Christian Life Assembly: More than just a religious ministry

Christian life Assembly is a member church of the Rwanda Pentecostal Assemblies of God, an affiliation of more than 100 churches nationwide. The church, began in 1999 through the initiative and support of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, now has about 700 people of different races, nationalities and backgrounds that come together to worship each week. CLA, however, is much more than just a weekly gathering of people from one particular faith; it’s a freely chosen association of a group of diverse individuals from the national and international community whose aim is to contribute to the healing, well-being, and development of Rwanda. In the rebuilding of Rwanda since the events of 1994, the Government has made a repeated call for the local community, business, NGOs, churches, and the international community to involve them in making a difference in this fractured society. It is within this context that CLA desires to fulfill its mandate, and in so doing respond to the mandate given to civil society to stand up and build the nation. This church formed a project called Mercy Ministry composed of members of the church, which helps the needy. It’s in this regard that this mercy ministry has organised a training of different poor women from Kigali who will be trained to make baskets commonly known as (Uduseke). This training is initiated by this church with support from the United Nations Development Fund for Women UNIFEM. This training will be carried out in 60 days during which which women will be taught to make these baskets and help them develop their careers. During the opening ceremony of this training at CLA Church, the coordinator of the project Prisca Mukamisha, told the congregation how this idea came up. “The idea of forming the Mercy ministry came up when we found out that poor people needed help. We started visiting sick people in hospitals and providing shelter for the needy, and so far we have two homes of which we get poor people who have no where to stay and give them shelter and clothing.” Also present at the ceremony were different dignitaries including the vice mayor of Gasabo in charge of social affairs, Bizimana Andrew; the representative of United Nations Development Fund for women (UNIFEM) John Mutamba and the senior pastor of the church, Pastor Komat Elmer. As the pastor of the church Komat urged the ladies to work hand in hand for their progress, the representative of United Nations Development Fund for women John Mutamba thanked the church of having thought of this project. He further encouraged the participants to be hard working, reminding them that baskets (Uduseke) have a market worldwide and they should utilise the resources provided to them. Among the resources provided by this church recognising that there are many underprivileged youths such as orphans within Rwanda and Kigali especially, CLA wishes to be part of helping these vulnerable young people who are the future of this nation, as helping them these young people will be brought to the site at Nyarutarama and will be helped to achieve critical life skills, assisting them to be productive members of the society. High quality wood work, metal work, cookery, tailoring,and other practical skills will be taught to these youth. The goal of CLA’s skills training center according to its pastor is to give some of the underprivileged youth of Kigali City a fair chance at life, enabling them to achieve their potential and be contributors to the society. Owing to the extensive health needs of the local community, CLA intends to develop a community health and wellness center at CLA site in Nyarutarama. From this center, desperately needed Aids awareness and prevention, water and sanitation, maternity, and other health education will be taught and promoted. The center will also serve as a basic health care clinic that will be of direct benefit to the local residents around Nyarutarama who do not currently have immediate access to such services. Ends