This week in Christian history: Answers in Genesis sues Kentucky; the first Bonfire of the Vanities
Bishop Walter Lambuth arrives in Congo village to set up mission – Feb. 1, 1912
This week marks the anniversary of when Methodist missionary and bishop Walter Lambuth arrived in a Belgian Congo village to establish a prominent mission in the region.
A leader of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Lambuth was accompanied by linguist John Wesley Gilbert of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church when traveling to Congo.
“Lambuth and Gilbert reached Ewangu, the village of Chief Wembo-Nyatna and received an enthusiastic welcome. One of the members of the caravan, Mudimbi, had been a boyhood friend of the chief,” explained Boston University’s School of Theology.
“It was largely through the influence of Mudimbi, who was an evangelist in the Presbyterian Church at Luebo, that Chief Wembo-Nyama received the southern Methodists so cordially. After consulting with his headmen, Chief Wembo-Nyama declared his entire kingdom open to the Methodist mission and invited Lambuth and Gilbert to establish a station in his own capital.”
The mission officially launched on Feb. 12, 1914, helping spread Methodism throughout the country.
