Pastor Rick Warren: Rwanda Prospers Because it 'Chose to Forgive'
Pastor Rick Warren and Rwandan President Paul Kagame at Saddleback
Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on Saturday.
Sunday, 27 Apr 2014 06:50 PM
By Troy Anderson
Kagame told a jam-packed crowd at an event commemorating the 20th
anniversary of one of the worst mass slaughters in modern history,
that the Central African nation embodies the best and worst of
humanity.
"It's obvious to me that our history contains lessons on how human
beings can get to the point of destroying themselves and at the same
time the progress we've seen in Rwanda shows what human beings are
capable of in their best moments," Kagame told the audience Saturday
night at the 37,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.
Kagame, who is visiting the United States and spoke at Tufts
University last week, spoke at an event commemorating the 20th
anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which more than 1 million
Tutsi's and moderate Hutus were killed over three months. Kagame's
Rwandan Patriotic Front stopped the genocide by overthrowing the
majority Hutus government that orchestrated the slayings.
Since then, more than 120,000 people have been detained and accused of
bearing criminal responsibility for their participation in the
killings. While U.S. and British officials point to how Kagame has
helped transformed the nation into one of the fastest growing
economies in Africa, critics say it's come at the cost of a government
that suppresses the opposition and jails its opponents.
Under Kagame's leadership, the nation has undergone a process of
reconciliation and is now considered one of the safest countries in
Africa. More than 1 million Rwandans have come out of poverty and the
World Bank listed Rwanda as "among the ten most improved economies in
2013."
Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren, the bestselling author of "The Purpose
Driven Life," has worked with Kagame over the past decade through the
PEACE Plan – a global movement to mobilize Christians to copy Jesus'
model of ministry by addressing the five "global giants" of spiritual
emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, disease, and lack of
education.
After reading "The Purpose Driven Life" in 2004, Kagame sent Warren a
letter asking him to "help make Rwanda the first purpose-driven nation
and the first national model of the PEACE Plan." Since then, nearly
2,000 Saddleback members – entrepreneurs, investors, doctors,
teachers, city planners, contractors and others – have traveled to
Rwanda.
These members, along with Warren and PEACE Plan officials, have worked
with Kagame's government and thousands of church and private sector
leaders to help the nation "come out of the ashes in amazing growth
and amazing development," Warren said.
"You may be thinking, 'Why has Rwanda grown and developed and become
such a place of prosperity and safety so fast and in such a short
amount of time?' " Warren said. "I mean it's gone from Third World to
First World in a generation. Let me give you the reasons in my
opinion. No. 1, God has chosen to bless Rwanda because the Rwandans
chose to forgive."
Kay Warren, the pastor's wife, said she was amazed at the forgiveness
that has taken place.
"Rwanda has a tender place in my heart," she said. "It impacted me, it
haunted me and it broke my heart. I knew that I wanted to be a part of
the healing of a nation of brave and courageous people."
Kagame said no words could express the gratitude Rwandans "feel to see
so many of you gathered here to mark the 20th anniversary of the
genocide."
"This moment is important for me and for all Rwandans for it brings us
to remember that more than 1 million lives were lost in the genocide
and through the strength of the survivors, as well as the resilience
of Rwandans, that has kept our nation alive."
One of the reasons why the PEACE Plan has worked so well in Rwanda is
because it it's based on Jesus' command to "go and teach them to do
everything I've commanded you," Warren said.
"It doesn't say go do it for them," Rick Warren said. "Almost all
mission work done by every mission agency … says we are going to come
over and do stuff for you. That creates dependency. The philosophy of
the PEACE Plan is we don't do anything for you. We teach you to do.
People need training, not aid. They don't' need a hand out. They need
a hand up."
Based on the success of the PEACE Plan in Rwanda, Warren said leaders
of several other African nations have asked him to replicate the
success of the PEACE Plan in their countries.
"And in all three cases I said this, 'No, but I'll send the Rwandans,'
Warren said. "And they are up to the task."
© 2014 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/rwanda-genocide-20th-anniversary-forgive/2014/04/27/id/567980/
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