(Written in 1995):
On Sundays in Rwanda, we used to see
well-dressed neighbors walking to church on every road. Yet, last
year these same neighbors slaughtered each other. I don't assume
that all these people walking to church were all walking in the steps
of Christ, the Lord. But the committed minority of the church was
significant, 5 percent of the population, and the influence of the
church was strong in the lives of another 75 percent of the people.
Why was there no moderation, no dampening––just hatred and fear,
farming tools becoming weapons, neighbors cutting each other down as
enemies?
Gary Scheer
Long-Term Missionary in Rwanda
I asked my chauffeur, “Who killed
[your] parents and siblings––the army or the militia?”
Neither, he said, but rather the people next door who felt the
authorities had given them the go ahead to kill their neighbors and
take over their houses and lands. How do you re-knit society where
that has happened?
David Rawson
U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda
So what happened in Rwanda? It is a
reflection of Man's depravity. Sin touches every part of a person's
life, reaching to the very core of his being. Rwanda is a reflection
of man's inhumanity to man.
In part, what happened in Rwanda was
that the nation was “converted” but not discipled at the profound
level of culture. The tribal mindset that sees one tribe as superior
to another was not challenged.
The blood of Christ was not applied
to the breaking down of the dividing wall of hostility between Hutu
and Tutsi (Ephesians 2:14-16). The ancient hostilities of tribalism
were not broken by the powerful truth that Tutsis and Hutus are of
“one blood”, having one set of first parents––Adam and Eve.
It was tribalism, this mindset of poverty, that led to the genocide.
The task given to the church in the
Great Commission was nothing less than to disciple nations. If the
church does not disciple the nation, the nation will disciple the
church. Rwanda is an extreme example of this principle.
Darrow Miller
Discipling Nations
While is is not advisable or even
possible to draw a direct comparison between the surface causes of
the conflict in Rwanda and the civil war in Liberia, there clearly
was a common denominator: an anemic church. A church that succeeded
in making converts, but failed at making disciples whose hearts,
minds and lives were transformed. A church that succeeded in
constructing building and founding ministries, but failed at changing
the worldview of the culture. As a result, both countries reaped
some of the same consequences; mass killings based on tribal and
political identity, inhuman atrocities that showed no value for human
life, and sadly, a blatant dishonor for the influence and power of
God in the lives of his people. This version of the church made an
embarrassing mockery of our Christian faith.
What's distressing is that as I visit
different churches in Liberia, I discover that much of today's
Liberian church continues to be anemic. A high percentage of churches
fill their buildings every week, yet make little to no positive
transformational impact on their culture. (There are, thank God, a
few exceptions.) Most churches have long Sunday services and
multiple weeknights set aside for Bible study, prayer and fasting, as
well as annual revivals and crusades. Regardless, crime, government
corruption, illegal business dealings, chronic land disputes and
secret societies that practice ritual killings and FGM (female
genital mutilation) continues unabated. Sadly, many pastors have
little or no formal training and oftentimes, because of the high rate
of unemployment, people call themselves “pastor” as a way to
generate cash. The “prosperity
gospel”, which was exported from America, is thriving in
Liberia. Even in mainstream churches, the gospel message is
contaminated with prosperity teachings and folk animistic influences.
The bonds of selfishness, greed and
demonic strongholds can only be broken by the power of the Holy
Spirit. As people become disciples of Jesus, God's Spirit transforms
their lives. As disciples make disciples who make disciples, these
transformed lives will transform culture. Until the 16 Liberian
tribes embrace the truth that they (and we) are of “one blood”,
the complex issues that brought forth the recent civil war are
allowed to simmer below the surface, risking future conflict. Since
the church is not accomplishing the task of transforming people, I
believe the time has come for the people to transform the church. A
spiritual revolution from the inside out.
As a Business As Missions practitioner,
my business is simply a vehicle for making disciples: disciples who
make generations of multiplying disciples, who transform churches
that transforms cultural worldviews, which transforms nations,
continents, and the world for Jesus. We are directed to do nothing
less. Regardless of a believer's occupation or pursuit in life,
making disciples is the calling of each person who claims a saving
faith in Jesus. Plain and simple, fulfilling the Great Commission is
a matter of obedience.
Note: All quotations came from Chapter
Nine of Miller's Discipling Nations.
