Indigenous church planting is just as much a way of life for these believers as is agriculture

I’ve spent my last two days in Burundi personally visiting Heaven’s Family beneficiaries, which include widows, former drug addicts, handicapped Christians and Christian leaders. It has been two days of joy for me. I’ve traveled to two fairly-far away provinces, Rugumbo and Kayanza. The former is generally flat and the latter is mountainous. In both places I visited agricultural projects where some very effective evangelists and indigenous church-planting servants have rented or purchased land via group loans from our Micro-Loan Fund. They are profiting with every harvest of potatoes, tomatoes and corn, enabling them to not only repay their loans, but meet their daily needs and support their ministries. Still, they are very poor. They live in mud-brick houses with dirt floors and without electricity or running water. Many walk miles every day or so to get drinkable water. They live in what is by some measurements, one of the world’s poorest countries.

To reach the folks in the photo above, we journeyed deep into Kayanza Province and parked alongside the road. Then I had to hike straight down (perhaps a slight exaggeration) on a slippery path for about a mile, giving me just a slight glimpse of what life is like for our indigenous church-planting missionaries.

You would never know it by looking at them, but all those in the photo not only lead a house church which they personally started, but each also is responsible for at least 10 other house church leaders—leaders whom they have won to the Lord and are still discipling. They are preaching the gospel in remote villages where no one has ever preached the gospel. Their steadfast, indigenous church-planting efforts are yielding an abundance of fruit. The older lady on the left for example, Monique Cishahayo, is a widow who often gets up before dawn to walk for miles to preach all day in far away villages that are only reachable by footpath.

Monique and a few others accompanied me as I hiked out of their valley, and I had to stop at least 4 times to catch my breath and let my heart stop racing. She and the others, not even sweating, politely waited for me to recover before continuing our upward trek to where we parked our vehicle (I was carrying about 20 pounds of camera gear, by the way).

Indigenous Church Planting Brings in Bountiful Harvest

The harvest is great in Kayanza Province. There are 30 other “district leaders” there besides the 5 in the photo. Each one has planted at least 10 house churches in the past 2 years. That is at least 350 churches. Our primary contact in Burundi, Bienvenu Bizimana, estimates that since he was given The Disiciple-Making Minister by an American missionary and mutual friend named Greg a little over 2 years ago, 3,000 house churches have been planted in 5 provinces in Burundi through the network he leads. They are now on their ninth generation of disciples. Just about all 3,000 of the leaders of those churches have a copy of the Kirundi translation of The Disciple-Making Minister, although many are illiterate and need someone to read it to them. Even if Bienvenu has miscalculated by 50%, that would still be 1,500 house churches planted in 2 years.

I stayed healthy during my entire time in Burundi, even eating some salads on several evenings (a no-no for missionaries). But Brussels Airlines apparently poisoned me on my flight from Burundi to Belgium. I’m almost home in Pittsburgh as I write, having had no desire for any food since Belgium, and just sipping on ginger ale and hot tea. It will be good to get home. Thanks for joining me on this journey. — David

Naitonal Missionary Sylvestre Nsengiyumva

I asked Sylvestre Nsengiyumva how many people he had killed when he was a rebel soldier. He hung his head and told me, “I don’t want to say or guess. Too many.” Sylvestre had been telling me his life story. He was one of the leaders at our Burundi pastors’ conference last weekend. Listening to his story reminded me that God’s grace through Jesus Christ is enough to redeem any sinner. Sylvestre is one of millions in East Africa who have spent practically their entire lives caught in ethnic strife. Below is his story.

Although Sylvestre’s parents were both Burundians, he was born in Rwanda where they were living as refugees at the time. When Sylvestre was 3 years old, his father was murdered and his mother consequently hung herself. A local family had pity on him, took him in, and raised him in the Roman Catholic church. But when he dutifully lined up to be baptized at age 13, he discovered that the officiating priest was requiring a fee for performance of the rite. Repulsed that he had to pay a priest for a ticket to heaven, Sylvestre returned home without being baptized. His host family reacted angrily and beat him. He ran away from home, an orphan again.

