Lausanne World Pulse – Stories of Lament and Hope: Burundi Gathering

By Stephanie Wheatley and Jen Stallings

“Why is it that the blood of tribalism so often runs deeper than the waters of baptism?” “How can this densely Christian region of Africa continue to be mired in such intractable violence, unrest, and corruption?” “And what does it look like to live out new visions of hope in ways which reveal Christian alternatives to these social realities?”

Nearly ninety Christian leaders from Africa’s Great Lakes region and companions from the United States assembled in Burundi.

These were the questions participants wrestled with 6-9 January 2009, as nearly ninety Christian leaders from Africa’s Great Lakes region and companions from the United States assembled in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The challenge of Christian identity in the face of tribalism marked the third annual gathering of the Great Lakes Initiative (GLI), convened by Duke Divinity School’s Center for Reconciliation in partnership with African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), Mennonite Central Committee, and World Vision International.

In many ways, the initiative is a ripple of hope from the 2004 Lausanne Forum on World Evangelization in Thailand, where key leaders from ALARM, World Vision, and Duke first worked together in the Issue Group on Reconciliation, and dreamed with other Christians across the world of common mission.

As they came from Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, and Uganda, old friends reunited and new friends were received, strengthening the sense of familial ties that stretch across countries, ethnic groups, denominations, and backgrounds.

Over three and a half days of worshipping, eating, and meeting together, participants explored tribalism’s complexities in the region. The African leaders lamented the spells of tribalism and the ways the Church has failed to interrupt the region’s history of ethnic conflict. They asked, “Can the Church make any difference? Show me.”

Three stories offered a loud “Yes,” pointing to the gospel’s power to interrupt patterns of division and violence. These stories were presented by Maggy Barankitse from Burundi, Bishop Paride Taban from Sudan, and Angelina Atyam from Uganda.

Maggy Barankitse, Maison Shalom
Barankitse, founder of Maison Shalom (“House of Peace”) in Burundi, is living proof that the Church can, indeed, make a difference in the world. At Maison Shalom, in the town where she grew up, Maggy lives alongside the most marginalized people and provides ten thousand children a dignified future through a holistic, community-based ministry of education, healthcare, vocational training, and recreational activities, all grounded in a simple Christian vocation to love. When asked about her strategy she replies, “My action plan is simple: four letters—L-O-V-E.”

Stephanie Wheatley (left), a graduate of Wheaton College, serves as the global outreach coordinator for the Duke Center for Reconciliation. Jen Stallings (right), a graduate of Duke Divinity School, is a candidate for ordination in the United Methodist Church.