#shyira

Of the 54 Parishes in Shyira Diocese, 16 out of 148 pre-schools have received funds from donors for the purpose of starting and operating a preschool.  Under the leadership of Pastor Christophe Nshimyimana – head of Christian Education for the diocese – we have interviewed parents, teachers, and local church pastors from five of these churches to evaluate the progress since preschool began in November 2010.  Overall, we visited three different communities where preschools are being funded and operating throughout several churches.

1.      Within the Cathedral Parish we visited Rugeshi, Kivumu, Gasamari, Kagano, and Kavumu.

  2.       Mukamira Parish recently held a large ceremony for the opening of a preschool program as well.  The parish consists of six local churches that each have a preschool and five of these preschools are receiving financial support.  Four out of those five gathered together for the ceremony assisted by their teachers: Mukamira, Jenda, Mutovu, and Gasizi.  Busogo preschool, the fifth school being supported, could not attend as it is far from where the ceremony took place.

  3.      The third parish that has started preschools is Jomba Parish.  This parish also has six local churches, but only three have received support: Bushoka, Ganishuli, and Karamemwana.

  As part of our criteria for evaluating the level of progress in our preschools, we wanted to find out how they are developing in comparison with the vision and guidelines given by the Ministry of Education for preschools throughout Rwanda.  According to the Rwandan government, the overall objective is to provide children basic knowledge that helps them learn more about themselves and the world around in order to become more developed psychologically, intellectually, and socially.  We must strongly emphasize that preschools should be a safe environment for young children and should offer protection.  Where preschools are unavailable, children roam the area without supervision on a daily basis, and in some cases young girls have been violated because they were found alone without any protection.

SOCIOECONOMIC

Each of our preschools is unique, yet we found that each community and church faces many of the same issues.  Likewise, the progress in those areas is similar for each.  Within Shyira Diocese we discovered that one of the biggest issues for families is a lack of daily supervision and structure for children.  Parents go to work daily and either do not know where their children are, or those working the land near their home must continually stop to give attention to their children which cuts into their work time.  However, after interviewing several parents we are confident that our preschools are meeting this great need.  Children are provided with a safe place to learn under the care of their teachers, and parents are provided with peace of mind and more productive work hours.  In addition to over-burdened parents and possibilities of physical harm, the lack of daily supervision and structure has a very negative social impact on children.  Without a community of others to learn and grow with they are unable to develop healthy social skills necessary for basic human communication and interaction.  This fact was evident when our preschools began in November as classrooms were constantly disrupted by children fighting and speaking disrespectfully to both teachers and students alike.  On the other hand, many students were too shy to say hello, introduce themselves, or speak to other students.  An inability to speak with others or sit quietly while being productive is reflective of both the lack of human interaction and the daily chaos that children are used to.  Yet, over the past six months our preschool classrooms have been transformed and students have grown in community with one another.  In the preschools we visited the children were exceptionally well-behaved, obedient to their teachers, and very cheerful.

ENGLISH

Two years ago, the Rwandan government mandated a switch from French to English as the official language and required that English be taught in every school.  Unsurprisingly, none of the preschool children knew how to speak English before last November.  After several months of learning they are now able greet someone, ask how they are doing, and introduce themselves in English.  They know some figures of speech, many other vocabulary words, and have already learned songs in English as well.  This creates a huge advantage for preschool students who are getting a head start by learning English before entering Primary School.  Some of the parents we interviewed said that their children come home from school excited and actually teach the parents English!  Intellectual and social growth in children who attend preschool is evident by their excitement to go to school daily, eagerness to share what they are learning, display of respect for both teachers and students, and their ability to confidently meet and speak to other individuals.

HEALTHCARE

Another concern for children throughout Rwanda has to do with their poor physical health due to the absence of daily habits that could otherwise prevent them from living in such unhealthy conditions. Most are simply unaware of their need to have good hygiene and cleanliness.  For instance, they do not even know how to take care of themselves by practicing good habits such as brushing their teeth daily and bathing regularly.  Again, this was the case with children in our diocese before attending preschool; yet, again we are able to report great progress as students are learning the importance of taking care of themselves and staying healthy by developing habits to help maintain good hygiene.  The results are disciplined students who feel better about themselves and take pride in what they do instead of living carelessly from day to day.  We are also eager to report our recently formed partnership with One Egg, a non-profit organization that supplies eggs to children and families living in poverty.  This partnership enables us to address another area of health concern stemming from bad eating habits or no access to the right foods.  A more balanced diet will help lead to a healthier lifestyle in general and will provide a more wholesome environment for our children to learn and grow.

