This Sunday in the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, Anglicans around the world will be praying for the Anglican Church of Burundi. Here, the Anglican Communion News Service introduces the Province and suggests items for prayer.
There are a reported 900,000 Anglicans out of an estimated population of just over nine million in Burundi. The Anglican Church of Burundi has nine dioceses and is present throughout the country. The primate of the Anglican Church of Burundi is Archbishop Martin Blaise Nyaboho, who is also Bishop of Makamba.
An Anglican presence was established through the work of the Church Mission Society (CMS) in the 1930s. It grew rapidly as a result of the East African Revival. The former Ruanda Mission set up its first mission stations at Buhiga and Matana in 1935, and Buye in 1936. The first national bishop was consecrated in 1965, and the Anglican Church of Burundi has existed as a province since 1992.
A priest from the Diocese of Matana, Salvator Nkorerimana, recently spoke to CMS about young people leading the way in Burundi for an article published in their newsletter, The Call. He explained that though young people are burdened by the lack of opportunities for them in the country, he is excited about what God is doing through the delivery of CMS-Africa’s youth discipleship training.
The focus of the training is to help young people discover and develop their talents and use them for the benefit of their community and church, as well as themselves. When the training was introduced in 2016, the youth responded en masse with 300 young people taking part in the six-month programme.
Salvator plans to extend the CMS-Africa programmes across the province. He said: “I have decided to not go too quickly. I have asked the bishops to give me a person in mission in each diocese as a contact. That way we can plan the activity for each year together. My vision is to finish getting the training materials translated into Kirundi, to train more trainers and to extend the programmes across the dioceses”.
Please pray for CMS-Africa and for the youth in Burundi.
Last year, the Bishop of Matana, Seth Ndayirukiye, wrote a profile of the Anglican Church of Burundi which was published by the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC). The article details the province’s history and key activities.
Please pray for the following areas of work in the Anglican Church of Burundi:
- Preaching the Word of God
- Prayer and Witness
- Good works in the community
- Contribution to reconciliation
- Empowering women
More information about the Anglican Church of Burundi is available on their website: anglicanburundi.org.