Kulopeta Madizanga (b. 1933)
Kulopeta Madizanga, teacher and pastor of Communauté des Églises de Frères Mennonites au Congo (Mennonite Brethren Church of Congo), was born to the Muhenia family in Kavuya Kambolo locality, Mukoso. His non-Christian parents never sent him to school, but hoped he would become their chief. At age 13 he heard a teacher in the Protestant School read about two houses. He wanted to learn more so he secretly attended school, receiving severe punishment at the return of his father, a palm-nut cutter. After two years of harassment, his parents approved his schooling. At age 16 he accepted Christ and was baptized in 1951. At Gungu in 1961 he married Bambenu Kafutshi, who bore him ten children.
Kulopeta studied at the Mennonite Brethren Bible Institute, Kafumba, and the Teachers' Training School, Nyanga. From 1960 to 1964 he taught in Mennonite Brethren Primary and Secondary Schools at Gungu and Kajiji. Because of political unrest the Bible Institute was moved and reopened in Kikwit with Kulopeta as its first Zairian director (1965-1967). From 1967 to 1969 Kulopeta studied at the Institute Biblique de Nogent-sur-Marne, France. When he returned to Zaire (Congo) he began mission work in Kitabi among the Bakwese people, who had a reputation as resistant to the gospel. Through many difficulties Kulopeta and his family persisted there from 1970 to 1980, leaving a church of 145 members and two primary schools. In 1977 Kulopeta was ordained to the ministry.
In 1980 directorship of the theological education by extension program was given to Kulopeta. In 1987 he reported an enrollment of 1,080 students in 78 centers.
| Author(s) | Margaret Dyck |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1987 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Dyck, Margaret. "Kulopeta Madizanga (b. 1933)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1987. Web. 22 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kulopeta_Madizanga_(b._1933)&oldid=57717.
APA style
Dyck, Margaret. (1987). Kulopeta Madizanga (b. 1933). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 22 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kulopeta_Madizanga_(b._1933)&oldid=57717.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 500-501. All rights reserved.
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