Beauty and Brokenness
Roughly the size of Maryland, Rwanda is home to 13 million people. It’s the country of “a thousand hills'' --staggering beauty-- and yet, its history also contains some of the most heartbreaking events the world has ever seen. Beginning in the 1950s, thousands of Rwandan Tutsi fled to neighboring countries as refugees due to violence and persecution. After four decades, for Tutsis remaining in Rwanda, starting April 7, 1994, its estimated one million people were killed in one hundred days.
While the peace and development in Rwanda today make it nearly impossible to imagine the genocide that took place, the impact of such a tragedy has left no family untouched. Most Rwandans know what it means to be a refugee, to lose home and family.
Conflict Continues
Today, Rwanda is bordered by several nations still in conflict and war -- the Democratic Republic of Congo to the east, and Burundi to the south. As a result, thousands of people have fled to Rwanda seeking refuge. Since 1996, an entire generation from the DRC has been raised in five refugee camps hosting 70,000 people, while another 70,000 Burundians comprise Rwanda’s largest refugee camp that began in 2015. More than 160,000 refugees live in Rwanda, and continue to arrive daily.
For young refugees who’ve lost their home, country and stability, one’s hope for the future can also feel diminished. Knowing the only true, lasting hope of salvation in Jesus Christ, Belong Together was founded as a ministry to share the Gospel with young people who’ve experienced displacement.
While there are many people in the world who claim to be Christian, not everyone who uses that label has received salvation. And not every religion that claims to be centered on Christ preaches the true Gospel.
Our Mission
Belong Together seeks to create communities and programs where youth and young adults from various religious backgrounds can study the Bible under leaders who teach sound doctrine -- that they may have a space to ask honest questions, discuss their beliefs and experiences, and hear the Gospel preached.
The world is filled with different ideas, cultures and groups in which one can seek identity and belonging. Belonging to things of the world will lead us to an eternity of wrath. It’s only by grace through saving faith in Jesus Christ that can we belong to God.
In this ministry of God’s Word at Belong Together, our prayer is for seeds of the Gospel to be planted, that the Holy Spirit may bring to saving faith those whom God has chosen, and for the church of Christ to grow in their belonging to Him.
Team
Taylor Gakundi
Taylor Gakundi, the founder of Belong Together, was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, but considers Rwanda home, too. After traveling to Rwanda for the first time in 2015 and visiting the Gihembe Refugee Camp, she instantly felt a kinship with the community who understood parts of her own story: loss of family and loss of home. Through her relationships within the refugee community, God taught her how great pain doesn’t eliminate great joy. Her subsequent trips to refugee camps in Rwanda, and her adoption into the resettled Congolese refugee community in Portland, inspired her to start the first Belong group, and later to found Belong Together.
Taylor lives in Sarasota, Florida with her husband, Jackson Gakundi, and their son, “JJ.” She thanks the Lord for their salvation, by His grace, to open the eyes of their hearts to know the Truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their greatest desire is to see the Word of God proclaimed and Christ glorified.
Emmanuel Masengesho
Curriculum Development and Radio Ministry, Rwanda
“My name is Emmanuel Masengesho. I am married to my beautiful wife, Beatrice Wanjiku Masengesho. Together we have one daughter, Heather (who will be 2 in October), and a son, Johannes, who was born this June! I am currently serving part time at BTM, but also serving as the missionary pastor at Covenant Reformed Baptist Church- Kigali. I came to faith in 2016 while at University (I was pursuing a degree in Electrical Power Engineering).
The church I am pastoring is a Reformed Baptist Church (being planted by Kabwata Baptist Church, Zambia) with a membership of 101 people, all under 36 years old. The Lord has been helping the work, and we have about 20 people who will be baptized this month. I love reading theological books, watching documentaries and learning new languages.”
Brian Kamusime
Refugee Outreach, Rwanda
“I was born in a family of 11 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. My parents are peasants who did not go to school. Among all their children, I am the only one who went to school. My studies were difficult due to lack of knowing the importance of going to school, but by God's grace I completed university.
I am married to Kamikazi Aline and we are blessed with a handsome son called Nganji Ike Lael. We thank God for his mercy and love. I came to know Jesus when I was in secondary school, but I believed the gospel in 2010, which changed my whole life from death to life. I attend Life Covenant Church where I serve as an administrator in the discipleship program. By God’s grace, my family and I serve the Lord.”
Jado ntwali
Christian Education and Radio Ministry, Rwanda
“I am a husband to one wife, Grace Uwingabire, whom I married last year in December. We have a happy home and we praise God for joining us two, sinners saved by grace alone, for the purpose to glorify Him by portraying his love in our marriage. She loves God too; I bless the Lord for all encouragement she offers to me even when I am weary. We fellowship at Covenant Reformed Baptist Church – Kigali. We expect our first born in October 2023 and we look up to God for wisdom, strength, and all that it takes for us to be faithful parents. “
