Spreading the Gospel in Rwanda

by | Jul 20, 2024

Our mission in Rwanda began in the Gikongoro Diocese with a beautiful celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Lloyd spoke about the promises of the Jubilee and applying those promises to our lives. He concluded by inviting the people to stand, raise their right hands, and rededicate their lives to Jesus. All did so, and there was much rejoicing!

The next day, we traveled about four hours to Ruhengeri for a retreat with priests and religious. Our interpreter spent six years in America to get her doctorate. She is a genocide survivor and has been through years of therapy and counseling. She also translated for us last year, when she discovered a new level of freedom through the Five Keys from Unbound, which are repentance and faith, forgiveness, renunciation, taking authority, and the Father’s blessing. I prayed with her, and the next week, she taught five-hundred people the Five Keys! She will be an excellent teacher!

As we went through the retreat, it became clear that by the power of the Five Keys, God is at work in this group of priests and religious. Everyone committed to becoming part of a Catholic Charismatic Group focused on evangelization with the Five Keys. At the end, all the participants wanted the baptism of the Holy Spirit, especially the gift of tongues—and it looked like almost everyone received it. It was a powerful time!

We then celebrated Rwanda’s fiftieth anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal with a huge outdoor healing Mass attended by about fifteen-thousand people. Lloyd gave a powerful talk that challenged people to forgive, repent, and renounce their sins. He also led them in a prayer to invite Jesus into their hearts. It is always amazing to see the power of the Gospel setting people free. There was much rejoicing!

At the end of Mass, our friend Father Fernando took Jesus through the crowd. He has a healing gift and a highly developed gift of words of knowledge. There was praise and worship and dancing before the Lord before the Mass started. It is always amazing to see the huge wooden chalices filled to the brim with hosts. It took about twenty priests and at least ten sisters about an hour to distribute communion to the thousands of people. All the priests were escorted beneath blue and white umbrellas. Then Fr. Fernando and all the priests took Jesus through the crowds in the monstrance, which took about another hour.

Later, we led a lay leaders’ retreat attended by people from nine different Rwandan dioceses. Charismatic Renewal members from the area opened their homes to people attending the retreat. Retreat organizers fed participants breakfast and lunch, and then host families fed them dinner and gave them a place to sleep. Nobody had to get a hotel or search for food!

Each day of the retreat included Mass and teachings that ran over projected times due to the people’s hunger for God. We were amazed at the number of participants! Over three-hundred people registered, but over five-hundred people showed up. All had heard about the power of the Five Keys and had many questions about the Five Keys and a host of things related to increasing confusion in the world and the Church.

Lloyd taught them that the Church exists to evangelize. He discussed the four last things and explained that heaven and hell are real. He quoted St. John Paul II about the ministry of Jesus, who used healing and deliverance to bring people to the faith that leads to salvation. He told them that for the last number of years, the Church has focused on God’s love, which is good, but has left out the vital reality that all die and come before judgment. He encouraged them to preach the whole Gospel!

I discussed repentance. Many people don’t know that things they accept from their culture are sins. People were so engaged, they insisted on writing down every quote and Scripture verse. We had great times of ministry at the end of the talks on renunciation, where the participants eagerly got into kicking out things that have troubled them for years. When I led all the participants in a prayer of forgiveness, there were many tears, breakthroughs, and freedom. We also held sessions on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

These sessions have become a powerful tool to combat the horror of the Rwandan genocide. Their faith has impacted us as well, as they share about how God has freed them from unbelievable trauma.

This article originally appeared in Renewal Ministries July 2024 newsletter.

About the Author

<a href="https://www.renewalministries.net/author/ngreenhaw/" target="_self">Nancy Greenhaw</a>

Nancy Greenhaw

Lloyd and Nancy Greenhaw responded to Pope John Paul's encyclical Mission of the Redeemer in April of 1991 by leaving successful careers in order to serve the Church in the full-time ministry of Catholic evangelization. Lloyd was a representative for a Fortune 500 Company, and Nancy enjoyed a career as an award-winning watercolor artist and teacher. They have two daughters, fourteen grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren. In the US, Lloyd and Nancy have ministered through parish missions, conferences and retreats for adults and youth, prison ministry, and work with the homeless. In conjunction with Renewal Ministries, they teach evangelization schools in various regions of the country. Internationally, as Renewal Ministries’ country coordinators, they have led numerous outreaches to several African countries, as well as Turkey, Haiti, Samoa, and Papua New Guinea. They work closely with Church authorities to teach catechesis, apologetics, and the New Evangelization. The Greenhaw family also has a music ministry that plays both traditional music and original compositions in a lively style enjoyed by adults and youth. They have recorded five albums to date.

1 Comment

  1. William Organ

    Thank you for sharing for us the results of what Jesus has done through your ministry. This builds our Faith. I share the Works of power and healings Renewal Ministries does in Jesus’ Name to increase Brothers and Sisters Faith. 😇✝️❤️

    Reply

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