Life Transformation Church
Butare, Rwanda
I am Pastor Paul Ntayomba, the founder of Life Transformation Church, located in Butare City, Rwanda. My wife Annett Kyakwera and I work with our four children desiring to build up the people of our community in the word of God. Pastoring a church in a poor community such as ours can be a tricky thing to get your mind around. Despite lack of opportunities I must look at this ministry like the Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians 4:11, who said. “Not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”
In 1993, I went to the market place and hear a preacher who was using very loud speakers. He preached with confidence about Jesus Christ who forgives sins and heals the sick. He invited people to come and give their lives to Jesus Christ. I was not like other young men who were drunkards in my village. I did not do the things young men my age was doing, so I felt absolutely sinless concerning the things the preach was saying. But the more he preached the more the word of God convicted my heart that I needed this Jesus. I did go forward and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ that day.
After getting born again, great things happened to my life. New joy and peace covered me with an unmeasurable love. I was having amazing dreams every morning around 3:00am as I experienced mercy and unknown new gospel songs kept filling my heart!
One evening in 1995, demons were attacking my mother again! She had been enduring demonic acts for some time and this night was no different. As usual she cried for help, madly running in and out and breaking things in the house. She would lose consciousness, speaking unorderly things. I loved my mother because after my father divorced her and married another woman, this new stepmother treated us badly! After some years, my mother decided to come back and care for her four children. She was everything to us so I didn’t want to see her suffering with these demonic attacks any more. I boldly picked up my small Gideon bible and called on Jesus to kindly heal my struggling mother! In just few minutes, my mother started shouting with a screaming loud voice saying, “Go away, leave this room, look at that man (Jesus Christ) behind you with white garment and fire from your hands…... oh please go away!” Then in a trembling voice, crying with both fear and joy, I realized that Jesus was with me in the same room and I lifted my faith high. In Just few hours, she recovered and came to her normal senses. She was sweating and shaking when she sat down on her bed and cried out and hugged me saying,” Paul my son, thank you for bringing Jesus in my life.” We both cried out with thanksgiving unto the Lord. I didn’t sleep neither eat food that day for the joy of God overwhelmingly covered us. After one month, my whole family gave their lives to Jesus, whom they used to call Paul’s Jesus from the market!
Ever since, my family, and especially my mother, have made a commitment of surrendering everything to God. I started going to Pentecostal churches far away from our farm with her.
I got baptized and my passion for Christ kept growing both in reading the bible, joining the choir, and moping the church. My theological pastor Wilson, kept training me and I went with him wherever he went to preach.
Now, after 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, I got involved in business-whole sale shop. Then one day, a lady come to buy some items and she told me that this business is not your calling, God wants you in His business (full time church serving) and if you harden your heart this whole sale shop will burn down to ashes! Months later, her disturbing prophecy came to pass.
With a lot of mixed reactions, my brother Godfrey and I, we humbly initiated what we called “House to House Evangelism Program’ telling people about Jesus Christ. We were new in ministry and we were trying to find a meeting place for those who were being saved. Down in the outskirts of our city Butare, 1 kilometer from Rwanda national university, God blessed us to find an open house/building of which had no doors, windows, or lights, and grasses had grown tall! We removed the rubbishes, cleaned inside, and used it as church building.
Our converted people started joining us on Wednesdays, Fridays and on Sundays right there, a church gathering was born, some years later, two miracles happened!
A blind young man called Ntezimana Jean Claude was miraculously healed by Jesus Christ, as his sight was restored! Then many people were attracted to join us.
As I was in my time of prayer, it was 10:00pm, singing hymns in the church where we stayed. I was praying, raising my hands up, when a strong current more than that of electricity, connected me into another dimension. When I tried to put my arms down or sit or move, nothing seemed possible! That experience took 13hrs without putting my arms down, neither sitting on the floor! I begged Jesus to release me back and everyone in the room was shocked for what was happening. I realized God was calling me to fulltime serve for him.
Our philosophy of planting “LIFE TRANSFORMATION CHURCH-RWANDA” came as submission to God’s voice. Since a church is a gathered group of believers that has been equipped by God-given leaders to take the gospel as Matthew 28:18 says...we went and plant a church in a society living with bad history of genocide, hopeless life, phycological trauma, fear, and depression were everyone directly and indirectly is affected. Some clergies, pastors, priests have been killed with some of their church members. Some are in the prison, others integrated into their communities. Some church buildings were turned into slaughtering (butcher) places. People joined us with heavy expectations of seeing the difference between their past churches and the new church! It was and is a big challenge training and equipping the disciples and leaders we made and will make in the line of fulfilling our vision and goals.
Thank you for looking at this webpage.
Please pray for ways you can help us build our vision for Rwanda.
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Thank you for your kindness.
