Mission to Rwanda: October 10th – 21st 2022
On Monday my flight left the UK at 6:00am via Amsterdam, arriving in Kigali at 7:15pm. It was a blessing to discover I did not need to purchase a visa. Eric, my conference coordinator was there to meet and transport me to my accommodation, the Saint Paul Centre in Kigali.
Not much talking as I was tired from travelling. Eric came for lunch the next day and we went through the itinerary.
Tuesday 5.00pm I spoke at the Source of Deliverance Church in Kigali. The pastor was amazed that God had given me a very similar message to the one he had preached the previous Sunday. There was a good response to God’s Word and in particular to the mission statement of Recovery Ministries, ‘Without fail you will recover all’. It was a blessing to see faith levels rise to the challenge and get back what the devil had taken.
4:00pm on Wednesday I preached at the Calvary Wide Fellowship in Kigali. The church uses a hired building while theirs is being renovated. It was wonderful to see almost every seat taken. The congregation was very responsive and many stood in response to the appeal.
Leaders’ Conference, Gisenyi
Thursday we travelled from Kigali to Gisenyi, only about a 100 mile journey, which took over four hours due to the mountainous route. It was difficult to overtake slow moving vehicles crawling up and down hills and our driver had to be careful to keep to the speed limits as there were many police radar points along the route.
Friday and Saturday were conference days, held in Blessing Church, Gisenyi, hosted by Pastor Mackeen. The theme for the 2 days was, “What is Jesus saying to your church?” The teaching was based on Revelation chapters 1-3. Although numbers were small at the very beginning, they soon built up and the conference was attended by up to 100 leaders.
Start-Up Loans
This is a relatively new part of Recovery Ministries. We help carefully vetted people restart their business with a small loan of $300. Once they start trading, they are able to provide for family needs and children’s education. Every 3 months, they pay a small amount of interest, which is put into the mission to help with transport costs for pastors attending the conferences. It was a joy to have met 3 of those who had received loans and heard how their lives had been transformed.
To date we have 11 on this scheme and our long-term goal is that future missions will be funded entirely from the interest of these start-up loans. New loans will be issued as funding allows.
Blessing Church, Gisenyi – Sunday AM
The church was full on the Sunday morning, as the congregation was challenged by the word, “What are you doing here?” taken from 1 Kings 19:9,13. Again many responded to the appeal. It was enlightening to have Pastor Mackeen join us for lunch, and ask questions on behalf of the pastors who had attended the morning service. We promised to host another conference there when I return to Rwanda.
Since then I have learned that pastors continue to approach Pastor Mackeen about the conference teaching and he has been able to help them from the notes he had made.
Methodist Church – Sunday PM
It was a joy to speak at the Revival meeting held in the Methodist Church. There were 150 in attendance, which was surprising as normally only a few attended. The word was entitled, “Miracle on the lake”, taken from Luke 5:1-11. Again people were very responsive to the word.
Leader’ Conference – Rusizi
On the Monday we travelled to Rusizi for another 2 day conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was good to meet leaders from DR Congo who had been able to attend, although it was costly due to Covid testing to allow them to cross the border.
The theme on the Tuesday was, “Handling error in the church” taken from Acts 15:1-2. I was asked to speak on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit on the Wednesday, and we ended the conference with an exhortation entitled “Your place called there” taken from 1 Kings 17:4,9.
Upgrading Church Buildings To Comply with Government Regulations
On the Sunday and Wednesday afternoons we spent time in prayer with pastors who were renovating their buildings to comply with government regulations. It will be a great joy to return and see the building completed, filled with worshipping believers.
Revue of the Mission
We travelled back to Kigali immediately after the conference, a seven hour arduous journey, made worse by an accident near Kigali. On the Thursday morning, Eric & I conducted a review of the conferences and church meetings. We discovered we had not overspent the budget, and the mission had gone even better than we had imagined, from phone calls Eric received.
Due to KLM cancelling a flight, I returned to the UK on the Thursday evening, a few days earlier than expected.
The return date to Rwanda is being planned for May 2023.
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