Sylvestre was eventually taken in by another Burundian refugee family, headed by a Seventh Day Adventist pastor. Together, when they felt it was safe, they returned to Burundi. But when civll war errupted three years later, Sylvestre’s host family was killed while he was at school. He saw their dead bodies as he fled for his life again across the border into Rwanda, an orphan for the third time.

In 1994, war broke out in Rwanda. Once again, Sylvestre found himself in the middle of the conflict. Falsely accused of aiding the enemy, Sylvestre was captured by a small group of Rwandan rebels. They took him into the bush in order to execute him, but they were ambushed by enemy soldiers and Sylvestre escaped. He fled back to Burundi.

The same ethnic tension that fueled the holocaust in Rwanda between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis erupted again in Burundi. In 1996, Hutu and Tutsi school students were killing each other. Sylvestre was wounded by a gunshot and fled to Tanzania, and then Kenya, where he spent two years as a refugee. Seething with hatred, Sylvestre decided to join the rebel army in Burundi. He connected with such a group in Tanzania and journeyed with them into to the D.R. Congo, where he and others were trained to be soldiers by rebel Congolese. They all made a deal to help each other fight in their home countries, and Sylvestre spent six years of his life surviving by plundering villages to finance his killing-mission. His conscience was screaming at him, but was locked into a lifestyle that was fueled by bitterness.

When a peace agreement was reached in 2005, Sylvestre was given an opportunity to join the Burundi military. His experience as a soldier propelled him through the ranks, but he was often given assignments that bothered his conscience.

Finally, in early 2008, he found himself contemplating suicide. Remembering some of what he learned as a child in the Roman Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist churches, Sylvestre decided to surrender to God and ask for mercy. He experienced amazing grace and was genuinely born again. He quickly joined a Seventh Day Adventist church and started taking a year-long course to prepare him to become a pastor. A natural leader, Sylvestre was assigned a pastorate in early 2009.

It was not much later that he attended a Heaven’s Family-sponsored pastors’ conference where he heard biblical concepts contrasted to traditions. He was challenged to make disciples instead of just build Sunday morning attendance. At the end of the conference, he stood before all the pastors and declared his intention to follow the Bible. He stood alone.

To make a long story short, Sylvestre had to resign his pastorate, but he started with 20 genuine sheep who wanted to obey Christ’s commandments. He began to disciple them, and before long his house church had to split into 4 house churches. Sylvestre and some of his sheep began walking to nearby villages preaching the gospel where it had never been heard before. Now, just 16 months later, Sylvestre and his disciples have planted 63 churches in Kirundo Province, mostly filled with new converts.

Sylvestre told me, “I passed through many provinces in these countries robbing and killing people. Now I want to go through those same provinces healing and saving people from their sins.” He is an evangelist at heart.

Heaven’s Family is going to provide him a bicycle and small-business loan so his dream can begin to be fulfilled. Plus, I hope we can raise about $100 per month in national missionary support that will help meet some of his travel expenses as he goes. If you are interested, please send an email to David Growden at DavidG [at] HeavensFamily.org. We will do our best to see that you receive monthly email reports from Sylvestre, translated into English in case you can’t read Kirundi! — David

Sylvestre Nsengiyumva with his wife of twelve years and their youngest child. They have four children and also take care of three war orphans.

Nzohabonimana Eudia

Nzohabonimana Eudia (pronounced Zo-ha-bo-nee-ma-na Ay-yu-dee-ah) was one of the women who attended our leaders’ conference over the weekend in Bujumbura. Everyone calls her “Mama Deo,” and I’m thankful for that, as that is much easier than calling her Nzohabonimana Eudia. She’s 40 years old, but doesn’t know her birthdate. Her parents, being illiterate, only told her the year of her birth. Like 75% of the other women in Burundi, she can’t read. By looking at her, you would never suspect that she’s a powerhouse for God.

Mama Deo’s husband died 12 years ago from a heart attack, leaving her with 4 children to care for. She lives in a village of about 5,000 people in Rugombo Province. Only a few people there own cars, and only one person owns cows. Everyone grows their own food.

