Source: Christian Post, July 11, 2014
Citing a survey last year which found that there were some 557 practicing Christian denominations in the small Central African nation, Burundi’s lower house of parliament has passed a bill requiring churches to have at least 500 members and a building to stanch the “proliferation of churches” in that country.
Under the proposed law, foreign churches will need at least 1,000 followers before they can register as a legitimate church, according to the BBC.
Evangelical churches have been cropping up at a rapid pace in the predominantly Christian nation of nearly 9 million people since the end of a long, ethnic-based civil war in 2005 in which an estimated 300,000 people were killed.
The government, led by born-again Christian President Pierre Nkurunziza, believes that the church community is currently too haphazard, with just about anyone being able to start a church, and it has also been plagued by scandals as well. One recent scandal involved a pastor imploring barren women who wanted to conceive to sleep with him.
The BBC said the bill got unanimous support from the MPs in Burundi’s National Assembly and is likely to get the same reception in the Senate.
» Full story also reports some of the Christian push back against this legislation. See also Burundi Law to Limit Church Members (BBC).
» From another part of the world, readers might be interested in the registered Chinese church’s views of Christianity (IMB Asia Stories).