August 27, 2005
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Talk about putting your faith into action! I’m not quite sure how I feel about this…but this is about as far-reaching as it comes. What think you(all)?
Time Magazine
Warren of Rwanda
The best-selling megapastor wants to turn the genocide site into the first “purpose-driven nation”
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Aug. 22, 2005
“Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, is not known for hugging pastors. Catholic and Protestant clergy have been convicted in connection with the genocide in his country in 1994, and Kagame has repeatedly stated his disdain for religious organizations. Thus a buzz went up in Kigali’s Amahoro Stadium last month when Kagame allowed Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback megachurch in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of the best-selling The Purpose-Driven Life, to throw an arm over his shoulders and “pray for the President.”
In fact, their bond now extends well beyond prayerful embrace. Kagame has committed his government to cooperation in a five-to-seven-year self-sufficiency project staffed by Rwandan volunteers but initiated, advised and at least partly funded by Warren’s network of “purpose-driven churches.” Warren talks of turning Rwanda into “the first purpose-driven nation.”
For months the clergyman has alluded in general terms to an immense volunteer effort called the PEACE plan, aimed at transforming 400,000 churches in 47 nations into centers to nurse, feed and educate the poor and even turn them into entrepreneurs. Its details remain unknown, but its Rwandan element seems to have outrun the rest. Warren says he was “looking for a small country where we could actually work on a national model,” and Kagame, impressed by The Purpose-Driven Life, volunteered Rwanda in March. In July Warren and 48 other American Evangelicals, who have backgrounds in areas like health, education, micro-enterprises and justice, held intensive planning meetings with Rwandan Cabinet ministers, governors, clergy and entrepreneurs. One dinner was attended by a third of the Rwandan Parliament. Says Scott Moreau, a professor of missiology at Wheaton College in Illinois: “I’ve never heard of this level of cooperation in the last 100 years between any megachurch, mission agency or even a denomination and a national government.”………………..
Rwandan officials are eager to get started. “The program seems like something that will lift our country in many ways,” says Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports Joseph Habineza. The project also enjoys the moral support of White House faith-based initiatives czar James Towey, who says, “In the past, government has been indifferent or hostile toward efforts such as this one. That is not the case with this Administration.”
Yet there are some skeptics. Many missions professionals regard short-term site visits by faith-driven amateurs as inefficient. Then there is the program’s improvisational aura. “I’m cheering ‘em on,” says Wheaton’s Moreau. “In Africa, programs appearing well connected can instantly attract a mass of people. But I wonder how many at Saddleback have the cross-cultural experience to convert that [enthusiasm] to feet on the ground.” Says Furaha Mugisha, editor of the Rwandan newspaper Umuseso: “I think [Warren] has good intentions. Some people may benefit. But he is not different from other pastors we have seen. You won’t hear much about his plan after the rally.”
University student Antoinette Mukashema is hopeful. “There are lots of people promising to move mountains and change lives,” she allows. “Often I don’t trust them. But this guy has a workable plan. Let us give him time and see.” –With reporting by Gabriel Gabiro/Kigali”
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Along with others, I am hoping that Warren and his team are able to carry this through..the goal is laudable; I have some long-standing biases re: church-government alliances, details seem sketchy, and I don’t want to see an effort in the name of Christ fail, and give non-christians another stumbling block to faith …but I’m willing/hoping to see the possibilities for change that seem possible.
Again, what think you? Good? Bad? Crazy? Lofty?
Be His…Jim
Comments (11)
agreed. but faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains… so lets get it moving! we need to pray!
Interesting and hypocritcal and interestingly hypocritical. And hard to spell.
How so? hypocritical, that is (your spelling is fine).I’d like to hear more of what you’re thinking…as I said, I have some serious concerns about the church getting together with the government, but it seems like what they want to do is good…they’re talking about food and nutrition programs, health care, working to help facilitate a fair justice system, build the economy through individual enterprise…part of what I excluded included some of that ; it might have helped. I’m interested in your perspective on this …..Jim
If this program is a way that the gospel of Christ will gain a venue, then it is well worth all the time, money and energy that will be poured into it, and with so many Christians involved that may well be one of the outcomes.
RYC: Now you’re making me blush
I worked a long time on the first part. It just wouldn’t come together. I thought about just erasing it, but there were pieces I wanted to keep. I just wasn’t satisfied with them. I’m no happier with it and hope someone will rescue it for me.
No, I meant the government was hypocritical, not the Church.
luckyfreecoin…got it!…I wondered about that myself…only time will tell if those (in the government, including Kagame) previously involved in the terrors of the past, and now claiming to be different, are indeed changed.
They’re planning something, I know it.
Might just be the irrepressible cynic in me, but I’m inclined to agree with Luckyfreecoin. When I see political leaders of any group or nation cozying up to the church when it is not their MO always makes me think they are simply being manipulative and exploiting the good will (and desire to give, to help, to evangelize) of the church.
I have no idea what to think, though the article is certainly interesting. I can’t say that I ever expected Rick Warren’s popularity to extend to Rwanda politics.
By the way, I have appreciated your comments on my Xanga and on those of others I’ve read. You have a way of encouraging people that is truly commendable.
luckyfreecoin/breath_of_dawn…that’s the thing that is nagging at me about this….I’ve done mission work in countries where the government has abused the people and plundered the nation’s resources while extending their own power…and even though the faces in office change, decade after decade the pattern doesn’t change.
fishtree: I was surprised by this direction from RW as well.Thank you for your kind words…they mean a lot to me.
God’s Peace…Jim