Why has Rwanda Closed 8,000 Christian Churches?

Christian Today ^ | 8/17/18 | Mark Woods

[marshmallow]

Headlines in Western media saying an African country has closed 8,000 churches are always going to make Christians sit up and take notice. There are so many stories of the church under pressure, and many of them are true – Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world.

In Rwanda, though, where this story comes from, it's not quite that simple. It's true that the government has closed 8,000 churches – but why, and what do the Christians who live there think about it?

Forever shadowed by the 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 Tutsis were murdered by their neighbours after a years-long media campaign to demonise them, Rwanda is seen today as an African success story. Its economy has rebounded, and a process of healing and reconciliation has been held up as a model for others. All this has been under the leadership of its president, Paul Kagame, whose achievements have caused outside observers to be tolerant of his tendency to disregard democracy when it suits him. The government is in a position of enormous power in what's effectively a one-party state, and it's determined to continue progress towards its 'Vision 2020' goals, ambitious targets for improvements in education, infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture and governance.

Part of Rwanda's vision for the future involves a reform of the churches. Around 95 per cent of Rwandans are believers, many of them Roman Catholics. But churches suffer from untrained leadership and poor accountability, while many buildings are in a poor state of repair. At the other end of the scale, pastors are accused of enriching themselves and living lifestyles far beyond the reach of their congregations, who ultimately pay for them.

Kagame himself has declared the high number of congregations – 700 in the capital Kigali – to be 'a mess'..............

[PAR35]

700 churches in a population of 850,000 isn’t a lot.

[scrabblehack]

8000 in a country of 10169 sq mi seems like a lot.

[pepsionice]

Basically, anyone could go and open a church, procure some charismatic speaker, and get people all charged on things beyond the Bible. You could be part of some political agenda and run a 500-member church for vote-shifting purposes only. This is why you need to view the situation via their eyes and not your normal experiences.

[PAR35]

8000 in a country of 10169 sq mi seems like a lot.

1375 people per each of the 8000. I used to live in a small town that had a church per approximately each 165 people.

[Hieronymus]

There are four in my rural Ontario town of 1200—two of them Catholic. With five Sunday masses between the two. People do come from beyond town limits, but not far.