A Day of Joy and Praise for God’s Blessings at Hermon Church
Pastor Eric standing in the foundation of Hermon Church in 2020 when construction was paused while waiting for more funding.
Written by: Jenn O’Neill
Transportation is not something we have to even think about here in the United States. We can hop in our car on any given Sunday and pick from a half a dozen churches to attend.
In Rwanda, very few people have a car, let alone a moped or bicycle. Most walk several miles on unpaved, bumpy, steep, and often uneven roads on any given day. The community of Kimisagara has been praying for a building to worship in for five years after their tent church was shut down by government safety regulations.
So, you can imagine the incredible joy they felt on Sunday, July 10th when they walked to Hermon Church for services for the first time! Over the course of two services, they came together for twelve hours of praise and worship (from 8am to 8pm) to thank God for this miracle! Multiple choirs sang, including a newly formed children’s choir from the Child Hope Center who performed for the first time.
“We don’t have enough words to express our gratitude to see the church reopened and to see the people come back to the place where they haven’t been since March 2017,” says Bishop Theophile Rugubira.
For a while, the journey to complete the building seemed hopeless. In November of 2020, during the height of the pandemic, Pastor Eric stood in the shell of the church building. Construction was at a standstill because they needed more funds. At the time, he was asked what he would say during his first service. He said his topic would be joy.
And what a joy it was!
Bishop Theo referred to Joshua 5:9 in his message for the day.
“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.’ So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.”
In 2021, Mission Life donors and nonprofit organization, www.microseeds.org, came through with more funding and today, God’s vision for the community of Kimisagara is now a reality.
There’s more work to be done in Colombia and Rwanda. Become a sustainable member to help with future Mission Life projects:
