RWANDA REPORT 26/9/18-15/10/18

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This trip was quite a short one and was a fact finding mission on how to best serve and minister to the people of Rwanda.

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In 1994 some reports have claimed that 2,000,000 Tutsi people were murdered during a program of genocide. I visited the memorial and walked over the grave site of 50,000 people. Genocide takes place when lawlessness abounds and good men do nothing. It is a sobering thought to think on, that the moral standards in our own nation have considerably shifted in recent times, as Australians appear to be casting off traditional values. I refer to changes in marriage and abortion laws. Could these changes be a precursor to persecution in Australia?

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About 2 ½ years ago early one morning as I was praying God spoke to me and asked me to go to Rwanda. Two weeks later Denis Ruhorimbere sent me an invitation to minister there after having read my website. Rwanda felt and was extremely safe and I was free to minister anywhere. I ministered in a Muslim sector when our car broke down; a University; a high school; a primary school; on a radio program; church preaching and a seminar. It was a very fulfilling time for me personally as the wind of the Holy Spirit lifted me and took me to the places of His choosing.

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While returning to my room after visiting an orphanage and having travelled quite a long distance, our car broke down. There was a mother and her children who spotted me sitting in the car and the children immediately came to talk to me. The car was driven into the driveway of a house with quite a large front compound of about 50m square. I said to my interpreter we might as well do something so I brought our Rocky the Racoon puppet and started some children’s ministry. Soon I had about 10 children listening to Rocky tell a bible story and interacting with the children. Adults and youth now started to congregate and listen after seeing what was happening from the road. Very quickly we had about 200 people of different ages watching. I decided to play some games with the children which everyone enjoyed. After this I decided to preach on the resurrection. At the time I didn’t know that it was a Muslim area. A young boy of about 18 with his friends started to argue with me so I simply said I’m not arguing I will prove to you the truth of the resurrection. Is there anyone sick because the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus Christ is here to heal you? Nobody responded but after about a minute the Muslim boy who was arguing with me said “I have malaria pray for me.” I went to the car and took out my anointing oil bottle as the crowd followed me. I anointed him in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and immediately the Holy Spirit fell upon him and kept pushing him away from me. I said a simple prayer for healing and the boy said thank you very much. (His English was very good).

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Then his friends wanted to be prayed for and about five boys of perhaps 18 years old were prayed for. I can only describe what happened as I prayed. Each one encountered the presence of the Holy Spirit and I simply held their hands after anointing them, each one was bent over backwards as the Holy Spirit leant on them. Then the small children wanted to be prayed for and every single one of them was slain in the Holy Spirit. The other children behind them held them up. Perhaps I had prayed for about 25 children all of whom encountered God the Holy Spirit. I didn’t pray for any adults and then the car was repaired and we had to leave. Some of the mothers laughed as a number of the young ones stroked my white skin when I was debating with the Muslim youth. It was funny and distracting all at the same time. It was quite a remarkable time and I would never have done this type of ministry had the car not broken down, not understanding how safe or unsafe the country was. Next time I will return to the area and try to start a church there. Was anyone saved? Not to my knowledge, but the Holy Spirit had His way and powerfully encountered some intelligent Muslim boys bringing them one step closer to Christ. No doubt they will be processing what happened to them along with the rest of the community. I am reminded of Acts Chapter 8 when the Samaritan’s believed when they saw the signs and wonders during Philip’s ministry.

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On the first Sunday I went to Jesus is the Light Church and there would have been perhaps 350 people of all ages. They love to dance and put absolutely everything into it. It is very enjoyable to watch. They had two choirs that sing and dance at the same time. I was asked to preach for ½ hr and a preacher followed me who preached for over an hour. However, they gave me the opportunity to pray for people at the end of the service. I placed four chairs close together and invited people for prayer. Not much happened to the first two that I observed, however the next two people were slain in the Holy Spirit. When I looked up after praying for the fourth person there was an oval of chairs with people sitting on them waiting for prayer. The preacher that came after me seemed quite surprised that so many people wanted prayer. The Holy Spirit encountered many people and I could tell that many were instantly healed. When we went home in the car Pastor Denis’ phone didn’t stop ringing for the next 1 ½ hours as people called him to tell them about their healing. There are no overhead projectors and the church has a corrugated iron roof, concrete walls and mud floor and stage. They had a good sound system. When they preach they shout at the top of their lungs into a loud mike. It takes some getting used to. I’d say that 1/6 people had a bible. I preached on the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

