Pastors, Chiefs, and Warlords
The Ministry of Being With
by Bob Walters and Kate Koppy
Foreword by Taylor Walters Denyer
Imprint: Resource Publications
Bob Walters, a Marine Corps helicopter pilot turned United Methodist pastor, regularly journeyed to DR Congo for deep listening tours from 1991 to 2017. Bob served as the Director of Connectional Ministries for the North Katanga Episcopal Area and cofounded Friendly Planet Missiology. His first book, The Last Missionary, has become a core text in a number of university mission courses.
Kate Koppy is an Assistant Professor (non-tenure track) in the Department of Humanities and Languages at the New Economic School in Moscow where she teaches students to meet the world in its stories and to shape the world with their writing. She studies the interaction of narrative and community and has published on fairy tales, textiles, and medieval manuscripts.
“I urge all members of Christ’s body to engage in dialogue with Bob’s personal accounts to deepen their understanding of God’s mission, especially when called to serve in challenging areas such as the North Katanga area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”
—Mande Muyombo, resident bishop, North Katanga Area of the United Methodist Church, Democratic Republic of the Congo
“People like Bob Walters are the reason I remain a Christian. His thoughtfulness, his love for the powerless and poor, his enduring wisdom, are still very much present even after his passing. This book, like Bob, is a rich treasure.”
—Philip Gulley, author of If the Church Were Christian
“Bob Walters’s singular understanding of the changing dynamics of Christian missions and the inherent self-sufficiency of local communities should be read and studied by missiologists and Christian leaders the world over.”
—J. Richard Ellis, John Brown University, emeritus
“This posthumous publication of Bob Walters gives a disturbing and yet hope-giving picture of village life and the entanglement between mission, war, development, and dependency. It reveals careful observation, deep listening, and an honest (self)-critique of coloniality and white racism. It shows a way beyond stereotypes about Africans, missionaries, and Christianity, stimulating a serious rethinking of mission, development, and church leadership.”
—JNJ Kritzinger, University of South Africa, emeritus
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