CCC in A Postcard and a Prayer -- Mennonite Women USA

We are thrilled to have our project featured in the current A POSTCARD AND A PRAYER published by Mennonite Women USA. Thanks for your interest and support!



“Every Stitch a Prayer” – Congo Cloth Connection

Women know the art of prayerful stitching. When the women of the Gulf States suffered the chaos of hurricanes, Mennonite women knitted prayer shawls to wrap them in our love. Women for centuries have stitched quilts to pass down the generations as baby comforters and wedding blessings. In this age of the global church, stitches make even broader designs.

“Every Stitch a Prayer” began when Christine Nofinger visited the Democratic Republic of Congo for her friend, Rosetta Lind’s, high school graduation in 2009. Rose’s parents, Tim and Suzanne, are old friends of Chris now serving as MCC country reps in Kinshasa.

“My senses were over-whelmed,” says Chris, “with the sounds, colors and smells of Congo. And I fell in love immediately with the cloth the women wore.”

As a quilter, Chris immediately imagined a world of projects with what we are calling “Congo cloth.” While little of this cloth is now produced in Congo due to economic hardships, the bold wax print style cloth has been the hallmark of Congolese beauty for years.

So upon return from Congo, Chris wondered how she could be part of God’s work in Congo. The complexity of beauty and suffering were hard to sort out. So as she used Congo cloth for quilts she began to pray.

“Every stitch a prayer” is a way for many of us to be blessed by the beauty and creativity of Congo, to learn more about our brothers and sisters there, and to pray for mutual connections to emerge.

In 2009 Chris came home with three suitcases jammed full of cloth. Now every time Tim or Suzanne or others with Congo connections travels, they also return with yards of cloth. There is no other way to get cloth here as there is no postal or delivery service between the US and Congo. We now estimate we have 1,000 yards of cloth. And we have a plan.



“Every Stitch a Prayer” will host a booth at Pittsburgh for the MCUSA Convention, July 4 -9. At our booth your connections can begin. A quilt will be stitched and a comforter knotted. These along with other gorgeous wall hangings made by Goshen’s Mennonite Church and Silverwood Mennonite Church women will be auctioned on Thursday evening. Fabric will be for sale, with new designs added each day. Other ready made items will also be for sale.



As cloth is sold for ten dollars a yard, the benefit, in addition to our joy in Congolese beauty, will be for two sewing projects in Congo. In Kinshasa, the Bondeko Mennonite Church sponsors BOMEN Sewing Group.



BOMEN trains young women who are single mothers to make a living through tailoring. In eastern Congo, the National Council of Churches, a Mennonite Central Committee partner, also sponsors sewing groups to train women to provide for themselves.


(Cisca Ibanda, MWC Congo, and Nina Lanctot, Florence Church, MI)

Those who want to connect through prayer will sew “Every Stitch a Prayer” cards using Congo cloth. We are exchanging prayer requests with Mennonite women in Kinshasa through Cisca Ibanda, Congolese representative to Mennonite World Conference Executive Committee. She gathers with women from all three Mennonite conferences in Kinshasa for prayer and praise, and they have begun praying for us and this project.



Prayer Card: As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.

We are very exited that Marie-Jeanne Mujinga, the director of the BOMEN Sewing Group of Kinshasa, will be present with us at Central District Conference and at Pittsburgh. She will bring an immediate connection with seamstresses in Congo and with stories of congregational life there. She will also be visiting the Michiana area as a guest of Michiana Friends of Congo, a joint effort of Florence Church of the Brethren Mennonite (Constantine, MI), Kern Road Mennonite (South Bend, IN) and Silverwood Mennonite (Goshen, IN).


(Marie-Jeanne Mujinga)

We hope to see you at Pittsburgh or in the Michiana area. You can find examples at congocloth.blogspot.com and Congo Cloth Connection on Facebook. If you would like to volunteer, donate, or bring a “cloth market” to your congregation or group, please contact Vicki Smucker at mvsmucker1971@gmail.com and 574-276-3809.