The Eglise des Disciples du Christ au Congo (EDCC), Church of the Disciples of Christ of the Congo of the Republic of Congo (the capital city is Brazzaville) is a relatively young church founded in 1995 as a mission of the Community of the Disciples of Christ of the Congo (CDCC) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 100 years ago, U.S. missionaries founded the CDCC in what today is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire. The CDCC has been affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States since 1899 and now with Global Ministries. Global Ministries helped fund a DRC missionary from the CDCC to the EDCC from 1995 to 2003 at which point the EDCC became autonomous.

The Republic of the Congo (RC) is a fragile country that suffered through a war in 1997. Economically, the country seems to have somewhat recovered from that tragedy. The economy seems as strong now as it was before the fighting. Socially, the country is still much divided along tribal and linguistic lines, primarily divided among three major groups. This social division continues to cause problems.

Religiously, many people are searching for religion after many years when religion was not encouraged. The churches are growing and the EDCC is working to establish themselves among the Lingala-speaking population of the RC. The growing church is still relatively small with about 2,000 members in the country.

The EDCC in the capital city of Brazzaville has found that many women church members did not attend school and now live in total poverty, without any source of income. There also are many widows with the complete responsibility for their children as a result of the devastating civil war. To address this problem, EDCC has proposed a Women’s Sewing Project, a nine-month project through which women can learn sewing skills that will enable them to work and support themselves and their families. If the women can learn to sew, they can make clothing for their families and also produce clothing to sell to others. They can both decrease their expenses, as making clothing is cheaper than buying it, and increase their income by selling clothing to others. The overarching goal of this project is to improve the self-sufficiency and quality of life for these women and their children.

The costs for this project in its first year are very modest. EDCC has recruited parishioners with sewing skills to serve as instructors for a small stipend. The church will provide classroom space, buy sewing machines and other necessary materials (fabric, needles, thread, etc.) and buy or build tables and chairs. A small amount of transportation funds will allow travel to other EDCC parishes to determine the feasibility of expanding this project in the future.