With 30 churches and almost 10,000 members in three countries, Grace Tabernacle Ministries (GTM) has grown significantly since its humble beginning in Kenya with seven Congolese refugees in 2009.
Founding pastor Emmanuel Musinga, who now pastors in Indianapolis, Indiana, borrowed $300 from a former primary school teacher to build a roof for the fledgling church.
“The Bible says, ‘Don’t despise the small beginnings,’” Musinga says. “Just listen to the voice of God, and follow the passion that God has given to you.”
Musinga’s passion is for church planting, leadership development and children’s education, and today, the church he founded has multiple branches and includes 22 congregations in Kenya, seven in Uganda and one in Indianapolis that is part of USMB.
Empowering others
Musinga’s strategy for church planting is to find and empower people who have a passion for ministry.
“I focus on church planting and discipleship,” he says. “I find people who have a passion, empower them and open churches.”
Though Musinga moved to Indianapolis in 2010, he maintains connections with African pastors and often travels back to visit.
Church growth happens both through the efforts of local pastors and Musinga’s preaching at conferences.
“Pastors keep going in the villages (and) meeting people, and that’s how the churches start,” he says. “When I preach somewhere in Kenya, some people come, ‘I want to be part of your ministry.’ I say, ‘Thank you. Welcome.’”
Musinga does not pay the pastors. He, too, is a volunteer and works two jobs to fund his ministry.
“I tell those pastors I don’t have the money to pay them,” he says. “I’m a volunteer. They need to be a volunteer and work to God’s glory. God will provide.”
In both Kenya and Uganda, each church has a senior pastor who provides reports to a country overseer, who in turn reports to Musinga, so he can follow up if a pastor needs support or encouragement.
While some of the churches are self-sufficient, paying their own rent and owning land, Musinga helps others with rent and church buildings. Recently, GTM finished a $15,000 building project in Kenya seating nearly 1,000 people. Musinga still hopes to put a concrete floor in the church.
Resourcing ministers and children
Musinga travels to Africa to lead pastors’ conferences to encourage and resource African ministers. He is planning a trip for this purpose in July.
“I love to encourage pastors,” Musinga says. “I’ve been in refugee camps. I’ve been in the slums. Our African ministers need more encouragement. Because I’ve been there, I know what they are going through.”
He is also passionate about helping children receive education and is building a primary school in Uganda with hopes of one day adding a high school and Bible college.
“I grew up in a village without a pen and paper,” Musinga says. “I struggled to go to school without shoes. Wherever I can, I help children.”
His Indianapolis congregation, a USMB church comprised of refugees from Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, partners with African churches in this project.
“We work together,” he says. “That’s how we are building this school and the leadership conference. We work together, and we work with those who are on the field in Africa.”
Leadership strategies
Musinga’s leadership efforts are not focused solely on Africa but on Indianapolis as well, where the congregation rents a worship space and would like to purchase its own building.
To keep youth engaged in the church, each year, GTM has a youth conference, a couple’s retreat and a concert. Musinga is thrilled to see young leaders rising up.
“I’m so excited to see the young leaders who show me they’re understanding my vision and the Bible,” Musinga says. “They want to serve God. That gives me hope.”
Musinga, who is the main preaching pastor in Indianapolis alongside three other pastors, looks for leadership opportunities for young people.
“Sometimes they lead the service,” he says. “They preach. I encourage those I see who have that potential.”
Since November, GTM has received funding from the Central District. The district budgeted $24,000 for the church in 2024-25 to pay a portion of Musinga’s salary, so he does not have to work three jobs and to hire an administrative assistant.
“Our ethnic pastors are hard workers,” CDC minister Daniel Rodriguez says. “Pastor Emmanuel is a very intelligent man. He’s doing well, and he wants to plant churches. I think it’s in our responsibility to figure out how do we help them plant churches.”
The district is praying about what it might look like to do church planting in a Congolese context in the United States.
Musinga’s message for potential church planters stems from his own story.
A victim of civil war and a cancer survivor, Musinga endured seven years of struggle in the U.S. with difficulty finding a meeting place and a church of 20 members before growing to its nearly 200 members today.
“Don’t follow your ambition, don’t follow your emotion—follow the calling of God,” he says. “Even Jesus himself faced challenges. Don’t quit because of any challenge. I always tell the people, ‘You will never be qualified until you are tested.’”
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