SPIRITUAL FORMATION

Particular to our interests as Christians is that the Bible would be taught to our preschool students every day.  Before preschool began none of the children received any biblical education or direction for spiritual development.  Currently, all of our preschool teachers are being trained using the Theological Education by Extension (T.E.E.) curriculum.  In conjunction with our desire for pastors and lay-leaders leaders to receive biblical and theological training, we want every person who has influence to be well-equipped, able to correctly handle and teach the Word of God.  In addition to providing a safe place for children to learn and interact with one another, we pray that our preschools would glorify God by providing a place where children have the opportunity to hear the gospel, learn about the Bible, and daily grow as disciples of Jesus.

RENEWED COMMUNITY

On Tuesday [March 29] I went with Bishop Mbanda and a few other pastors to a small village in the surrounding mountains. I can't remember the name of the village because I couldn't pronounce it, but we visited one location of the 300 Shyira Diocese churches as well as one of the 52 Shyira schools. They had a confirmation ceremony for about 30 new Christians, and as a lifelong member of a Baptist church that was a new experience for me. Additionally, the entire ceremony was in the native language, Kinyarwanda, which means that I understood nothing about what was happening at any point in the 4-5 hours that we were there. However, I was a guest of honor and was allowed to sit down front in the shade since the ceremony was outside. (Imana Ishimwe = Praise be to God)

Inside the local church.

Not only did I grow up in a Baptist church, but I also attended and graduated from a Baptist University in Arkansas. I learned everything about Baptist History from the single greatest Baptist History professor on the planet, Terry Carter. The fact is, I probably know more about other world religions than I do about other Christian denominations, and I need to learn a lot more about Anglican doctrine and church structure. I love to see Christians belonging to different denominations and co-existing as one body of Christ and serving together for the same biblical purposes. I don't believe there's a reason for anyone to have an issue, but for some reason there are people who have negative hang-ups when it comes to other churches or denominations that are different from what they're used to. I want to make it clear that even though I've been immersed in the "Baptist world" my whole life, I do not bleed Southern Baptist or place any single denomination on a pedestal. While I am excited to serve in Rwanda for so many reasons, one of the things that I love the most about this opportunity is that I am (by church membership) a Southern Baptist committed to work for two years with an Anglican Church -- in Rwanda. I am thankful for churches and Christian leaders who: (a) Intentionally grow within a multicultural community, and (b) Intentionally partner with believers and churches across various denominations. I hope to be an example for some in America, but also for believers in Rwanda as well. I expect to grow (a lot) in my understanding and view of the global church. In a few communities I know of it would be a miracle of God if two different BAPTIST churches served together and supported one another as Christians should! But all joking aside, unless a person or church is blatantly preaching a false gospel -- any message other than what the Bible proclaims -- then I believe it's healthy to have diversity in thought, interpretation, doctrine, ceremony, and tradition. Regarding the Anglican Church in Rwanda, it's exciting for me to learn about their church doctrine, church structure (model of church leadership), and church tradition. There may be times when I disagree with certain aspects of doctrine or church structure, but I don't fully agree with everything about Baptist doctrine either. No denomination is fallacy-proof, yet we should learn from one another and work together as "biblical churches," full of Christ-followers who highly esteem the Bible and live to glorify God through knowing and doing his will. Just so you know, the Anglican Church in Rwanda, and the Shyira Diocese in particular, are very evangelical. Every pastor or lay leader I've met -- regardless of their level of education -- is focused solely on shepherding and feeding the flock God has given them. Without a doubt they are eager to grow and learn how to lead well from an intellectual standpoint, but you can know all the theology in the world and not have what it takes to lead a church. To be honest, I'm somewhat surprised to discover such a high quality group of leaders. A Sunday School answer and simple Christian fact that we all know and believe is, "Yes! Of course God can use anyone with faith, humility, and a willingness to seek the Lord and serve the church with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength." Well, apparently I forgot that Jesus used a bunch of uneducated teenagers to found and lead his church on earth. Thanks for the reality check, God. Thanks for bringing me encouragement and joy from meeting leaders who are disciplined and focused on their calling, who love people and are seeking to do the will of God in all things.

