Congo-Kinshasa (MNN) — The United Nations says more than 150 civilians were killed during the first two weeks of April in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Over 600 innocent people have lost their lives since the start of the year due to ongoing fighting between the DRC government and multiple armed groups. An estimated 6.2 million people have left home because of the violence, seeking shelter in tent cities.

World Missionary Press partners work in one of the main displacement camps. “There’s a major distribution going in the Goma camp,” WMP’s Helen Williams says.

“They (WMP partners) are so grateful for the literature because [it gives] them something to take to these people to give hope.”

Read the full update from WMP here.

Funded through the Founder’s Challenge, two containers of Scripture booklets arrived in DRC in February, and a container is leaving soon for Tanzania. (Photo courtesy of WMP)

Life is problematic in the displacement camps. Food is hard to find, and health epidemics like measles and cholera increase daily due to the violence.

“People have had to flee without their belongings; families are in great need [of] spiritual [and] physical assistance,” Williams says.

Even so, hope remains. “We’ve got this dichotomy; it’s like an ongoing conflict between God’s Word and the enemy,” Williams says.

“In one case, we’ve got violence and hopelessness. And yet, God’s brought an opportunity to flood that region with His Word, and people are responding.”

Church partners say that “attendance and participation have increased, and more [people] have received Jesus,” she adds.

Help WMP send more Scripture to the DRC. Rwanda provides believers with a safe distribution hub to bring Scripture booklets into DRC.

“We are now on our second shipment. One pastor wrote, ‘Requests are coming in from all over. New converts are asking for literature,’” Williams says.

 

Header and story images courtesy of World Missionary Press.