Biography and the spiritual journey

Apostle François Nkurunziza was born on February 1, 1961, of Rwandan parents who had been exiled to Burundi due to the then political crisis in Rwanda. He is married to Bishop Therese Umugiraneza, and the couple is blessed with four children and a granddaughter. He received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour on 3rd of September 1983. Since then, he is committed to serving the Lord. Since when he was a teenager, his life was often characterized by a sense of curiosity that has in fact persisted until today. Moreover, that thirst for knowledge had prompted him to read a lot of literature, notably some renowned philosophers. Eventually he confronted existentialistic philosophy, and thus the question of self-understanding, human origin, the meaning of life, and most crucially, the question of what happens after death would haunt him the most.

Seeking the truth about life, with a purpose of pursuing clarity to all his unanswered questions, he joined the Monastic orders at the Roman Catholic Congregation, which he left before his final vows. But still, he could not find what he sought for, and left the monastery but still with an unsettled soul. It is in that doubtful life that he met the Lord and only when he could obtain correct answers to all his puzzling questions.

He experienced a dramatic conversion in 1983 and was called to full-time ministry shortly after his conversion. Apostle François is one of the pioneers of the revival that hit Burundi and other countries in the 80s and 90s. Renowned orator especially on the Biblical Prophecies, he has compiled a very pertinent teaching series entitled “The Signs of the Times”.

His ministry started earlier; firstly as an evangelist associated to deliverance and healing that remarkably impacted Bujumbura. Naturally, Apostle François has always been eager to read as much as possible since his childhood up to date; indeed that is what nurtures his intellect and defines his understanding of the spiritual realm.

In 1993 he went to a missionary school in France for ministry reinforcement. Towards the closure of his studies in France, the Lord burdened him with Rwanda, his country, which he had never known before. And after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, with the family, he repatriated to Rwanda and left the Ministry in Burundi with the natives.

Willing to contribute to the restoration of the nation, him and his wife Bishop Thérèse started in 1995, the ministry called International Mission for Restoration of Nations by the Gospel (MIRNE, in French acronym). Apart from their compassion initiatives in the aftermath of the Genocide 1994, François a pastor by then, also initiated and spoke on Unity and Reconciliation at the Leadership seminars and conferences in the Great Lakes Region and with organizing and thus leading the Evangelical Campaigns within which many committed their lives to Jesus Christ.

It was therefore in need of assembling and following up the converted souls that in 1998, Apostle François founded the Community of Bethel Churches in Rwanda and abroad, a ministry of which he is the General Overseer. Since then, he has done several missionary voyages in Africa, in Europe and the United States of America.

Apostle François is the Vision Bearer and the Presiding Apostle of Harvest Africa Apostolic Network that primarily covers the African continent and the rest of the World. Harvest Africa is a Vision for Africa providing a wide space for the corporate anointing and converged efforts, skills, expertise and competences of diverse ministers from all walks of life! Born in 2015, Harvest Africa Apostolic Network (HAAN) is currently and mightily spreading in the whole of African continent and elsewhere.

Apostle François Nkurunziza holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and he is the author of the Book “Une Vision pour l’Afrique” a book now translated in English "A Vision for Africa".

Glory be to God!