If you have ever attended church service at Christian Life Assembly-CLA Nyarutarama, there is chance you heard a harmonious voice leading worship. That’s Maya Nzeyimana, the church’s worship leader. Her skill as a wonderful singer influences. Through her music, she spreads the gospel and her impact is stretching far and wide. For 16 years now, she has been serving in ministry along other undertakings she took on along the way. Nzeyimana wears many hats; a church minister, choir leader, bible teacher, artiste, instrumentalist, she is also a mother, songwriter, actress, and wife to gospel artiste Fabrice Nzeyimana. Maya Nzeyimana, with her husband A gospel artiste herself, she has sung and featured in songs such as Umugabane wanje, Nduwawe, Muremyi w’isi, Umwami w’ibihe, Imana ihoraho, Overflow, Ndaguhimbaza, I long for you, Reka ngushime, among others. Discovering her talent Growing up, Nzeyimana loved listening to music, mostly vineyard and integrity genres. But she never really took up singing till the age of 16 when she gave her life to Christ, and started serving God. Since then, she has been mostly leading worship teams. But she has also engaged in preaching sermons to children in Sunday school. Being a part of the worship team never came easy for her because she was a very shy person, she says. Nzeyimana in class with her students. But one time, an issue arose between their pastor and the worship team and they weren’t able to lead worship. When her father, who attended the same church, learnt about the incident, he asked her to take up the opportunity and sing. Through obedience, she faced her fears head-on and the rest became history. “The pastor heard me sing and was so impressed by my voice he made me a choir leader. It is that one trial that woke up that ‘singer’ in me that I feared to let out,” she says. Currently her role at CLA spreads to doing drama, poetry, and dance. She has been involved in organising Christmas Cantata, their yearly Christmas play, writing plays and scripts. Ministering with her husband Nzeyimana and her husband started serving full time at church way back in 2016. They have since started another ministry ‘Heavenly Melodies Africa’ whose goal is to disciple and train people in the music ministry. Their ministry is currently serving in four countries; Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda, with plans for expansion. The minister says serving with her husband is great in many ways because they are both fulfilling their goal and passion. “It can be challenging because we need to serve our ministries along with our personal lives. Sometimes an issue in our relationship can affect our ministry, but we are learning to prioritise the ministry of our marriage and our family before anything else,” Nzeyimana says. They write songs as a couple and advise each other on the message or melody in order to bring out the song clearly. When composing music, their focus is mostly centred on themes, scripture and ensures the song is about the gospel. Her goals She relishes discipleship; working with young people who want to grow and understand God. Nzeyimana however makes time for personal growth. She is pursuing masters of education in advanced teaching and has enrolled for masters of systematic theology. Some of the challenges she encounters as a church minister include the ministry being very tempting and easy to turn into work other than focusing on having a relationship with God. She carries on that ministering is also not profitable since gospel artists invest a lot yet don’t earn a lot from it. “It takes one to have a heart of serving and not expecting much in return,” she says. Through her courses she develops, the 32-year-old offers opportunities to others to understand the bible. She also looks forward to starting a school for school dropouts to access free education. Her concluding words are around seeking God first before anything else. “My advice to young people is pursuing God above everything. Whatever we do in life outside the will of God is meaningless. Don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others because you’re unique. Comparison is something I struggled with, but now I know God has gifted me uniquely in many ways,” she urges.
