For greater than 5 a long time the Rev. Jonathan Weaver has traveled from america to Africa, whether or not it was for medical ministry in Rwanda, or to construct a faculty within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Individuals in America have to have a world perspective about life,” stated Weaver, who stepped down as pastor of Larger Mt. Nebo African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in June, after 34 years, to start his work as a presiding elder of the AME Church’s Potomac District.
Whereas the longtime pastor and religion chief is busy overseeing 40 church buildings all through the world, his dedication to Africa, which started when he took his first journey in 1971, has not modified.
In 2015, Elder Kamutera Kulu Salomon and the Rev. Seraphin Mutabazi, each of the AME Church in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) got here up with the concept of constructing a faculty.
Along with offering entry to schooling, the establishment– known as The Weaver College– will increase the affect of the A.M.E. Church within the native communities. Congolese officers say the varsity was named after Weaver to honor his affect on numerous lives of Congolese individuals throughout his evangelical, charity, and medical missions in Goma, D.R.C. since 2010.”
“Hundreds of thousands of kids in Congo can’t go to highschool as a result of they’ll’t afford it. Their households dwell on $3 a day,” Weaver stated in an interview from Africa. “They’ve to decide on between housing and meals. We’re filling. an incredible hole.”
There are plans to extend the capability of The Weaver College, however he stated one one who performed a crucial function within the college’s building was Ulysses Jefferson, a retired State Division official and authorities contractor, who donated $375,000 to buy land for the varsity.
The group has reached out to the longtime pastor and mission chief to indicate gratitude for his dedication to educating the scholars of Goma.
“We’re honored to be writing to thanks to your dedication and help all through this educational 12 months,” Olivier Pendo, an English instructor on the college, wrote in a letter to Weaver.
“We want to let you know the way a lot having you as a mentor has meant so much to each particular person on the Weaver College – Goma,” Pendo continued. “Your steering and help have been instrumental in serving to us obtain this 2022-2023 educational 12 months. Please, do obtain our heartfelt gratitude.”
What’s Subsequent for Weaver and His Work in Africa
Weaver has made greater than 50 journeys to Africa and in 2012 he made the journey with medical doctors and nurses from his outdated church to go to Rwanda for 2 weeks at a time.
“We arrange a short lived unit contained in the sanctuary and labored from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” he stated. “We carried medicines to Rwanda after which we had Raymon Nelson, heart specialist from Mt. Nebo who went with us from 2012 to 2019. After his first journey, he requested me, ‘Once we are coming again?’”
However Weaver has had a ardour for something that he has been concerned in.
In 1992, Larger Mt. Nebo AME Church, in suburban Higher Marlboro, Maryland, utilized to its financial institution for a $50,000 mortgage. Because the church’s pastor had attracted so many new members till the church outgrew its outdated constructing.
Despite the fact that Mt. Nebo repaid a $200,000, 30-year mortgage inside seven years, the financial institution imposed punitive necessities on the church, and Weaver, who had an MBA from Harvard, mobilized pastors throughout the world to kind what started the Collective Banking Group.
In the present day the group is named the Collective Empowerment Group with greater than 300 pastors and church leaders with chapters in throughout the nation.
Despite the fact that he’s the presiding elder of the Potomac District of the Washington Annual Convention of the AME church Weaver, 73, nonetheless plans to go to Africa not less than thrice this 12 months.
“I’ve a nationwide prayer breakfast in November and a marriage in early December,” stated Weaver, who additionally has a marketing campaign to donate cows and goats to needy households to get contemporary milk.