Bold ways to live for Christ in a strange economy

How two Burundian Christians sacrifice personal needs to live for God

Jean-Baptiste Ndayizeye, director of youth programs for the Association of Evangelicals in Burundi, and his two cows.

Burundi has a fragile economy. On my tenth day, I finally saw petrol (gas) stations actually dispensing fuel. The official exchange rate is about 2,900 Burundian francs to one US dollar, but people tell me that’s because the government is trying to make the economy look better than it is. I can get 5,000 to 6,000 Burundian francs per dollar on the street.

Yesterday, I experienced how a faithful young Christian survives and serves God in this economy. I spent the day with Jean-Baptiste Ndayizeye, director of youth programs for the Association of Evangelicals in Burundi (AEB).

Like everyone else at the AEB, Jean-Baptiste generously volunteers his time, so he has to earn his money elsewhere. He owns two milk-producing cows cultivates rice on fields near his native community about 10 miles north of Bujumbura.

I met Jean-Baptiste downtown at 9:00 and we took a short bus ride to see his current residence. Riding a bus in Burundi is an experience in itself. The buses are really oversized vans with several rows of two seats on the left, one on the right, and a folding seat that can occupy the aisle. When the folding seat opens up, you have four seats and no aisle. But you’re expected to fit five people into those four seats, unless you pay extra. Since the buses are individually owned and not running on a schedule, each driver is motivated to fill the bus before starting a run, making most trips quite uncomfortable. Moreover, letting people in the back get off the bus when there’s no aisle becomes an adventure.

We walked from the bus stop to Jean-Baptiste’s rented apartment. It consists of a living area about 8 by 10 feet, with enough space for a table and chairs, and two bedrooms concealed behind curtains. There is a shared outdoor “kitchen” (a cooking area with a water faucet, though water is not always available), along with two separate buildings for a toilet and shower, respectively.

The toilet that Jean-Baptiste and his neighbors use.

Jean-Baptiste said he and his roommate pay 100,000 Burundian francs each per month for the space. That’s about $35 per month if one uses the official exchange rate, or just $17-20 a month based on the fluctuating unofficial rate.

That’s a great way to cut living expenses, but young adults in Bujumbura, like just about everywhere else today, need a smartphone to function. When I asked how he can afford one, he assured me that his inexpensive phone cost the equivalent of only about $100 USD.

Jean-Baptiste is among the AEB members who have benefited from Re-Forma, the quality development program from untrained pastors. He had previously attended one month of missionary training in Kenya, but last year he traveled to Uganda for one of Re-Forma’s quality training retreats. When I asked Jean-Baptiste what he had learned from Re-Forma, he said it had helped him correct the imbalances of the prosperity gospel. (When we were together last weekend, I was amazed to find a Burundian asking me what I thought of Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and even William Branham, who was at the center of the “Latter Rain” Pentecostal revival of 1948.)

To visit his cows and fields, we had to take two buses and a motorbike taxi ride. (Burundi certainly has a creative system to get people to rural locations, but taking my first-ever motorbike ride with no helmet was a mildly unpleasant surprise.) After that, the motorbike took us to Jean-Baptiste’s hometown, densely packed with small homes but which enjoys electricity (most of the time) and potable water. There, I found one thing that some people use their money for.

We were scheduled to play football (soccer for North Americans) at 3:00. I had brought a nice soccer ball with me from the US. I expected to kick a ball around with a group of kids. Instead, along with some very skilled teenagers, about a dozen young adults arrived wearing professional-quality football uniforms. This was the amateur team that represented the town in games against other local communities. Their home life might reflect poverty, but their football image looked as flashy as Real Madrid’s.

I played college soccer 46 years ago and still have some ball skills, so I played with the group for about 30 minutes. Happily, they weren’t too tough on me. I commented afterwards that it is hard to defend against someone 50 years younger than me.

Jean-Baptiste and his brother exhibited impressive youth ministry capacities. We had prayer before and after playing (with sensitive acknowledgment of the one Muslim youth participating) and they shared a brief message at the end.

I asked Jean-Baptiste if he ever feels frustrated by his lack of resources. “I am satisfied with my life, but I trust God to do more with me,” he replied. “I know he will do that if my motivation is for ministry and not for myself.”

A life-changing investment

I heard another inspiring story from Jean-Jacques Masabo, general secretary of the Baptist Union of Burundi, whom I visited in his office the previous day.

After describing the Baptist Union’s history—Masabo said the Baptists were virtually wiped out during ethnic violence in 1972 but have recovered to establish more than 200 churches—and its impressive set of projects, he recalled the time when a young boy asked him for assistance. Masabo figured it was one of Bujumbura’s many street kids, but the boy said he was attending a Baptist church. Afterwards, Masabo phoned the pastor and confirmed that the boy really was part of the church.

“I thought I could get my haircuts at a cheaper place and give some money to help this boy,” Masabo recalled. The relationship continued and Masabo helped with school fees through graduation. The boy—Edmund Gakiza—went on to Bible college in South Africa and is now the AEB’s general secretary.

Gakiza built on his close connection to Masabo when seeking to form an evangelical alliance in Burundi. The initial communication I received through the World Evangelical Alliance website two years ago appeared to have come from Masabo, but Gakiza has since admitted that he wrote it. “I thought that if the message came from someone without an important title, you would ignore it,” he explained.