An Open Door to Prison

Anyone who wants to lead a church, hold church services, or evangelize in Rwanda now needs a permit from the government (we reported). The church in question did have such a permit—but only a verbal one, agreed upon with the local authorities. 

However, a complaint was made against this church service by an unknown party. And when the police arrived, the organizers had no written permission to show. The pastor in charge and our partner were arrested. 

Our partner spent four weeks in prison without knowing how long he would be detained. Although he was not exactly thrilled about his new place of residence, he very quickly developed a remarkable attitude: more or less from day one, he was able to accept his situation as an opportunity and share the gospel with his fellow prisoners. Many of them subsequently turned to Christ. 

Of course, our partner's wife was very worried during his imprisonment—especially since no one knew when he would be released. In retrospect, however, both of them see the good in it. “We had been trying to start a ministry in the prison for a long time, but we weren't allowed in. So God opened a door for me through his imprisonment.” 

Today, many months after his release, our partner is still in contact with the inmates and visits them regularly in prison. In a rather unusual way, such valuable evangelistic outreach has emerged in this prison.