Audio Bibles Bring Hope and Restoration to Rwanda

Rwanda’s history is full of graphic, hate-filled horrors.

In 1994, two rival clans took to the streets with machetes and machine guns. Less than 100 days later, the country lay in ruins and one million people lay brutally massacred.

Colombe is old enough to remember it all – especially the angry voices which came from the radio. She recalls how those voices spewed out hate, urging people to take up arms and destroy their friends and neighbors simply because they belonged to the other clan. She can’t forget how those voices whipped mobs of teenage boys into a killing frenzy and the death, destruction and terror that followed.

“It was the radio that told us to go out and kill our neighbor,” she said.

Fourteen years later, Colombe and her fellow villagers gather and listen to different voices – voices that talk about forgiving others and loving their neighbors. These voices are coming from a Proclaimer, a self-powered audio player, pre-loaded with the New Testament on an embedded microchip. Colombe calls it a “radio.” And although it doesn’t receive or emit radio waves, the Proclaimer is transmitting the Word of God into the hearts of many Rwandans.

Colombe is part of a Faith Comes By Hearing listening group. Every week she and many others gather from miles around to listen to the Word of God in their own language – Kinyarwanda. After listening, they discuss what they heard in God’s Word. What Colombe and other Rwandans are finding is the hope and guidance they need to move forward.

Fidèle found what he was looking for. As one of those boys in the murderous mobs, he was riddled with guilt and struggled with forgiveness.

“I was a killer,” he said remorsefully. “Then someone invited me to come and listen to the Proclaimer.”

As Fidèle listened, he found forgiveness for his sins. He accepted Jesus Christ – he also accepted forgiveness for his murders, and the people forgave him.

Another man in the group is Everest. He was a heavy drinker and struggled with fidelity in his marriage. Someone invited him to a Faith Comes By Hearing listening group and after participating for several weeks, he gave his life to Christ. Now, Everest and his whole family listen, and he is using the Proclaimer to start other listening groups.

When the violence erupted in the mid-90s, Emmanuel was working in a neighboring country. His family belonged to the minority clan, and even though many of his family members were murdered, he chose to return and minister to the rival clan. Emmanuel, the director of Campus Crusade for Christ in Rwanda, now travels throughout the country showing the JESUS Film and forming listening groups after the film’s showing.

“Through stories like these, you can see how God is healing this land,” said Morgan Jackson, Faith Comes By Hearing’s international director.

“God is doing something amazing in partnership with Bible Societies, JESUS Film and Wycliffe. Bible Societies and Wycliffe translate the Word of God. Bible Societies facilitate bringing in the Audio Bible, and they pull in the local churches. JESUS Film workers then go out, gather the people and show the film,” Jackson explained. “As people watch the JESUS Film, they see Jesus die, hear Him in their own language and come to faith.”

Jackson said that instead of being scattered and given Bibles they are unable to read, people now gather around a Proclaimer to engage in God’s Word in format they can use –audio.

“People gather their friends and neighbors, listen to a Proclaimer and a church is planted,” Jackson said. “They then take the Proclaimer to others. Soon the crowd is so large, they form two groups, then four, then six. People get so frustrated from having to stand in the rain that they build a church building.”

“The people have a vision to plant 1,000 churches – one for each hill – because Rwanda is known as the land of 1,000 hills.”

Emmanuel’s work is bearing fruit; churches are being planted all over, and his passion for church planting is catching on.

Prior to Emmanuel’s outreach, Aaron had never attended church. Then he was invited to attend a listening group. After listening for a few weeks, Aaron gave his life to Christ, testifying that John 11:17 touched him because he identified with Lazarus.

“That was me. I was like a dead man to God, but now I’m alive. Now I’m a proclaimer.”

Aaron is leading a listening group and is using the Proclaimer to start other listening groups in Rwanda’s heart language. He said if he had more Proclaimers more people would be able to hear God’s Word.

“What you are seeing there is Proclaimers leading to church planting,” said Jackson. “One pastor received one Proclaimer and planted 14 churches in only six months. The Proclaimer never stops. It is run to its limit; somebody takes it to one place and starts a listening group. Before you know it, there are 10, 15, 20 groups, and it’s reached its limit. Each group asks for its own Proclaimer so they don’t have to share with so many others.”

At a small, half-built building just down the road, a 14-year-old boy sets up a Proclaimer in the front of the room. He himself came to Christ by listening and now gathers 20 other children.

“What would you do if you had your own Proclaimer?” Emmanuel asked the boy.

Without hesitation, the young boy replied, “I’d go out and reach 1,000 people.”

In Rwanda, 60% of the population is extremely poor and half the people are unable to read. These obstacles hinder millions of Rwandans from accessing God’s Word. You can get involved by supporting Faith Comes By Hearing recordings and programs and by joining us in prayer for this nation.