In the spring of 1994 Rwanda President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane exploded from a missile attack, killing everyone on board. Hours later the country plummeted into mayhem.
Machetes, hand grenades, farming tools, bulldozers and fire became weapons in the hands of the Hutu militia, government soldiers and Rwandan citizens. The target — the Tutsi ethnic group, who were suspected of orchestrating the assassination of the president. About 800,000 Tutsis — along with moderate Hutus — were slaughtered during the 100-day genocide, which ended when the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country.
Ten years later reconciliation and healing has become a reality in some areas of the country of 8 million people. Tutsis and Hutus are working together in some settings, and the churches have had a part in bringing these groups together.
Practicing forgiveness
Bruce Wilkerson, a senior vice president at the Christian humanitarian organization World Vision, said, “The premise that forgiveness is central to the Christian faith has led to a people recovering from their trauma more quickly because religion plays such a huge role in African life.”
Christianity Today reports a surge among Protestants, accounting now for 43.9 percent of the population. Catholics make up 49.6 percent of the population, while Muslims account for 4.6 percent.
Rusty Pugh, the International Mission Board (IMB) strategy facilitator for Rwanda, said rebuilding trust in the church has been a major obstacle for Christians. During the genocide some churches turned away people seeking refuge, he explained. Those people were killed. “There were so many killed in the churches that most people don’t want anything to do with God,” Pugh said. “They feel like He wasn’t there when they needed Him most.”
IMB missionaries have worked in Rwanda since 1978, except during the bloodbath of the genocide era.
Larry Pompell, Richmond-based IMB associate for east Africa, said the gospel is spreading across Africa, but it lacks deep roots.
“We’ve got a lot of Christianity that’s as wide as the continent but about an inch deep,” he explained.
“Before we’ll really see church-planting movements happen, there’s got to be strong teaching, strong discipleship and people who catch the vision to take the gospel beyond where they live.”
Today’s view of Rwanda as depicted by Religion & Ethics News Weekly is poor and overcrowded with 70 percent of Rwandans living below the poverty line.
David Leege, Catholic Relief Services country director for Rwanda, said lingering ethnic tensions and an unstable political process are other areas of concern.
As refugees continue to return to their homeland and the population rises, the already prevalent land shortage and reintegration problems only heighten, he added.
Emphasis on reconciling
Tensions also exist because many of the 80,000 to 125,000 prisoners suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide may be released into society.
Their numbers are overwhelming the country’s jails, according to Howard Wolpe, director of the Africa Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
“It would take 200 years to adjudicate all the people in prison,” he said.
Wolpe said prisoners accused of lesser crimes are being sent to traditional, or “gacaca,” courts, where they are tried by community members.
The courts emphasize reconciliation over punishment.
Baptist ministry performed by Rwandans is impacting the lives of many prisoners, said Denys Rutayigirwa, a Tutsi who is president of the Union of Baptist Churches (UBC) in Rwanda.
In February more than 400 people in one of the prisons were baptized, and more than 4,000 have already repented, he explained.
Rebuilding country
“I asked God for a miracle in my country,” Rutayigirwa said. “There are now four schools and five health centers, and we are working so hard for God to build up our country.”
Rutayigirwa and the UBC are also working hard to rebuild relations within the Baptist family.
He and Faustin Bashaka, a Hutu who is general secretary of the Association of Baptist Churches (ABC) in Rwanda, met recently at a conference in Kenya.
“There is no problem between us today because of teaching a reconciliation,” Bashaka said.
Rutayigirwa added, “I need him (pointing to Bashaka), he needs me, we need each other because we are in God’s work.”
Rutayigirwa went even further and said he is willing to change leadership positions if the ABC and the UBC can get together. “We want both of us to have the same name,” he said, “We now want a place of unity.”
Bashaka said there are 168 larger churches in the ABC and 361 smaller churches in the ABC, which altogether have 300,000 baptized believers.
“Our churches are growing so much that we do not have enough educated leaders,” Bashaka said. He explained that many of their pastors died in the genocide.
The ABC has begun a theological school to find and train new pastors. The school has 30 full-time students.
Rutayigirwa said church leaders in the UBC also need theological training.
There are 770,000 members in the 52 large churches and 250 smaller ones in the UBC, he noted.
Some of the pastors who fled the country as refugees are returning, he said. Rutayigirwa sees the war as more than just a physical battle — it is a spiritual battle, “the work of the devil.”
But while the devil was working through war, Jesus is working through evangelism, Rutayigirwa said. “Many people are responding to the good news and giving their lives to Christ,” he said. “We are building a new generation of hope, of people who repent, forgive and work for reconciliation.” (Compiled from wire services)
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