ABC’s Origins are from a conversation. Shortly before I first stepped foot in Rwanda, a friend looked me in the eye and seriously said, “Make it your goal to wipe out biblical illiteracy in Rwanda.”
His charge wouldn’t leave me. There was a heavenly weight in those words that sunk down deep.
“Make it your goal to wipe out biblical illiteracy.”
Armed with nothing but a Bible and my rudimentary reading plan, I arrived in Rwanda in February 2014 feeling a little like the shepherd boy David, with a pocketful of stones and a heart full of hope.
The text in context
While every one knows about Rwanda (thanks to its infamous genocidal history), what fewer people know is that before Rwandans inflicted the genocide on Tutsis the country’s population professed to be over 90% Christian.
How could this be? After almost a century of Christianity and rapid church growth – how could those that profess to know Christ act in such a contrary spirit?
While there is certainly gaps between what Christians say they believe and how they really live all over the world – when rivers of bloodshed flow in this gap, it’s time to sit up and soberly reflect on our methods and models of discipleship.
Sharper than a double-edged sword
While missionaries had brought the Word of God to Rwanda, most had not equipped the people to understand and speak the Word of God themselves. Like a priceless gift still sealed in its gift box, Christianity came to Rwanda but much of its power was still under wraps. The true prize of knowing God through loving His Word and allowing it to transform one’s life was largely left untouched.
ABC’s origins were in that single conversation and is simple yet profound: to empower more Christians and churches to take this great gift out of the box. To allow God’s Story and Word to leap off the pages, doing what only Living Words can do: cut to the heart, heal, comfort, transform, and quicken.