Part of anglican church of Burundi
ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF RUTANA
Part of Anglican church of Burundi
« Nimukundane nk’uko nanje nabakunze »
« Love one another »
Rutana Diocese
The Diocese of Rutano consists of 6 parishes to see them click on the links below:
Rutana Parish
Gifunzo Parish
Gitaba Parish
Gitaramuka Parish
Ntobo Parish
Kivungwe Parish
From 25 to 27 April 2018, the Diocese of Rutana has received 3 distinguished Guests whose names are Rev Canon Donald from England , J.M Vianney from Bujumbura Christian University (BCU) and Rev J. Claude, the former National Alpha Program Coordinator.
The guests conducted a workshop on 26th morning held in Rutana Saint John Cathedral during which many Christians attended. In the afternoon, the Guests were taken to Rutana High School where they met a crowd of students who have come to listen to them and J.Marie Vianney gave a talk to them encouraging them to keep their zeal up and have a hope for a better future.
From May12th-13th 2018, a very large sudents’ conference was organized in Rutana High School were different talks were delivered by different speakers. Main speakers came from the Scripture Union-Bujumbura but also Bishop Pontien was invited to give a talk.
Different topics which were very relevant to youths were tackled on just to help them think and plan for their better future, and Bishop Pontien in his speech based on Ephesians 5:15-17 & Luke 15:8 warned students to be well prepared for their country future leadership through loving, valuing and promoting education
Women and young girl’s workshop in Rutana, Timbura and NTaho
From the 10th up to 13th august, 2021, Mothers’ Union has organized one day workshop for women and young girl in each archdeaconry of Rutana Diocese. The total of attendances are 167 young girls and 232 women detailed as following: in Rutana archdeaconry 55 young girls and 91 women has attended, in Timbura archdeaconry 50 young girls and 55 women has followed the training, in Ntaho archdeaconry 62 young girls and 86 women.
The workshop has the following objective:
Training them on parenting approach
How they can shine in their local communities so that they can bring positive impact.
Capacity building on Sexual Violence based on gender and gender equity
The trainers were composed by the president and Coordinator of Mothers’ Union, the dean Rev. can. Alexis Musonera, Rev.can Jean NISUBIRE, Rev.can Evariste Biroruhure,Rev can Athanase Nitanga and 3 facilitator from all archdeaconry (Annociatte, Estella,Flora).
“Thy Kingdom come Program”
In May 2021, During the 10 days between the Ascension and Pentecostal day(13rd up to 23rd may 2021); the Christians of Saint John Cathedral of Anglican Church of Rutana has joined with other Christians in the world for prayers in line with “Thy Kingdom come”.The Major leading points during our 10 Day Prayer were the following each day :
Arranging seats on a round line so that we could see each other
Opening Christian hymn songs just to lead our mind into God’s presence
One of the participants was daily chosen to open the session with a prayer while everybody was kneeling down
Another person was daily chosen beforehand to share God’s word with others in a very short time leading all the participants into the real spiritual context related to 10 days the Christ’s Apostles had as they were waiting for the Holy Spirit
Thereafter everybody was given an opportunity to go somewhere in the Cathedral and spend a private time praying :
For his spiritual growth
To ask God to pour His Holy Spirit on His Church especially in Countries where the Name of the Lord isn’t much welcome
To Pray for at least 5 well known unsaved persons so that the Lord may save them
To pray for the World so that it may be free from COVID-19
After 30 min reserved for a private prayer, all the participants had to come back and gather together in their initial places and therefore share other private and common prayer items before they sing together one Christian Hymn song and had a Concluding prayer.
What was observed during that moment was that this year many people attended every session (more than 60 people attended every day) and you could read a great joy from their faces
RUTANA PARISH
RUTANA PARISH HISTORY
Rutana Anglican Parish was born in 2006. It is made of 6 local churches with a total number of 2,261 parishioners. The number of male is 663 while 753 are the female and 845 represent the Children.
