LAKELAND — Soldiers and officials involved in the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo use the story of David and Goliath to convince boys as young as 10 years old to join the army and fight, according to Delia Halverson, a member of Cypress Lake United Methodist Church and chairwoman of the conference Discipleship Ministry team.

"They take David as an example to show the children that they should fight to protect their families and their homes," she said.

Using the Bible to recruit children was one of the issues 40 United Methodist pastors and lay people from the four conferences of the Central Congo Episcopal Area addressed at a special training event sponsored by the denomination’s General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) June 19-24 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Halverson was one of four people sent to Africa by the board as part of its 1996 mandate to provide increased training opportunities for United Methodists in Central Conferences. She was invited to train pastors and laity in areas of Christian education, including teaching methods and how to correlate Jesus’ teachings with current social issues.

When asked how Christians can counteract the military’s use of David as a recruiting tool, Halverson said she told the people that "David was not a 10- to 12-year-old child…but David was the youngest of the brothers, and he was old enough to take care of the sheep by himself.

"David saw fighting in the army as something God was leading him to do. It’s difficult to know what God is leading you to do, but I don’t believe God is telling children to fight."

Halverson said she knows people can "twist stories," was surprised to "know that people are confronted with and struggle with people using Bible stories in other ways."

She said it was also eye-opening to "be in a situation where people are recovering from actual, physical war."

"You can’t conceive of what it’s like to be there when you see it on TV, but to actually be there, moving among the people, is different," she said.

Because of the war, however, Halverson says the Congolese have a greater sense of urgency about spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. "It’s exciting to see the enthusiasm of the Christians there," she said, "how sold they are on the commitment that if they can share Christ with others in their country, they can make a difference and achieve peace there."

She said the Congolese United Methodists are "feeling such an urgency for sharing the message" that they are building a new university. The school will include a French-language divinity school that complements the English-speaking Africa University. They are also building a new conference center that has an assembly room, a kitchen and 32 sleeping quarters.

Halverson also experienced a renewed understanding of how and why the United Methodist Church is globally connected.

"They’re actually individuals with personalities there," she said. "And they’re some of the same personalities as some of the people I know here. We get so hung-up on the details of what ushers should wear and how to light a candle that we forget the basics, like how Jesus’ teachings have taught us to live with each other and how God has given us relationships with other people."

Because money is scarce, the General Board of Discipleship sponsored the event and paid the participants’ travel, food and lodging expenses. "It was part of the apportionments," Halverson said. "Every church paid a little part of that."