Chris A. Foreman
September 24, 2002

Introduction This was the second summer that I traveled to Africa as a part of Christian Life World Missionary Frontiers (CLWMF). This organization is led by Pastor Paul Kim of San Jose and is composed of Korean Christians. Pastor Kim first visited Rwanda just after the genocide in 1994. Since that time his para-church organization has been growing. In the summer of 2001, about 85 people participated in the mission and during this past summer 112 people traveled to Africa with CLWMF. This year, Koreans and Korean-Americans came from Northern California, Southern California, New York, and Korea. There were first generation Koreans, the one-point-five generation of Koreans, second generation Koreans, and Koreans from Korea. I was only participant without a Korean background. My wife is Korean and in this way I was adopted into the greater Korean family. Preparation We began planning for this 2002 mission just after the 2001 mission ended. Our preparing got underway in earnest about three months before our departure to Africa. This year the focus was on assisting the Africans in a presentation of Vacation Bible School. At the training sessions we did both team building and curriculum planning. Here is picture our preparation at a church in San Jose: We flew from San Francisco to Brussels, then from Brussels to Entebbe. To reduce expense, we bussed as a group from Entebbe to Kigali. Just outside of Entebbe, Paul Kim has a mission church. These are the people that traveled with me outside the church in Nsengi, Uganda. CLWMF was fortunate to have the Hallelujah Soccer team from Korea join us. They played nine soccer matches in 4 cities against local national teams. They drew thousands of people to the stadiums. At halftime, we would proclaim the Gospel. Itinerary and summary of Mission Below is a summary of the 28 days I spent on this mission trip to Africa. I preached at an evangelistic crusade five times at two locations. I led discipleship training for 11 days in two locations. I preached at three different churches and lead numerous Bible studies. date location activity Saturday 13-Jul SF Depart Sunday 14-Jul Entebbe depart Monday 15-Jul Kigali Drive & meetings Tuesday 16-Jul Butare Drive Wednesday 17-Jul Butare Campus seminar Intro to disciplines Thursday 18-Jul Butare Campus seminar Worship Friday 19-Jul Butare Campus seminar Prayer Saturday 20-Jul Butare Campus seminar Bible Study Sunday 21-Jul Butare Paul's church "Jacob meets Esau" Monday 22-Jul Butare Campus seminar Fellowship Tuesday 23-Jul Butare Campus seminar Stewardship Wednesday 24-Jul Butare Campus seminar /crusade Mission / "House on the Rock" Thursday 25-Jul Butare Campus seminar /crusade Grace and Law / "Six Steps to freedom" Friday 26-Jul Butare Soccer and Crusade Saturday 27-Jul Butare Visit Genocide Site Sunday 28-Jul Butare David' Church /Visit Batwa "Jacob meets Esau" Monday 29-Jul Butare All day drive Tuesday 30-Jul Bukavu Campus seminar Intro to disciplines & Worship Wednesday 31-Jul Bukavu Campus seminar/Soccer Prayer & Bible Study Thursday 1-Aug Bukavu Campus seminar Fellowship & Stewardship Friday 2-Aug Bukavu Campus seminar /Crusade Missions & Conclusion / "Keep your eyes on Jesus" Saturday 3-Aug Bukavu Crusade "Come see a man" Sunday 4-Aug Bukavu Church service /Crusade "First stone to throw" / "House on the Rock" Monday 5-Aug Butare Drive Tuesday 6-Aug Kigali Party / Soccer Wednesday 7-Aug Entebbe depart Thursday 8-Aug Brussels stop Friday 9-Aug SF Arrive The Discipleship training in Butare, Rwanda. I taught for eight days in Butare. My audience was about 250 university students from the Rwanda National University. We met in the university auditorium. Classes were out of session for the summer, so those students who attended made a special effort to be there. Below is the outline of the training:

Discipleship Training for Future Leaders Purpose of training: We desire to more fully know the person of Jesus Christ and practice the biblical principles that are his priorities. Philippians 3:10 Goals of training: 1. Know God in new more intimate ways. Ephesians 3:14-21 2. Make God known through life and ministry. Eph 1:15-17; 1Pet 3:15 3. Experience the pre-eminence of Jesus. Colossians 1:15-18, 23, 28-29 4. Develop affirming relationships with one another. John 13:34-35 5. Integrate biblical teaching on a personal level. Ezra 7:10; Nehemiah 8:8 6. Prepare to become a servant leader. John 13: 1-17

