World Tour: Regulating churches in Rwanda

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: World Tour…

Last month Rwanda closed more than 56-hundred churches and mosques. What’s behind the closures and is it a case of religious persecution?

Onize Ohikere is out this week so WORLD Radio Executive Producer Paul Butler has the story.

AUDIO: [RWANDA PENTECOSTAL CHURCH]

PAUL BUTLER: The number of Evangelical churches in Rwanda exploded in the years following the 1994 genocide. Some missiologists described the surge as a revival … others suggested it was a reaction against the Catholic Church who many Rwandans felt was complicit or at least passive during the violence.

So, Evangelical churches started sprouting up everywhere. Sometimes in buildings that were unsafe, lacked basic amenities, or in the middle of highly populated areas.

Many Evangelical Rwandan services are exuberant. Congregants dance as singers and musicians lead in worship. And it’s not uncommon for PA systems to be pushed beyond their limits…as speakers distort and the sound carries far from the church building.

Many of these young churches haven’t exactly been good neighbors. Complaints over noise pollution and traffic jams are common…as church-goers clog streets around these make-shift church buildings without adequate parking.

But there are bigger concerns. In 2012, a scandal within one of the largest Rwandan Pentecostal denominations raised doubts over the level of oversight and training of local pastors.

PETER GITAU: Churches were basically just not doing the right thing.

Peter Gitau is the Central Africa regional administrator for Africa Inland Mission.

GITAU: And so the government decided to come up with these new rules.

In 2018 the Rwanda Governance Board—or RGB—closed more than 700 churches in the capital city of Kigali. Audio here from CBN:

CBN: Thousands of Evangelical churches in Rwanda are being temporarily shut down…it’s because of a new government requirement…

Many of those churches reopened, but the new law served as a warning shot across the bow…reform or be shut down. Rwanda gave all faith-based organizations five years to comply with the new regulations.

Again, Peter Gitau:

GITAU: The government doesn't want churches to be, you know, kind of be in the wild west…

The RGB regulations require all faith based organizations—including churches—to register with the government. All places of worship must meet basic building standards, include working bathrooms, and at least some on-site parking. Church services have to fall within reasonable decibel levels, or else install sound treatment to minimize the disturbances to neighbors. Plus, pastors or equivalent church leaders must achieve an acceptable level of theological training—based on denominational or umbrella organization standards.

GITAU: Five years is enough time for people to get at least a diploma in something…It's enough time for you to fix your bathrooms and your leaking roof, to put some sound proofing…in your building.

Some faith based organizations took the timeline seriously and began implementing immediate improvements. But others couldn’t afford to make the changes, or saw the five year deadline and put off planning. Then …

AUDIO: This looks like the world is ending. You have Corona. This is a crisis…

And many churches focused on more pressing matters.

The law’s deadline arrived last September. The Rwanda Governance Board began an extensive program checking in on more than 13,000 houses of worship. By the end of July this year, their site surveys were complete. As a result, they shut down more than 56-hundred churches.

GITAU: I don't think this time around, people were unawares. People knew this was coming.

The current Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Governance Board is Kaitesi Usta. Two weeks ago she appeared on a weekly TV panel program to defend the RGB’s action.

RGB SPOKESWOMAN: This is a law abiding country. We've decided to be a country governed by the rule of law. It's being compliant. That’s what faith is about in the general sense…

One Pentecostal pastor on the panel insisted that the RGB shouldn’t treat all churches across the country the same.

PASTOR KAWAGAM BEZIZA JULIUS: I will not have much problem with the standards and settings, but I have a problem with the implementation side of it…

Pastor Julius argues that some of the churches the RGB shut down for not having adequate parking include congregations where almost no one has cars or motorbikes. Another church meets in a remote area and shouldn’t be shut down because sound levels exceed the maximum allowed. And Pastor Julius was also upset over the government’s characterization that worship is noise.

JULIUS: Worshiping God is not noise pollution…

The RGB CEO Kaitesi Usta responded:

RGB SPOKESWOMAN: So I think some of these things are just more scientific than spiritual. They are more realistic than spiritual. But, the level of worship and preaching is about listening and hearing...

Peter Gitau of African Inland Mission believes the regulations may actually be an opportunity for the Evangelical church in Rwanda…to attempt to live at peace with their neighbors—as much as they can—and to remember that untrained and unaccountable church leaders often lead to trouble:

GITAU: Do you want just anyone running a church? Because in places, in a lot of places in Africa, that has proven to be not a good thing…

That said, Gitau acknowledges that now there are many Rwandans who can no longer go to church where they once did. However…

GITAU: No one is saying you cannot meet in each other's houses for fellowship. They're just saying, fix your fix your place. And you know you can meet there.

Gitau is unwilling to reveal whether he believes the regulations are more intrusive than they need to be. But even if they are, he says it’s important to not lose sight of one more opportunity.

GITAU: We can never stop praying for governments. I think, you know, the Lord put them there, although there are many times we wish he didn't, but the Lord put them there. We can not stop praying for those…

For WORLD Radio, I’m Paul Butler.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.