Simon Guillebaud

This is a powerful entry from my new devotional ‘Choose Life’, on daily choices, which will be out in a few months: Mercy or Sacrifice? Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”After the end of apartheid in South Africa, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up. During one hearing, in the presence of the victim’s mother, a policeman named van de Broek recounted how he had shot an eighteen-year-old boy and burned the body on a fire to destroy all evidence. Eight years later he returned to the same house and seized the boy’s father. The wife watched […]

Jacques is a friend of mine. He’s a gifted young Burundian leader with big dreams and huge potential. His smile is genuine and his manner relaxed, but they bely what has happened to him in his life…It was 29th October 1993, a week after the President of Burundi had been assassinated. The whole country was experiencing bloodshed, and Jacques’ area was no exception. He was a timid 7-year-old, sheltering in a house with a number of his extended family. His father and elder sister fled into the swamp at 4am, having heard that the killers would shortly arrive. His Mother […]

It’s been a crazy week, full of highs and lows, of laughter and of tears. Palmetto Medical Initiative (PMI) is a superb charity working out of South Carolina that I hooked up with a few years ago. They’ve now teamed up with our local partner, Partners Trust International (PTI), to build a hospital in the coming year to service a desperately poor community an hour outside the capital. Below is a picture that doesn’t quite do it justice the beautiful 4-hectare land in the hills that we’ve been given by the Government. I love the fact that within 18 months […]

“Hutus to the right, Tutsis to the left, NOW!” It was 30th April 1997. The rebels, about two thousand of them, had streamed into Buta’s Catholic seminary and school. They were shooting at anyone and everyone, drunk and high on drugs, intent on decimating the place. Why? We were with Father Zacharie, a brother who exudes the presence of God, and he was telling us the story: For years he felt the Lord was preparing him for this day. He had preached unity between tribes and modelled what a loving community could look like. This was attractive to some, but […]

Many of you have written, asking for latest news on the floods that struck a few nights ago. I was in the USA at the time and have just returned to Burundi. With permission, I’m sharing some dear friend’s prayer email and pictures. Latest casualties range from 77 to 120 dead. Do pray. A number of us are trying to respond to the crisis – any financial contributions to us on this will be directed to Jesse and his gang (www.greatlakesoutreach.org/donate and mark ‘flood’): Dear praying friends, When I visited the disaster area yesterday, the devastation was on a much […]

The below is from ‘Pierre’, who has asked me to ask you to get involved. It’s incredibly humbling to read – what he and his family have gone through, the love and commitment he has for his nation and for Muslims, his unshakeable trust in the Lord – all are profoundly challenging. Day after day he sends me updates of arbitrary lynchings, rapes, and wanton destruction. The scale of this crisis is horrific. Please don’t delete or skim read – these are our brothers and sisters going through one hell of a time. If you want to respond and help […]

The other day, my friend Jules brought me a couple of young people that we supoprt to share their stories over a fanta. Choosing to follow Jesus comes at little cost to many of us, but for these two their decision has involved a fair amount of suffering. Actually, for almost anyone coming out of Islam, it comes at similar cost to them. So here are some of their stories: Omar is an imam’s son, who regularly shouted through microphones to call Muslims to prayer. However, he was a wayward son, and ended up voluntarily joining the rebellion, with false […]

“Christian militias? Is anybody out there listening? HELLO?” That is how true Christians feel in the Central African Republic right now. I’m writing this, because I know many key influencers are getting these updates, and I’m asking all those of you with any clout who are following the crisis and probably hearing a twisted narrative, to help get the truth out. You will see that the international press are completely misrepresenting the crisis, as I take you back to earlier posts from many months ago. The popular narrative that has evolved is that the CAR conflict is between Christian anti-Balaka […]

I know that many of you are following this, so here are a few more updates from Pierre: 26.12.13 – “We did not wish to cast a shadow over your Christmas celebrations yesterday, by sending you disturbing news. Whatever might have been one’s forebodings, actual events surpassed these. Some churches did manage to gather their members together on the afternoon of Christmas Eve – like once upon a time – but the night was broken by the sound of heavy artillery fire, particularly in the northern part of the city. Throughout the whole of Christmas Day, the brothers and sisters […]

…that’s the ask, the same as last year. It made such a difference we’ve decided to do it again… MERRY CHRISTMAS! I’m so proud of our guys. Some of them have been offered salaries four times what they currently get; but because of the call of God on their lives, they’ve stayed with us, at great cost to themselves, their spouses and their children. They’ve been used to bring maybe 30,000 people to Jesus this year, let alone all the other fruit of their labours. Their willingness to sacrifice challenges me profoundly. So when I got the following email from […]

