Muramvya Community Church Complete

The church we planted in 2008 at Murumvya, Burundi is now complete.. The long process of acquiring land and government permits to construct the church is now over.  

Robert Gubala and Mark Maynard

The church was constructed with under the supervision of my African son, Robert Gabula, howFar's Construction Superintendent. Robert has built churches and schools across eastern Africa for howFar Ministries, The How Far Foundation, and Crimson Foundation for Education.

We affectionately call him Bob the Builder!

Mark Maynard Preaching at Murumvya, Burundi

The church was dedicated in August of the year by howFar Founder and Missionary Mark Maynard, Pastor Renovaunt who, and Gene Mason.

Mark Maynard and Gene Mason pray for new believers.

Two young men respond to the gospel after Mark Maynard preaches from Romans 10:13. "Whoever will call on the Name of the Lord will be saved."

The church reaches Batwa Pygmies who until we engaged them where listed as a 1.2 by The Joshua Project on the Progress Scale. A 1.2 describes a people group as: Evangelicals greater than 0.01%, but less than or equal to 2%. Professing Christians less than or equal to 5%.

Joshua Project Progress Scale

The Joshua Project Progress Scale is an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group or country. The Progress Scale is derived from values for Percent Evangelical and Percent Christian Adherent. However, for a few hundred people groups the Joshua Project Scale settings have been manually assigned, and are not derived from religion percentages.

Stage	Level	Level Description
Unreached / Least-Reached Less than 2% Evangelicals and Less than 5% Christian Adherents	1.1	Very few, if any, known Evangelicals. Professing Christians less than or equal to 5%.
	1.2	Evangelicals greater than 0.01%, but less than or equal to 2%. Professing Christians less than or equal to 5%.
Formative / Nominal Church Less than 2% Evangelicals and Greater than 5% Christian Adherents	2.1	Very few, if any, known Evangelicals. Professing Christians greater than 5%.
	2.2	Evangelicals greater than 0.01%, but less than or equal to 2%. Professing Christians greater than 5%.
Significant / Established Church Greater than 2% Evangelicals	3.1	Evangelicals greater than 2%, but less than or equal to 5%.
	3.2	Evangelicals greater than 5%.

Just five years after we began our work among the Twa they are listed as an 3.2, the highest level on the Progress Scale.

We are thanking God for the work He has done amoung the Batwa people group and for those of you who haven given financially to give this beautiful gift to God's chosen at Muramvya, Burundi.

About Burundi

Small, poor, densely populated, and landlocked, Burundi lies just south of the Equator in central Africa. From the capital, Bujumbura, on Lake Tanganyika, a great escarpment rises to fertile highlands. Agriculture employs 90 percent of the people, with most being subsistence farmers. Since independence in 1962, Burundi has been plagued by ethnic conflict between the majority Hutus and the Tutsis, who tend to dominate the government and army—but are only 14 percent of the population. A 2003 cease-fire and new government offer hope for peace. Source: National Geographic

Fast Facts

Population:

7,795,000

Capital:

Bujumbura; 378,000

Area:

27,834 square kilometers (10,747 square miles) Slghtly smaller then the State of Maryland.

Language:

Kirundi, French, Swahili

Religion:

Roman Catholic, indigenous beliefs, Muslim, Protestant

Currency:

Burundi franc

Life Expectancy:

43

GDP per Capita:

U.S. $500

Literacy Percent:

52