$6,100.00
$12,000.00
Help the Rwandan Churches to Open Again!!
The Rwandan government has forced 8,600 churches across the nation to close, due to wanting them to modernize their bathrooms. This is DEVISTATING to the local Christians. We estimate a cost of $3000 for each of our 4 church partners there to build toilets that will satisfy the government. Can you help them? We need $12,000 total. Let's see what we can do, Church!!!
Today the Rwandan government announced the closing of 8,600 churches across the country, in the name of forced modernization. Please pray for our brothers and sisters there during this difficult time! This includes 4 of our 5 partner churches: in Gahanga, Nyaraguru, Nyemesheke, and Cyanika where our Sponsored Kids meet!
In Africa, this is a big deal! The churches are open everyday for prayer, Bible studies, community events (weddings, funerals, and English lessons, artisan craft coops), and multiple church services and prayer meetings throughout the week! It’s devastating to Christians.
The government did the same thing 5 years ago, insisting on windows that seal to keep the worship music in, the building of parking lots (for all of the cars that people don’t have), new paint, carpet, church names painted on the building, etc…
It took several months and $1000s to get our 5 partner churches back open again. In fact, we had to build a new building for our bustling tent church! That took years! Years of not being able to gather and worship together! And then there was the emotional roller coaster of “Now it’s open!… now it’s closed again… now it’s open!…now it’s closed.”
This time, the government’s target item is flushing toilets, like we have here in the West. Which sounds great, but our governments actually provide the infrastructure to support that kind of thing! Every single home, business, and church here is provided access to city water and sewer lines. They don’t have that there! Yes, they can capture rain water, but it doesn’t rain all the time. And what about the sewage?! It will fill up their holes faster and you can’t just pick up and move the concrete to a new hole.
So let’s join together and pray for mercy and leniency from the government toward all of the churches and for creative ideas on how to solve this problem!
Also, I’ve talked with Bishop Alfred about our partner churches and we estimate construction costs of about $3000 each to build modern toilets. This will hopefully satisfy the authorities and allow the churches to open back up for worship. So with 4 churches closed = $12,000 total needed.
