A year after his region was invaded by rebels backed by the Rwandan government, Bishop Martin Gordon of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Diocese of Goma is preaching a message of hope to thousands of displaced families and witnessing signs of spiritual awakening.
The British bishop, who has worked in the region since 2020 under the sponsorship of the Church Mission Society, is an outsider to this decades-long conflict, which has been exacerbated by the discovery of rare-earth minerals in the region.
“Gordon is a peacemaker hated by none, trusted by many, and loved by all,” Goma native and Anglican Esther Bahati told The Living Church.
Goma’s Anglican diocese is one of the leading providers of humanitarian assistance in the war-torn region, and works closely with local Roman Catholics and secular non-governmental organizations. There are about 10,000 Anglicans in the diocese, which operates 109 schools with 24,000 students, and has 60 churches, which are staffed by 70 clergy.
“I have seen the hand of Christ the King through them,” Bahati said of the region’s Anglican and Catholic leaders. “They work and help the human race regardless of religions or denominations.”
‘A Devil’s Boardroom’
Goma and Bukavu, cities on opposite sides of Lake Kivu along the Rwandan border, have been occupied by the forces of the March 23 Movement (M23), backed by the Rwandan army. They are among the world’s most dangerous places, and human rights organizations report widespread sexual violence and human trafficking of children.
“Violence between men with guns is so common that no other place on earth is as dangerous for women and children as the east of the DRC,” Filippo Grandi, a former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said in 2024.
M23 has set up its own police force, the Revolutionary Congolese Police (Police révolutionnaire Congolaise), to patrol the region, as well as rebel-aligned courts and civic administrators. The Congolese government has been effectively sidelined.
A staff member of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a think tank focused on the regional issues, told TLC that the Revolutionary Congolese Police “have undertaken major security operations marked by arbitrary arrest, torture, inhumane detention conditions, and summary executions.”
Bahati said the Congolese armed forces, which is actively battling the M23 in the region, is also notorious. “They turn against us when defeated by the M23,” she said. “But the M23 rebels and their allies are the most dangerous and merciless.”
A local resident told TLC, “Goma is a devil’s boardroom, where human-induced deaths are unavoidable for all the people in the room. Life here is a daily gambling—you either get or lose it.”
“We live here by the grace of God, but we can die anytime at the pleasure of the M23 and government soldiers.”
The latest UN reports indicate that 500,000 people have been forced out of their homes in South Kivu Province since December, and 236,000 others have fled to neighboring countries since the invasion, as of January 6.
R2P says that that sexual violence is systemic across eastern DRC, particularly in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces. Adolescent girls are reportedly the most affected, and children with disabilities face the highest risks.
According to a UNICEF report, more than 35,000 cases of child rape and sexual assault were recorded nationwide in the first nine months of 2025. “In 2024, nearly 45,000 cases against children were recorded,” the report said. “This is three times higher than in 2022.”
The R2P says the humanitarian situation in eastern DRC is dire. People continue to be displaced, often moving multiple times as frontlines shift.
“Food shortage is widespread and worsening due to restricted access to farmland. The rising food prices and disruptions of key supply routes also pose challenges,” the R2P says.
Looking for Hope
Gordon says that the crisis has provided an opportunity for witness to the gospel, and that many are responding.
“The church is the one institution that is still trusted in DRC. It is at the heart of every village and community. When war came, people looked to the churches for every kind of help, as well as for hope,” he recently reported to the Church Mission Society.
Anglican churches, he added, “were used as shelters, as distribution centers, and we saw an increased attendance in many of our parishes that were not displaced. Those who didn’t usually attend started coming for prayer. Those who were more sporadic started attending more regularly.”
He added: “We’ve seen people hungrier than ever for the basic truths of the Christian faith and as I’ve been doing the rounds of the churches in the Archdeaconry of Goma, we are seeing a greater number of candidates for baptism and confirmation.
“Our head of evangelism is talking of a spiritual awakening in Goma. We are certainly seeing an openness and receptivity, where the church is seen by many as the one remaining institution that they can still trust.”
Church attendance in the Goma Archdeaconry, Gordon said, doubled during 2025, and 250 candidates were confirmed there in October and November.
The diocese also sponsored mission meetings in its schools during the summer months. Over 6,000 children attended these gatherings and more than 1,000 decided to put their trust in Christ. The church has published a new catechism, focused on discipleship.
Because of the conflict, 20 church buildings in Rutshuru, near the Ugandan border, needed to be abandoned, and others were badly damaged.
But the diocese is working to stake out new ground for mission. In 2025, despite financial crisis across the region, it sponsored construction efforts at 16 churches, installing doors, roofs, floors, and in some cases raising a whole building. Ten schools damaged by the conflict have been rebuilt, and the foundation was laid for the new home of Goma’s Anglican university.
The diocese has purchased 22 plots of land to construct new parish churches and plans to break ground soon on a new complex for its theological college, which has outgrown the current site. Ten students share each dormitory room.
“Times are incredibly hard in Goma right now. The 2025 invasion adds one more layer of trauma to more than 30 years of conflict,” Gordon said. “And many still struggle to make ends meet. But amidst the suffering, we testify daily to God’s faithfulness, and we continue to put our trust in him, as the one who will ultimately bring about peace.”
Daniel Sitole is a freelance journalist in Kenya. His stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines in many countries, including Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
