BAPTIST UNITY

Rwandan Accepts HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD

T

he fifth Congress Human Rights Award was presented by the Baptist World Alliance to Rwandan Corneille Gato Munyamasoko, general secretary of the Association of

Baptist Churches in Rwanda (AEBR), during the 21st Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa. Munyamasoko was recognized for his work in peace and

reconciliation after the 1994 genocide in his country. The Rwandan Genocide was a mass slaughter of Tutsis and

moderate Hutus by members of the Hutu majority. During the approximate 100-day period from April 7 to mid-July 1994, an estimated 500,000 to one million Rwandans were killed, constituting as much as 70 percent of the Tutsi and 20 percent of Rwanda’s total population. A citation read at the presentation on July 23 described

Munyamasoko as a strong advocate; a prophetic witness; a champion of the vulnerable; and as a reconciler, peacemaker, pacifist and mediator. BWA General Secretary Neville Callam, who read the citation,

declared Munyamasoko a committed Christian who has drawn “upon biblical theology, integral mission, training and community development to assist groups and persons to overcome national rivalries and ethnic differences.” The Rwandan Baptist leader, who was born to exiled parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is “driven by the idea of the church as a home of peace.” Munyamasoko was instrumental in leading groups in

Rwanda “to consider the painful background of Rwanda’s ethnic divisions in the quest to overcome the destruction of social groups victimized by suspicion and lack of trust.”

Callam Calls on Baptists Worldwide TO UNITE

I

n a statement at the closing plenary session of the 21st Baptist World Congress in Durban, South Africa, on July 26, Baptist World Alliance General

Secretary Neville Callam renewed a call for the unity of the worldwide Baptist family. In the address, Callam called attention to the

jubilant occasion in July 1905 when the original BWA constitution was agreed by the delegates at the

inaugural Baptist World Congress. He drew attention to the emphasis the originators of

the BWA placed on the organization as an expression of “the essential oneness in Christ” of Baptist churches worldwide. This was against the background of a perception of the worldwide Baptist witness as being weak and divided at the time. Callam said those who formed the BWA were keen to

emphasize that the worldwide fellowship was to become “a vehicle for both the expression of that oneness and the

furtherance of Baptist unity.” The BWA leader urged contemporary Baptists to affirm the importance of unity as a central focus of the

Below left: Longtime BWA supporter and committee member David Maddox presents the Congress Human Rights Award to Corneille Gato Munyamasoko of Rwanda, while Anne Marie Munyamasoko and BWA President John Upton share the moment

He has trained and mentored hundreds of youth and young

adults to become peacemakers and reconcilers on the basis of an understanding of justice drawn from the Bible. Munyamasoko has worked to mediate peace on both sides of

the border between the DRC and Rwanda during times of tension between the two countries. He extended his peacebuilding role to Kenya, visiting and

working with Kenyan church leaders after the 2007 election violence and, in 2013, helping churches prepare to serve as agents of peace in preparation for the Kenyan national elections. Under Munyamasoko’s leadership, the AEBR participates in

the fight against stigma associated with HIV and AIDS, training pastors to become role models for caregivers of those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Munyamasoko paid tribute to all those who helped and worked

with him, including friends, colleagues and acquaintances in the DRC and Canada, as well as to his wife, Anne Marie, “my very good friend for 22 years,” and their seven children. “This award is recognition of the resilience of all Rwandans,”

He led Rwandans “to understand the causes of the genocide;

to seek and to extend forgiveness; and to build relationships based on the principles of justice, mercy and faith, emphasizing the need for reconciliation with God, self and others.” Initiatives led by Munyamasoko include the launching of

peace and reconciliation clubs in each of the secondary schools of the AEBR, confronting suspicion and hate among teachers and students within these institutions. He also helped found a peace camp movement, now recognized

by the Rwandan government, which brings young women and men together from various provinces in Rwanda, advancing conversations between survivors of genocide and those whose parents were imprisoned for acts of genocide.

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he said. “The award is a great encouragement to me to continue to strive for the wellbeing of my brothers and sisters. I feel reenergized in the calling to work for peace.” The Congress Human Rights Award is presented at each

Baptist World Congress, normally held every five years. Past award winners were 2010, Denton Lotz, former BWA general secretary for a lifetime commitment to global human rights concerns; 2005, Lauran Bethell of American Baptist Churches USA for her work with exploited women and children in Thailand; 2000, Saw Simon from Myanmar, for work in the refugee camps in Northern Thailand; and 1995, former United States President Jimmy Carter, for commitment to human rights causes around the globe.