Rwanda’s new Churches and the influence they wield

There are many new things in Rwanda today: New buildings, new roads, new hotels, new ways of doing things, and many other things of interest. And there are many new Churches too. Rwandans of all walks of life are trooping to newly established churches with unprecedented energy and enthusiasm.The tragedy of 1994 has brought in the country a plethora of new churches that are led by equally zealous and charismatic pastors prepared to make a mark on their brethrens. With gospel, soul, rock and classical music spilling out into the air, mixing into a grand orchestration of cultural renewal, the new churches are straining to keep up with the new members.The new churches demonstrate a sense of apprehension and mistrust for the traditional churches, which in the past have tended to take their followers for granted. No doubt, the old churches still wield considerable influence on the people here, particularly the older generation.The new era of neo-liberal economics and freedom of expression, worship and choice, have at once offered the young generation some free choice in the market place.Europe has set a precedent: Whenever you visit Europe, it is not uncommon to find churches that have been turned into pubs or have simply been locked up by local authorities because of the dwindling number of Christians whose turn up for Sunday service is so low that it is not economically viable to maintain them given the high cost of utilities.The young generation in Rwanda is infatuated with the preaching of the young and charismatic pastors. The formula that the new pastors use to reach to their followers includes sophisticated aesthetics and other relevant catchphrases that attract the young and those in the middle class. No doubt the future of the school-going children, now in their vacation, appears to be in the hands of the pastors.During vacation, parents are literally on their toes. Pastors have compulsory night prayers and given the many man-hours spent in prayers, would it not be reasonable to suggest that time should be divided between prayer and work?In Uganda, there are a number of prayer gurus who have emerged in the aftermath of the liberalisation of airwaves. It is said that Ugandans today are sending in their prayer requests to the radio in a bid ‘to cast unto Jesus burdens which were formerly cast unto witchdoctors’. I have also heard, without much empirical evidence, of on-line confessions. Thanks to the Internet, the procedural rigours of making a confession have now been made fairly easy!There are pastors who perform any miracles – any type of miracle, in Jesus’ name. Usually the pastor begins with a song and a testimony in that order of precedence. The pastors teach the gospel of prosperity. At the beginning of the service, it is usual to find a long queue of worshippers waiting to give their testimonies to the Lord’s goodness.In comparison to their Rwandan counterparts, the Ugandan pastors are fairly advanced in their skills of healing: They are said to be healing a wide range of diseases, ranging from HIV/Aids to diabetes, just to mention two of the major challenges facing our continent.Still, the pastors in Rwanda have found an increasing number of clientele among students, civil servants and other city folks who have found lunch-time prayers extremely useful.First of all, they fulfill the spiritual void. Secondly, they are part of a lunch break pass time to while away the pangs of hunger. This phenomenon is not uncommon in our capital cities of East Africa. You will find this at Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, Jamhuri Park or at the city square in Kampala.As a friend recently told me, the upsurge of churches could be attributed to Maslow’s law of hierarchy of needs. That in life you have to first of all get the basic needs: food, shelter and clothing. From that stage you get to self-actualisation, which many folks are yet to attain. The pastors with their appealing sermons fill the void. That is what a friend termed spiritual investment.

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Rwanda’s new Churches and the influence they wield