From August 19th, 2017, while Rutana Anglican Diocese was created, Rutana Parish became automatically the seat of the Diocese of Rutana and therefore carried the name of Saint John Cathedral.
It is located in Rutana Town precisely in Residential Quarter (Quartier Résidentiel). As it is structured at Diocesan level, there are various Departments in Rutana Parish such as Development Department, Mothers’ Union department, Youth department, Music department, Evangelism department and other programs such as Prayer Group programs, Home Groups…
The parish of Rutana was consecutively led by :
Rev. Jean Claude KAZUNGU : 2006-2008
Arch. Pontien RIBAKARE: 2009-2017
Chan. Alexis MUSONERA : 2018 till now.
On this 9th January 2022, the sunday school of Rutana Parish has organized a crusade for the congregation of Rutana Parish. During the Crusade different dances, sketchs and Songs were presented in order to show their talents in different manner of praising God.
The main theme during that crusade was “1 samuel 3: 1-21 : Yahweh called samuel and established him as his prophet”, below are the picture of Children praising the Lord during the Crusade.
Church Weekly Timetable
1) Monday (From 5pm to 7pm) : Prayer Group
2) Tuesday (3pm to 4pm, and from 5pm to 6pm): Home Groups
3) Thursday (4pm to 5pm): Sharing of God’s word and Choir practices
4) Friday (5pm to 6.30pm) : Choir practices
5) Saturday (12.30 pm to 2.00pm) Sharing of God’s word and choir practices
6) Sunday (from 7am to 8am): Sunday School and from 9 am to 12.00 : Main service
Parallel to that, it is worth to note that specific related to biblical teachings (baptism, pre and post-marital teachings, confirmation teaching,..) are delivered on Saturday morning from 9h to 12.00. From the date of the creation of Anglican Diocese of Rutana, Rev. Canon Musonera Alexis was appointed to be the Dean of it and he is still the one leading it up to now.
Contact: +257 69 38 19, E-mail: musoneral79@gmail.com
Lent Reflection Season
During this Lent Season of 2022, the Diocese organized a retreat session for all diocesan pastors and Catechists just to spend time together as they meditate upon the chosen biblical topic taken from Mathieu 7:15-23 which is based on by the Church during the 40 days characterizing the lent period.
Participants in that retreat season were reminded of their key roles as church leaders and what Christians expect from them as role models. After the Bishop’s talk, there was an exchange of ideas around the chosen topic, the successes and challenges encountered in the fields, but also there was a sharing of testimonies about what the Lord has been doing among his people and therefore had a prayer items session. The moment spent together was so exciting and after a concluding prayer, there was a sharing of soda.
Related to Lent Season activities are being done all over the diocese and the diocesan Bishop is taking part of them. On this very last Sunday the 20th March, 2022, the diocesan Bishop attended the lent church service in Saint John Cathedral where he also welcomed a certain pastor native of Rutana who is now serving in the Church of Scotland. It was a very exciting day. Photo below during the retreat season of diocesan pastors and Catechist
On 21st, December 2021, there was an official launching of the Guest House
activities led by the diocesan Bishop and other Guests of honour who were invited to
join. Thereafter, the last activity was related to official opening of the diocesan hall that
hosts around a thousand of people at once. Just after all
activities, the ceremonies were closed by a reception. (See photo of launching GH,
opening hall)
Church and community mobilization process
From 25th to 28th, January, 2022, there was a second phase of Workshop organized by the Anglican Diocese of Rutana regarding 40 Church leaders from various denominations… The objective of the workshop was to build capacities of those church leaders in how they can effectively use their local resources and develop themselves, their families and churches using the “Church and Community Mobilization Process (CCMP).The Diocese promised to call them again for the 3rd phase within 6 months to come. (See photo below)
Ecumenical prayer between Anglican and Catholic
On 24th January 2022, there was an Ecumenical Prayer combining Anglicans and Catholics in Rutana Cathedrals and it was a real joy beyond our imagination. While Anglicans went to the Catholic Church last year, the Catholics were the ones to pay back to visit in the Anglican Church. Led by their Diocesan Bishop, the Catholics attended as massive as possible and the Anglican Cathedral was full. It was the Catholic Bishop, Bonaventure NAHIMANA who preached on Mathew 2:1-12, while choirs both Catholics and Anglicans alternatively sang wonderful Christian songs. The meeting was closed by a reception which was held in Anglican Church Conference Hall. (Photos below)
On this 6th, january 2022, In the large hall of the Anglican Church of Rutana, located in the capital of the province, a workshop was held for young Christians from 3 Archdeaconries. This workshop was led by the representatives of the Investment Bank for Youth (BIJE) in order to better guide and explain the young people of the Rutana Diocese how this Bank can be useful to them in terms of advantages and profit for young involved in entreprenership . The participation was massive and the session was very well animated and the young people returned very motivated. Soon there will be another session organized for these young people with emphasis on the development of business plans and creation of cooperatives.
