Reports about thefts, rapes and murders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and of mass attacks that create refugees in the tens of thousands, are not abstractions for the Bishop of Winchester.

The Rt. Rev. Michael Scott–Joynt, Bishop of Winchester since 1995, became the patron of the Congo Church Association more than a decade ago. He has visited the nation five times since becoming the association’s patron.

His most recent visit was just after Easter, when he offered Bible meditations for Congolese Anglicans’ small House of Bishops. During Bishop Scott–Joynt’s visit, a renegade militia attacked the Bishop of Bukavu, the Rt. Rev. Bahati Bali Busane Sylvestre, and his family at home.

“I heard two days ago of attacks and fighting and killings in an area I have visited,” Bishop Scott–Joynt told The Living Church in a telephone interview July 21. “I have sat in homes with bishops and been told, ‘You’re safe now, but we must leave soon.’”

The bishop said he first became acquainted with Congolese bishops during the Lambeth Conference of 1998.

“I receive enormously from them,” he said. The bishop said he has learned “a lot about the New Testament and a lot about living as a Christian” from his Congolese brothers and sisters.

The bishop said he’s become especially aware that the suffering in the DRC reflects the story of the Church throughout history.

“It’s really our position of quiet peacefulness that, if you look down history, is not the norm,” he said.

The Diocese of Winchester’s connections to the region date back to the episcopate of Scott–Joynt’s predecessor, the Rt. Rev. John Vernon Taylor, who initiated contact with Rwanda, Uganda and Zaire (as Congo was then known) in 1977.

“I think it is fair to say that our relationship with Congo has been particularly strong during my years as bishop,” Scott–Joynt said.

He credited a sense of mutuality in the relationship, and said the deanery of Jersey “has committed itself substantially to the relationship.”

“They need financial assistance because the country is very poor,” the bishop said. The diocese sends support for ministerial training and for rebuilding hospitals and schools.

The bishop also uses his position in the House of Lords as a platform for raising awareness of the DRC’s vast needs.

“The British government is a very large donor in terms of aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.

“The real thing is church to church mutual prayer and encouragement,” he said. “They’re a brave and faithful church. They are a church which, like others all over Africa, are determined to remain orthodox on matters of ethics and of doctrine.”

Bishop Scott–Joynt said that each visit leaves him with deeply torn feelings as he leaves the strife-torn DRC and returns to his home.

“Each time I come out, I think this is wonderful, the Church has such a vibrant ministry,” he said. “I also go out with a heavy sense of how can this place ever be different, with so many mountains to climb to achieve good government and safety for the people.”

Douglas LeBlanc