Outline of Training: 1. Introduction to discipleship a. The Caterpillar, Cocoon, and Butterfly ~ a self assessment. b. Reading through the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. John 17 c. The six disciplines (priorities) in the Prayer of Jesus. d. Interpreting the Great Commandment. Mark 12:28-31 2. The Discipline of Worship a. Worship in the Bible b. Case studies of Worship in Old Testament ~ Isaiah 6 & Daniel 3 c. Case studies of Worship in New Testament ~ John 4 & Mathew 4:10 3. The Discipline of Prayer a. Prayer in the Bible b. Intercessory Prayer ~ Samuel c. Understanding the Disciples Prayer ~ Matthew 6:9-13 d. When God doesn't answer Prayer 4. The Discipline of Bible Study a. Bible Study in the Bible b. Case studies of Bible Study in the Old Testament ~ The Law, King Josiah & Ezra c. Case studies of Bible Study in New Testament ~ the Sower, the Word made flesh d. The Art of Bible Interpretation e. Inductive Bible Study 5. The Discipline of Fellowship a. Fellowship in the New Testament church b. Special teachings on Fellowship c. The purpose of the church / 12 images and analogies d. What is the church? e. The Prophetic Church 6. The Discipline of Stewardship a. Principles of Stewardship in the Bible b. Time, Talents, Treasure c. A Case study ~ 1 Chronicles 29 7. The Discipline of Mission a. Six types of Mission / Impacting our world for Jesus Christ b. Understanding the Great Commission ~ Matthew 28:18-20 c. A Case study ~ Acts 13:1-4 d. An Evangelism study ~ Colossians 4:2-6 e. Keys of Discipleship f. The principle of witnessing ~ Acts 1:8 g. Nine principles of church planting 8. Discipleship in the context of Grace a. A study in the Law and Grace b. Contrast of Legalism and Grace c. The Place of Jesus Christ in our lives This discipleship training will augmented with your Questions and Answers in the afternoon. We hope to see you in the evening for movies. This outline was passed out to each student.

Here is a picture of a student asking a question. This is me teaching discipleship in the university auditorium. I was using an overhead projector with transparencies. Some of the students dancing at graduation. Preaching in Butare, Rwanda. I preached at two crusades behind the Assembly of God Church in Butare. There were about 500 people at each crusade. Local groups began singing on stage at 3PM. My sermon was at 5PM or so. I was blessed to see many people come forward at the invitation. This is me preaching. My friend, Frank, is interpreting into Kinyarwandan. My first sermon was about the "House built on the Rock" (Matthew 7: 24-27). In my life I have built my house on shifting sand. My notes are in the back of this binder. My second sermon was about the "six steps to Freedom" found in John 8:31-33: Hearing His words > Belief > Continue in His Word > Discipleship > Truth > Freedom. My notes for this sermon are also in the back of this binder. These are some of the young singers that shared the stage with me. Some of the audience responds to the singing.

In Rwanda, a land that needs reconciliation, I preached in two churches using the same sermon. The text was from Genesis 31-33 concerning the reconciliation of Jacob to his estranged brother Esau. The notes for this sermon are in the back of this binder. My wife and I spent two weeks in Butare. While I was teaching and preaching, she was leading a workshop in VBS. Here she is with her two helpers, Jean and Andrew. Pastor David is on the end. This picture was taken at graduation when a happy graduate gave her the "high five".

While in Rwanda, we also visited a neglected people called the "Batwa". In many languages these are called "Pigmy". These are the "first people" of central Africa. Like many first people around the world, they are ignored, marginalized, and neglected by the government and by the majority Hutu and Tutsi tribes. When we return to Africa, we plan to minister more to these people. See some of them below. During our third week in Africa, we moved on to the city of Bukavu just across the Rwandan border in Congo. This place was sad to see. The government in this part of Congo has collapsed. Rwandan troops occupy the area. Everything seems to be falling into disrepair. The local government, which is in rebellion against the government in Kinshasa, welcomed us with brass band (literally!). At a small college, I once again taught the discipleship curriculum. This time there were fewer people, about 150. I also taught the disciplines in 4 days rather than 8 days. Although the discipleship training groups were smaller, the crusades were larger. At the soccer stadium, I was blessed to preach three times. The first time was sermon concerned "Keep your Eyes on Jesus" (Matthew 14: 22-33). Simon Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus. On the next day, the sermon was about the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). The title was "Come see a man". I invited the listeners to come to Jesus. The third sermon was again about the "House built on the Rock" (Matthew 7: 24-27). In my life I have built my house on shifting sand. Below is a picture of me preaching in Bukavu. My younger son, Simon Peter, joined my me and my wife in Bukavu. He is 25 years old and an artist. On the platform in Bukavu he gave a testimony and performed some hip-hop music. He is seen here below.

