John Gahungu is the Into Africa Project coordinator with the Free Methodists, and was the first brother in the Great Lakes region to show the fruits from applying VCP principles. John states, "We have experienced the implementation of almost all the VCP principles, and we have seen God providing as we declare that 'the resources are in the harvest.'"
The Free Methodist Church was organized at a convention of lay members and ministers led by B. T. Robert in Niagara, New York (USA) on 23 August 1860.
Some time before he came to Burundi, Rev. John Wesley Haley from Canada arrived in South Africa, and tried to plant churches there. But after a period of time, the Spirit of God convicted him and pushed him to come to central Africa for church planting. He sent a telegram to his missionary organization and requested funding to establish a ministry in central Africa. He wrote that he felt God's call to work in Burundi, and that if the sending organization did not provide support he would return to Canada.
In 1934, the money was sent and he traveled to Burundi. His wife refused to accompany him, fearing the animals of central Africa (lions, leopards, etc.). Rev. Haley arrived in Musema, in the province of Ngozi. He determined that the country was a good field for church planting, and returned home to report what he had seen.
In 2 May 1935, he came back to Burundi, this time with his wife. He settled in a different area of the country, in Muyebe Muramvya. He was informed by Baptist missionaries that the region was receptive to the Gospel, based on the experience gained by German missionaries who had already done some work there before returning to their home country. During his first two first years in Burundi, Rev. Haley's worked under the umbrella of the Baptist Mission in Burundi. During his third year, the work was covered by Friends Church in Burundi.
In 1940, Rev. Haley, his wife, Pastor Anania, and some lay church members decided to survey Imbo (Bujumbura and all the low region from Lake Nyanza to Cibitoke) to determine where he should work next. When they arrived in Buhonga in the hill country close to Bujumbura, he could see Lake Tanganika in the distance beyond Burundi's small capital city. He stopped the car and asked his brethren to pray with him for the leading from the Holy Spirit, and discerned that he should start the Ngagara Mission in Bujumbura.
In 1944, Rev. Haley realized that his co-worker, Pastor Anania, would be fully able to continue the work in Bujumbura on his own, and decided to relocate to the province of Cyangugu of Rwanda, where he started church planting work in Kibogora.
In 1962, the Free Methodist Church of Burundi became an annual conference, and became a jurisdictional conference in 1985. Rev. Noah Nzeyimana became the first Burundian Bishop of the Free Methodist Church of Burundi. In July 1999, the Burundi Free Methodist Church asked for general conference status for the first time, but the idea was not adopted at the time. In October 1999, a delegation went back to the USA to seek general conference status. This time, the proposal was accepted, and in January 2000 the Burundi Free Methodist Church was proclaimed officially a General Conference. The second Burundian Free Methodist Bishop is Rev. Dr. Elie Buconyori, who has led the denomination since 2000.