Bishop Mbanda (middle), Christophe (right) - Head of Christian Education and one guy I work closely with

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" - Galatians 5:1

 The book of Galatians is about what it means to live as a Christian and to be freed from the power of sin because of Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. We are no longer slaves to sin; rather, we have been made both righteous by God and right with God. That also means that our relationships with other people can be restored or made right. We don't have to be divided, angry, prideful, or full of hate and discontent towards other people. Christ set us free so that we could actually be free from sin, but being freed from something implies that one has gained the freedom to do something else. Paul also used a good amount of ink in the book of Romans to write about Christian freedom through Christ and how//how not to use that freedom in relation to other people -- namely, in relation to other Christians. If "the wages of sin is death,"  then death is owed to every person who has ever lived because "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory." But "the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord" and "all are justified freely by [God's] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus," (Romans 3:23-24; 6:23). Jesus took what was owed to us (death for sin) and paid the debt for us (freedom from sin). If the cost of sin means death and Jesus took the totality of sin upon himself, then ultimately it was sin that killed him. But we know that he did what only God in the flesh could do by resurrecting from the dead and beating death. Jesus was perfect and never incurred a debt for sinning, but:

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Now check out what Paul wrote in Romans 13:8

"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law."

 Didn't Jesus himself claim to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament law? [Yes, he did…Matthew 5:17-20] The most important thing to realize is that Jesus paid the only outstanding debt that he owed ….. LOVE! Jesus paid this debt to "love one another" in the most complete sense as he was motivated by love for his people and died to set them free them from sin, and by loving others he fulfilled the law. Like Jesus, we do not owe anyone what they deserve to be paid. If someone sins against us we do not have the freedom to "give them what they've got coming." Regardless of your opinion or conviction, the only thing we owe one another is, what? ..... LOVE! Paul points to Jesus in Romans 15:1-3 as the ultimate and only example of true love. Jesus was the God-man who humbled himself and was patient with people in their weakness, and who showed the greatest possible amount of mercy and compassion by literally "becoming" the totality of universal sin and dying on a cross. If Jesus died for us while we were still sinners then surely we can love one another who are in Christ, having knowledge of the hope that he is always at work in and through us.

Bishop, Archdeacon, and pastors ... Being from Arkansas, I know what hot weather is. It was hot out there and every one of these guys wore a suit and tie without sweating. I was drenched.

Let me bridge the gap between Tuesday's trip to the mountains, my time with some Rwandan church leaders, and what I've written about our freedom in Christ and the love we owe one another. Will I have to wear a white collar that shows right below my Adam's apple and a gold "Jesus piece" necklace if I want to preach or work with Anglican pastors here in Rwanda?? No, I won't. And my Rwandan brothers and sisters welcome me as a fellow servant of Christ and one who is working to advance the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, regardless of differences in language, culture, or denominational church background. Of course, I will always dress appropriately for any occasion  and respect the culture and environment that I am in. But the point I'm making is that I'm not expected to conform and abide by any specific (and legalistic) rules or guidelines. That shows the freedom and diversity we have in Christ, and love for one another is given and received at both ends. Above all, God is glorified through the living, loving, and united church made up of people from various nations. It's not an Anglican, Baptist, or any other kind of man-made church. It's Christ's church -- the one he loved and gave himself for, the many members and one Body of which he rules supremely as the head. People from every nation have been given the gift of freedom to love one other and worship God together, and although in Rwanda  we don't always understand one another or speak the same language, we are bound together by the love of God that can rarely be expressed in words anyway.

The whole village sat through the ceremony. That's good community.

30 new followers of Jesus and church members on the biggest day of their lives.

Bishop Mbanda laying hands and praying for each new believer individually.

New Christians sharing in Communion for the first time.

Last week, after arriving in Kigali on March 12 and spending a few days there, I moved to my home in Musanze. Bishop Mbanda and I met last Thursday to talk about the vision for the Shyira Diocese as we move forward, and I was informed that 15 new pastors were being trained for ordination. All 15 have graduated from high school, a couple have spent a year in college, and all of them speak English well. This is a huge blessing because previously only 1 out of 300 existing pastors had graduated high school and hardly any of them speak English well enough for me to communicate with.

Everyone in Rwanda speaks the native language, Kinyarwanda, and most people also speak French. However, two years ago the Rwandan government decided to switch from French to English as one of the national languages. It's a difficult transition because their simply aren't enough English teachers, so primary and secondary school teachers can't teach English well because they haven't even been taught. But that is the present situation and we know that as Rwanda moves into the future things will change. We are already seeing growth as these 15 young pastors step into pastoral ministry.

Because of the language barrier I am serving in more of an administrative role. I'll be working closely with a man named Emmanuel who is a long time pastor and current Bible College student in Uganda, but should be returning to Rwanda in May. Bishop Mbanda has already pulled together course catalogs that list every class offered by several Bible colleges and seminaries. He has also highlighted many courses that he thinks would be beneficial in our context. We will work together to determine exactly which courses will be taught and what curriculum will be used. The problem is that most all of the good curriculum is in English. We will either have to get permission from authors and publishers to translate their work into Kinyarwanda, or we'll have to summarize the main points and write our own curriculum in Kinyarwanda. How that will all work out is yet to be determined.

