada, of which I was their interpreter during the two weeks they were with us. When they started to return home they blessed me with the assignment to start a new local ministry. I built the ministry and named it Centre Tabitha.
The Center is supplying school supplies and education for the many orphans we care for. Some of our women sew clothing for the children.
Since the center was formed there have been massive attacks of armed groups in the region and many rebellions in the Province of North Kivu. There have been many internal displaced people (IDP) found in Goma. The UN agencies and others humanitarians groups are doing their best to serve this people but they are not able to reaching everyone. In the church many vulnerable people remain in poverty, with lack of food or water, and lack of education.
Currently, we are teaching people in agriculture, raising chicken, and training young mothers how to sew, to give them a skill that can help them build an income.
We have been organized and registered through the efforts of Bless Ministries of Mobile, Alabama, USA. We rejoice over their desire to guide us in spiritual matters, supplying us with administrative experience and study materials from the Manthano Library, on this website.
We continue to move forward, as we assist other churches in our region with the positive things we receive from Bless Ministries.
Thank you so much for looking at our webpage.
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Thank you so very much.
