An uphill climb, literally
Some unusual challenges of pastoring in Bujumbura
Françoise, wife of Gishingano Baptist Church pastor Julien Nsengiyumva, leaves her car to begin the steep uphill walk of about 1,000 feet to the church. The city of Bujumbura, Burundi and, in the distance, Lake Tanganyika are behind her.
Yesterday, I preached at Gishingano Baptist Church in Bujumbura, Burundi, where my primary translator for this visit, Julien Nsengiyumva, is pastor. It was quite an uphill battle to get there.
From his home in a flat part of the city, we traveled east and uphill into the mountains. The cobblestones turned to dirt, pockmarked by rocks, holes, and ruts that limited our speed to 5 kilometers per hour. Then suddenly, Julien pulled over and said, “We walk from here.”
Along with his wife and daughter, we got out of the car and began trudging up a steep hill that Julien’s vehicle could not manage. The 56-year-old pastor and his family trudged resolutely, gaining perhaps 200 feet of elevation before the narrow path flattened out and then descended to the church property, with a stunning view of Bujumbura and Lake Tanganyika below.
It’s hard to grow your church when only the very physically fit can get there. On the way up I declared, “My wife would not come to this church no matter how good it was.”
We did get an unplanned 10-minute rest along the way as a group of residents stopped Julien and asked for his help. He explained afterwards that the people wanted him to intercede in a domestic violence situation in their community.
Julien has been making this climb for 20 years. He received his initial, basic biblical training at a school in Burundi, but because a missionary saw him as a promising candidate, Julien was offered the chance to study in Kenya. He says he could have chosen theology or accounting. He took a rewarding but less financially profitable path. Julien simply laughed when I asked whether he has ever received a salary for pastoral work.
The modest-sized sanctuary with a decaying concrete floor was only about half-full when worship began shortly after 9:00, but nearly every one of the 150 plastic chairs was occupied by 10:00. I have figured out what Africans do if they don’t like long worship services—they just show up an hour late.
After worship, the chairs were rearranged into a big circle so that we could convene 20 couples at 1:00 for a facilitated discussion of what makes a good marriage, like the event at Musema Baptist Church that I described in last week’s blog post. The conversation revealed that Burundian Christians are surprisingly transparent, even about sexual matters. My teaching covered topics like mutual submission, communication skills, and patient conflict management, not sexual compatibility. But the questions included “What do you do if one partner wants sex more than the other?” and “What should a wife do if her husband is always done quickly and she isn’t satisfied?”
To give useful answers, I felt obliged to say things about my personal experience that my wife doesn’t let me say publicly in the more restrained United States. I think Nancy will tolerate this protocol violation, since she has no plans to visit Burundi.
I told the couples with admiration, “In the US church, there are two topics we aren’t allowed to talk about: money and sex. In my opinion, we suffer greatly due to our unwillingness to discuss those topics.”
I never imagined I would have to go to Burundi to see such an open conversation among Christian couples deeply concerned for building good marriages. For me, it’s a reminder that going to other cultures can help one grasp the weaknesses or limitations of one’s own culture.
As for Gishingano Church’s future—this thriving, resilient congregation seems to have no desire to make their lives more comfortable. With their own members doing the labor, they are laying bricks for the ground floor of a new church building. Amazingly, it’s 30 feet higher than the present location.