tac spring 2009
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
1/16
S E R V I N G A F R I C A S C H U R C H E S R E A C H I N G A F R I C A S P E O P L E S | I S S U E O N E 2 0 0 9
THE MAGAZINE OF AIM INTERNATIONAL
NEW
DESIG
N
How can we not lose heart? Thisis the question asked by manyater the Rwandan genocide.
So we o notose ha
www.aimint.org/eu
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
2/16
2
European Director,
Andrew Chardintroduces himself,
praising God for
the good numbers
of people coming
forward for service,the mobilising team
he works with and
for those serving on
the various fields.
Connected
SPRING 2009
The Arican
Connection:
The magazine o
Aim International
in Europe.
AIM INTERNATIONAl
F 1895 as Afcaia Mss, Amiaa s a aca
Csa mss ac
s acss Afca, a
ms Afcas
ep a n Amca. w
k pasp
Afca cc ac Afcas
ac pps
g ns f jss Cs, a
p as f fas-
Cc.
CONTACT
eopa haqas
Am iaa
hafa Pacnam ng1 1Qn
u Km
0115 9838 120
Sola
0845 270 4416
ila
028 9045 3497
noh egla &
noh Wals
0845 270 4415
Soh egla &
Soh Wals
0845 270 4418
nhlas
fa
here is always a degree
o awkwardness about
introducing onesel
to an audience in which there
are many who know you well
and many who dont know you
at all.
Having been accepted
into ull membership o Aim
International in 1993, I have,
together with Rachel my wieand our three children, been
part o the missions network
here in the UK and in East
Arica. During that time I
have moved with the mission
through the changes that have
taken place in that time, in the
UK and in Aims world-wide
amily. I will have met some o
you at conerences or perhaps
visited your church or prayer
group. o meet one another
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | CONNECTEd
Photo:On-feldmeida
Photo:On-feldmeida
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
3/16
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
4/16
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
5/16
5
Ihad begun to ear that
I was now desensitized
to what happened here
in 1994, but as I sat listening
to Phanuels interview, thesoness o his voice and the
apparent absence o emotion as
he spoke belied the enormity
o what he was saying. During
the Rwandan genocide, I lost
my parents and most o my
brothers and sisters. It was a
terrible day or me. I suddenly
elt a horror that mind-
numbing statistics a million
dead in three months and
visits to memorials had not
stirred in me or a long time.
Phanuel went on to explain
how his own horror and ear
had quickly turned into despair
and resignation: I wanted tobe killed too, because I didnt
want to keep on seeing keep
on remembering my brothers
being killed. It was painul.
I wished I was killed at that
time. And as the interview
drew to an end, I ound
mysel asking the same
question that Phanuel had
asked himsel many times
during those days: How can
we not lose heart?
Bruce Rossington
talks about the
Rwanda Institute ofEvangelical Theology
and how it is striving
to help heal the
deep wounds of
genocide.
heart
So we donot lose
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | SO WE dO NOT lOSE HEART
Photo:On-feldmeida
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
6/16
6
Photos o genocide victims at amemorial in Rwanda.
Photo:On-feldmeida
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
7/16
7
The college exists to enable itsstudents to mature as disciples oJesus Christ.
Rwanda has come a long
way since 1994. As you descend
into Kigali international
airport, the sun glints o the
corrugated roos that decorate
rolling hillsides, and many
people on the plane will leave
the country a couple o weeks
later convinced that Rwanda
itsel is a glimmer o light in
a dark continent that oen
seems to make the headlines
or the wrong reasons.
Signicant aid money and
oreign investment are drivingan ambitious development
programme that is producing
tangible results in health,
education and inrastructure,
but those who stay here or any
length o time soon become
aware o a heaviness in the
atmosphere that cannot be
solely attributed to the tropical
climate. Clouds o a dierent
variety still hang over Rwanda.
Te annual week o mourning
remembers the dead but also
traumatizes many o the living,
and there are daily reminders
o the genocide in the war o
words with France and the war
o attrition a ew miles over the
border in Eastern Congo, where
the humanitarian catastrophe
caused by ethnically-motivated
ghting has claimed 5,000,000
(yes, thats ve million) lives
since 1998. How can we not
lose heart?
