SECOND MILER - CAROLINE MUSAGALA

"Mama Africa" - Spreading the Revelation Amid Conflict and Strife

“The new revelation will help create awareness for these people and give them hope amidst the troubles and chaos in Congo.”

As Pastor Caroline Musagala reached Goma in December of 2021, she recalls that the city on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo was rife with “violence and live bullets."

Caroline was in Goma on a mission to hold a Urantia Book conference for women, partly funded by the Second Miler Grant Program. But the challenges she faced, as documented in her report on the project, were monumental.

Congo is the scene of one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. Decades of fighting have resulted in six million deaths and more than six million people displaced in a humanitarian crisis that has engulfed the country’s eastern region. Whole communities of women and young girls have been left without husbands and fathers. 

A few years ago Caroline, a women’s leader and counselor, formed a women’s corps - the African Urantia Women Disciple-Making Movement - whose members provide one another with both financial and spiritual support.

Caroline has become known as “Mama Africa” because of her determination to travel to women in need through the continent, even when her health is poor and she is weak.

Delivering the Full Gospel of Jesus

The movement's mission is to reach out to people, especially women, with the full gospel of Jesus from the Urantia Book revelation. They establish study groups while providing social and economic services, and training the women to be productive in society.

Many of those they help are victims of rape, now raising fatherless children and lacking basic needs like water, food, clothing and education. 

The church in which she is a leader, the Siloam Altar Revival Ministries International, had started "compassion ministries", which help build good relationships with the women of different families. 

"We have been able to distribute food and mosquito nets to the needy especially during the lockdown period. As a result, many households have opened up to The Urantia Book," Caroline says.

People in Congo live a fear-filled life, she adds. “Therefore there is a need for more spiritual awareness to raise their morale, hope and strength, and for them to listen to the good news.

“The new revelation will help create awareness for these people and give them hope amidst the troubles and chaos in Congo.”

Revelation in a Dangerous Environment

It was in this dangerous and strife-torn environment that Caroline was trying to spread the new revelation in Goma at the end of 2021 with the help of Second Miler funds.

On the way there she and the women who accompanied her faced several challenges. They had to do two Covid tests and pay more than expected for transport over the Christmas period. They experienced transport delays and as a result had to go over budget on accommodation. 

But that was the least of it. She describes a scene of shooting and panic on their arrival in the city. And then Caroline fell ill to a severe disease which made it difficult for her to perform her duties. 

On the day of the conference, unexpected heavy rainfall soaked many women and their children who could not be accommodated in the conference venue. There were problems encountered in translating English into Swahili and French, as well as too few Urantia Books to go around.

Yet, the conference bore fruit: 25 Urantia reader groups were formed and five leaders were identified who could read English and help the rest understand the revelation. 

One of the leaders of the women’s corps gifted them a house for their Urantia Book office – “a miracle worth celebrating,” says Caroline. She was the principal of a big theological school who testifies to the goodness and beauty of The Urantia Book and who believes it will help all students in their spiritual lives.

As many students of the book around the world attempt to disseminate its teachings, they would do well to look to Caroline Musagala’s heroic example of making progress in the face of tremendous odds.

The Urantia Book Fellowship would like to thank supporters of the Second Miler Grant Program for helping make possible Caroline Musagala's project and all the other projects the program has funded since 2020.