Gihinda Muyaga

Church leaders, my watchman in the center

Sunday I had the great blessing of preaching at a village church outside of Butare. The congregation is an evangelistic outreach of the large Presbyterian Kinyarwanda congregation near PIASS. This worship space is up the mountain from the city (but then in “the land of a thousand hills,” everything is up the mountain or down the mountain). The congregation is served by a student from PIASS and he is the one who invited me to preach. He and my watchman escorted me as we traveled on the back of motorcycle taxis off the tarmac road, onto a dirt road and then to a dirt trail up the mountain about 7 miles. I have taken motorcycle taxis around Butare, but never up into the mountains. This in itself was an experience.

The church building

Once there, we could see for miles around us. The student pastor and the senior elder escorted me around the grounds the church owns and explained the history. In 2010 the senior elder and a few of the elders from the main church, including my watchman, gathered with a few Christians from the area for worship and then house to house visitation. Soon they had 25 believers and began worship in a small house they rented. When the numbers grew, the owner of the house evicted them, saying they were too large a group for the small house. They continued the evangelistic outreach as they sought another house for worship. As their numbers swelled to 50, eviction came again. They determined that they needed a place of their own for worship. They found land and took a loan from the Presbytery to purchase it. As they paid off the loan, they worshiped in the open air, but on their own land. No one could evict them.  All the time, their numbers were growing. With the first loan paid for, they took another to build a church for worship. The walls, roof and windows are now complete. They have a few wooden benches and a table for a worship center. When there is an overflow, as there frequently is, they sit on mats on the floor. They now have over 100 members and 3 choirs (a sign of growth and commitment). The elder, my student and my watchman were so excited to share worship with me. I was thrilled to be there.

Praise of the women's choir

There is no vestry, so we organized the service and I robed behind the church building, in the open air. They hope to build a free-standing church office in the future, but that is not the priority now. Now their goal is to pay off the loan and then cement the floor, build more benches and bring electricity to the area. We entered the building to great singing and dancing by the choirs. The service was filled with praise and joyful singing. As one of the choirs led singing, I looked closely at the choir leader. She smiled at me. It was my housekeeper, Josephine. I learned later that she comes down the mountain every weekday to care for me and my house. I was humbled to see the commitment and leadership of both my house staff in this small church. After the Spirit-filled 2 ½ hour worship service, we had a meal together with the elders and I heard more of their plans for the future. They have such faith and optimism about what God will do in them and through them in this area. It is not just the building, but the outreach and fellowship. The elders and deacons have begun a savings and loan group to help each other develop their lives. Part of this is tithing to the church as well. They are forming a caring community on the side of the mountain. Many of these things are happening in many places around the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda. What impressed me was the spirit of joy. It is reflected in the name of the church. Before, the site was know as the place of wind, because of its location on the top of the hill. Now it is called Gihinda Muyaga, place of praise. They praise God with their whole beings.