The Ancient Future Church

The Rwandan Adventure Continues – Day Seven

Today I visited a community deep into this land of a thousand hills. There is no running water here. There is no power, at least not electrical. But there is a growing worshipping community. It is fledgling at 2,000.

They worship in what must seem like a cathedral to them. The structure was built through the generosity of one man in Birmingham, Alabama. The people use a car battery to power worship on Sunday mornings. Women of the church were outdoors making straw mats to cover the concrete floor. The simplicity of it all is gripping.

I also learned more about Bishop Mbanda’s pre-school program. Less than three years into his episcopate, he has created 200 of them, each connected to a local worshipping community. They serve 23,000 children. They meet an incredible need. Daily parents must tend crops in order to eat, by subsistence farming or getting there beans or bananas to market. The children out of necessity are often left at home. They are subject to injury of course in this unattended state but the much greater risk is physical and sexual abuse.

The pre-school programs allow the children to be protected from and nourished physically through food. A Christian in Memphis created a chicken farm here in order to provide each child one protein rich egg per day. Some of the communities have rallied resources and extended the program through the afternoons. Families are asked to pay 500 Rwandan francs per child per month. Fear not. That is $1.

Think about the way in which God can multiply or offering. $100 a month will provide 100 kids with two teachers, protection and Gospel based care. More on this later.