Archbishop Laurent Mbanda

Continuing our SOMA Stories series of amplifying voices from the Global South:

It was an inspiration to recently listen to the Archbishop of Rwanda preaching on Paul and Timothy through the lens of his own life story. It’s a story of a young man who grew up in a refugee camp where hyenas were known to snatch children as they sleep. Archbishop Mbanda is man of great physical stature, but has a son who is taller still he can now lean on and talks about how Paul moved from being a parent, to being an example, to being a partner. It’s an inspiring story and one that may encourage us all. He was speaking to some of his peers and urging them to stay faithful to Christ whatever the cost.

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Paul the Apostle was a humble man. A man with a servant heart. A man of integrity. A man who never has failed to preach the good news no matter what. A spirit-led, fearless man. A man who wanted men everywhere to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and saviour.

Then comes Timothy, a young man that Paul met on his second missionary journey.

I was 24 years of age when I became a national director of CampusCrusade in a foreign land (Congo). A missionary who had taken me under his wing said to me “I hope you will be a trustworthy man. If you will be a trustworthy man, a faithful man to the Lord, the Lord will open doors for you.”

I don’t know what to do. I was the only one who was single. I didn’t even have an address. I was around people who may not trust me. I had a bag of cash. I don’t speak the language, as French was spoken by Congolese were proud of their language and needed to speak in it. I had a bed I could go and cry out to the Lord and complain on when things went wrong. And there were a lot of things that went wrong.

I grew up in a refugee camp, in the bush, where there was fear of hyenas or lions snatching people at night. There were not tents in those days. We would go fetching the water and wood in the forest. We had learnt to recite Scripture and the name of Jesus. I would go reciting Psalm 23 reciting Scripture whatever threatening situation I faced.

In 1974 I ended walking from Burundi to Kenya, 500 miles, following people smuggling, begging on streets, staying in market places… I found myself reciting the Scriptures that I had learned in the Discipleship School in the camp. I still do today when threatening times come.

Timothy had learned the Scriptures at a young age. Paul was like Father. Timothy like a Son. He trusted Timothy fully. Timothy had manifested himself to be a trustworthy servant and a winning soul. In Philippians Paul said about Timothy ‘I have no-one like him who cares like him’. The relationship was very strong and Timothy was loved.

In my culture when an old man believes he is passing on, you kind of want to hear what that person has to say, and those last words are treasured. They are taken serious. And so time came that Paul was facing death, he was in prison. He knew his life was in danger. And so he decided to take a pen and paper and write from prison in Rome, and he wanted to share his last words with Timothy. It was a kind of farewell letter. A letter from the heart. Man to man. Let them be taken seriously.

If he was close he would have put a hand on his shoulder and say 'my son’ probably with tears.

In verse 1 he says: ‘be strong’, ‘stand firm’.

In verse 2 he continues on to give him a very powerful message, a mission, a summary of a job description: what you have heard from me in the presence of many, entrust to faithful people. People of integrity. People who can be trusted and trustworthy. To qualified people to teach others, who will teach others, who will teach others… this tends to birth a church, where many come to a saving knowledge of Christ and are gathered together.

Faithful reliable, trustworthy people. I pray that the Lord will find us that kind of people, that will take the gospel to the end and will be fearless and uncompromising when it comes to the proclamation of the gospel.

So Paul gives Timothy a clear call to continue in the proclamation of the gospel despite all pressures. Don’t compromise. There is no compromise.

[He told a story of how at one point some Western Anglicans had tried to buy him off with both personal funding and substantial promised funding for his ministry].

In my culture there is a saying that if you betray a trust it will haunt you forever. I was not about to betray my Lord’s trust.

We cannot betray ourselves. We cannot compromise. We cannot fail to take a clear stand.

We need to hear Paul’s message to Timothy: ‘Keep going. Keep your mind for ministry’

Paul moved from being a parent, to being an example, to being a partner. Rick Warren uses those phases for discipleship. Watch, Imitate and then Participate

Timothy who had been faithful and trustworthy embarked on a new challenge, we have no signs that he was not faithful.

What had Timothy to teach? A message of faith, repentance, the gospel and discipleship. Paul made sure he told him about the cost of this call: “My son, join me in suffering”

He talks about athlete, farmer, soldier… all these things require perseverance, to remain loyal to gospel, to transmit it and to share it.

Let us keep following Jesus no matter what.

Let us maintain hope, and raise up faithful leaders who teach the good news of Jesus Christ. Bothers and sisters be and remain strong, focused on the mission as often as the opportunity arises. Be loyal to God. God will be with you. After all that is what he has promised us.

Archbishop Laurent Mbanda

Read more and see interview here