When believers first shared the gospel with Mama Deo, she was resistant. Her husband had just died. Where was God? It was not long after that, however, when an inoperable tumor was discovered in her womb. She allowed local Christians to pray for her healing. Each day after that she felt the tumor shrinking, until after 7 days it was gone. She gave her life to Jesus.

That was about 11 years ago. Mama Deo began attending a Protestant church in her village, but didn’t find true spiritual life there. After attending for 5 years, she felt that God gave her a prophecy for the pastors that they should repent and be born again. They responded by excommunicating her.

Wounded, she never attended another church and just stayed home and prayed with her 4 children. Prayer became a central part of her life.

Fast forward to 2 years ago when Mama Deo met an on-fire pastor named Pascal Niyigaba (who was also at our conference this weekend) from her same province. Pascal had been a former influential lay leader in the Roman Catholic church, but was excommunicated when he began questioning certain unbiblical practices. Since his excommunication, he has planted 4 churches in homes. Mama Deo was thrilled to find a like-minded saint who could teach her, and Pascal began to disciple her with the help of a book titled, The Disciple-Making Minister. (Mama Deo eventually obtained her own copy, which one of her children reads to her.)

Mama Deo never learned that God doesn’t use women to build His Kingdom, and the Lord began to use her in a healing ministry. Sick people started coming to her for prayer, and they often left her little house healed, or were healed within days. Her reputation grew, and in the past 2 years hundreds of people have streamed to her little house for healing prayer. These days, she told me she prays for at least 20 people every day. She never accepts money from them, lest people think that healing can be purchased from God. She tells every sick person about Jesus and calls them to repent of their sins. If they are healed, she instructs them to go home and tell everyone their testimony as well as the gospel.

Hundreds have been saved. Scores of churches have been planted. Mama Deo told me that those churches have no one to lead them, and she has no way to get to them. So she prays for them.

I asked her to tell me about some of the most amazing healings she has seen. She told me about a “crazy man” named Daniel who was delivered, restored, saved, and who has since planted 6 churches in his region.

Then she told me about the time some people brought a dead body to her house.

In a village about an hour from her, a man fell over as he was walking along, saying something had bitten him. He started losing consciousness, and 2 hours later, around 6 PM, he wasn’t breathing. It was concluded that he was dead, and his family members tearfully began preparing for his burial, deciding to bury him around 11 AM the following morning. That next morning, however, the dead man’s daughter, who was a believer, and who had been healed of barrenness due to Mama Deo’s prayers, walked an hour to Mama Deo’s to ask if she would pray over her father’s dead body. Mama Deo agreed because the day before during a prayer meeting she had heard a voice tell her, “I have a special prayer meeting for you tomorrow.”

So the dead man’s daughter walked back to her village and told her story to her family. Very reluctantly, and just to satisfy her, they agreed to carry her father’s body to Mama Deo’s house. They arrived there around 3 PM.

Mama Deo and her group of prayer warriors prayed over the body for 2 hours. Finally, Mama Deo lifted the body up, stood it on its feet, and commanded it to walk in Jesus’ name. The body coughed! Then the dead man opened his eyes and said, “I was dead! I was on a long, dreadful journey!” Mama Deo led him to Christ. He later moved to another province to preach the gospel there.

Even if the man wasn’t actually dead, it was still a pretty good story I thought! Mama Deo told me 2 other stories of people who were resurrected that were almost as amazing as the first one.

Because she’s so popular, Mama Deo has been persecuted by church leaders, who accuse her of splitting their churches. They’ve reported her to local authorities for having unauthorized church meetings in her house, and she has even been accused of practicing witchcraft and human sacrifice. Consequently, she’s twice been put in jail for a few days, and the authorities have locked up her house until she can obtain legal permission to continue her ministry.

Now she, her children (ages 22, 20, and 17—one is deceased), as well as 4 orphans whom she’s been caring for (ages 20, 17, 15, 11) have been forced to live with other believers who open up their homes. Mama Deo continues to pray for the sick in various locations, working undercover. I was so happy to be able to promise her $400 from Heaven’s Family’s Widows Fund to help her rent her own house, plus some additional money via our Widows Micro-Bank to help her and her children start a business that can sustain them. It’s not every day that you meet someone like Mama Deo.