Although you cannot see a physical building with a sign, the SD Center does exist. What is the SD Center? It is a center for Leadership, Biblical, and Development Studies (the "SD" stands for "Shyira Diocese"). When I came to Rwanda my focus was on teaching biblical studies and theology to pastors who have never had any formal education, but Bishop Mbanda has laid out what I think is an incredibly holistic plan, not only for teaching and training pastors, but also to create community development and to teach and train any and every individual who has any influence within the diocese. This includes preschool teachers that will soon be in all 300 churches. When I met Mbanda in February he had established 16 preschools in 16 of his 300 churches. When I met with him last week that number had grown to 162 preschools. One of Mbanda's greatest initiatives is to implement solid Christian education into early childhood education.

Let's look at what this center for education will offer.

THE SD CENTER

Leadership Studies

Who?

Pastors, Laypeople from the community, (Possible idea) Students from the U.S. who come to study abroad or gain experience in many areas.

Pastoral Leadership

Management, Servant Leadership, Christian Ethics

Community Development

One day sessions on entrepreneurship and skill development ... {This is already taking place organically amongst the people, so it only makes sense to implement this into our learning structure. Again, it's a holistic approach that will have an impact on the entire community as the church should.}

Biblical Studies

For pastors who are already in ministry or for those wanting to become pastors and seek a degree.

2 Levels

Certificate - Lower level for those who don't speak English well or who aren't as advanced in their understanding.

Diploma - Upper level. Maybe send to seminary in Uganda for a degree ... {One day we hope to receive accreditation so students can take their diploma to a Bible college or seminary and receive credit for courses they've taken.}

Old Testament

New Testament

Evangelism

Discipleship

Church Planting

Church Growth

Development Studies

Community Development

Early Childhood Development

Proposal Writing

Project Development

The SDC runs a 3 module training per year for 3 years in order to obtain a certificate or diploma. Each session will be at least 1 week to 2 weeks maximum. We would like to have each pastor come to 4 sessions a year instead of 3, but right now we do not have the resources for that. Eventually we hope to have the resources to build a physical building in Musanze, but that is a long term goal. As Bishop Mbanda told me, "We are birthing something. And since we are birthing something, we will take baby steps." We must first outline our courses and curriculum, and then we will begin to implement it and move forward with classes and teaching. Teaching will take place here in Musanze, but it's not ideal because it costs money to transport the pastors, to feed them, and to house them. Ideally we would do mobile training where we could have 8 training sessions per year in various locations instead of just 3 or 4 in Musanze. But again, having the resources is our obstacle as we would need a truck, a projector, and a computer designated for teaching. That's money we don't have right now. 

We have a few groups coming on mission trips to help with the teaching sessions. For example, New Life Church in Conway, AR is bringing a big group in June, and during their time here we will have 40 pastors from the Shyira Diocese who will be going through classes. We need more people to come teach if they are able, and the more people that come the more sessions we can have. Foreign visitors will teach the curriculum that we will have laid out.

Pray that God would give Bishop Mbanda guidance and wisdom as he leads so many different projects. Pray that God would give these pastors a desire to learn and an eagerness to grow in knowledge and wisdom. I have met several of them already and it's encouraging to see how excited they are about my presence and the possibilities ahead. Mzungu's (or "white people") are instantly viewed at almost celebrity status, and while I don't want that kind of attention as if I'm someone to be praised, I see how much influence I can have by building relationships and letting everyone in this city know that I love them and that I'm a friend. Pray that God would provide the money and resources for us to move forward and expand our efforts to equip both church and community leaders, and pray that he would send people with hearts to teach and make disciples.

Lastly, pray that I would have discipline. No matter where you go you're going to find people who don't follow through with what they say they are going to do, or they don't work to make an idea a reality. But that seems to be even more true in Africa - everyone has big dreams for the future, but who can make it happen? I want to show the people I lead something different. I must follow through and be disciplined so that I not only lead well, but also so that I set an example that is worth modeling and can make an eternal difference. I have no experience as a pastor, yet I am "teaching and training" pastors. God has called me here and I am confident in him alone. In the two years that I'm here I will gain more experience across the board in more areas than I ever could anywhere else. Rarely does an opportunity like this come about, and for me to be 23 years old with the responsibilities I have here is just amazing to me. These two years are not disconnected from the rest of my life, and I know God is using this time to form me into whatever it is that he's going to use in the future. It's both humbling and empowering because I know I don't have it all together, yet I know that I have God's blessing and calling to be here.