From 27 to 29 April 2018, the Diocese of Rutana has received a mixed team called REVIVAL SEASON TEAM made of almost 60 Christians from Kinindo and Ngagara Parishes in Bujumbura Anglican Diocese. During that period, so much has been done such as workshops, prayer meetings, home visits, and a very big Christian Crusade was the closing event.
The main theme during that period was “All of us together, let’s stand up and take the Gospel wherever God wants us to go to” Biblical references 2 chronicles 7: 14-20, acts 9:31, Luke 12-35, Romains 12:1-2, Nehemiah 1:4-7, Galatians 5:13-26, below is the picture of Christians praising the Lord during the Crusade.
GIFUNZO PARISH
HISTORY OF GIFUNZO PARISH
The parish of Gifunzo started as a local church. In 1940 led by a certain missionary from Uganda called Mukasa Washington. Thereafter, the local church grew larger and in 1955, Gifunzo was made Gifunzo Parish. It has a total of 2,291 Christians among them, 575 men, 790 are women and 926 represent the children. The Gifunzo parish has a total of 5 local churches and 7 catechists.
This parish has been led by a number of parish priests as it is consecutively shown below:
GAHENGA Jean : 1955-1963
KINAMA Justace : 1963-1966
SAMUHUTU Nicodème : 1966-1972
SIMBARUHIJE Joseph: 1972-1974
NTAHOMVUKIYE Samuel : 1974- 1977
SIMBARUHIJE Joseph : 1977-1982
In addition, Gifunzo Parish gave birth to other parishes and local churches, and as a result it was made an Archdeaconry of Gifunzo. However, from 2009, the seat of the archdeaconry shifted from Gifunzo to Rutana and Rutana became an archdeaconry of Rutana while Gifunzo went back to become a parish as it was before. The parish of Gifunzo before and after the archdeaconry seat shifted to Rutana has been led by:
Chan. NYAKANA Jacques : 1982- 2009
Chan. HAKIZIMANA Alfred : 2009-2017
Rev. NDAGIJIMANA Fidèle: 2017 till now.
Confirmation service in Gifunzo parish on September 25th, 2021
On this Saturday, September 25th, 2021, in the parish of Gifunzo, in Rutana Archdeaconry, there were confirmation ceremonies whereby 115 Christians from Gifunzo parish and 4 from Mihama parish received confirmation from the Diocesan Bishop. Rutana Diocese has invited his excellence Bishop Aimee Joseph Kimararungu to support the Rutana Bishop during the confirmation services in Gifunzo Parish.
Different gifts were presented to the two Bishops as a sign of joy and happiness of congregation. At last, the ceremonies were closed by the prayer of Rutana Diocesan Bishop.
Church Weekly timetable:
Tuesday : 3: 00 Pm – 5: 00 pm ; prayer time
Thursday : 2:00 pm- 5:00 pm ; Choir practices and worship
Saturday : 12:00 am -4: 30 pm: Sharing of God’s word and choir practices
Sunday : 7:00 am- 8:00 am ( sunday school) ;
Sunday : 9:00 am- 12:00 am ; Main service
