The Rwandan church found itself in a condemned place, how can a country said to be 90% Christian[1] be the same country practicing diabolically the values pinned against Christianity. Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). Rwanda practiced this law in the reverse, hatred, and killings in the most devilish manner, the church sanctuary, became a place of mass killings, and skulls of victims form a memorial in a church vault in Nyamata.[2] The government on its part and its partners have done a commendable work to transform human life from pain and anguish.
What Rwanda really needed was philanthropy, according to Catherine Zimmer, Philanthropy can be broadly defined as the love for mankind, and it aims at eliminating social problems that affect humankind.[3] Yet, the Bible teaches that there is no one good except God (Mark 10:18). The social good so much needed in human suffering could truly be good when the God of all goodness is foundational. This means that philanthropy should emanate from the church which should provide inner and outer healing. The church beyond its temple walls, reaching and meeting human pain and alleviating physical, spiritual and psychological wounds.
The church should be a place holder for philanthropy as prescribed in the bible, “I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison, and you came to Me Matthew (25:35).’ The acclaimed philanthropy approach by non-church groups often lacks the necessary ingredient to total human healing.
Most recently at the onset of COVID, the need for God in human interventions was apparent, In the words of a health minister of Karnataka, as a response to COVID-19 that has brought immense human suffering, he says, ‘World Over, the cases are doubling indiscriminately. It (virus) does not choose poor, rich, community or religion. There is no class or caste difference. The cases are 100 per cent going to increase….in whose hands does this rest? It is only God who can save us.’[4]
When philanthropist take God out of the equation of social good, they address an eminent problem only to realize they have not reached the core. This is because true goodness is emitted out of the good God. Churches must thus reclaim their position as the place holders for philanthropy, a place for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and a place where the divine power of a good God can give inner and eternal peace and tranquility.
[1] CT Editors, ‘Christianity Today,’ May 16, 2018, christianitytoday.com/ CT/2018
[2] Ignatius Ssuuna, ‘Mass graves believed to contain 30,000 bodies found in Rwanda,’ The Sunday Morning Herald, (April 6, 2020): smh.com.au/world/Africa.
[3] Catherine Zimmer, ‘Philanthropy,’ learningtogive.org/resources/philanthropy
[4] Sriramulu B, Only God can save us from COVID-19, https://www.deccanherald.com/state/top-karnataka-stories July 15, 2020.
God bless you Pastor.
Yes we need God, him only can save us.