“It’s been an amazing journey,” says Method Bigirimana, the Lead Pastor of ReGenesis Bible Church. For him and most of his congregation, it is a journey that started in Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, or Congo, and brought them to Fort Worth, Texas where the journey continues.
In 2009, Method and some of his fellow refugees from civil unrest approached the leaders of Central Bible Church (CBC), looking for a space where they could worship together. CBC provided the space, but what has grown from that initial meeting is a deep partnership that continues to grow and spread the work of the gospel within both congregations, to the local community, and even back to Africa.
The primary concern that drove the African families to seek a regular meeting place was the discipleship of their children. “Though when we got here,” says Method, “we realized that we did not have enough resources to provide the Sunday School teachings for our children.” Central Bible Church members connected them with the church's children's ministry. Soon, ReGenesis kids were taking part in children’s and student ministry with other kids at CBC in the mornings, before the three-hour ReGenesis service in the afternoon. Many volunteers helped get the kids to campus, and now they have vans for transportation. ReGenesis kids also participate in CBC's midweek kids' and student ministry meetings, camps, and other events such as mission trips and service projects.
Bigirimana has served as an elder with ReGenesis since its founding and became its pastor in 2014, after mentoring from CBC's Lead Pastor, David Daniels, and going through the church's year-long class in theology. He continued working full-time as a translator at John Peter Smith Hospital until 2017 when CBC was able to bring him on staff full-time.
Today, the ReGenesis congregation comprises around 230 people on a typical Sunday. The church maintains an active WhatsApp text group, also with about 230 members, to stay in touch between Sundays.
On WhatsApp, the church shares morning, midday and night prayers in both Swahili and Kirundi-Kinyarwanda. A team of of nine leaders takes turns sharing these messages, which are offered by audio and video—three people a day give prayers on a rotating schedule. Messages shared include these daily prayers, as well as the gospel and the messages preached on Sundays. The church always uses a balance of languages to honor those who entrust their time to them. “People need to hear the word and be ministered to in the language they consider theirs,” says Bigirimana. “Pastor David impressed this on me early on.”
Many in the local congregation then send audio and video links to the teachings to relatives and friends in Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda, including many in refugee camps, so the journey that started in those places is coming full circle as those who have traveled here send God’s Word back there. Bigirimana grins as he notes that his church members “have all taken the gospel beyond your imagination!”
Participation in this active online ministry has not hurt in-person participation in ReGenesis. The congregation “has turned up and been engaged in everything we’re doing in the church,” says Bigirimana. In fact, participation has been up this year, with those who left for Covid back at church, and people inviting their friends, neighbors, and co-workers to church. “God is favoring us even more than in the past,” he says. He had been discipling them at home in the meantime, so this eases his load.
Nonetheless, Method and his wife Valerie, as well as their daughter Vania, 17, are still very involved in the daily care of the African community in the area, even beyond their own congregation. ReGenesis disciples a lot of the local African community, including people at other churches and those who don’t attend church.
Because he highly values ministering in person, Method is out of his office a lot—driving no less than 1,000 miles a week in the Dallas/Fort Worth area alone. “This is how Jesus did ministry,” he notes. “After preaching the gospel He counseled people—He prayed for those who were sick, attending to their spiritual needs. He attended to both physical and spiritual needs.” Through this “great model, Jesus taught us how.”
This in-person ministry entails not only counseling people, but also tangibly helping those in the African community who face communication barriers. Communicating electronically is a particular obstacle for many, who have limited resources and help. Many who can speak English can still not write it or figure out computer systems. Unemployment and unreliable schedules are other common problems. He helps people with Social Security, immigration, DPS, the court system, food stamps, Medicare, employment and income issues, refugee status changes, car wrecks, insurance, you name it. His daughter helps the community even more than he does at times, he says, especially concerning driving instruction, traffic tickets, and related legal paperwork.
Bigirimana willingly shoulders these burdens. “It’s sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom,” he says. “The grace of God. He gives me what I need to accomplish it.” He believes it comes with the territory. “Discipling is not limited to preaching the gospel—it’s physical and spiritual.”
Of course, preaching is also part of the equation.
To do all his ministry requires, he lives by Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” He gets up at 3:00 a.m. daily in order to pray and read, and finds that God multiplies his time. “I rely on the grace and wisdom of God. He gives exponential understanding. Thank God He keeps me healthy and encouraged.”
God also provides help, so that he is not alone in ministering. Besides the ReGenesis leadership team, church members who have vehicles help others in the community who do not drive. They help with grocery shopping, medical appointments, and other things that require less communication. His congregation helps whether the others are ReGenesis members or “are Catholic or Muslim or Adventist or whatever.”
They also share the message of God’s hope. When the church members know people with problems, such as spiritual and marital struggles, they pray for them and connect them with help. “ReGenesis is full of healthy couples,” Bigirimana says with gratitude. “They know the struggles and the path. So that is behind-the-scenes work they do that helps people grow. They bring many people to church.”
He talks excitedly about how God has raised “stars of Jesus” through the ReGenesis initiative. He notes that the congregation responds to challenges with “encouragement, love, passion. They love God.” And they make a difference. “Individuals who have been here a long time make an impact in the community and overcome their struggles” in ways he doesn’t see in those who have not been part of the church.
However, he is quick to point out he never takes credit for success. He takes responsibility for failure, but gives any credit to God, as well as to the partnership God has forged between ReGenesis and CBC. “We have so many resources here,” he says, adding that he especially appreciates “the ‘beyond’ understanding the church leaders have toward dilemmas” his congregation faces. He feels that the two congregations fit together well.
“I have never had anyone complaining or discriminating or setting boundaries” regarding his congregation, he says. Even after the pandemic, “it is just as normal as it was before.” ReGenesis families have been embraced and assisted from the start, despite their difficulties. “From the highest level, it’s a unique thing that has made the congregation keep staying here” and go beyond in their spiritual level. “It’s been just incredible…. In bad times and in good times, the church did not change intentions where the discipleship of ReGenesis is concerned. We thank God for that.”
He adds that “the kids who have grown up on this campus have been successful, just like my children.” In fact, 95 students from ReGenesis have gone to college so far, a contrast from other kids in the refugee community who have not grown up with Sunday School. “I realized that the Word of God they have been learning in Sunday School helped them to make wise decisions” and think with the future in mind. His own sons have both graduated college and live in New York, where one is working on a master's degree in economics and the other runs a non-profit. His daughter is already working on legal studies and plans to join her brothers in New York and study law.
“CBC does a lot,” says Bigirimana, who participates regularly in meetings and gatherings with other Central Bible Church staff. “It’s the support, particularly the understanding of the leaders, which is a unique factor that has impacted us to grow spiritually.”
Naturally, this relationship with ReGenesis has helped Central Bible Church congregants to grow spiritually as well. CBC attenders benefit from learning from their ReGenesis counterparts and seeing the faith of the ReGenesis church in action. Occcasionally, the congregations have worshiped together, just as their kids and students regularly worship side by side. Meanwhile, Pastor Method encourages and inspires the rest of the CBC staff with his God-focused insights, perseverance, humble service, faith, and unwavering trust in the Lord.
He continues, “Our relationship with CBC is beyond partnership, beyond friendship, beyond relationship. It’s the body of Christ. Unity. Bonded in love by God. It’s no longer CBC and ReGenesis. It’s the body of Christ.”
In this video made for the 10-year celebration of ReGenesis Bible Church, Lead Pastor Method Bigirimana talks about the church and its partnership with Central Bible Church.