…that’s the ask. (EMAILED THIS A FEW DAYS AGO, SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE RESULT!) As I write this from our King’s Conference Centre, we’re hosting the President and he’s just arrived, surrounded by literally dozens of bodyguards. Soldiers with AK47s line the street outside, and one of his cavalcade has taken my parking space – I’ll let them off this time! 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 […]

Last week a group from the Segal Family Foundation came to visit and check out a number of Burundi projects, with a view to developing potential partnerships. So we spent a few days together, and I’m hopeful it’ll yield some great fruit, as they seemed to love what our guys are doing. At one stage we were driving on some muddy roads after a recent downpour, three cars in convoy, twisting and turning through the hills. We were on our way to check out the beautiful cow project we’re involved in. Evariste’s (second from the left) car was in front […]

When I read the Open Doors report below, it made me think of what we’ve signed up to as followers of the Way. I mean, contexts change, but the gospel doesn’t. And yet quite naturally (but wrongly) we allow our context to distort the gospel – unless we live with great intentionality according to a radically different view of reality, and insist on keeping ourselves well-informed on what is going on elsewhere. So what do North Korean’s experiences of the gospel have to say to the easy-believist, pick-and-choose, narcissistic faith of much of the Western world? I’m not into guilt […]

I’ve just re-read a beautiful testimony by David Servant of www.heavensfamily.org Procaire’s story is a stunning one, which I trust encourages you. David writes: “Procaire Bucumi lives in Kayanza Province of Burundi in the agricultural village of Musave. She was married to a witch doctor, and legally, she still is, although they are now separated. Procaire came to Christ a little over a year ago through a woman of God who continues to disciple her. I spent time with her today to listen to her story. Procaire’s husband was not pleased with her new life in Christ, and especially when […]

It’s my fast day.  I’m not saying that to impress you, and I know we’re not meant to tell anyone, but it’s part of a confession, so maybe that makes it OK! Actually I’m a bit rusty at fasting because of my ironman training, but my back’s bad and I feel a bit sorry for myself(!), and in this state of enforced humility, it’s been great to get back to what is for me a core life discipline – one that I believe is a biblical imperative that I’ve slacked off a lot recently. And I can definitely see the […]

Just a quick update and a few photos for those who like to see and hear more about the family: We had half term recently so we went up to Gitega to the YFC orphanage, which is in the background behind us in the picture. We were with our new friends the Millers (both doctors) with their four smashing kids, and we’ll probably go to Rwanda over New Year with them as well. It was only for a few days, as it meant precious little sleep. The kids were in tents (indoors!) for a treat, and we had lots of […]

Today was a great day. I got up at 5am and jogged to the pool up the hill, expecting to do a swim and then get to the office, but somewhere towards the end of it, I must have taken a wrong turn, because eight hours later, I finished a half-ironman (of sorts). I realized that I didn’t have any meetings, that the weather was perfect in its cloudiness, and so I could defer all emails and other work until later in the day. So I did an hour in the pool, slowly, as I’m recovering from a shoulder injury, […]

I had a very fruitful but frustrating meeting yesterday. It was fruitful because I secured a great house for two new team-members who are arriving in a couple of weeks, but it was frustrating because of part of my conversation with the delightful landlady. As we signed contracts, I said: “I think you can be confident with the ladies taking on your house. They’re both solid believers.” (In Burundi, probably 85% of the population would say they were Christians at a cultural level, but if you’re a real believer – born again, if you like – then you’d use the […]

Zeal – The Thoughts of J.C. Ryle The following are excellent excerpts from “Zeal” by J.C. Ryle [1816-1900] from his book Practical Religion: Being Plain Papers on the Daily Duties, Experience, Dangers, and Privileges of Professing Christians. (London: William Hunt and Company, 1883) “It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing.” — Galatians 4:18 …. (p. 184) Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way.  It is a desire which is not natural to man.  It is a […]

“Utabesha ntasumira umwana.” This Kirundi proverb – and as you know, proverbs shape and reflect a given culture – could be translated as: “If you don’t lie, you won’t feed your kids.” (literally ‘He who doesn’t lie won’t take his child to market.’) There are some beautiful aspects and some darker aspects of any and every culture. In Burundi, this is one of the darker ones. Lying, deception, and stealing are all very normal, accepted as a given, and sometimes even respected attributes. Today I bumped into our conference centre’s ex head-chef. We’d sent him to South Africa for 5-star […]

