This is the story of one pastor who testifies to the power of radical love to heal. This pastor lives in an area of Rwanda where there are perpetrators of the genocide and victims of the genocide in the same community. Seeking reconciliation would take the kind of faith that Jesus describes in Matthew 17:20, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Because of the message of forgiveness that Christ offers to all people, this pastor set up a program where reconciliation happens between both groups.

Only the God of love could bring perpetrators and victims of genocide together so much so that they not only worship together but have built a community business together. Because of the reconciliation they have sought and the heart of Possibilities Africa to bring about holistic transformation, these people have a shared business of keeping pigs and cows together. Where there was hatred and murder, God established love and forgiveness. Where there was division, there is now unity. One could say the mountains were moved.

The pastor who started the reconciliation program in Rwanda joined Possibilities Africa seven years ago. If you ask him what he got from the Possibilities Africa training, he will tell you “freedom,” as Martin Simiyu describes in the 4:18 podcast. The context and background of this pastor’s culture are that it would be considered dishonoring to do any other work besides ministry if God called someone to serve. 

However, because he lived in a poor environment, the people in his church had little, if anything, to support him and the church. This left the pastor and his family in a situation where they would be hungry and hurt if he couldn’t do something to provide for them. He began planting vegetables at night so his family could eat. He raised produce for himself and his loved ones secretly because he didn’t want to disgrace his calling as a pastor. 

When he encountered Possibilities Africa staff and went through training, he began to understand that God has no problem with work. Scripture records that the Apostle Paul funded his life and ministry through tentmaking.

This pastor is now a potato farmer who no longer has to work in the night to live. He is free to plant potatoes and tend to them in daylight hours. He has built a better home for his family with the profit from his micro-business. He has also improved the lives of those in his community by employing people. This means church members who didn’t have an income now have the means to live without immense burden. 

This pastor has sought to improve social and economic issues through the lens of God’s Word. Around this one pastor, Possibilities Africa has also built a community of 27 pastors. They meet regularly to encourage one another on a personal level and in the growth of their churches. 

The training of one man has had a domino effect spiritually, socially, and economically and it’s happening all over the seven different countries Possibilities Africa serves–Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Burundi, Tanzania, and Zambia.

It costs $2,500 to train one pastor for the entire 2-year program with Possibilities Africa. If you’d like to be part of what God is doing in African countries, become a partner by making a one-time donation or giving monthly: usa.possibilitiesafrica.org/donate.