Celebrating the future
Although they have not yet won the victory, the congregation in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is celebrating the final victory over evil as though they had already entered New Jerusalem.
“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” It is these well-known words from Revelation 22: 17 that the title of the song “Badila bamba” (They call and say) is referring to. The song is a local composition that is specific to the Regional Church.
The text in Tshiluba, the national language, begins with a French proverb about not singing victory before its time. But “as for us, we are already dancing over our final victory over evil and the devil in this world, and we will also dance in New Jerusalem, the city of eternal happiness.”
The video was made during Chief Apostle Jean-Luc Schneider’s last visit to Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of the Congo). The divine service on 14 July 2024 took place in the large Kawama church with more than 31,000 brothers and sisters gathered in and around the building. In his circular to the Apostle, the Chief Apostle wrote, “It was a great feast.”