Perhaps a better question
is how can we lose heart, when
there are Rwandans who reuse
to do so, despite all that they
have suered? Rather than
blame God or their problems,
many Rwandans look to Him
or solutions and recognize
the need to depend on Him
in a way that they never have
beore - 90% o the country was
Christian beore 1994, but toomany churches now serve as
memorials or that statistic to
be taken seriously.
Heres a statistic that should
be taken seriously only 5%
o the countrys prolierating
evangelical churches have
a pastor with any kind o
theological training. Tis is
a problem in most Arican
countries, but it seems to be
particularly acute in Rwanda
where the very events that led
to a new spiritual openness
have deprived the country o
the people best placed to ll
in the blanks. A generation o
pastors who were not prepared
to condone genocide either ell
or fed in 1994.
By 2001, the Church was
starting to look orwards
instead o backwards, and
the scale o the task ahead o
them became apparent. We
realized that we needed our
own college, says Pastor
Only 5% o the countrys
prolierating evangelical churches
have a pastor with any kind o
theological training
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | SO WE dO NOT lOSE HEART
Photo:On-feldmeid
a
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
8/16
8
Karangwa, President o the
Evangelical Alliance o Rwanda,
a grouping o thirty dierent
evangelical denominations. In a
country inamous or division,
this bold demonstrationo vision and unity was
something that Aim elt
compelled to encourage,
and we agreed to partner
with the Alliance as they
developed a acility to
equip church leaders or
the unique challenges o
ministering to post-genocide
Rwanda. Slowly but surely,
the Facult de Tologie
Evanglique au Rwanda
(FAER) has grown in size and
eectiveness. It is now in its
third set o rented premises,
teaching evening classes in the
classrooms o a local school
and using the conerence room
o a neighbouring church or
offi ce space and a library. Te
plywood partitioning gives
our accommodation a very
temporary eel and it will soon
be time or us to move on
again. With a growing library,
aculty and student body (now
up to 62) we are working
closely together in every sense,
and we desperately need our
own set o premises. You haveto see the unny side when
your lesson is drowned out by a
rainstorm or when you see the
older students using torches to
read their exam papers in the
gloom provided by a couple o
60W bulbs, but i we are serious
about training men and women
to lead Rwandas churches, then
we have to aspire to something
better than this.
And so we nd ourselves on
the brink o some momentous
changes in the lie o the college.
As Rwanda joins the East
Arican Community and the
Commonwealth, we are going
to have to teach in English as
well as French and we are now
known as Te Rwanda Instituteo Evangelical Teology, as
well as FAER. o make this
transition we need to recruit
English language teachers and
we are also looking to take on
additional theology lecturers.
We are keen to maintain the
balance o Rwandan and expat
sta that we currently have,
with a view to the college being
led by a Rwandan principal
within a ew years.
During the Rwandan genocide,Phanuel lost his parents and mosto his brothers and sisters. He nowteaches at the college.
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | SO WE dO NOT lOSE HEART
SO We dO nOt LOSeHeArt fiLM
To n ot more abot
Phane an the work othe Rwana Institte o
Evangeica Theoogy, watch
a vieo onine at:
www.aimint.org/eu/riet
Photo:On-feldmeida
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
9/16
9
Other challenges
include the need to pursue
accreditation and to move
ahead with the building project.
We currently have a piece o
land and a set o plans, but the
realization o those plans is in
the Lords hands. We are keen
or the Evangelical Alliance
to be the driving orce behind
the colleges development,
but as they seek to raise
money rom local churches,
we recognize the need to
partner with them and give
Christians rom around the
world the opportunity to invest
in something that will help
to establish Gods kingdom
in Rwanda and to empower
the Rwandan Church to look
beyond its own borders to the
unreached peoples o Arica.
At times the challenges
that lie ahead seem daunting
and I am tempted to ask mysel
that question: how can we not
lose heart? But then I look at
one o my students, Gratien,
a pastor in his ies, who did
not lose heart when the militia
hammered on the doors o his
church and demanded the lives
o the 300 people that he was
sheltering there. I remember
what Gratien told me abouthow his time at the college has
transormed his ministry and
given him a new condence
to teach Gods Word to those
who are oen tempted to lose
heart. And I look at Phanuel,
who ound the answer to his
own question and is now back
in Rwanda.
