Hot off the Press in Burundi

Hi!

In a week when two of our partners are opening new schools which have been built in conjunction with Fields of Life, I wanted to fill you in on some recent activity. So much is going on. If you want more regular (twice/month) news, then do get back to me requesting to be added to that list, but otherwise I know that many of us already get too much email as it is.

Anyway, this time last month I asked you to pray as our young teams of evangelists were about to launch out on a week of bold outreach in Burundi. All I can say is, as with every year we do this, thanks so much for praying. I’ll just share a few of the incredible stories below from the many that could be told. God is amazing! Take a read of an extract of what Onesphore sent me:

A famous witchdoctor called Makari from a place called Isale received what he thought were prospective ‘clients’ into his den. His reputation went before him and so our evangelists wanted to challenge his authority. When they revealed their identity, the power of God came on him and he fell to the ground. When he came to, he sat and listened to their preaching. He believed in Jesus and asked them to return two days later when he would burn all his charms publicly. When they duly returned, they found Makari had invited all his relatives and other witchdoctor friends. He declared before all of them that he had turned to Christ, and proceeded to burn his charms. At that point our team preached and a further fifty people decided to follow Christ! Makari is now a member of Emmanuel church, along with his family.

Also in Isale, a team of evangelists went to share the gospel in a bar. While they were talking, a young man became very angry with them. The following day, this antagonistic man came to see them, and gave his life to Christ. He then told them that when they were preaching in the bar he had been about to beat them, but when he had tried to stand up to attack them, he had felt a mighty hand jamming him down in his chair, and that undeniable power is what forced him to surrender his life to Jesus.

Young Libere was on one of our teams in Busiga. He’d never seen a healing miracle. And yet, he found himself witnessing to an old woman who had been paralyzed for three years. He sensed the Lord telling him: “Miracles accompany the preaching of the Word.” So he responded in obedience and faith, and commanded the lady to stand up. She stood up immediately and started dancing with joy! Libere was amazed to see the power and faithfulness of God. He exclaimed: “Now I believe that God is powerful and can work with whoever believes in him regardless of his age or denomination. I will spend the rest of my life proclaiming the love of God.”

Zubeda was a Muslim woman from Bubanza . Her son was very sick and she was in despair. When the evangelists visited her, she didn’t want to listen to them share God’s word but she did agree to let her son be prayed for. The following day, the evangelists found Zubeda full of joy and testifying that her son was healed. She asked them to share the gospel with her that she had formerly refused, and promptly gave her life to Christ.

There are many more stories, but that’ll do to give you a taster. The staggering statistics of the week are as follows:

•    607 young evangelists from different provinces of Burundi were sent out to 34 different areas. They spent a week visiting people in their houses, in market places and wherever they could meet them.
•    During that week, 41,020 people heard the gospel shared one-on-one, with opportunity to ask questions and discuss.
•    Of those, 17,789 people accepted to pray to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord of their lives. Among these people were 103 Muslims and 51 witchdoctors.
•    20 persons paralyzed were healed, 8 deaf people recovered their hearing, 2 blind people were able to see again, 23 couples on the brink of divorce reconciled, 5 people on the point of committing suicide gave up with that plan.
•    Five new churches were planted and now have regular meetings (the idea in the main was to work with existing churches).

Please do pray for the follow up and discipleship of all these new believers, which we are committed to, although in some areas it will be stronger than in others.

Also please pray for the situation in general in the nation as there is seemingly a new rebellion forming, and a number of people have been killed in the last few weeks. If the war is renewed, it would be simply terrible for already broken Burundi. Let’s stand against that in Jesus’ name.

Thanks so much for your involvement. I hope the above encourages you, and I pray that God will grant each one of us something of the urgency, boldness, and willingness to step out and take risks that characterize those guys in what they did just a few weeks ago. Different context maybe, but same Lord, same gospel, same command to go and be his hands and feet in this messy world.

Go for it!

Simon Guillebaud
Great Lakes Outreach
www.greatlakesoutreach.org
www.more-than-conquerors.com