Ten years after images of fleeing missionaries were followed by the stark pictures of Rwanda's dead citizens and their burning villages, a new image of hope is emerging in this central African nation.
Ten years after images of fleeing missionaries were followed by the stark pictures of Rwanda’s dead citizens and their burning villages, a new image of hope is emerging in this central African nation. The fratricidal strife led to the deaths of 800,000 people, including an estimated 10,000 Seventh-day Adventist Church members, the Adventist Church in Rwanda is aiding in racial reconciliation.
Known as “the land of a thousand hills,” Rwanda is a compact nation of only 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the U.S. state of Maryland. Before the genocide, the population of Rwanda stood at 7 million. There are 350,000 Adventist Church members in Rwanda.
Noting the tenth anniversary of the deaths, Adventist world church president Pastor Jan Paulsen said, “The Adventist Church in Rwanda is a large community, and the scars of 1994 run as deep in this family as in the rest of the nations. ... Both what happened and its ongoing legacy must not be forgotten. Our prayer is that God will heal and comfort.”
In the spring of 1994, more than 800,000 people were murdered during the course of 100 days. One of the most tragic incidents occurred at Mugonero Adventist Hospital and the church connected with it, where thousands had fled for refuge during the killings. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in 2003, convicted former Seventh-day Adventist Church administrator Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, age 78 of aiding and abetting in genocide. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Ntakirutimana’s son Gérard, a medical doctor, 45, was sentenced to 25 years by the same tribunal for genocide and for crimes against humanity. (See Adventist News Network, Feb. 19, 2003.)
According to Amon Rugelinyange, an Adventist pastor and president of the church in Rwanda, that healing has been well under way.
“What I can see now is that there’s a big change,” Pastor Rugelinyange told ANN in a telephone interview. “There’s a tremendous change in how people are now relating to one another. People from the other countries are admiring Rwanda’s progress in many things.”
As a result of the personal development in his nation, Rugelinyange said, “The people in Rwanda cannot [now] believe genocide [ever] took place in this country.”
A large part of the Adventist Church’s response has been to operate prison ministries, working with those who were involved in the killings and helping them to cope spiritually with the consequences of their actions. The prison work began in 1996, two years after the genocide, and was the first denominational prison ministry in Rwanda, Rugelinyange said.
Some 7,000 people have been baptized while in jail, and this, church leaders said, has led to some startling acts of repentance and acceptance.
During one series of church meetings held in a prison, a woman encountered a man who was accused of killing her husband and son. Rugelinyange’s sermon that day caused that man to respond, repent and be baptized.
The pastor recalls that the accused killer “asked forgiveness from that woman. When that man was released from prison, she adopted him as a son.”
That story is one Rugelinyange hopes will be repeated: “We hope that slowly such examples will be teaching similar lessons to others. There are others who are trying [to reconcile], although it is not easy. One with the power of Jesus can do it, not in his own strength, but by the power of God [they can].”
“We have to continue, because to have people change completely, it takes time. Please continue to pray for us,” he added.
Along with such prayers, the Adventist Church is teaching reconciliation to its members, said Elie N. Mbuguje, secretary for the church in the country.
“There is improvement. What is going on now is that reconciliation is taking place. We are getting together. We are just doing whatever we can to bring all of us together,” he told ANN.
According to Geoffrey G. Mbwana, president of the Adventist Church in the East-Central Africa region, “The rest of our church is so much encouraged by the willingness of the people in Rwanda who come out for reconciliation. The stories that are emerging from Rwanda challenge the rest of us to be forgiving. We are committed to supporting various church ventures aimed at bringing hope and reconciliation.”