I wish you could have been there. I’ve just returned from a great trip upcountry with the Scripture Union team, where we met with the leadership of twenty schools, showed two films, did an open-air campaign, and then on Sunday went to another school. There’s loads I could share. We ministered to about 5,000 people in total, with amazing results. My stomach isn’t quite right as we stayed in a nasty ‘hotel’ eating nasty food – it’s all part of the deal! Anyways, here’s sharing just a few minutes of the trip with you. Picture it: forks of lightning blazing […]

  Annick needed surgery urgently. Her serious heart condition meant she’d been given one year to live, had had two mini-strokes, and had been rushed to hospital temporarily paralysed. There was no way to be treated in Burundi. Her husband Cyrille’s salary couldn’t possibly pay for the recommended treatment in India, which was about ($12,000). It didn’t look good for her, and Cyrille faced the prospect of being a young widower. But amongst a significant number of wonderful people and remarkable provision, two ladies have literally been life-savers. Cheryl Law, our GLO Administrator, had the brainwave to read the National […]

This last weekend, the SU team went up into the bush on outreach. We trained a whole bunch of young leaders and had a large inter-school meeting as well, showing a few films both nights. And then Sunday morning we drove further towards the Tanzanian border to my old friend Pastor Juvenal’s church. I was last there six years ago, and in place of the mud-brick structure from back then, there was now an almost completed strongly-built church that could fit 1,500 people. Not that I get overly excited by buildings, but it did represent the fact that Juvenal is […]

Here’s how the first two hours of each day go for me: I’m a terrible sleeper, so invariably I’m awake by 4am. I get up at 5am, read the Bible until 530am, and then wake up Lizzie before leaving the house to go for a jog and a swim. I creep out, trying not to wake up the kids. It’s still pitch black, so I vary my routes up the hill through our neighborhood’s various side streets, in case someone unpleasant might plan one time to mug me, thinking I might provide some easy pickings – but what could they […]

Psalm 105:44 – “He gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for.” The immediate context of this verse was the exodus, but it’s made me reflect on how we’re reaping much today from our forebears’ dedicated and dogged labours of yesteryear. Our work is stunningly beautiful and fruitful, but only because other previous generation ploughed some rough terrain. I think of the early Anglican pioneers, who included my great-grandparents, who came out at huge personal sacrifice, to offer up their lives in laying the foundation for the Church in Burundi. Many […]

Do you want the good news first, or the great news? I’ll start with the good news: in response to last week’s story of amazing forgiveness, many of you donated and John has received enough money to build the house he and his wife and five little kids were about to be evicted from. He wrote to me in floods of tears of gratitude, totally overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness. That’s good news! And now the great news: I said I’d feedback on the summer campaign outreach. You’ve already heard some of the miracles. Here are the stats: 506 evangelists split […]

Lots of people ask me what a typical day is like in Burundi. People find it hard to imagine what I really do! Well, the answer is that there is no typical day. Every day is beautifully varied because life is so unpredictable out here. But below is how today went, which gives a flavour of what life looks like for that strange specimen called Simon Guillebaud! Here goes: Grace called out in the early hours, so I scurried to take her to the loo before the others were stirred from their slumber. I seem to wake up by 4am […]

Our summer in England almost didn’t happen because of the rain. The sun only just came out in time for the Olympics, which was certainly a blessing, but how we cursed that rain…! Not so now. Thank God for the rain! As we come to the end of the dry season, I’m so very grateful for the rains that are beginning to fall. They are badly needed for crops, and they improve everyone’s quality of life. You see, after months of dryness, the earth turns to dust, the dust gets into everything, you get a sore throat, eye problems, a […]

Please do just take 30secs to put your email in on the right hand side under ‘Follow by email’ to subscribe to these blogs so they will come to you directly each time. Thanks.   Meet John (name changed), who works for us. As I wrote of him in my book ‘Dangerously Alive’, he was returning by foot to Burundi in 1996 after a year as a refugee in the Congo. He felt he simply had to get back to his homeland, but soldiers from the other tribe took him and tortured him. He told them that God was calling […]

At the beginning of September 1979, aged 6, we moved as a family to Paris and I was dropped off at my new school, clueless as to what was about to hit me. I didn’t speak a word of French and was stunned into cowered silence for probably two months… Well, we’ve just done the same to our three little kids about an hour ago. There were lots of apprehensive children, as well as parents, as we arrived at the Belgian School. We’d joined hands and prayed together in the car on the way. We’ve memorized Psalm 118:6: “The Lord […]