Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church
1948 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126
San Jose, CA 95126
The Rwandan Lutheran Church (RLC) is a sister synod of the Sierra Pacific Synod with close bonds being established and maintained between both leadership and congregations. In July of 2006 the Sierra Pacific Synod Bishop and a small contingent of people from the Sierra Pacific Synod visited Rwanda in order to strengthen ties between synods.
Holy Redeemer's sister parish is the Nyagatare Parish, in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. The Nyagatare Parish covers the entire Nyagatare District, which is the district at the top right of the district map below.
Pastor David Ntidendeza is the pastor of the Nyagatare parish.
The following correspondence is from Pastor David to Lisa Paulsen, HRLC's Rwanda Sister Parish facilitator:
Dear Lisa Paulsen,I greet you in Jesus’ name. I want to inform you that the Lutheran Church of Rwanda on November 2, 2006 made changes to transfer some pastors to different parishes. Our Almighty God, through the executive committee of LCR, sent me to be parish pastor of Nyagatare Parish, your companion parish. On January 27, 2007 the Deputy Bishop came to Nyagatare to put me officially in office at the Nyagatare Parish.
My name is Ntidendeza David; my wife’s name is Kukundwa Rose. We have three children. Our first born is named Kaliza Saveline. She is 6 years and 8 months old and is in primary school two. Our second born is Gikundiro Rebecca. She is three years and a half and is in nursery school. Third born is Bahizi Eric, who is one year and eight months. Before I came to Nyagatare to be the parish pastor I was parish pastor of Kigali.
Dear Lisa, it is my expectation that our communication will be on telling each other what is going on in our parishes. Convey my warmest greetings to your family and all parishioners of Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church in San Jose.
Yours,
Rev. Ntidendeza David
Diane Lowe is a member of the Lutheran Church of the Master in Sacramento ... and one of the 14-person delegation from the Sierra Pacific Synod who visited our companion synod in Rwanda in July of 2006. Dianne wrote a series of after-the-trip reflections. She introduced her series of reflections in a letter to Larry Moeller (VP of the Sierra Pacific Synod):
Hello, Larry.We are home from Rwanda...and will never be the same again. It was wonderful to be with such loving, hospitable, faithful, devoted Lutheran Christians, ...yet so difficult to witness the reality of poverty, extreme hardship, lack of basic human needs, ... and the results of true Evil at work through the atrocities performed in that place, .... and the current struggle of individuals to start life over and rebuild for the next generation.
You asked me to listen for answers to 'Why the Lutheran churches in Africa are growing while the American churches are not?'
I'm convinced that the answer is in the mindset of the African Christians and congregations. They take care of "others" first and then themselves. We tend to take care of our own needs first.
One day we visited a Lutheran congregation that began only 6 months ago with a core of 5 people and now has 58 and increasing every Sunday with new members. When I asked the pastor your question, he quoted the Great Commission in the Book of Matthew and said, "Evangelism is the most important thing we do." Rwandan pastors go door-to-door to talk to people and invite them to worship.
While stewardship is preached and offering collected, they don't get much because people are poor. Nonetheless, what ever little amount is received in offering, 90% is piecemealed out in little envelopes. Then when a pastor and/or evangelist knocks on a door, he/she first listens to the needs of the resident, prays on the spot with the resident, and (if a financial need is determined) gives one of the envelopes with a little money in it. That money is a loan which is to be returned without payment of interest.
Very little offering is then left for the congregation to use. The Rwandan Christians' mind set is to give back to the community and take care of your brother human being. The "help in time of need" often results in non-Christians turning to the church.
To read Diane's reflections, go to Rwanda Projects.org, and click on the links to "About Diane Lowe and her trip to Rwanda", Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or the printable pdf.
(By the way, the Lutheran congregation that Diane describes above matches the demographics of the Nyagatare Parish congregation.)
While attending the 2006 Synod Assembly, the Holy Redeemer Lutheran Church Assembly Members decided that this would be a fantastic project for us to embark upon. Our congregation memebers agreed and American Lutheran Church in Woodland decided to co-sponsor the Nyagatare Parish with us. Co-sponsorship of a sister parish entails:
The Rwanda Sister Parish Task Force facilitator is Lisa Paulsen.