Thirty years ago today, on April 27, 1994, New Wineskins Missionary Network (formerly ECMC, Episcopal Church Missionary Community) held its first Global Mission Conference.…

The Rev. Bernard Bisoke, the Anglican Church of Congo’s provincial youth coordinator, runs a peace center in the regional capital of Bunia. Bunia is part of Ituri Province, which the U.S. State Department has warned is frequently beset by “crime, civil unrest, terrorism, armed conflict, and kidnapping.”

Ministry is not, typically, something we can do alone. We need relation­ships with partners who will come alongside us, support us, and encourage us. Jesus knew this and, "Calling the twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits” (Mark 6:7). The Rev. Bisoke Balikenga and his wife, Furaha, have gone out "two by two,” support­ing and working alongside one another. They are partners in marriage, in faith and in their service to their community in Bunia, lturi Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rev. Bernard Bisoke Balikenga is the Provincial Youth Coordinator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When Bisoke traveled to the U.S. in September 2019 for the New Wineskins Global Mission Conference and again in January 2020 to attend leadership conferences, Holy Trinity Anglican Church Windermere in Charleston, SC, was fortunate to be his host.