Salary Support for Pastors in Burundi

Subsidizing pastors’ salaries, for the the stabilization and growth of the church in Burundi.

Annual Goal: $82,542.00

Year to Date Gifts: $250.00

During the past one decade, the church in Burundi was deeply divided and operated in a fragmented manner. Pastors were largely unpaid, hence making their children drop out of school as their parents could not afford required school fees. One church faction resolved in 2008, during their conference that every local church should pay their pastor a minimum salary of $40 per month but it was very hard to implement such resolution due to hardship and poverty levels that were prevailing among the population. Despite this protracted internal conflict, coupled with a pronounced lack of financial incentives, pastors still did an incredible work of evangelism and church growth. For instance, during 2012-2017, church membership grew by 19% (from 163,706 to 201,507). Similarly, during the same period, the number of worship centers grew by 24% (from 327 to 405) and the number local pastors increased by 25% (from 325 to 436).Our recent reconciliation and unification has created an amazing wave of excitement and support (both within and outside the church). This renewed hope has positioned well the UMCB to re-ignite its mission “to make disciples of all people” by intensifying the preaching of the gospel which is complemented by Christian social ministries. Pastors remain an important part in the development of the church, but the conference is challenged to pay the salaries for its pastors mostly for those appointed in rural areas where the need to plant and establish new churches is huge as stipulated in the new church strategic plan. As a self-sustainable church, it depends on the contribution of its members to survive and to implement its projects including the support of pastors and other leaders who serve it in various capacities. Church members at local level are not able to consistently contribute to pastors’ salaries due to the hard economic situation that the country is facing today. Burundi is currently one of the five poorest countries in the world and is characterized by very low social economic dislocation. The Human Development Index value for 2017 is 0.417—which put the country in the low human development category—positioning it at 185 out of 189 countries and territories.

Supporting pastors with salaries will give the Church the time to build up its membership through pastoral care to the existing congregations, create new church communities as well as train and develop new leaders and pastors. In turn, there is hope that church members will be taught on how important it is to pay their pastor enough so that they can do their job well to avoid being lured away to another church/job.

The primary goal of this project is to provide a subsidy to complement salaries of appointed clergy men and women serving congregations in various local churches in the Burundi annual conference. The long term impact is that supporting pastors with salaries will enable churches to have pastoral leadership and to give the Church the time to build up its membership through pastoral care to the existing congregations, create new church communities as well as train and develop new leaders and pastors. In turn, there is hope that church members will be taught on how important it is to pay their pastor enough so that they can do their job well to avoid being lured away to another church/job. In short, there will be a transformation of the Burundi society,

To evaluate the project success, I will look at the following points: 1.Relevance/appropriateness – the extent to which the objectives were consistent with beneficiaries’ needs and priorities. To what extent are the objectives of the project still valid? What are relevant local context factors, which may affect the project’s outcomes? To what extent were these context factors considered in the planning and implementation of the project? To what extent did the relevant context factors change since the beginning of the project? 2. Efficiency – how economically resources/inputs were converted into results. Did project activities overlap and duplicate other similar interventions (funded nationally and/or by other donors? 3. Effectiveness: the extent to which the targeted project objectives were achieved (or are expected to be achieved) and any lessons related to this for future interventions. 4. Coverage/scope: extent to which the project’s work includes (or excludes) population groups from an intervention and the differential impact on these groups. 5. Impact: assessing the positive and negative changes on stakeholders produced by the project interventions, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. 6. Sustainability & connectedness- The extent to which the benefits of the project’s work are likely to continue once the project is completed – the long-term effects produced by the project (directly, indirectly, intended and unintended).

Reverend Ladislas
Secretary of the Annual Conference
delfemma@gmail.com

Patrick Abro
Global Ministries Missionary
pabro@umcmission.org