Republic of Rwanda
Land-locked country bordering Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo
Nicknamed "Land of a Thousand Hills" and "The Land of Eternal Spring"
Located just south of the equator but the north-west province's elevation is roughly 9,500 ft (1.8 miles)
Rwanda is roughly 4 times smaller than Indiana...
...yet has roughly 7 million more people living in its relatively small space.
The Genocide of 1994
The genocidal killings of people from both the Tutsi clan, as well as sympathetic Hutus, began on April 6, 1994. Some 100 days later, in July of 1994, the genocide ended, but not before between 800,000 - 1.3 million people were ruthlessly murdered. Churches were often used by the perpetrators as they informed people to seek refuge there. However, that was just a setup to either carry out mass killings, or locking the doors and burning the victims who sought refuge in the walls of the church.
Three out of every four families in the Church of God were affected by the genocide.
Over half of the Church of God churches were lost due to the genocide.
Although not openly talked about anymore today, practically every person currently over 25 years old has a first hand story of the atrocities that took place in 1994.
The Rwandan Church's Situation
Rwanda has seen an explosion of registered religious denominations over the past 50+ years...
- in 1962 there were less than 10 denominations,
- in 1994, roughly 50 denominations,
- in 2012, 350 denominations,
- and in 2017, there were over 1,000 officially registered denominations.
The Government's Response
Early in 2018, the Rwandan government passed laws that would make churches meet "basic requirements" in terms of safety, hygiene, infrastructure and legality. Less than 6 months later, more than 8,000 places of worship had been closed because they could not meet the building requirements.
In addition, pastors are now being required to hold a degree in theological education from an accredited school.
The problem now is that if pastors begin to get degrees, they are being hired by churches, denominations, or organizations that can pay salaries that keep pastors from having to work bi-vocationally.
Upon hearing of the government's strict requirements, a group was formed between Central Community Church (Wichita, KS), Church at the Crossing (Indianapolis, IN) and Global Strategy to investigate the current situation and needs of the Rwandan Church of God, as well as to help vision and plan for future partnerships between Rwandan and North American churches.
Since the genocide of 1994, which created significant government instability and threats of future civil outbreaks, there has been minimal (if any) North American Church of God support for the 15+ Rwandan Church of God congregations.
Recently, Church of God leaders in various African nations, such as Rwanda's leader, Charles Nsengiyumva (second from left), have met to encourage and support one another, and cast vision for the entire African continent. This meeting of national leaders, along with the North American Regional Coodinators, Mike (pictured on the left) and Heather (not pictured) Webb, has brought about new enthusiasm for infusing new life in the Rwandan church.
The need is great
Need #1 - New Church Buildings
Land, like in the picture in the background, has been generously given by pastors or congregants for the future development of buildings.
Buildings must be of specific size, with so much land around them, and space between the church and residential areas. "Bathrooms" (what North Americans would consider "outhouses") must include at least 2 stalls for women, and 2 for men and must be located a certain distance from the church. Only specific materials may be used in construction. Lightning rods must be installed. Church access roads and compounds must be paved. These are just some of the requirements.
The increase in requirements has drastically increased the estimated cost of each church building.
Need #2 - Leadership Development
Leaders of congregations will now be required to possess a bachelor’s or master's degree in religious studies or any bachelor’s degree with a valid certificate in religious studies delivered by a recognized institution.
Need #3 - Sustainable Culture
With the added need for bachelor's degrees, pastors who meet the new standards are in high demand. Many larger, wealthier congregations are able to pay pastors, however many of the pastors in smaller rural areas must continue to work bi-vocationally.
The concern is that as pastors get educated, they will move to congregations that can support them financially. As qualified pastors leave smaller churches, the churches will lose their official church status.
Meeting in homes, or even churches with leaders who do not have degrees, is illegal and church leaders could then be arrested.
The plan
1. Partner with local churches to provide small business training to cultivate a sustainable culture to both develop and retain qualified leaders.
2. Partner with the Rwandan and East-Central-African leadership to offer pastoral degree programs at prices that can be afforded and in ways in which can be obtained quickly, easily, without sacrificing quality.
3. Partner with the local churches to get plots of land ready for the erection of the church building.
Future Trips
After understanding the full scope of the government's requirements, as well as observing the highly relational culture of Rwanda, (which can slow processes down compared to North America's task-based culture) it has been determined that it will take longer than initially anticipated before the first church building is built. Nevertheless, the pursuit to fulfill the call of helping build church buildings has not changed and will continue to be one of the goals moving forward.
To read more regarding the strategy used to send future groups, please reference the book, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor....and Yourself.
The most important part in the implementation of the plan is to remember the North American church is not the savior. Our purpose is not to come up with solutions and inform the Rwandan church what to do. Instead, our role and purpose is to come alongside the Rwanda church to empower, encourage, and engage in ways that are relative in their culture and not our own.
