Emerging Leaders — By Faith Magazine
Reprinted with permission
In most of our UMC conferences, there are young (primarily but not exclusively) persons who show great promise as future leaders for their churches and/or communities. Their ability to get things done and inspire others cannot be ignored. In a time of uncertainty as the UMC faces schism, membership and a growing skepticism, gifted, high-performing leaders will be mandatory. We are providing space in our magazine to honor these particular leaders in the hopes that we can realize God’s promise through them for “a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). As intimated earlier through many of these honorees will be young there are mature and seasoned saints who are offering "fresh oil” to the task of building and rebuilding the church God gave us and that Wesley and Bishops Asbury and Coke started with the gifted persona and incontrovertible assistance of Harry Hosier.
Rev. Dr. Michel Lundula is DS of Camp Clear Lake District of the lowa Conference. He is married to Pastor Berth Lundula, who currently serves at Merrill and Adaville UMC, in IA. They have four children and currently live in Le Mars, lowa.
Born and raised in a United Methodist family in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lundula's family moved to the US in 2005 for his Education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Before the Superintendency, he served at St. Mark UMC, Chicago, as a Student Pastor. Nashua UMC and Republic Community Church, St. Luke's UMC, Dubuque, and currently the UMC of Le Mars. He is a founding member of the French Ministry of Sioux City & Le Mars (a fast-growing
bilingual immigrant missional congregation)
Lundula holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Natural Resources from Africa University, Mutare, Zimbabwe, a Master of Divinity, and a Doctor of Ministry from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, IL. He is pursuing a Ph.D program in Global Leadership at Troy (Alabama) University.
He is also an adjunct faculty at Morningside University, Sioux Citv, lowa, and a affiliated faculty at Sioux Falls Seminary, SD. A board member of Compassion Educational Pursuits, a non-profit organization that helps many children in the Democratic Republic of Congo to pursue their educational dream. He has a passion for mission, preaching the Word, cross-cultural ministry, and an interest in global leadership.
Bishop David Kekumba Yemba, Retired
Africa, Congo Central Congress
Rev. Dr. Michel Lundula was born and raised in a United Methodist Family in the Democratic Republic of Congo. His late father, Joseph Lundula (pictured), was also my older brother; he had served as lay leader in more than one local church and in a district of the Kasai Annual Conference.
Michel’s mother, Lucie Owanga Lundula, was one of the leaders of the United Methodist Women’s Society in the Kasai Annual Conference who served as Sunday school educator before her retirement. His wife, Berth Lundula, is a partner in ministry as a local pastor. His uncle, the author of this congratulatory message, a founding dean of the Faculty of Theology and later the third Chancellor of Africa University, had served as resident bishop in the Central Congo Episcopal Area before his retirement in 2017.
One of his brothers, Rev. Benjamin Lundula, is service as elder in the West Congo Conference. One of his sisters, Heriette Kumakana Lundula, is director of the United Methodist Radio Lokole in the Congo capital city of Kinshasa.
On behalf of our large family, I would like to sincerely thank the editors and publishers of By Faith Magazine for having chosen Rev. Dr. Michel Lundula as one of the Emerging Leaders Honorees for 2023. Furthermore, I am thankful for the opportunity to share a few words about the family in which this honoree had grown up and was nurtured in Christian faith in general and in Wesleyan tradition in particular.
To Michel, congratulations for this award recognition. To God be the glory!