Gratien, a pastor in his fties,who did not lose heart when the
militia hammered on the doors o
his church
the rwAndA inStitute oF evAngeliCAl theology
The Rwana Institte o Evangeica Theoogyis now eight years o. The vision or theschoo came rom the Evangeica Aiance o
Rwana, a boy which embraces between 20 an
30 chrch enominations an a ew para-chrch
organisations, an is aiate to the Association
o Evangeicas o Arica (AEA). A nmber o
its member chrches et the nee o training
or their own eaership an, oowing some
constation with Aim Internationa, ecie to
work together in the setting p o a theoogica
schoo rather than each trying to estabish their
own.
The Rwana Institte o Evangeica
Theoogy (RIET) exists to enabe its stents to
matre as iscipes o Jess Christ, in orer to
become shers o men (Matthew 4:19), an so
to participate in Gos mission by themseves
making iscipes o a nations (Matthew 28:18-20).
To fnd out more about the Rwanda Institute o
Evangelical Theology or or inormation on giving to
this project, visit out website at:
www.aimint.org/eu/riet
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | SO WE dO NOT lOSE HEART
Bruce Rossington
is married to Jan
and they have
three children, Zo,
Martha and Joseph.
Bruce is involved in leadership andteaching at the Rwanda Institute o
Evangelical Theology.
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
10/16
10
L
iving in a big European
city is a ar cry rom
village lie in the Indian
Ocean islands. In winter, whenthe icy wind is blowing down
rom the Alps, I stay inside
most o the time and long or
the tropical sun and reedom
o lie outdoors back on the
islands. When I came here to
France, I was running away
rom two ailed marriages and
seeking a new start. Now 12
years later, I am married again
and have our children born
here.
We live in an apartment on
the tenth foor o a 20 storey
high rise block in an area o
the city where vandalism andevery other crime imaginable
are everyday occurrences. I
oen wonder what will become
o my children in their teenage
years. Much as I would like,
I cannot provide them with
the same sae and secure
environment that I had back on
the islands.
We live as simply as
possible here so that I can send
money back to my mother
FriendSreunited
The crime ridden
streets of the big
European city are
a far cry from her
tropical island home.
Yet, a meeting
with an old Aim
missionary friend
reminds her of Isa
More and more Aricans are movingto big European cities, thousands o
miles rom where they were born.
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | FRIENdS REuNITEd
Photo:On-fe
ldmeida
MarcoAnnunziata2009,
Someright
sreserved
http://creativecommons.o
rg/licenses/by/2.0
/deed.e
n_
GB
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
11/16
11
who is caring or my two other
children. My husband works
in a Centre set up to help our
island people. It turns out that
there is an Irish lady living
just across the street. She hascalled in a ew times to speak
to my husband and the others
who run the Centre. When he
told me about her and that she
used to work at the hospital
near my village, I could hardly
take it in. I just knew this was
the same person I had got to
know way back 20 years ago
when I was at High School. Te
rst time we met was when I
was walking home rom school
one day. She greeted me in my
mother tongue and asked i
I would help her to learn our
island language. It was a rather
unusual request as most o theoreigners were not remotely
interested in speaking anything
other than French.
We worked out a deal -
she helped me with English
in return or my helping her
learn the island language. I
really enjoyed those language
lessons. Aer the language
part, we discussed all sorts o
things and she oen talked
about Isa (Jesus). It was as i
she knew him personally. Tat
seemed a bit strange to me
and certainly not something
which was talked about in the
Koran. I remember the day
I told her that I was getting
married. Her response was
to congratulate me and then
I just burst into tears. It was
an arranged marriage and the
man I was to marry was anuncle who was 30 years older
than me. I had been planning
to nish High School and go
to teacher training college so
this wedding was the last thing
on earth which I wanted. Tere
was no way out. Te amily had
made this decision and I had
to go through with it. We cried
together that day and then she
dutiully came along to the
ateul wedding.
