Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Kinshasa House of Worship.
Location of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
National Assembly		Democratic Republic of the Congo
Statistics:
Total Population
-	UN 2021	95,894,118
Bahá'í pop.
-	Bahá'í source	100,000
-	Non-Bahá'í source	383,968
History: Firsts
-	Local Assembly	1957
-	National Assembly	1970
Official Website		https://www.bahai-rdc.org/
Related media
Categories: Democratic Republic of the Congo • People

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country in Central Africa. Its official language is French with Kikongo ya leta, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba also being recognized as national languages. Christianity is the predominant religion.

The region was part of the Kingdom of Kongo from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries and then several independent Kingdoms, but in 1885 it became the private property of King Leopold II of Belgium as the Congo Free State. In 1908 it became a Belgian colony and remained one until achieving independence in 1960 under the name the Republic of the Congo. In 1964 it was renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was renamed Congo-Kinshasa in 1966 and in 1971 it was renamed Zaire which remained its name until 1997 when it became known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The countries Bahá’í community was established in 1953 and developed rapidly in the early 1960's. The Bahá’í community began contributing to the social and economic development of the country in the 1970's, establishing many educational institutions, and the community continues to remain active to the current day.

History

In 1940 Shoghi Effendi and his wife Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited Belgian Congo during a trip returning to the Holy Land from Europe. It was not possible to establish the Faith in the country in the 1940's due to restrictions of the colonial authorities.

There were Bahá’ís living in the country as of 1953, prior to the opening of the Ten Year Crusade, with Albert Kilosho, who pioneered from Burundi, being considered the first pioneer to the country. In 1953 Ugandan Bahá’í Samson Mungongo pioneered to the Belgian Congo being driven to Kamina by Alí and Violette Nakhjavani. When Shoghi Effendi launched the Crusade later that year he noted the Belgian Congo as a goal for consolidating a Bahá’í community.

In 1955 Hand of the Cause for Africa Músá Banání reported that the Bahá’ís of the Belgian Congo were active, and around this time Congolese Bahá’ís who had been introduced to the religion in neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi returned to the country bolstering the Bahá’í community. In 1956 the National Spiritual Assembly of Central and East Africa was formed which assumed responsibility for the Bahá’í community of the Belgian Congo and delegates from the country participated in the election of the body. In 1957 the first Local Spiritual Assembly in the Belgian Congo was established.

In 1960 Alí Nakhjavání visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and that year efforts to teach the Faith began to gain traction with the number of declarations increasing, particularly in the east of the country. By 1962 there were over fourteen thousand Bahá’ís in the region with one hundred and forty-one Local Spiritual Assemblies having been established. In 1964 the National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda and Central Africa was established which assumed responsibility for the Bahá’í community of the Republic of the Congo.

In May, 1969, a National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds was secured in Bukavu and in 1970 the countries independent National Spiritual Assembly was established with its seat in the city. In 1972 Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited the country again during her extensive travel teaching tour of Africa. During her visit to Lubumbashi an emergency decree was issued by the Zaire government forbidding any public meetings so she instead met with small informal groups at her hotel.

In 1976 three major Teaching Conferences were held across Zaire in connection with the Intercontinental Conference held in Kenya that year. In 1978 a Bahá’í Women's Conference was held, and it was noted by a visiting Bahá’í that the active involvement of women, youth, and children in activities was strengthening the Bahá’í community. As of 1979 over half of the Bahá’í community of Zaire was residing in the province of Kivu where there were 500 of the countries 1,463 Local Spiritual Assemblies.

While the Faith had been legally recognized by the government by 1979 the community occasionally experienced some persecution and harassment. That year the community was able to hold its first National Convention since 1976, with conflict in the country preventing Conventions from being held in 1977 and 1978. Despite some difficulties the Zaire Bahá’í community was noted to have demonstrated self-reliance and independence throughout the 1970's with many Local Spiritual Assemblies establishing Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds across the country and sixty Bahá’í schools being established.

The government of Zaire collaborated with the Bahá’í community to establish schools across Zaire in 1980 with three schools being completed that year and plans to construct a total of twenty-two. In 1981 the Universal House of Justice dissolved the National Spiritual Assembly temporarily instead establishing three Administrative Committees to administrate the countries Bahá’í community.

The first Bahá’í Summer School of Zaire was held in Kinshasa in 1981. Participants at the school were inspired to engage in teaching work afterwards with their efforts resulting in two Local Spiritual Assemblies being established. In 1983 Mpanga Tutu undertook a two week teaching trip which resulted in eight localities being opened to the Faith and five Local Spiritual Assemblies forming, and a series of talks on the Faith were given to government officials in Mbandaka.

As of Ridvan 1983 there were 5,000 Local Spiritual Assemblies in Zaire. Throughout the 1980's the Bahá’í community contributed to the social and economic development of Zaire through Bahá’í Education Centres which offered literacy programs and agricultural initiatives, and in the northeast of the country efforts were undertaken to assist Pygmy communities. In 1987 the National Spiritual Assembly was re-established, and the three administrative committees became Regional Bahá’í Councils operating under the National Assembly in 1990.

In November 1990 a Bahá’í delegation met with the President of Zaire which resulted in the Faith gaining increased notability in the country as a whole. In 1991 the Bahá’ís of Zaire founded an annual Bahá’í music festival, and by 1992 the Bahá’ís of Zaire were conducting Bahá’í community health education programs in the country. In 1996 a nine-day training course was held in Kamina to allow participants to begin study of the Ruhi Institute curriculum and a public conference was held afterwards which was broadcast on television. In 1998 a war broke out in the country which prevented the Bahá’í community from holding events in Kinshasa.

In 2003 the 50th Anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was celebrated in Kinshasa with the vent also marking the first time the National Spiritual Assembly as a whole could meet in the capital city of the country. As of that year there were 541 Local Assemblies in the country.

In 2014 the Universal House of Justice announced that a House of Worship was to be constructed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in 2018 it announced that the land on which it was to be constructed had been secured. The Temple was completed and inaugurated in 2023 with the D.R.C. Bahá’í Office of External Affairs immediately beginning to hold discussions at the Temple to explore issues of national concern.