From witchcraft to Christ, Procaire Bucumi is enjoying true life in Christ. Pictured here with her sixth child, Dusenge Pacifique

Procaire Bucumi lives in Kayanza Province of Burundi in the agricultural village of Musave. She was married to a witchcraft doctor, and legally, she still is, although they are now separated. Procaire converted from witchcraft to Christ a little over a year ago through a woman of God who continues to disciple her. I spent time with her today to listen to her story.

Procaire’s husband was not pleased with her new life—a total turnaround from witchcraft to Christ—especially when she told him that God does not want him to make his living practicing witchcraft. He argued that if he stopped his profession of his witchcraft, they would all starve for lack of an income. She countered that if he repented, God would bless them and take care of their needs somehow. He ultimately accused her of driving his customers away, and he angrily drove her and their six children, ages 1 to 14, out of their home, taunting her by saying, “Let’s see if your God will take care of you now!” Her husband has since provided her and their children with no support and has a woman living with him. He still practices witchcraft.

A neighbor, a single mother with three children, was the only one who would open her home to shelter Procaire and her children. But there were two problems. That neighbor’s house consists of only two small rooms, so it is a tight fit for two adults and nine children. Moreover, the woman who opened up her home makes her living as a prostitute, which often reduces the living quarters to just one room for ten people. Worse, Procaire has found herself being accosted by drunken men who frequent the house. The woman with whom she lives has tried to pressure her to earn some much-needed money by also selling her body. However, coming from withchcraft to Christ, Procaire knows that she is a new creation in Christ and that her body is His temple.

Procaire is also a disciple of Jesus Christ (as are all true believers). In the last year, she has led six others to Christ, and together, they are going door-to-door spreading the gospel in their village of 3,000 people. Each of Procaire’s disciples have led three to five others to the Lord, and they all regularly meet to pray, admonish and encourage one another.

Procaire told me that one reason that people have rejected her and her message is because they think she is a prostitute, as she lives in a prostitute’s house. She also told me that her three oldest children, all of school age, have had to drop out of school for lack of school fees. And they simply don’t have enough food to eat.

I had the feeling that Procaire was one of the reasons I’m here in Burundi, and since her husband taunted her by saying, “Let’s see if your God will take care of you now!” I thought we ought to help him see what Procaire’s God would do. So I gave her some HF funds to meet her immediate food needs and get her three children back in school. I also decided that I would yield to the long-standing request of the director of Heaven’s Family’s Widows Fund (my wife, Becky), and change the name of that fund to the Widows and Abandoned Mothers Fund. With that, I was able to promise Procaire $400 so she can pay six month’s rent on a house of her own and purchase some domestic necessities. On top of that, through our just-established Burundi Widows Micro-Bank, I was also able to offer her a $400 loan to start a small shop in order to support herself and her children.

Procaire told me that she knows that as she seeks first God’s kingdom, He will supply all that she needs. Amen.

The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; but He thwarts the way of the wicked (Psa. 146:9).

Salvator Habarugira

One of the pastors attending our conference here in Burundi is Salvator Habarugira, pictured above. He was formerly working for an American evangelical denomination (which I will leave unnamed), pastoring a subsidized church in a good-sized village in Kirundo Province. His salary (funded by the U.S. denomination) was $60 per month, very good money for where he lives. Most of the people in that region are very poor village field workers, who are often paid, not with money, but with what they harvest three times a year for landowners. (War-torn Burundi has the lowest per capita gross income in the world.)

Salvator had a crisis of conscience. It bothered him that offerings given by his 300 church members had to be turned over to the regional bishop—who seemed to be spending it all on himself. It also bothered him that nothing was used to help widows and orphans, of which there are many due to years of civil war. And it disturbed him that his denomination would not permit him to evangelize outside of his church building.

