Munyembabazi, Salomon
Salomon Munyembabazi is an international Global Mission Fellow with the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, engaged in a two-year term of service.
The Global Mission Fellows program takes young adults ages 20-30 out of their home environments and places them in new contexts for mission experience and service. The program has a strong emphasis on faith and justice. Global Mission Fellows become active parts of their new local communities. They connect the church in mission across cultural and geographical boundaries. They grow in personal and social holiness and become strong young leaders working to build just communities in a peaceful world.
Salomon is a lay member of Rohero Parish, Bujumbura District, Burundi Annual Conference. Since 2021, he has participated in the Lahayi-Royi choir and intercession group. He is also the head of Himbaza Saving and Credit Group, established by Hope International. Salomon is a preacher and an interpreter in Rohero Parish. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in socio-anthropology.
“Since I received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,” Salomon said, “I have endeavored to do the will of God whatsoever it might be. I believe that listening to the voice of God is the best life one can ever live on earth.”
Salomon’s passion to become a Global Mission Fellow started in 2023 when the Burundi delegation was in Kenya. They talked about sending fellows from the Burundi Annual Conference. Unfortunately, he was still a university student, so he could not apply.
“I have no doubt with regard to my call to mission,” he said. “I prayed, ‘Let your will be done, and let anything against your will be thwarted.’ The Lord listened!”
Confident that God wants him to aid the needy and build the capacity of the host area to mitigate today’s challenges, Salomon looks forward to sharing as a Global Mission Fellow.
“My ultimate motivation to join GMF,” he explained, “is found in carrying out the mission for which I was created: bringing many souls to Jesus by actively engaging in reaching remote churches and serving them.”
Seeking spiritual growth, Salomon believes the only way to progress is to leave his comfort zone.
“Becoming a fellow will not only shape my spiritual journey,” he said, “but also my physical one and my lifestyle. To illustrate my point, if I live with people suffering gender-based violence, I will develop a listening attitude while sharing sorrowful feelings and advocating for the needy. Why did the first believers increase greatly in number daily? Is it not because they had everything in common – sharing the Word and breaking bread? This is the life I long for: living for the glory of Christ.
“This program shall best prepare me to minister to the Lord, even in uncomfortable areas. Since the experience I have in ministry is limited, I will explore ministerial life outside my home country. As a graduate in anthropology, the fellowship will showcase a practical experience of living with people of different cultures, and I will profoundly practice fieldwork, especially ethnography, participant observation and surveys.”
He views Global Mission Fellows as an open door to putting his skills, interests and education into practice.
“As a graduate in anthropology from the University of Burundi,” he said, “I will commit myself to researching scientifically the needs of the community. I will write and publish reports and articles on current issues. One area of interest is social inequality, although it is not always unfair. I am a passionate writer, so I will write books describing different communities.”
Salomon also hopes to compose songs and poems that might serve the people in the community to which he is sent. “Poems attract listeners in the way that they strongly display joy or sorrow, love or hatred, life or death,” he said. “So do songs. God will use these talents to spread the gospel.”