Reconciliation and tolerance are at the top of the agenda for youth programs in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Rwanda. This current emphasis comes in response to the growth in Adventist Church membership since the 1994 genocide.

“Many young people who survived the genocide believe that they were saved by God and thus they owe it to Him and want to thank Him by remaining faithful to Him,” says Olivier Kayitare, campus ministries director of the National University of Rwanda in Butare. “Before the genocide, there were only 100 Seventh-day Adventist students,” he says. There are currently around 600.

A youth ministry seminar held March 1 to 3 in Kigali introduced the new paradigm shift in the way youth ministry operates in Rwanda. “It is very important that our youth leaders in this union [region] are equipped with skills that will enable them to shape the minds of the youth in the image of Christ and to prepare them for the second coming,” says Jacques Nkinzingabi, youth director of the Rwanda Union.

Weekend camps, rallies and seminars are being held throughout the region to bring this new approach to youth work in Rwanda. “These two emphases do not replace the regular youth ministry teachings, but have been added to make the program in Rwanda address the issue of tribalism in a Christian way,” Nkinzingabi says.

More than 250 delegates attended the seminar, representing all areas of youth work, including Adventurers, Pathfinders and senior youth.

There are some 350,000 Seventh-day Adventists in Rwanda worshipping in more than 1,100 congregations. Ninety-five percent of members are under the age of 30.