Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo

Pointe-Noire is a harbor city with around 800,000 residents. Including suburbs, there are well over 1 million people living in the area.

The name Pointe-Noire (black point) goes back to the Portuguese explorers, who saw a block of black rock on a peninsula in 1484. From then on, the rock, known as Ponta Negra, became an important landmark for ocean travel. In 1883, a small fishing village was established after the French signed a treaty with the indigenous Loangos people.

A leftover from colonial times is the official language, which is French to this day. But during the founding of the Republic of the Congo, the indigenous languages Lingála (in the north) and Kituba (in the south) were recognized as official national languages of commerce.

The capital city of the ‘Republic of the Congo’, Brazzaville, lies to the interior on the banks of the Pool Malebo, an enormous, sea-like extension of the Congo, the second-longest river in Africa. Kinshasa, the capital of the neighboring country, the ‘Democratic Republic of Congo’, is situated on the shore directly opposite. As the Congo is only navigable above the Pool Malebo, a 510km railway line was built here in colonial times between 1924 and 1934. Since then, Pointe-Noire has developed into the business center of the nation. Its significance increased again with the oil that was discovered at the coast in the 80’s, and which is now being exploited.

The Republic of the Congo lies on both sides of the equator, and therefore has a typical tropical climate with two rainy seasons (January to May, and October to mid-December). More than half of the country is covered in tropical rain forests.

This country, which has a surface area of roughly the same size as Germany, is very thinly populated. There are just over 5 million Congolese people. One fifth of the population lives in the Pointe-Noire region.

Even though most of the population describe themselves as Christian (with about 40% of them Catholic), there are widespread problems in Africa with the mixing of Biblical teaching with old, ‘traditional’ belief systems, ancestor worship and so on. Some sources state that over 40% of the population still believe in pagan animism.

Sometimes people ask us why we go to towns or regions where we’ve gone to preach the Gospel in the past

The answer is simple. It’s nearly 25 years since CfaN went to Pointe-Noire. And the population in Africa is exploding. There are so many children being born that the average age in these countries is astonishingly low. In the Republic of the Congo, it’s only 16,8 years (in comparison: in France, it’s about 40 and in Germany it’s 45). That means that more than half of all the people there are children or teenagers. A completely new generation is growing up – and it’s for them that the salvation message must be declared anew. That’s what Jesus has called us to.

Prayer requests

Please pray with us for:

  • Good advertising and word-of-mouth information
  • The removal of all obstacles that would stop people from visiting
  • Spiritual unity between and with the participating churches, pastors and leaders
  • Favor with the local authorities, officials, politicians, media etc.
  • The training of huge numbers of local counselors and ushers
  • The regional committees and their work (radio advertising, intercession, organization and much more)
  • The technical team, setup and operation of the stage, sound system, giant LED screens, generators, speaker towers, lighting systems etc.
  • Protection and security for the team, the local helpers and all visitors
  • Good health (protection from malaria and other tropical diseases)
  • Good weather (no rain or strong winds, no excessive heat)
  • Many thousands of genuine, deep, lasting and life-changing conversions
  • Healings, signs and wonders, following the declaration of the Word of God in confirmation
  • The liberation of people who are caught in animism, witchcraft, sorcery, ancestor worship, the occult and any other powers of darkness
  • Countless people to be filled with the Holy Spirit
  • The follow-up work, so that new Christians may quickly find a spiritual home in a good fellowship in their area

Thank you so much for your help!

Africa shall be saved!

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