Well, the other day we
actually met up again at the
Centre. It was as i those 20
years just disappeared. Seems
like God has brought us
together again. She tells me
that she is translating the Bible
into my mother tongue andshowed me a copy o the Indjil
amazing! Strangely enough it
is all about Isa.
Islamic womens ceremony
she oten talked about Isa
(Jesus). It was as i she knew him
personally.
your AFriCAn neighbour next door?
Wo yo ike some hepsharing the ove o Jesswith peope o other aiths whoive ocay?
Aim can hep yo, yor
chrch or yor grop, to
witness more conenty an
more efectivey. We can ofer
training to sit the nees o
arge or sma grops, romjst one meeting to a series o
sessions, at yor vene.
For more inormation
contact: a@amop.
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | FRIENdS REuNITEd
Photo:On-feldme
ida
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
12/16
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
13/16
13
VerenA
ScHAfrOtH
Verena Scharoth was
accepte into
membership at the
beginning o december.
She is rom Germany an a member o
Nantwich Eim Pentecosta Chrch in Cheshire.
Ater competing a Master o Theoogy egree
at Regents Theoogica Coege, she et the uK
in Janary to atten Arica Base Orientation.
Verena is now engage in rther Arabic
angage sty in Torit, Soth San, oowing
previos sties in Joran. Her assignment isin the area o theoogica ecation.
She sense Gos strong caing to S San
an serve there short term. Whie there she
ha the opportnity to experience ie an
ministry an see the nee in the an.
ZiLLAH WHiteHOuSeZiah grew p istening to
stories abot Arica rom her
parents an granparents
who ha worke in Zambia
an ugana an in 1994 she
vonteere as a teacher in
Kenya with Aim.
For the ast 10 years shehas worke as a physiotherapist, speciaising in
commnity work with peope with neroogica
probems.
She was invove in setting p the uK
organisation Christian Therapists Network that
spports Christians working in the Aie Heath
Proessions bt stoo own rom eaership in
2007.
Go opene the oor or Ziah to work
as a physiotherapist in ugana with Mbarara
university o Science an Technoogy. There she
wi hep set p a new physiotherapy corse as
we as have the opportnity to teach.
KAtHrYn
HOLMeS
Originay rom
lees, Kathryn
compete a egree
in physiotherapy in
Newcaste-pon-Tyne
in 1998. Two years
ater she went to
Arica an worke at the Chi Care Centre in
Kajiao, Kenya.She to Aim: Whie I ove my time in
Kenya I ha no intentions o serving in Arica
ong-term bt Go ha other pans. She then
co-e two MeiQest teams to Kenya.
Since 2006 Kathryn has been stying or
a Master o Theoogy at Beast Bibe Coege,
ocsing on hoistic meica mission in
nreache peope grops.
Kathryn wi retrn to Arica to join a
chrch-panting team on an Inian Ocean
isan, where she wi pt her physiotherapy
skis to se in the government hospita an
minister throgh iestye evangeism.
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | NEW MEMBERS
tHeA StOeL
Thea worke as a
vonteer in Ghana
bt starte to
qestion her Christian
aith in ight o her Msim riens. It was a
chaenging time, which eventay broght
her into a stronger reationship with Jess.
Ot o this came a new onging to share
her aith with others. She stie at A Nations
Christian Coege or a year an was part o
the Meiqest Team going to Kenya in 2007.
dring that time she met members o iferent
Timo Teams an throgh that Go e heron to join the Timo Team which is going to
Maagascar in Agst this year.
Thea is crrenty working as a istrict nrse
in Zwoe, The Netherans.
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
14/16
14
It was some experience
to sit under the trees
with the villagers
and hear them talk o their
openness to the gospel and
to see the changes brought to
the village as the result o the
Gospel coming to them.
Tese were the words o achurch group aer a recent visit
to the Datooga in anzania.
Why did they go? Because in
1998 they had adopted this
people group and covenanted
to pray or them. oday, Pastor
Emmanuel Shilikale pastors a
church o Datooga in a town
called Olipiru.
