The Anglican Church of Rwanda is widely known for having graced the region in the 1930s when it emerged as the first religion to commence the East African Revival Movement that spread faith within and outside the world.
The East African Revival Mission is a well-known Christian conversion movement which was started by the Anglican church of Rwanda during 1930s and spread throughout Eastern and Central Africa. The revival mission took place in 1936 at Gahini Diocese, in the Eastern Province. The unprecedented miracle was witnessed by thousands of masses from across the region who experienced the power of the lord. They knelt down and prayed for months.
The revival mission that broke out at the mission station in Gahini, shocked and surprised the whole world. Under this point therefore, the world felt it and affirmed that Rwanda was indeed a blessed nation as the story of good news became true. The news about revival had branded the image of the Anglican church in the face of Rwandans and the world in general.
After those miracles the church continued preaching the message of hope despite the fact that it never kept the promise of protecting and shielding her flock during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi that saw over a million innocent Tutsi population murdered in cold blood.
In addition, during the post Genocide the church continued evangelization work. It pushed on with the new leadership of the Archbishops Emmanuel Mbona Kolini and Onesphore Rwaje respectively. During this era northing was registered in terms of social community development meant to improving the welfare of the Christians.
There were no tangible projects that were put in place to drive the economic development of the church. This therefore gave a negative perception of the church. Furthermore, the church was not doing much to support community development initiatives. Only peace and reconciliation activities were registered in some instances. The church did not push for human development contrary to the Biblical norms.
As put forward by the bible; the Church ought to transform the lives of the sheep they lead. As seen in 2Corinthians (9:6-8) “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”
It is therefore, understood by many that previous church regimes were not developmental at all. They served the church on their vested interests rather than sowing the seeds of success in the community. That had altogether frustrated a number of worshipers who moved on to join other religious denominations.
In the face of the right-thinking members of the community therefore, the developmental activities ushered in by those regimes were enigmatic and hence tainted the image of the Anglican church in red. The story of its revival had disappeared completely as a result of doing things contrary to the biblical values.
However, it is only today under the new leadership of Archbishop Laurent Mbanda that the church is revamping its name. Under his tenure much have been achieved as described by many. He is being described as a man of vision and God fearing who has transformed the church.
Observers say Archbishop Mbanda sees things through the lenses of a bible, a remarkable leader who has fought rampant corruption in the circles of the church. His developmental initiatives have made Rwandans admire him. For few years he has been in the office, he has made tremendous achievements. As envisaged in the country’s vision 5050 it is of paramount importance to fight graft in the community of which the church is a stake holder.
One Mukankuranga Jeanne an Anglican aged 50 years, from Kigali Diocese had this to say, “we are much impressed by the work of His Grace Archbishop Mbanda. He has really transformed our church. He has bailed out the church from darkness. My applause goes to him”, Mukankuranga said.
Also, Mr. Mazimpaka John aged 70 years, an Anglican from Rwamagana said Anglican church is now visible everywhere unlike in the past. “It has revived again because whenever you move across the Capital City Kigali there are indicators of development. We attribute all this to the visionary leadership of Archbishop Laurent Mbanda. We love him and we shall always pray for him that the light of transformation he brought in the church may continue forever.”
Mugenga Derrick, an Anglican, aged 22 years hails from Gasabo District. He says his peers especially the youth are warming up to support the new church initiatives “We are really happy with the era of development in the church. We love this and we are prepared to serve our church for the good of the nation”, said Mugenga.
Notably, Rwanda as a country has become a beacon of hope globally as a result of visionary leadership. Remarkably, good leaders entirely put forward the interests of the subjects they lead. The point has therefore, brought us to the attention of the churches in Rwanda which were closed recently as a result of lacking biblical faith and vision for the people they lead. Thousands of churches across the country were busy amassing wealth at the expense of their worshipers.
They were fighting for their own interests rather than supporting Christians they lead. Through the lenses of the country’s visionally leadership, it was emerged that churches were busy ruining and stealing from the vulnerable population in a guise of evangelization. This therefore, left a mark on many churches as a disgrace to the society for failing to adhere to the biblical truth.
The writer is Mr. Grace Mugabe, University lecturer, a researcher, religious analyst, and media expert Greatlakes Region
