Faith in Rwanda

I went to church on Sunday morning, an Anglican Church near AEE Headquarters.  The pastor turned out to be the former Team Leader of AEE.  When I got there, the service was just starting, and there were only about 30 people.  But people kept filtering in.  Towards the end, it was pretty full, with perhaps 300 people. 

The pastor introduced a small group of young people from a ministry to the deaf.  A lady American missionary helped at the ministry, and directed the group to sing a hymn using sign language.  

Later one of them shared her story.  She was one of 8 children in a Muslim family.  She became deaf because of illness when she was 8.  Her family gave up on her, and decided not to send her to school, feeling that she has no future.  Indeed, in a country where even university graduates have difficulty finding jobs, what hope does a deaf person have?  Fortunately, she came to believe in God,  and a church decided to put her through school.  Now she is working in a ministry for the deaf.  

The pastor told the congregation that the church is making a donation to the ministry to the deaf.  “Some people can do what we cannot do, so we are going to supporting them, to do what we cannot.”  Indeed that is what we should do. 

Later in the evening, I found a large crowd on an open area near AEE Headquarters and decided to investigate.  It turned out to be an evangelistic meeting.  Both the local language and English were spoken but I could not be sure which language was the translation.  There must have been more than a thousand people standing there in the dark.  With a backdrop of the little dots of city lights.  It was a beautiful scene.

The church in Rwanda is vibrant indeed.