In Bukavu we were greeted with large crowds. We counted over five thousand. We were blessed that many came forward to receive Jesus. Local pastors gathered around them and spoke with them about attending their local church. I received a note from one Congolese pastor who said that 724 people accepted Jesus. That would be a blessing indeed. Below are some of the people that came forward.

Heading Home When our mission to Congo was complete, we began our return to America. First we traveled back to Butare and paid another visit to the Batwa. Next we went to Kigali and sat in on another Soccer match. Finally we endured the 10 hour drive to Entebee, then the flight to Brussels, and finally back to San Francisco. All 112 of us made it to Africa safely an returned safely. We thank God for traveling mercy and for boldness. I have adopted Paul's personal prayer for himself as my personal prayer for myself: "Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly as I must speak. (Ephesians 6:18-20)"

Islam in Eastern Congo Before embarking on this mission, I asked Dr. Bill Wagner to supervise my activities. He graciously accepted to oversee this evangelical effort. We agreed that in addition to evangelism, I would take an careful look at the status and effect of Islam in this part of Africa. On this mission, I had three encounters with Islam. The first was in the city of Bukavu in Congo. In this city, most people were Christian. We drove throughout the city and saw numerous Protestant and Catholic churches. There was only one Mosque in town. My Congolese interpreter told me that a rich Arab paid for the construction and that few people attended it. It appeared that in Eastern Congo there were few Muslims. To the right is a picture of this mosque in Bukavu. I also attended a pastor's meeting in the grand house of a businessman in Bukavu. As I walked in, I saw a man sitting with Arab-style clothing. I said to myself "this is strange". Later the head of the local pastors introduced him as a missionary to Niger. The missionary explained that he and his family had been in and out of Niger for ten years. I stay in e-mail contact with him. I didn't bring a camera, so I don't have a picture. It was encouraging to see Black Congolese doing missionary work in a Muslim country.

