The Church of Christ in the Congo or CCC (in French, Église du Christ au Congo or ECC) is a union of 62 Protestant denominations, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Within the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is often simply referred to as the Protestant Church, as it federates the vast majority of the Protestants in that country. It is a member of the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa. According to the 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, 95.4% of the country has a Christian affiliation; of these, an estimated 48.1% are Protestant, including evangelical Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth.

History

The Union has its origins in a grouping of different Protestant and Evangelical churches by missionaries that took place in 1902. It was officially founded in 1924 as the Protestant Council of Congo (CPC). In 1934, it took the name of Church of Christ in Congo. Some statisticians have estimated membership to have reached thirty million.

Functions

The CCC functions as a religious institution, and provides a central administration and a spiritual forum for the numerous Protestant denominations. It functions under a national synod and an executive committee. Both of these entities are assisted in their tasks by a national secretariat. The CCC is said to be part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, but it also insists on maintaining unity in diversity, as they see it as being the only system common to the Holy Bible, the primitive church, and African traditions.

Leadership

The Church of Christ in Congo is led by a President that holds the rank of Bishop, and two Vice-Presidents. The president is the presiding minister of the Cathedral of the Protestant Centennial in Congo, also known as the International Protestant Church of Kinshasa - the de facto head church of the CCC. One of the previous Presidents of the CCC was Monsignor Pierre Marini Bodho. Following the end of the Second Congo War, transitional institutions were established, consisting of the former warring parties, as well as representatives of the non-belligerent opposition, and representatives of the civil society. Consequently, during the 2003 to 2006 transition period, following the end of the Second Congo War, as a reasonably neutral and consensual figure, and as a representative of the organized religion section of the civil society, Mgr. Marini Bodho served as the President of the Senate, the upper house of the Congolese Parliament. In the 2006 elections, Mgr. Marini Bodho won a senate seat and went on to serve as a government senator.

Member communities