DCPI in Rwanda!

Last week we held our first Dynamic Church Planting International training in Rwanda. We had 21 Pastors that completed the Church Planting Essentials track and they were so excited about the training.   DCPI's vision is to equip church planters to plant 5 million dynamic churches all over the world.  The head pastor of the denomination said that in over 20 years of planting churches, he has never learned the things he learned last week as a result of the training.

"We as a group of churches have been doing things one way for so long and now we know that we need to change our thinking and our actions in church planting because of this DCPI training."
                                                                                                         - Bishop Enoch Dusingizimana

Matt and Bishop Enoch, head of Community of Christian Churches of Africa

This group of churches (Community of Christian Churches of Africa) that first contacted the DCPI office in Oceanside, California has over 300 churches in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo - and they all want church planting training. These churches are a Baptist denomination focused on fulfilling the Great Commission. Praise God!

As a result of the training, they want to plant at least 50 new churches in the next 2 years!

Pastor Jean De Dieu who first contacted us at DCPI.
I had the opportunity to preach at his church 2 weeks ago. 

Pastors here in East Africa have very little access to training and so we are so thankful to all of our supporters and churches who provide financially for us to be here.

The first week of May I will be doing a Pastors training for over 30 pastors with some friends with Global Training Network who will be in country for the week.

One of the aspects of the Church Planting Essentials training is having each participant do a VPT (Vision, Plan, Timeline) and then present it at the end of the training. Pastor Jean De Dieu (pictured right) planted a church 10 months ago and he wants to plant another church a few kilometers from his church plant. This new church will be located between two Mosques. Many pastors would shy away from an area like this because of their fear of Muslims - but not Pastor Jean de Dieu, he believes that Christ died for everybody and so everybody deserves to be invited to trust Christ. Islam in Rwanda is on the rise. In 1995, the Muslim population was 0.2% and now it is at 5%. Pastor Jean de Dieu wants to reach the people of this neighborhood with the hope of Christ!

The church in Rwanda is growing and strong. There are so many pastors I speak with everyday that are sensing that revival is coming. There are so many challenges that churches face here. Please continue to pray for churches and pastors to lead people to Christ and help people experience the joy of following Jesus.

Grace and Peace

Matt


...more pictures of the training

Pastors from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Pastors working together on building a Discipleship Process

Pastors sharing their vision for church planting with each other

Church Planting Training in Rwanda

Training Manual for Church Planting Essentials

Dynamic Church Planting International has a vision to equip leaders to plant 5 million dynamic churches to reach the world for Christ. In June of 2012,  I (Matt)  became a certified trainer with DCPI and just a few weeks ago I completed my training to be certified as a Master Trainer with DCPI. This now means that in addition to doing trainings for church planters, I can certify trainers to help DCPI reach their global vision of helping church planters start 5 million dynamic churches. 

One of the things that we teach in our training is that church planting is the best thing you will ever do and the hardest thing you will ever do. Having being a part of helping plant two different churches in the United States, I will say that is absolutely true. 

Here in Rwanda there are lots of pastors that want to start churches but they have no training. This is why DCPI exists! We are so thankful that we can help pastors here in Rwanda and all over East Africa by providing free training. There is a denomination of Baptist churches that I am working with to provide this training. They have over 300 churches in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also have contacts in Mozambique and Kenya that want me to come and provide training there as well. God is opening up SO MANY doors for ministry with DCPI for us here. Thank you for all of you who are praying for this training that will begin on Monday of next week. This first training will be for 25 key leaders within these churches. We will then make a training calendar to go all over East Africa to do training in 3 different tracks that I am certified to teach: Church Planting Essentials, Churches Planting Churches and Becoming a Mentor. 

The training we provide is free to the participants, but it does cost us some money out of our personal funds. The cost of a training for 25 people is about $200. This includes a printed manual and the cost of providing a meal each day for each pastor during the training. If you would like to help defray the cost of this for us, you can click on the link below and donate. 

Donate to Church Planting Training

Next week we will post pictures and stories and updates from the training. We will introduce you to some of these leaders and their stories of faith and how God is working in their lives. 

Grace and Peace to you,

The Nash's

How To Change A Country

When you train a pastor, 

you change a church.

When you change a church, 

you change a community.

When you change a community, 

you change a country.

One of our biggest ministries that we are involved with here in Rwanda is Africa College of Theology. It began in January of this year to provide theological education and solid Biblical training to current Pastors here in Rwanda as well as students that want to go into ministry. 

