Rwanda: Christian media personality to open Christian radio station to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Nicodeme Nzahoyankuye is a Rwandan media personality with an extensive background in media ministry, spanning over seven years, where he has served with different media houses. He has been nominated for and has won various awards, such as Groove Awards Rwanda,

Rwanda Broadcasters Excellence Awards, and the Peace and

Reconciliation Awards among the others.

Nicodeme has been appointed by Rabagirana Ministries as Media

Promoter of Reconciliation. He was twice awarded Best Gospel

Radio Promoter of the Year, and twice Best Gospel Radio Programme.

He is a warrior for Jesus, with a passion for sharing the Gospel through media. He has initiated different events, including healing and gospel festivals in his home country, Rwanda. He instigated the Rabagirana Festival, a leading gospel festival, aimed at promoting the Gospel of Jesus.

His dream is to open a fully Gospel-centred radio station in his community, and to organise crusades.

He has a heart to bring the Gospel closer to the least-reached communities of Rwanda, and to carry the message of hope, healing the inner wounds of genocide-affected communities in Rwanda. Nicodeme hopes to establish a community Christian radio station that promotes and takes the Gospel into the communities. The radio station will focus its programmes on the Word of God, healing the inner wounds and reconciliation. “I am praying that God will favour my initiative to establish a radio station. In Rwanda, establishing a community radio station requires a budget of between $25,000 and $40,000 to buy equipment as well as license processing documents. This is a large amount, but we are praying that God will open doors for people to partner with us or do a fundraising for us as we unfold this vision of building a saved society, equipped with the message of the Gospel of Jesus, hope, healing and reconciliation,’’ said Nicodeme in a recent interview.

His heart is to win souls for Christ through crusades and festivals.

Nicodeme started organising crusades and gospel festivals in the remote places of Rwanda to win souls for Christ. He does the organising, and invites local, regional and international evangelists to preach the Gospel. His calling is to help evangelists from around the world to preach the Gospel through crusades that take place in the remote areas and underprivileged communities.

Why healing and reconciliation?

Rwanda has faced obscurity following the genocide against Tutsis, when more than one million were massacred. The many inner wounded cases in Rwandan society and communities mean there is a continuous journey towards reconciliation to heal these wounds. Radio is one of the most important tools to reach many people – especially in the remote places – and Nicodeme believes radio will contribute towards that healing when the Gospel of Jesus is broadcast to these amazing people.

What’s next?

Nicodeme Nzahoyankuye is now pursuing his dream to see his country filled and equipped with the Gospel through radio. He extends the invitation to every believer throughout the world to pray for this vision and to partner with him in this initiative.

“I humbly request prayers for this initiative, and for people to contribute in any way. You can share this message to many, so they can fundraise, contribute and pray. Wherever you are, please do your part to help us fulfil the Great Commission through radio. I also invite evangelists and missionaries, who have a heart for Africa, so we can help them fulfil their mission and organise crusades and other events.’’

God’s heart for the vulnerable among us

Safeguarding children, young people and adults has become a live topic again over recent years. Abuse perpetrated by international aid workers, by international ministry leaders, by church leaders, staff, volunteers, and members and even abuse perpetrated by children on other children or adults have all hit the headlines.

Whenever these things are brought into the light, or allegations of current or historic abuse are made, we start to focus our attention on safeguarding. But what is safeguarding and why does it matter to us as churches?

For years, many of us have thought about safeguarding as a legal requirement and therefore something we must comply with. This is true, but it is not the whole story, and we would suggest it is not even the main story.

For us, safeguarding matters because it matters to our Heavenly Father who hates any form of oppression, abuse, or exploitation. We see safeguarding as a practical outworking of biblical principles.

So why does safeguarding matter? Because it is a practical outworking of biblical principles, and it impacts our gospel witness. Perhaps it would be helpful to think about it not as a legal requirement so much as a matter of the heart. What do we mean by that? • It is about the heart of God for those made in his image; particularly those who are vulnerable or defenceless • It is about hearts that are wicked and deceitful; that do not see as God sees • It is about hearts that are broken and lives damaged or destroyed by the evil that people do to one another

But does scripture really speak into the matter of safeguarding? Surely that is a new concept that was unknown to people in biblical times? It is certainly true that scripture does not use the safeguarding vocabulary, but it has a great deal to say about the theme of safeguarding, and about those who exploit or abuse the vulnerable because they have power.

We cannot go into detail here, but let’s consider a few examples. • Human life is valuable - Genesis 1 tells us that human beings are made in the image of God. As such, every human being is valuable to God.

This includes the life of unborn children (Exodus 21: 22-25). - Psalm 139 tells us that we are uniquely created and formed by God. • The reality of life in a fallen world presses in constantly - We are fallen people (Genesis 3) - The human heart is deceitful and wicked (Jeremiah 17: 9) - We must always be mindful that we can fall into sin (1 Corinthians 10:12) • The Old Testament law repeatedly tells us to be honest in our dealings and to care for the orphan, the widow, and the stranger (E.g. Exodus 22, Leviticus 19, 25 etc) • The Lord rebukes those who oppress or abuse the vulnerable (e.g. Nehemiah 13, Jeremiah 10, Ezekiel 34 etc) • The Lord brings sin into the light (e.g. Joshua 7, 2 Samuel 12,

Acts 5 etc) • Jesus own example and teaching (e.g. Matthew 19, Luke 17) • The early church cared for its own and for others (e.g. Acts 6) • We are to obey those that the Lord has set in authority over us (e.g. Romans 13) • We are to do everything for the glory of God (e.g. 1 Peter 2: 12)

We could draw out many more principles, but this gives us a sense of the matter.

At CSS, we are passionate about the Gospel, the church as the bride of Christ and the safety of the Lord’s people. We work with churches and other Christian Faith based organisations, helping them to think about safeguarding from a biblical perspective, and then to ensure that these principles are thoroughly worked through to ensure that our ministry is biblically faithful, reflects the heart of God, and fully complies with and even exceeds the standards that the government set for us.

If you would like to explore how we can help your organisation, please check out our website or send us an e-mail and we will be happy to talk through how we can help. Our services include: • DBS checking • Model policies and procedures • Training • Advice line • Consultancy • Etc

www.thecss.co.uk

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