God was working. A Heaven’s Family-sponsored national missionary named Bienvenu Bizimana held a pastors’ conference in Salvator’s province in April of 2009. The topic was “The Disciple-Making Minister,” and Salvator received a book with that same title. What he learned confirmed what his heart had been telling him. He sought God for some time and then announced to his congregation that, out of conviction from God, he was resigning his position, but that he would still like to be their pastor. From then on, however, he would be making disciples in homes and serving the poor.

Fifty of his sheep followed him. Others were seriously considering it. What happened next is difficult to believe, but I questioned Salvator and two other witnesses to verify it.

Angry that Salvator split one of their churches, denominational leaders paid local police to stop him. Those police came to his home during a prayer meeting and accused everyone of an “illegal meeting.” (Burundi has freedom of religion, but only as long as you are part of a recognized denomination.) The police beat and kicked everyone present and hauled them to jail. One of the saints had to be hospitalized, and he died within days from his injuries. The rest of the saints weren’t released from jail for two weeks.

That was just the beginning. When Salvator was released from jail, he found that all his possessions had been confiscated. Six months later, he was arrested again for illegal church gatherings. This time he spent an entire month in jail. He still has marks on his skin where the police rifle butts caused deep injuries. Yet Salvator stayed true to his calling, and after his release kept preaching the gospel and planting scores of churches in villages of his region. And jealous denominational leaders became more determined to stop him.

When Salvator was released after yet a third incarceration, he learned that the police had been paid to kill him. So he fled with his wife and seven children to another district in his province where he now lives.

In spite of all his persecution, in the past year Salvator has planted 36 churches.

I asked Salvator how much money has come through his hands since the beginning of this year. He told me. It was the equivalent of 30 U.S. dollars.

I asked him how he and his family survived. He said that church members share their food and clothing as much as they can, but most of them are very poor (unbelievably poor by Western standards).

I asked him if any of his children went to school. He said that none of them do because he can’t afford the small school fees.

I asked him how I could help him. He told me that if he had a bicycle, it would help him reach more villages with the gospel.

Hearing that, I decided in my heart to buy him a bicycle and send him $25 each month to support his ministry (not with money from Heaven’s Family, but personally). If anyone else wants to join me in this exceptional opportunity, please send me an email at David [at] HeavensFamily.org. I’ll be happy to share my national missionary with you! Together, we can help Salvator spread the gospel and plant churches in unreached villages of Burundi.

I wish I could tell you the stories of the many other Christian leaders at our conference—both men and women—whose testimonies are equally as amazing as Salvator’s. I spent much of the day today fighting back tears as I listened to their stories. —- David

Dieudonne and Diana Kayobera in front of their cell phone recharging kiosk

I spent part of my first full day in Burundi visiting micro-loan beneficiaries, two of whom are Dieudonne and Diana Kayobera, followers of Jesus. I met Dieudonne the last time I was in Burundi, and he then had a thriving potato business that he started with his first loan from our Burundi micro-bank. The local government, however, later shut his business down, because he, along with a scores of others, was selling in an unapproved market place. Dieudonne went crying to his pastor. His potato business had been doing so well, and the good location had been a major factor. His pastor encouraged him to pray and ask the Lord for wisdom.

And that is what Dieudonne did. Before long he believed the Lord gave him an inspired idea. He would open a kiosk where people who have no electricity could recharge their cell phones (which seem to be owned by everyone in Africa). From that kiosk, he would also offer phone call service and sell mobile phones and accessories.

With his remaining profits from his defunct potato business and a second loan of $400, Dieudonne gathered all he needed and set up shop along a very busy road in the capital city of Bujumbura. And the end of the story is that the phone business is better than the potato business. Dieudonne and his wife Diana often realize daily sales of $40, a major portion of which is profit. They feel rich, and use a good part of their profits to “help the poor.”

I so enjoy visiting joyful and prospering entrepreneurs like Dieudonne and Diana. And I’m always amazed how a tiny loan can make such a big difference in the lives of the poor. There are at least twenty other borrowers here in Burundi, and I wish I was going to have time to visit them all. But I won’t. Tomorrow we begin our three-day pastors’ conference.

Thanks for your prayers,

David

Inside their kiosk. To the left of Dieudonne and Diana are about thirty cell phones that are all being simultaneously recharged.