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Two distinctive images of the social engagement of Christian churches in Africa have emerged in the past several decades. One image regards churches as instruments of imperialism and allies of authoritarian rule. Christian churches have been denounced as the cultural wing of the colonial project and, in independent Africa, as conservative strongholds that ally themselves with political leaders to preserve the status quo. The other image regards churches as the masthead of civil society, the only effective institutions outside state control, playing the role of human rights observer, peasant organizer, and advocate for democracy. As authoritarian regimes were shaken in the 1990s, churches were portrayed as leading the charge in many countries.

On the surface Rwanda and Burundi would seem to exemplify perfectly these two contrasting images. In the wake of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 many observers criticized Rwanda's Christian churches for supporting the massacres, both through the historic role that missionaries played in promoting ethnic conflict and for the alliance that existed between the leaders of church and state which was manifested in the participation of some pastors and priests in the massacres of Tutsi. In contrast, Burundi has been treated as a classic case of church-state conflict, where churches were heavily regulated by a state that feared their power; the churches seemed to be the only voice of opposition to an authoritarian, ethnically based military regime, and church leaders were therefore targeted for violence.'