Grow Africa: Top 5 Reasons Rwanda Closed Down Over 700 Churches In Recent Times

Earlier this year, Local government authorities in Rwanda suspended the activities of 714 churches in different parts of Kigali. Before going into the details of why the churches were shut down, we need to, first of all, ask why such an enormous amount of churches are even in existence today. What are these churches really doing within their walls all under the guise of worship?

These days churches are no longer built for the sole purpose of practicing Christianity, they are now created mainly for the purpose of accumulating what one can describe as undeserving or rather ill-begotten wealth for  some of the so-called pastors and preachers who do not break any sweat for the money they collect from their members, most of which continue to wallow in poverty. No one can blame the Rwandan President Paul Kagame for authorising the shut down of the outrageous number of churches who are beginning to constitute a nuisance to not just the country but the society at large. The Rwandan Local Government Authorities shut down the 714 church who were running below the required standard provided by the state and posing a danger to its people. Among the reasons given by the government are:

• The places of worship were found to lack basic infrastructure
• They fell short of hygiene and safety standards 
• They lacked legal status
• They were infringing on the fundamental rights of others’ with noise pollution and roadblock
• Most of their church leaders lacked the basic theological knowledge to run those churches

The above are just a small fraction of the reasons why many churches existing in Africa need to be shut down. Churches in Africa today need to be evaluated and looked into, as many people are losing sight of its essence and being misguided by leaders who do not even practice what they preach. Followers of some of these churches are being manipulated into pouring all their life’s worth into these churches that do not even give regard to their well-being and safety. Churches are becoming one of the major sources of corruption in Africa with most of them running for profit these days.