By Pastor Frank Michael Tweheyo
The New Man New Woman New Life seminar was held in Bujumbura, Burundi, at Centre Communitaire adjacent to the Anglican Cathedral of Bujumbura.
Facilitators were Sarah and David Nutter and Frank Tweheyo.
Jean-Marie Nibizi and Yvette Ndayirukire translated into Kurundi.
Rev. Canon Seth Ndayirukire and Jean Marie Nibizi worked together to bring participants from Anglican Church of Burundi and other churches in Bujumbura city. That unity was wonderful and it underscores Empower ‘s vision of unity of peoples irrespective of religion, race, gender, or social status.
Other participants came from the Anglican Dioceses of Muyinga and Rumonge . This is in anticipation of the training being extended to other dioceses of the province. These people will act as our core team when training commences there and forecasts the Executive Overview for the Bishops due in January 2015 by Dr. Carrie Miles.
The training was opened by Rt. Rev. Ernest Bigirimana ,the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Bujumbura, who also represented the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Burundi , His Grace Bernard Ntahoturi.
The team was also blessed to meet Rt. Rev. Pedacuri, the Bishop of Rumonge, who personally drove the participants from his diocese to the training.
We were privileged to have high-profile people attending the seminar: a lay canon, and workers at the diocese of Bujumbura and the provincial office. The dean of the cathedral attended the official opening as well as the first session. Participants numbered about 30 people in all.
The opening questions were well articulated and set the stage for the study of the New Man New Woman material.
As usual, a lot of interest was put on Genesis chapter 3, on the question of who was present when the serpent was tempting the woman. Fore the first time, a lady was vehemently insistent that the man was not present during the conversation between the woman and the serpent (see Genesis 3:6). Several attempts to draw her attention to the scripture yielded little results as she had her own interpretations that being present may as well mean being there but at a distance. We resolved to let everyone research it deeper and ask the Lord for more guidance. It was, however, good to see the in-depth interactions from both sides of the debate and in the end ,a deeper understanding of both parts of Genesis 3 was realized.
Generally, the training was very successful and participants resolved to go and teach the material and propagate it further.
The Bishop delegated the Dean of the Cathedral to come and officiate at the closing ceremony and he handed over certificates to the participants.