Lausanne World Pulse – Remembering Genocide with Hope: Rwanda Heals Through Forgiveness and Reconciliation

ALARM Rwanda would like to acknowledge the financial contribution from World Relief Rwanda, which allowed many more leaders to attend. The church leaders promised to meet together again to continue discussing these problems. ALARM will coordinate a follow-up conference in partnership with CARSA (Christian Action for Reconciliation and Social Assistance) and EVM (Esther’s Vision Ministries), who played major roles in the success of this historic event.

Tutsi and Hutus met at the conference to seek reconciliation.

Reconciliation and Genocide Prisoners Not only has ALARM been leading the Church of Rwanda in the process of healing and reconciliation, the organization has also trained genocide prisoners who were released by presidential pardon. From 25-27 September 2006, ALARM Rwanda conducted a workshop for fifty-three recently released genocide prisoners from all the provinces of Rwanda. The workshop took place at the ALARM’s Centre for Leadership and Forgiveness in Kigali. While these prisoners were released because they acknowledged their involvement in the genocide, they had not confessed their sins and did not know what it meant to be forgiven, the cost of forgiveness and how to receive it. Most prisoners expressed their sorrow for what they did. They also committed to seeking forgiveness from the relatives of those they had murdered.

Five prisoners gave their lives to Christ as they understood that the ultimate reconciliation is between humanity and God. Through brokenness and hopelessness of genocide in Rwanda, God is bringing hope and restoration through the message of forgiveness and reconciliation. Christ must remain the foundation of any form of reconciliation. The Church has no other gospel message apart from that of pleading and imploring people to be reconciled to God and to each other (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).