Pastor Mark Finley preaching alongside his Kinyarwandan translator, Pastor Elam Musoni. [Photo by Palmer Halvorson]
Ten years after massive genocide ravaged this land, killing one out of eight people, this nation is exhibiting signs of hope, report those involved in It Is Written’s ACTS 2004 evangelistic series. It Is Written is an Adventist broadcast ministry based in southern California, United States.
For the most part, the land is peaceful, team members say. The group includes It Is Written speaker/director Mark Finley, who is also director of the Center for Global Evangelism at the church’s world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland; Shawn Boonstra, associate speaker/director of It Is Written; and Victor Pires.
There has been, and continues to be, forgiveness and reconciliation among the Rwandan people, they say.
Finley, Boonstra and Pires are part of a team that is producing ACTS 2004, a major evangelistic effort held Aug. 13 to 28 in Kigali.
Several government leaders attended the meetings during the first Sabbath service on Aug. 14, including the Minister of Justice, the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Information. The Prime Minister of Rwanda, His Excellency Bernard Makusa, addressed the assembly.
“I want to thank the Seventh-day Adventist Church for sponsoring this satellite series, which will bring peace and reconciliation for our nation,” Makusa said. He then challenged the nation: “I am calling on all Rwandans wherever you are to help make this series a success by attending and responding to the messages you will hear in these meetings.”
Another highlight during the series was an organized five-mile march by various Adventist churches in the region. The march, which included some 2,000 to 3,000 pastors, church leaders, laymen, women of ministry and Pathfinders, started from a downtown Kigali church and ended at the site of the uplink in Remera.
In his Sabbath, Aug. 14 message, Finley stressed leaving the past behind and moving boldly to the future, a note that Rwandans appreciated in view of the tragic events 10 years ago, organizers say.
Plans call for nine satellite downlink sites in various areas of Kigali and nearly 165 sites nationwide, including three national prisons that will also serve as downlink sites. Meetings will be broadcast via Adventist Television Network’s Hope Channel at 6:30 p.m. Kigali time and rebroadcast at 9 p.m. for West Africa. The meetings are expected to culminate in a mass baptism on Aug. 28.
There are 20 Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Kigali, with nearly 20,000 members. Approximately one out of every 22 people in Rwanda are Adventist church members.