Te Datooga are coming
to know who Jesus is and how
He can change their lives - but
it wasnt always that way. Gene
Christian, a member o Aims
rst church planting team
among the Datooga, remarked
that the people were gripped by
ancestor worship. A sickness
would raise the question as
to what spirits were oended
and how to appease them. Amedium would be consulted to
nd out where the oense was
and what the solution would
be. Gene related that there was
power there. Tis was the type
o power that kept the Datooga
rom the reedom ound in the
Good News o Jesus Christ.
So how did it happen?
David Hennigh, who led the
rst team, remembers that his
ather had made a survey in the
The apostle Paulwrites, I always
pray with joy
because of your
partnership in the
gospel Through
the encouragment
of prayer, the
unreached Datooga
are coming to know
who Jesus is.
joyPray with
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | PRAY WITH JOY
In 1998 a church adopted the Datooga people group and
covenanted to pray for them. Today, the Datooga are coming
to know who Jesus is and how he can change their lives
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
15/16
15
1960s amongst the Sukuma. It
was during that survey that the
Datooga were discovered by
Aim, they were neighbors and
enemies o the Sukuma and
known or their viciousness.God laid the Datooga on
Davids heart and so started the
impetus to seek them out. He
began by encouraging prayer
or them through Aims Adopt
a People program. Tis led to
mobilizing a church planting
team some members being
rom the church that had
adopted the Datooga!
Its amazing that Davids
ather heard about the Datooga
because the Sukuma recognized
them as an enemy to be eared,
and yet it is Pastor Shilikale, a
Sukuma, who is now aithully
shepherding them and sharingthe Gospel with more Datooga.
It was obvious there was a lot o
prayer going on or the Datooga.
David Hennigh recently
wrote, oday, work in the
Mariwanda area amongst the
Datooga continues. Te work
at Olpiro continues to impact
that area while another work
has been started around ve
hours away in another Datooga
community.
Praise God or the way that
He is impacting the Datooga
with the hope to be ound in
Jesus!
Tis is the power o prayer
and an example o the process
God oen uses to establish
his Church amongst a people
group. Prayer is at the heart o
this process God laying on the
hearts o his servants a burden
or those outside o his eternalKingdom. Tis burden then
translates itsel into mobilizing
more people to pray, which leads
to God calling chosen individuals
to be his ambassadors to them.
And these people, backed by the
prayer o many others, results in
the display o Gods power and
purpose in transorming lives,
and birthing a new Christ-
centred community the local
church.
Imagine this process still
needs to take place amongst
the remaining 950+ Unreached
People Groups o Arica.
Aim believes whole
heartedly in this process and
that is why we want to increase
the reach and eectiveness
o mobiling prayer or the
unreached. You may be called
to be an ambassador o Christ
to one o these people groups.
Or you may be called right
now, where you are, to be an
advocate or them in prayer.
THE AfricAn CONNECTION | PRAY WITH JOY
Praise God or the way that He isimpacting the Datooga with the
hope to be ound in Jesus!
PrAY fOr AfricA
In Aim we beieve or job
isnt compete nti there is a
Christ-centre chrch among
a the peopes o Arica. Join
s in bringing the Goo Newso Jess to them.
Contact s (see inside cover) to
receive prayer materia & visit
www.payaa.
A Church among the Datooga
-
8/14/2019 tac Spring 2009
16/16
CelebrateAfrica
www.aimint.org/eu
SATURDAY 2426 APRIL 2009
Sosh chhs Hosdnbane, Scotan FK15 0AJ
SCOTTISH CONFERENCE
SATURDAY 25 APRIL 20092.00 6.00pm
Klkl Psbya chhNewcaste Street, Kikee BT34 4AF
SATURDAY 20 JUNE 200910.00am 5.00pm
Bso f chhSathose lane, Beeston NG9 2FY
KILKEEL
NOTTINGHAM
SATURDAY 25 APRIL 20092.00 6.00pm
emmal chhNormanton Roa, Soth Croyon CR2 7AF
SOUTH CROYDON
Celebrate Africa are special dayand weekend conferences tojoin with Africa in praise of our God
and look at what He is doing amongAfricas peoples.
Please contact us to find out more
about the coming events.
Am iaoal
Haiax Pace
Nottingham
NG1 1QN
0115 9838 120
www.aimint.org/eu