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Divinity and education students visit Rwanda with the mission in mind

During their trip to Rwanda, the team participated in education and pastors conferences while learning about Rwanda’s culture and meeting with and encouraging locals.

In partnership with LU Send, the Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity and the School of Education sent a team of 26 students and professors to Rwanda from Aug. 18-29 to be the hands and feet of Christ while learning about an educational system outside of the U.S.

“If you look at what the Gospel is, you see that the Gospel is the Good News,” School of Divinity Online Associate Dean Mary Lowe said. “Liberty’s role is to share that Good News and that is where the students connected on this trip in a real and practical way, realizing that the Gospel is sharing about Jesus Christ and what He has done to change lives.”

While on the trip, students were able to learn about everyday life in Rwanda through cultural, educational, and ministry experiences.

School of Divinity professor and Online Chair John Cartwright, who led the trip along with his brother, Tim, and Lowe, said that receiving education about the Rwanda genocide was one of the first priorities.

“You really can’t understand your experiences in Rwanda until you understand what happened there 25 years ago,” he said. “We also then went to the Reconciliation Village that same day so students could see the amazing miracle that’s happening in Rwanda where people are experiencing forgiveness and reconciliation despite the atrocities that took place there.”

School of Divinity Online Associate Dean Mary Lowe ministers to a group of women during the trip.

After creating a cultural and historical framework for the students, Cartwright then took the students on a variety of experiences, including visits to schools and churches. Additionally, the group was able to spend time with and encourage widows who lost their husbands during the genocide.

Students were also able to participate in both a pastors conference and teachers conference, where they answered questions while also learning more about Rwanda’s educational system.

“I think my biggest contribution was in helping our students connect what they are learning in their courses to what education looks like in a cross-cultural context,” Lowe said.

While education may have been one point of emphasis, Lowe said that the students were moved the most by the Gospel at work in Rwanda.

“One of the biggest blessings for me was seeing the lives of our students who went on this trip really transformed and changed,” she said. “They came back with a very different definition of what reconciliation and forgiveness means. On more than one occasion, I heard students say that if the people in Rwanda can forgive such horrible atrocities done to them, how much more should we engage in similar practices in our own lives, in our own country and in our own vocations and callings.”

“The power of the Gospel to change lives is seen across the board from those who have never heard the story of Jesus to those who maybe have heard it every day of their lives and want to live out their faith,” she added.

Both the Schools of Divinity and Education plan to return to Rwanda in January 2023. Interested students can contact LU Send for more information on this trip or other trips.

“One of the unique aspects of our founder Dr. Jerry Falwell’s vision was that he wanted a university where every student, regardless of their vocation, would have a Gospel perspective in their vocation,” Cartwright said. “Being able to take students on trips like this and being able to have them come back with a vision for sharing the Good News in whatever their vocation will be is wonderful.”

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