Pictured with me in this photo is one of my students. His name is Hassan Isaac. He is 29 years old and from Uganda. Both of his parents are Muslims. Isaac began business school at the urging of his parents but when he realized that it was not the right fit for him, he quit school. He is a Christian and believed that God was calling him to go into full time pastoral ministry. He shared this with his parents and they kicked him out of the house. 

He came to Rwanda to live with his uncle and began attending a local church. He told his pastor of his calling and his pastor raised the money for him to become a student at Africa College of Theology. He started the first term when classes began on January 28th and is absolutely loving every minute of it. 

One of the assignments in my New Testament Survey class was that each student had to give a 10 minute sermon. Isaac preached for 14 minutes and it was POWERFUL! This young man has a gift for understanding God's Word and being able to proclaim it to others. I could have listened to him preach for an hour (however, I had 25 other students to listen to that night). 

Our motto at our school is, "Training Redemptive Servant Leaders." When you train a person you are giving them tools. God wants to take those tools and change churches, change communities and change countries. 

90% of pastors that are living in Rwanda have no formal theological training or education. This is wrong and it needs to change. 

Through the ministry of Africa New Life (www.africanewlife.org) we are providing training for men and women that are called to ministry. 

Will you pray for them? 

True change will take place when more leaders are given the tools to do what God has called them to do. This is how you change a country!

Grace and Peace to you,

Matt, Jeana and Emma Nash

Pray for Rwanda

Welcome to Adventures in Africa! This is our ministry blog and we will be updating it quite regularly with pictures, videos and stories about our ministry here in Rwanda and East Africa.

This week in Rwanda is known as "Memorial Week." Each year since the horrific genocide of 1994, Rwanda takes a week to hold meetings and services to remember the events of the past tragedy.

Although this is a somber way to start a ministry blog - we want to give you a window into what took place here 19 years ago. Much of our ministry is shaped by this event. Pastors and church leaders are trying to help people recover, reconcile and forgive one another.  Some Rwandan friends of ours have written a good description about Rwanda's history and so we want to share it with you in the hope that it will lead you to pray for Rwanda. Pray also for us as we serve the people here.

Grace and Peace to you,

Matt, Jeana and Emma Nash

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -             Rwanda History

In 1994, the swiftest genocide in history took place in Rwanda. More than 800,000 people were killed in just 90 days. The brutality is unfathomable to us today. Hutu and Tutsi, Rwanda’s two most dominant ethnic groups at the time of the genocide, warred against each other. During Belgian colonization in the early 1900s, the minority Tutsis were given favor and considered superior to the majority Hutus. As a result, Tutsis benefited from better jobs and educational opportunities.

Hutu resentment built up. In 1959, more than 20,000 Tutsis were killed by angry Hutus. Thousands of Tutsis fled Rwanda and settled in neighboring countries: Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, Burundi. In 1962, when Belgium pulled out of Rwanda, the Hutus took over the government. With the Hutus in power, the minority Tutsis were blamed for every problem and crisis in the country. Political tension increased.

Tutsi refugees—with support from some moderate Hutus—in Uganda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) with an aim to overthrow the then-current President, Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, and return to their home country. In an effort to improve his waning popularity, President Habyarimana exploited the RPF’s threat. As a result, Tutsis still living in Rwanda were accused of being RPF collaborators and were mistreated. In April 1994, President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down. No one knows who actually ordered the assassination.

Regardless, the assassination was then blamed on the RPF and the killing spree began. Overnight, roadblocks were put up and thousands were armed with machetes, guns and clubs. Three months later, 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been slaughtered. In July 1994, the RPF captured Kigali. With this shift in power, a ceasefire was declared and the genocide was over. About two million Hutus fled the country to Congo.

Between 250,000 and 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 genocide, which is believed to be the cause of the AIDS epidemic in Rwanda. Due to the genocide and the ensuing HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than 600,000 orphans lived in Rwanda by 2001. Additionally, there was virtually no psychological care for anyone in Rwanda after the genocide.

There is camaraderie in similar experience, regardless of the devastating nature. The people of Rwanda bound together in the aftermath of the genocide. Today they are filled with joy, filled with love. Rwanda’s people are reconciling, forgiving, growing, and overcoming.

Since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda is rebuilding itself. Many people involved in the genocide were tried and put to death or imprisoned. The educational system is strengthening. The economy is rapidly growing. There is reconciliation in Rwanda.

For More Information about Rwanda and Her story, please check out these great resources

BOOKS

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda      by Philip Gourevitch

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Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust                                                                 by Immaculee Ilibagiza

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A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It                                                       by Stephen Kinzer

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FILMS

As We Forgive

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Sometimes in April

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