Believing that Christians are called not only to proclaim, but also to demonstrate the Gospel, Pastor Zenon Ndayegamiye felt burdened to implement holistic development both in his church and community in Burundi.
“We cannot separate the spiritual and physical or social development. It is like the two wings of a bird, if you cut off one wing, you cannot fly,” he explains.
Serving as a pastor in the Foursquare Church in Burundi, Zenon began to teach holistic development in 2010 among local church congregations. “In my church, I was struggling because I wanted to see the context of poverty changed,” remembers Zenon. After being introduced to the HOPE Burundi savings and credit association (SCA) program, he immediately felt that this program could provide an answer. Zenon shares, “Many organizations brought money to help Burundians, but until now, we don’t see the impact. For me, I can truly say HOPE Burundi is very different from other organizations. Some have said it’s like, instead of giving fish to someone, you have to teach him to fish.” Continue Reading…