Congo-Balolo Mission

Congo-Balolo Mission

Congo-Balolo Missionary on donkey, with Congolese man (c. 1910).
Successor	Regions Beyond Missionary Union
Formation	1888
Extinction	1915
Type	Mission Society
Location	Belgian Congo

The Congo-Balolo Mission (CBM) was a British Baptist missionary society that was active in the Belgian Congo, the present day Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 1889 to 1915. It was the predecessor of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU), established in 1900, which today is called World Team.

The leading figure in establishing the mission was Henry ("Harry") Grattan Guinness II, born in Toronto on 2 October 1861, son of the charismatic preacher Henry Grattan Guinness. Harry Guinness studied at the London Hospital from 1880 to 1885, then spent two years as a minister in Australia and Tasmania. In June 1887 Harry Guinness became leader of the East London Training Institute for Home and Foreign Missions, which his parents had established.

In 1888 there was a World Missionary Convention at Exeter Hall in London. Harry was able to talk with Dr. Murdock, the leader of the American Baptist Missionary Union (ABMU), who had taken responsibility to the Livingstone Inland Mission (LIM) four years earlier. Harry had become enthusiastic about the plans of John McKittrick, a former LIM missionary now working for the ABMU, who wanted to extent the field of missionary activity further upstream into the tributaries of the Congo south and west of the great bend of that river. Dr. Murdoch supported the plan, agreeing to release McKittrick and also to loan the former LIM steamer Henry Reed for a year. The new mission was called the Congo Balolo Mission, with plans to operate on six southern tributaries of the Congo: the Lulonga, Maringa, Lopori, Ikelemba, Juapa and Bosira. During the years that followed many of the missionaries died, to be replaced by fresh volunteers. Only six of the first thirty five CBM missionaries were alive by 1900.

The first party of volunteers was left England in April 1889 and reached Matadi in August 1889, from where they trekked upstream to Stanley Pool. The society was given enough money to buy a sidepaddle steamer named the Pioneer, which was shipped to the Congo, arriving in December 1889. The boat was then carried in sections to Stanley Pool where it was rebuilt and launched. By March 1891, first using the Henry Reed and then the Pioneer, the CBM missionaries had established stations.at Bonginda, Lulonga, Ikau and Bongandanga. During the years that followed many of the missionaries died of accidents or diseases such as malaria and sleeping sickness, to be replaced by fresh volunteers. Only six of the first thirty five CBM missionaries were alive by 1900.