Heartbeat

The Free Methodist Church now has work in Sweden! In 2021, the Rev. Valentin Sikitoka launched the church and became the country leader of the Free Methodist Church in Sweden. Rev. Sikitoka is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Amazing, isn’t it— a church in Sweden planted by Congolese!

In August 2021, Area Director Josue Fajardo and I responded to an invitation from Rev. Sikitoka to come to Sweden to see how God is using the Free Methodist Church. We spent the first evening connecting with him and his family. We heard of his work in the Congo and throughout the region of East Africa. Rev. Sikitoka also shared about his time in Nyarugusu in Tanzania. Nyarugusu is one of the world’s largest refugee camps, with a population of about 132,000 (according to UNHCR). His talk of Nyarugusu caught me off guard. About six years ago, I visited Nyarugusu and found many Free Methodist churches meeting in the camp. Everyone had a heartbreaking story. But their stories demonstrated a faith rarely seen — one the Western church desperately needs.