Islam in Eastern Rwanda The day before I left Africa in return to the States, I visited a mosque in Kigali, Rwanda. My interpreter Frank went with me. We had planned to arrive just at the "call to prayer". We were running late and we thought that we had missed the call. However, my interpreter was off by one hour in his guess as to the call time. Frank was raised in Uganda which is in a different time zone from Rwanda. He reminded me that "call to prayer" across the world is all pegged to the local time in Mecca. This means that all over the world, Muslims are praying at the same moment. For an hour or so we talked to various Muslims outside the mosque. I noticed that there was a set of 10 water faucets to the side. Boys and men would wash their feet in the water and carefully walk down a special path into the mosque. They would stack their shoes outside the mosque. One of the Muslims told me that theft of the shoes was a problem, so someone was watching them as others went in to pray. Below is a picture of the mosque in Kigali. During the half hour of prayer, I was saddened by one event. All the people that I saw in the mosque compound were men. I finally saw one woman enter through the front gate. She was not allowed inside to pray. Instead, she kneeled outside and to the left of the mosque door. She prayed under the mosque shelter, but not inside. She heard the calls from inside and responded outside - standing, kneeling, bowing. I pointed her out to a Muslim man and asked about her. He told me that she was a nuisance. He explained at in Islam, women worship God best by staying at home. They are not welcomed in this mosque. These are the minarets on the sides of the mosque. While we were waiting outside the mosque, Frank told me about an Islam strategy at the National University of Rwanda. He tells me that about one-in-four of the college professors are Muslim. This is compared to ninety percent of the students being non-Muslim. He tells me that the University recruits professors from all over the world. Since Rwanda is not a rich country, the university is glad to receive any free and qualified professor. According to Frank, there are about a dozen Egyptian and Pakistani professors working at the University at no cost to the government. The government of Saudi Arabia is paying their salary. After the call to prayer was complete, I talked with the head of the mosque. I do not think that he held an official title. I learned much from this discussion. The mosque that I was visiting was the largest and oldest in Rwanda. He explained that Muslims did not come into Rwanda as missionaries. Muslims first entered the country as laborers from neighboring Tanzania. White colonists needed them in the 1930s for tea plantations and to build roads. The Muslims met informally until this mosque was built in 1955. He guesses that this neighborhood of Kigali is about 1 / 3 Muslim which is the densest in Rwanda. He guesses that about ten percent of Kigali and about five percent of Rwanda belong to Islam. I asked him about the one hundred days of genocide in Rwanda that happened in 1994. Much of this killing took place in churches. Hutu church members would turn on their fellow Tutsi members and massacre them. This was most prevalent in Roman Catholic churches, but this was also common in Protestant churches. Sadly for Christians, it appears that tribal loyalty ran deeper than Christian faith. Very few Muslims killed fellow Muslims. I asked the leader about this. He explained that Muslims in Rwanda were a distinct minority. Members of the Islam community did not mingle with their Christian neighbors. A Christian woman who married a Muslim man became Muslim. Whether she was Hutu or Tutsi was of little importance. Islamic religion was deeper than their tribe affiliation. Also, they were commanded in the Koran that they should not kill fellow Muslims. It appears that being under the "law" helped in this case. The present government is a benevolent dictatorship. President Kagame was the general in charge of the Rwanda Patriotic Army that chased the genocidal government from power. He appears to be a good man. He is striving for reconciliation among the Hutu and Tutsi. It is now against the law to refer to any Rwandan citizen by one of these tribal names. All are now "Rwandan". The present government holds the Catholic Church responsible for some of the genocide that took place in Rwanda. Protestant churches are also out of favor with the government. The government favors Islam, even though President Kagame was baptized Catholic. It used to be that mosques could not broadcast their call to prayer in hours of darkness. Now the sounds of "Allah" can be heard throughout the night. It used to be that Christian missionaries were welcomed into Rwanda, now they are allowed to enter, but the government is decidedly indifferent. All missionaries must register with the government. For this reason the SBC does not have any "missionaries" in Rwanda, even though some SBC "contractors" work in Rwanda. The government also likes to play up problems in the Protestant churches. My translator told me that it was front page news when a Pentecostal church did not bury their dead pastor for ten days. They laid him out in front of the church and prayed for his resurrection. A visitor called local police when the corpse began to stink. This is the situation in Rwanda in 2002. Below is a map of Africa showing the Muslim population by country. This CIA map shows Rwanda at less than two percent Muslim. The best guess is that now that number is between five and ten percent.

The cross/crescent fault line runs just north of Rwanda with a substantial Muslim presence in neighboring Tanzania. Conclusions about Islam in Africa Islam is on the march south in Africa. Two missionary religions are clashing at several places across the continent. In Saharan Africa, with over a millennium of exposure to Islam, proclaiming the Gospel of Christ is difficult. In most of Black Africa, Christians and Muslims co-exist, sometimes this co-existence is peaceful and sometimes it is not. In West Africa, Islam seems to be prevailing. In Central, East, and Southern Africa, Christians still dominate. I believe that the Great Lakes region of Africa is of critical importance to the future of the Gospel in Africa. My heart is to proclaim the Gospel in this part of the world - in Eastern Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Western Tanzania. I believe that on a level playing field, there is no contest between Islam and Christianity. The cross liberates / the crescent enslaves. The cross flows from love / the crescent builds on fear. The cross leads to life / the crescent to death. In African countries where the Gospel can be preached openly, this message must be proclaimed with urgency and with boldness.

Muslims on the streets and in the markets of Kigali Attachments 1. Three Stories for the Korea Times Newspaper about this mission This column appears in the LA Korea Times and across America in many Korean language newspapers. This column is really a team effort. You might call it a tango between me and my wife. I try to mix insight and humor, with personal experience. My wife then takes over and for several hours sculpts and polishes the English into Korean. The thoughts are mine, but the words are hers. 2. Discipleship training for Future Leaders This was the seminar I led. I copied much of the material from couple named Bruce and Ardi Erickson (Thank You). I added and subtracted material. Bruce and Ardi got some of the material from Master Life. This part of the mission was successful. 3. Sermon Notes My notes are scattered. I like to work with outlines, rather than manuscript. 4. Handout for Vacation Bible School Teachers These are some of the guidelines, VBS content, schedules, and instructions for CLWMF short-term missionaries. 5. Songs in Kinyarwandan, Korean, and English These songs are a good example of the multicultural nature of our mission 6. Our Thank you letter This is the letter that we mailed out to everyone that supported our missionary effort. 7. Some Pictures of this year's mission to Africa.