The author of the best selling "Purpose Driven Life" was recently in Rwanda, seeking to build partnerships and help the country deal with its HIV/Aids crisis.  Rick and Kay Warren met with Archbishop Kolini and officials of the Anglican church there, as well as Rwanda's president and other dignitaries.
During a function at Anglican Church headquarters Pastor Warren sought pardon for having not intervened to halt the genocide at the time of need. He also urged the leaders to work with the Government of Rwanda so that the society could attain holistic development.
The Warrens were accompanied by the AMiA's William Beasley, Pastor of Church of the Redeemer in Glenview, Illinois and leader of the Anglican Mission's Midwest Region.

Photo: Pastor Rick and Kay Warren, and Rev. William Beasley with the bright spot of Rwanda's future--its children

Recently I was with Rick Warren and his team in Rwanda where the reality of crucifixion is very fresh. In 1994 up to one million people were killed by marauding Hutu bands of people and militia. The country was taken up into a frenzy of genocide to rid the land of Tutsi "cockroaches." Kay Warren, hearing of brutal rapes and massacres while looking into the beautiful smiling faces, asked the question, "How could this happen? How could these people who are just like you and me do this? I find it hard to believe." My trying to provide historical context didn't really satisfy the inexplicable question.

After we had visited a church site where tens of thousands of people had sought refuge and were praying to the Lord for his protection, Dan Cooper, a younger member of the team asked the question, "Have you ever wondered why the prayers of all these people for protection were not answered?" How do you explain the evil behind the words "Crucify, Crucify!"? How do you explain the reasons for Jesus nailed on a tree? How do you explain the reasons why innocent men, women, children and nursing infants were slaughtered in genocide while praying at the church? How do you explain the reasons why we in the rest of the world were silent to the pleas for help?

At the end of the trip I was alone with Archbishop Kolini and he asked me questions, which encapsulated all of the other questions of the trip: "Have you ever wondered why the people of Rwanda do not hate the church? Have you ever wondered why they are not bitter against the church?" Humanly they would have every reason to. There were church leaders complicit in the genocide. Church members had killed other church members. Grandparents had killed grandchildren; aunts had killed cousins in the same church. Why do these people still go to church?

Kolini's only explanation was that the grace of God was stronger than evil. Mercy is stronger than evil and hatred. The people have been given the mercy to know that God is their refuge even when humans speaking in His name have been unfaithful. There is only one power that can transform a nation after genocide: the power of the cross where you can look the sin of genocide directly in its face and find true repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

When Kolini was interviewed by Christianity Today he stated in anguish, "When Rwandans were crying out for help, the world was silent. Quiet!" At the same time, he wants to point out, " We forgive the genocidaire. We also forgive the U.N. and the rest of the world." The power of that forgiveness is evident in the reconciliation taking place in Rwanda. When Bishop Rucyahana proclaims, "we preach the joy of the Lord upon a pile of bones" the only explanation is that the power of God is at work in Rwanda. The words of "crucify, crucify!" are turning into miraculous shouts of "He is risen!" He is risen with scars in his hands and side.

As I was leaving Rwanda, Kolini asked another question: Have you ever wondered why the Lord is bringing the church in Rwanda and the United States together? "For the transformation of our world" was his answer. Kolini, Rucyahana and other Rwandan church leaders could not remain silent when they were witnessing the "spiritual genocide" of the Western church. They realized in Rwanda that those who remained silent were equally as guilty of genocide as those who took up the machete. Coming back on the plane, I began to wonder if the prayerful cries of those who were martyred in Rwanda were indeed being answered. But at what a costly grace.


Mana Yacu Turakwifuza!
(Come, Lord, We Need You!)

The Rev.William Beasley
Church of the Redeemer
Glenview, IL