Slogans or Scars? This is from my upcoming devotional. Too challenging? Any comments? Galatians 6:14,17: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world… for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” Adoniram Judson’s proposal to his future wife was no soft sell: “Give me your hand to go with me to the jungles of Asia, and there die with me in the cause of Christ.” They reached Rangoon, Burma, in 1813. They spent six years language-learning before he preached […]

(lawlessness and senselessness as men murder and pillage in broad daylight) This morning’s latest, from my precious friend in Bangui: “Greetings. We ask that you continue to pray for us. The number of Christians killed in these current incidents is continuing to rise. A second-year student at the FATEB Bible school was killed while he was in the Amitié hospital in Bangui. There have been reports of a number of sick people being dragged out of their hospital beds and executed. The anti-Balaka (wrongly referred to in the media as Christian militia groups) are continuing for their part to attack […]

(Bossangoa, scene of some of the worst killings and suffering) Last night’s latest from ‘Pierre’: “Thank you for your prayers. Macabre discoveries continue. A number of families in our neighborhood are suffering because of their young men being killed – some hung, others stabbed or beaten to death. Near our training centre, a number of bodies have been buried. Yet it’s Muslims who knew these people who have killed them. May God strengthen these families. The French troops arrested one of the neighborhood’s rebel leaders, but another who was the most cruel managed to flee. Tomorrow we’ll watch and see […]

Thanks for all the prayers, and for forwarding this post to as many people as possible. A number of you are asking to be kept up-to-date, so here are my two latest emails from ‘Pierre’: Late last night – “Many people have abandoned their homes. Brothers Peter and Eric are currently seeking refuge at the airport because of the killings being unleashed on the local population. Pastor Paulin’s fled from his home. Muslim Seleka rebels invaded our home this afternoon but God protected us. It’s night now, may the Lord guard us. Many shops owned by Christians have been pillaged […]

The dear brother I lived with in 1996 has just sent me this. It’s happening RIGHT NOW. The Central African Republic has been a living hell for months now. The international community are belatedly responding, but will it be too late as the CAR has seemingly become a failed state. Pierre wrote just now: “Armed groups sowed panic today before retreating towards the end of the morning into the hills surrounding the capital, Bangui, leaving behind the population abandoned to themselves. As always, reprisals have followed. All the Muslims from Km5 (a district) came out with their weapons. They set […]

So our worker Jean-Claude shows up with his customary smile and cheeriness on Saturday. We actually call him ‘God-Bless-You-Jean-Claude’ because his every sentence ends with ‘God bless you’. He’s such a nice man. So kind. So gentle. Deeply holy. Would never steal, always reading the Bible, just top notch holy Joe – and on his T-shirt, there’s an irate golfer throwing his clubs into the lake with the caption ‘Life is Crap!’ GBYJC was happy to be photographed and I’m as yet undecided about telling him because it’ll mean he won’t wear it anymore and that’ll mean a few less […]

Right, folks, this is the other entry in my new devotional book that I have doubts over whether to include. Essentially, I think it could have the wrong intention with some people – instead of stirring them up, it could leave them feeling discouraged, or confused as to why stuff like this doesn’t seem to happen much any more in the West. So, please tell me if I should just remove it, I suspect that is what I’ll do but am interested in your comments before definitively binning it. WWJD or WDJD? John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone […]

So folks, my new book, a 365-day devotional on choices, is almost ready. There are a few entries I’m thinking of discarding, so I wanted critical feedback from you. The following one sounds theologically dodgy – or does it…? Permission to be totally forthright, it’ll help me make my mind up: Road Map or Tour Guide?John 16:13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” Sometimes in Christian circles we are given false choices – the Bible or the Spirit, conservative or charismatic, Word-driven or Spirit-led. They constitute a false dichotomy, but let’s […]

I have in front of me pictures sent by a friend of dead bodies, raped girls, burnt houses – of Christians. (If you’re new to this blog, scroll down to read other posts – this is no loony right-wing Christian rant. I love Muslims, whilst hating what is often perpetrated in their name) What is going on in the Central African Republic is at its root an attempt at Islamisation by Seleka rebels. It is so profoundly frustrating, angering, and despairing for Christians in the CAR, and for me as a distant observer, that the international community has sought to […]