Greetings from Burundi!

A simple invitation to help has grown into an unexpected adventure

Burundi Evangelical Alliance general secretary Edmund Gakiza, in yellow, greets African regional evangelical alliance leader Master Matlhaope during his visit to Burundi in 2024.

US citizens tend not to pay much attention to the rest of the world. When I told friends I was going to Burundi, many of them asked what Burundi was.

In case you don’t know, Burundi is a country in east Africa, tucked in among Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s among the world’s poorest nations, as I discussed in my February 10 post on the country’s national evangelical alliance, the Association of Evangelicals in Burundi (AEB).

I arrived in Bujumbura, Burundi on Sunday, October 19, for a 17-day visit. Why go to Burundi? It all started with my unlikely role in the creation of the AEB.

Two years ago, when I was handling website inquiries for the World Evangelical Alliance, I received a friendly greeting from a Baptist pastor in Burundi. I encouraged him to become active in their national alliance. Unfortunately, I hadn’t checked the list of alliances. I received a response reading, “It appears that your work has not reached our country yet.”

Somewhat embarrassed, I told him that if they would like to create an alliance, I would help however I could. Edmund Gakiza, a young Baptist pastor who had attended Bible school in South Africa, took up the challenge due to his burden for improving collaboration among the Christians in his country.

A few months ago, a friend who visited Burundi and traveled through the country reported, “The quality of the alliance’s organization and operations was exemplary, the best I have come across in any country.” So I decided to go there and see for myself.

My preparations for this trip powerfully illustrate the change in Christianity’s center of gravity. I feel that I have more to learn than to teach. Friends have encouraged me to ask lots of questions, listen well, and to be very slow to offer solutions. I may be an expert in some relevant areas, but my hosts are the experts on how to share and live out the gospel in Burundi.

I asked Gakiza, who serves as the evangelical alliance’s general secretary, if he wanted me to prepare any message for Christians in Burundi. To my surprise, he asked me to talk about to maintain a loving marriage. Many pastors, he explained, are so dedicated to loving God that they sometimes neglect their wives. My wife laughed at the idea that I could be considered a good model of loving a wife. Happily, Nancy isn’t joining me on this trip.

When I finally passed through customs at Bujumbura’s small international airport, I was greeted by about 15 alliance members who gave me a framed plaque and then recorded an interview with me on my involvement with the AEB. I knew immediately that I would be greatly blessed by this visit.

I expect to be in Burundi through November 5. I’m not sure if I will maintain my usual schedule of Monday and Friday posts for the next two weeks, but I hope to have many stories to share when I return.