A time of listening and learning

A Happy St Patrick’s Day to all back in Ireland!  I am sitting here gazing out at a blazing hot day in Muhanga beginning my 3rd and final week of a fascinating visit to Shyogwe Diocese.  At this stage of my visit, I know the key issues facing each of the 7 diocesan organisations and am in a position to suggest some possible solutions and ways forward.

Gasprom Tofu Cooperative

The weather last week had almost everything a tropical African country could throw at you: dull, close and blazing hot sunny days; tropical thunderstorms with huge downpours and flash floods; and even one day of dense fog, although that cleared to blazing hot sunshine, later. Last night we had a very full, deep red moon in the east in the first few hours of darkness!

Yesterday, I attended my 3rd Sunday service at the rural parish of Gasharu.  It has a dramatic setting on a high hilltop about 7 kms due south of the Diocesan Complex. From Gasharu you can look back over the typically Rwandan valley – verdant, terraced farmland – with a clear view of Zion Hill church with the Diocesan Centre beneath it. The church service at Gasharu in this rural setting was dramatic and equally spirit-filled as its urban neighbour, perhaps even more so. However, it did reflect this parish’s very rural and much poorer economic base. This was revealing to me and touched me in ways I didn’t expect.

Gasharu has been going as a parish since 1998 with now 500 members and four subsidiary chapels run by the experienced Pastor John. In 2024 the Rwanda Governance Board inspected 14,000 prayer houses and closed 70% of them for non-compliance with building, safety and hygiene regulations. However, in 2022 CMSI link parishes had already contributed funds to help bring the parish up to standard with plastering, pavement, paint work, glazing and the installation of a rainwater collection tank. This meant that the only requirement from this inspection that might have prompted closure was an improvement to the doors of the church. They managed to complete this work themselves so their church has been able to stay open.

Gasharu children's choir

The service had between 250 – 300 participants with 5 separate Gospel choirs including a children’s choir and a youth choir. During proceedings, visitors from other parishes were asked to stand up and announce themselves, something that happens in all the parishes I have visited. I had been given a seat with Marcel and another visiting pastor. Quite a number of children were turning around to look at the white-faced stranger but remained where they were. All except one small girl who was perhaps 3 or 4. She determinedly left her mother and came over to investigate me without a fear in the world.  She walked towards me, looked me over and straight in the eye before deciding I was okay and calmly resumed her seat!

A curious thing happened following the normal collection.  A church warden went out the side door and came back with a number of items – a bag containing reasonably large tree branches and another bag of beans.  Marcel explained these were offerings to the church from people who had no cash.  These were immediately offered to the congregation by means of a sort of auction, as Marcel again explained – the firewood making RF500 (Euro 0.30) and the beans RF2500 (Euros 1.50)!

As has been the case throughout my visit, Marcel stayed beside me translating where necessary and giving me the use of his English Bible. This meant I was able to follow the service – long readings, Gospel singing and very joyful dancing in the aisles included!

Immediately after one of the choirs finished, the lead singer seemed to continue on her own with huge passion.  I was a little mystified but understood something remarkable was happening. This was confirmed by Marcel – the lady was beginning to ‘speak in tongues’.  Marcel later told me that he had seen this once or twice before, but it was rare. I began to feel a strong sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit.  I prayed that this might descend and envelope this congregation and at the same time raise back up and travel the 6,000 miles back to Europe and Ireland, particularly to our respective parishes.

Later in the service I realised I had been ‘landed in it’ by Pastor John as he promised I would stand up shortly and give a presentation on ‘How to Create a small Business’ – thinking this might benefit the congregation…!  Fortunately, Marcel was on the ball not only to warn me about this but also to accompany me and translate.  Fortunately, I had prepared a formal presentation around this for some of the organisations. Nevertheless, the thought of presenting off-the-cuff and without slides terrified me.  Marcel’s translation must have been amazing as I could see he was embellishing things with passion and eloquence without me understanding a word!

As a result, the service went on in total for about 4 hours. I now fully appreciate that every aspect of parish life is included and catered for at a normal Sunday celebration.  After the service I could hardly leave as I was mobbed by the children and felt overwhelmed by the kindness I was shown.

After a lovely meal with Pastor John, his wife and a number of parish notables at which we discussed everything from St Patrick to the Rwandan economic development and its parallels with Ireland, I paused to reflect on the day. It was wonderful to see and understand a bit more about Rwandan rural life. The people and the diocese are hugely resourceful making a little go a long way, maintaining a wonderful faith and joy in the Lord in the process.

From my regular Psalm devotions, I picked two: Psalm 37:7-11 “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him… Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil… But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.” This teaches me to cultivate spiritual humility leading to peace in my heart. And Psalm 37: 21-26: "The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous …..are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing”  which for me is a prayer of trusting in the Lord for my own provision and asking for help to be a joyful giver.