"God grabbed my heart and I heard His heartbeat for Congo," says a Manitoba missionary in her service to the poorest country in the world. 

Doreen Lundy is the Executive Director of Together Building Africa (TBA). When she's not living in the Congo doing missions work for part of each year, she lives with her husband of 50 years, Stan, in Beausejour, Manitoba. 

"TBA is a Canadian registered charity. We've been ministering in the Democratic Republic of Congo for over a decade. We're primarily involved in spreading the news of our great Saviour," says Lundy. 

The type of work they do in Africa is humanitarian aid for orphans and widows. They also bring hospital and school supplies, build water tanks, offer skill training for orphans, and offer microfinance posts.

"We have 11 children, and we adopted special needs children," says Lundy. "They've grown and we have grandchildren and great-grandchildren. What a blessing. We thought we were doing something special, it was God that was doing something special."

Since 2009, TBA has led conferences for pastors in the Congo and built four church plants. 

"Many of the rural pastors have no training, no Bibles, except a church full of people wanting God. It has been my experience in visiting with them that they are teaching correct things. That must be the Holy Spirit and it's amazing to me."

Many of the pastors Lundy has contact with preach even though they're living out of a cardboard box. 

"Every Sunday, this pastor would walk to his village and preach the gospel at the risk of his life. People were threatening the lives of him and his family. Those are our heroes," she says.

Extreme Need After Eruption and Earthquake

On May 22, 2021, the Democratic Republic of Congo was hit with a volcanic eruption 11 kilometres away from a city with 1.5 million people. The blast was caused and continued to cause earthquakes afterward.

"These people were thrown into a state of panic. While they fled the city there were between 200-400 tremors. Streets were cracking under their feet. There was chaos as they were fleeing and families got separated. Hundreds of thousands of people are now displaced."

Getting clean water is also an issue which can cause cholera to spread. 

"We opened a campaign to raise money to supply food and water. They have no support and nowhere to live or stay. It's a tragic crisis situation. At least we can try and do something. No one can do everything but God asks us to do something."

TBA has been able to supply necessities for 155 families since the eruption. They are still looking for donations to further help those in need in the Congo, and people interested can email Lundy at tbadonate@gmail.com.

"It just breaks my heart to see the suffering there. We want to be the hands of Christ reaching out to people. They know it's the people of God responding to them, which makes them feel like family and that they're not forgotten."

Lundy calls herself the 'middleman' and nothing more.

"I've had people in the streets stand up and applaud when they saw me and I just want to cry because it's not me. I'm the representative of those who love them."

She hopes to be back in the Congo at the end of November. 

Related Stories