David Thomas | Whole-Life Discipleship
Have you ever asked what your ROI, your “return on investment,” will be? As missionaries Debby and I invested twenty years of our lives in Rwanda, and many of you invested prayers and financial support right alongside us. What is our ROI for that twenty-plus-year investment?
I got to visit Rwanda this past January, and I was amazed to see how much has changed in the culture of our Friends churches over time. I remember as a young missionary in the late 1990s and early 2000s how church leaders would come to me asking for help. Some couldn’t pay for their kids’ school fees. Others couldn’t pay for family medical expenses. I remember some of their children dying from things like malaria. Most didn’t own their own homes. Many leaders felt it was the responsibility of the mission and the national church to provide for their needs. This was a weight beyond the resources of our family, the church, or EFM. It was too heavy for me to carry.
On this trip, I noticed how much has changed over the years. With a deep trust in God and a “nitwe tubikora (we will do it)” mentality, Rwandans have taken responsibility for overcoming many of the barriers they faced. Many leaders have bought land and built their own homes. Three pastors showed me the land they bought and thousands of trees they’ve planted for their retirement. I got to talk with our superintendent Aaron Mupenda whose leadership in the last ten years has been instrumental in helping stabilize the church and pastors in particular. Every pastoral family now has quality health insurance. Most have some stable income from the church and also have family businesses to supplement this income. Many leaders are saving together, as well as loaning to each other.
Our Discipling for Development leaders actively demonstrate homes and lives that steward well the resources they have been given. Groups of leaders from the denomination’s executive council down to local savings groups meet together regularly encouraging each other to follow through on their families’ holistic, personal development plans.
Pastor Gerard took us around the countryside within miles of his church of Rugarama, where we toured four new church buildings. Pastor Vincent with his wife Bernadette of Burera Friends invited us into their new home. They have six children, four in high school and two in university. They pay for all of them to study! He is a farmer and an amazing pastor motivating others to follow his example, and stewarding well all God has given them.
What is our ROI (Return on Investment)? From my vantage point, from this recent trip, as my Dad says, “it is the normalness of God’s kingdom,” which is “way beyond all we could ask or imagine (Eph 3:21)!”
As we look forward, what an amazing privilege we now have to invest in future mission fields through our Luke 10 Initiative through prayer, time, and finances! Rwanda is now one of our partner yearly meetings actively planning to send missionaries to South Sudan, and we might have the privilege of partnering with them in this venture! Our ROI from past investments keeps on growing, and the ROI in our current and future Luke 10 Initiatives is full of potential.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!” Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
David Thomas
Spanish 
English (United States)