Multicultural African Immigrant Church Thrives in Portland, Maine

Pastor Lawum Kayamba stands with new immigrants families at Disciples International Christian Church in Portland

An African pastor, Lawum Kayamba, a native of Kikwit, an important commercial center in southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), found his way to the seaside city of Portland, Maine, and started Disciples International Christian Church, a thriving multicultural, evangelical church.

Known for lobsters, cobblestone streets, and an iconic lighthouse, Portland is not generally considered a hub for immigrants but, according to the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, America’s “Vacationland” of Maine is home to 87,200 immigrants and refugees including asylum seekers and undocumented people of all ages—some 24,000 of whom live in metro Portland.

In the DRC Kayamba was a National Evangelist for the Mennonite Brethren Church of Congo and a teacher at the Christian University of Kinshasa. He earned degrees from Kinshasa Evangelical School of Theology, Bangui Evangelical School of Theology, and the School of Theology at the University of Natal, in South Africa, and, before leaving Africa for the United States, he was a PhD student at the University of Natal.

In addition to being a full-time pastor, Kayamba works full-time bivocationally as an outreach tutor for the certified nursing assistant (CNA) program at St. Joseph's Rehabilitation and Residence, a subsidiary of Maine Medical Center. Healthcare assistants have been in short supply in Portland, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, so he also teaches immigrants CNA skills, as well as Bible basics and financial literacy.

He came to the United States in 2005 when he was invited to attend a Dynamic Church Planting International conference in California. Because of civil unrest in the DRC, he could not return home, so he applied for and received asylum, in March 2006. An online report states that “peace has eluded the Congo, and human security challenges proliferate.”

After living in New Britain, Connecticut, and Cincinnati, Ohio, Kayamba and his family relocated to Maine, and he planted Disciples International Christian Church in May of 2010 to spread a message: “Jesus is sufficient. He is our hope for a broken world.”

He enjoys an active ministry with many demands each day, and he acknowledges that “when you have been a pastor for as long as I have, there are scars. It’s challenging and there is a cost.” Despite the stress of faithful service to his marginalized neighbors, some of whom are in desperate need of everything—from food to shelter to transportation to friendship—when they arrive as foreigners from many countries.

He lives by the command of Leviticus 19:34: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners. . . .”

While he was living in Augusta, Maine, a woman from Angola, who had just arrived in Portland, called on the pastor when she did not know where to buy cassava and the other ingredients that she needed to prepare fufu (or foofoo), the favored porridge-like “swallow food” to which she was accustomed. In response, he drove two hours roundtrip to take her grocery shopping at the city’s only African market.

Immigrants to Portland welcomed into Kayamba’s church office 

Reflecting on that selfless act of service, he and his wife, Suzanne Makala Kayamba, who works in healthcare, decided that “the Lord is calling us to Portland.” They sold their Augusta home and relocated to Portland along with their seven children and five grandchildren.

Reflect for a moment: The Gospel Coalition called Africa “one of the most dynamic centres of Christianity in the world,” with a significant share of the world’s 2.2 billion Christians and about 30% of the world’s evangelicals; and the authors of the World Christian Encyclopedia reported that “by 2018 Africa had 599 million Christians,” more than any other continent. That’s more Christ followers in the fifty-four countries of Africa than the United States has citizens. It seems that, for those who “have eyes to see,” the mission field of Portland is ready for harvest—but is no longer “white” [see John 5:34 KJV].

After moving, Kayamba says that life in Portland for an African “was amazing! [He] found a lot of immigrants from [his] country, and from Rwanda, Uganda, and Cameroon. The Lord began to ask [him] if [he] would start something among them.”

He did start something—a Bible study group on Saturdays at the Riverton School on Forest Avenue. When that outreach grew sufficiently, Kayamba commenced worship meetings and moved the church to The Salvation Army on Cumberland Avenue, where they stayed for eight years until January 2023 when the Salvationists decided they needed the space for another purpose and asked the Baptists to move on.

Disciples International Christian Church now gathers for more than two hours Sunday afternoons at First Parish in Portland, which is said to be the oldest place of worship in the city. The Unitarian Universalist congregation, advertising itself as “welcoming and affirming,” was established in 1674, but did not call its current location, at 425 Congress Street, home until 1740, a year before Jonathan Edwards preached the famous sermon that led to America’s First Great Awakening. Kayamba’s group, which also meets there Saturdays at 6:00 pm, affiliates with the Baptist Churches of New England.

When asked about meeting at a church that is so very different theologically, Kayamba admits that “it was very challenging. [They] prayed and prayed.” God opened the door to meet in a building downtown that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Kayamba, who is 63, preaches in French and second-generation young adults translate his words into English. Others in the church speak Portuguese and several African “heart languages.” When asked what a guest might expect when visiting the church, he replies: “Bring your dancing shoes!” The African worship style, he says, is “energetic. We are fired up because of what the Lord did for us. Sunday is not an ordinary day. It is a rendezvous with the ‘perfecter of our faith’” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Pastor Kayamba celebrates the baptism of two brothers in the faith

The church began in 2010 with five people plus the pastor’s family. Today, about 150 people attend worship. “This is what God can do!” Kayamba rejoices. In addition to his home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), he serves immigrants from Nigeria, Rwanda, Angola, Burundi, and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)—and citizens of the United States. The pastor recently baptized a young white American man who is planning to invite family and friends to join him there. The church is truly multicultural.

The City of Portland recognized Kayamba’s years of service to immigrants and these days they refer immigrants to him. When he discovers people in need, he visits the hotel or shelter where they reside temporarily and, along with church volunteers, he assists them with translation, transportation, shopping, permanent housing, employment, education, and numerous other practical matters of daily living in this country.

“We start by serving them and later they will want to know where we are from”; they inquire about the church, and many decide to attend. Unconditional service earns a hearing for the Gospel,” Kayamba says.

Recently he encountered eight immigrant families, about twenty people including the children. For lack of a better option, they were sleeping outdoors. Kayamba welcomed them to stay “in hiding”—in his church office. He urged them to “keep quiet. No noise!” Unlike the baby Jesus, in Portland there was room enough in “the inn.”

As a modern-day Good Samaritan would do, he provided sufficient food and water, and lent them the office and bathroom keys. He offered the humble place they desperately needed off the street, much to the consternation of the building’s owner, who told the pastor: “You cannot do that in America!” Kayamba underscored the emergency nature of the situation and as soon as possible found alternative residences for the families in nearby Sanford, Maine.

When asked why he does so much for strangers, the pastor reflects, “I’m coming from the same background as them. I know what is suffering. I know what they’re going through. I could be in their shoes. I can relate to them.” Thinking about his new friends, he adds, “It’s really hard to see a small kid outside when it’s very cold. If we can do something, we need to do it. I cannot do it on my own, but I need God’s strength. The love of Christ is pushing us to come to the aid of our neighbors who are going through a lot.”

As Jesus taught his disciples (Matt 25:40), “. . . whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

A Massachusetts native and a New England Baptist since 1970, Dan Nicholas is the BCNE managing editor.