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I expected to be involved in quite a bit of deliverance and I was quite surprised that I didn’t encounter any. The buildings of Kigali appear to be very well constructed. The city doesn’t appear to have a good flow of water to the houses and water if carted to the homes by many bicycle workers. Many people seemed to be unemployed with nothing to do. Kigali is actually quite hilly. The main roads are well surfaced but the offshoot roads into the community are clay and dirt. I imagine in the rainy season they would be rather difficult to drive on, if not walk on and are probably significantly washed away at times. From time to time we ate at one very good restaurant.

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I needed to use a taxi to take me to the places of ministry and that cost around $600AU while there. There is an expectation to pay for food which was also costly over the four days. I covered the cross, the resurrection, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, faith and theological concepts. The Holy Spirit fell on many people with the young people speaking in tongues. Many were healed. I’d have to say that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit didn’t appear to be as strong as in other nations I’ve been in, although I can’t always tell what the Holy Spirit is doing and this was my first time ministering there. I remember one young boy of about four slain in the Holy Spirit and then started speaking in tongues. It was quite remarkable. Because there were about six youth present at one seminar meeting, I changed my preaching and directed it to them. By the end of the preaching there would have been perhaps 60 youth present and the Holy Spirit fell upon many of them.

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I went to one university and preached for about ½ an hour. I distributed some of Pastor Steve Cioccolanti’s DVDs on various topics. Most students received at least one DVD. Unfortunately I didn’t get to pray for any of them as they had classes and it was the start of the day. However, the students were very keen for me to minister there next time. I look forward to it in the future.

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I based the radio program on Acts 4:33 “And with great power the Apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.” I talked about how the Father is always willing to affirm the truth of the resurrection of His Son because all religions including Christianity stand or fall upon this significant truth. A number of my friends in Australia were praying for me and listening to the program at the same time which aired at 11:00 pm Australian time. I am very grateful for their love and support. At the end of the program I prayed for the listeners to be healed from their infirmities. The next day I preached at a mid-week service of the Pastor who invited me to speak on radio. I was very surprised as the whole church was full and it was mid-week once again indicating lack of employment. I suspect that this church receives significant support from overseas. The lady Pastor had a car, but very bald tyres. Most of the people in the church came forward for prayer as the Holy Spirit moved upon them and many were slain and healed. I prayed for a lady with breast cancer and I look forward to a good report in the future.

To have a church in Rwanda, you need to be registered with the government and be able to hold services in a building along with some other strict guidelines. This has meant that many small churches have had to close and join with bigger ones. Apparently, this was at the instigation of consultation with the Roman Catholic Church which is a significant movement in Rwanda. Apparently, the thought is that more people are likely to go to the Roman Catholic Church because of the cost of having a building. I could always sense what felt like a spirit of control. The people also must attend area government meetings. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing. It is good in a patriotic and community sense. Pastor Denis didn’t have a church building and was actually part of several churches and was a Bishop in a very true sense of the word. He seemed respected and capable and was able to obtain very successful speaking and preaching assignments for me. I am very grateful.

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Denis and I had a discussion on the last day before I left and we shared a meal in his home. I was very interested in the possibility of doing some work in one of the three refugee camps. One camp 65km from Kigali has about 25,000 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The camp is administered by the UN and there are about 20 churches operating; law and order is maintained by the Rwandan police. The Pastors basically have a Bible and are untrained. It is rather rudimentary but I have this stirring in my spirit to minister there. We also discussed the nature of setting up businesses. It was a bit hard because his English isn’t that great and it took longer to communicate as his son, who was one of my interpreters, was working and not at home.

I plan to go back in November 2019 and take a team of perhaps 10 people. Please come with me as the field is truly ripened for harvest and we have many open doors available. Please contact me if the Holy Spirit is moving you.

Thanks for taking the time to read my report.

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Colin Lambert.