Anglican Church of Rwanda - History

History

The Church of the Province of Rwanda traces its roots to two missionary doctors of the British Church Missionary Society, Arthur Stanely Smith and Leonard Sharp, coming from Kabale, in Uganda, which began a mission movement in the Eastern area of Gisaka, in Rwanda, from 1914 to 1916. They would reach Rukira in 1922. Rev. Geoffrey Holmes, a captain from the British Army, would start an Anglican mission in Gahini, in 1925. In 1926, Rev. Harold Guillebaud baptised the first converts at Gahini. He also would translate Christian books into kinyarwanda. In the following years, other Anglican missions where created, like the one started by Geoffrey Holmes in Kigeme, in 1931.

Only after the independence of Rwanda from Belgium, in 1962, the Anglican Church of Rwanda was created, in 1965, under the Province of Rwanda, Burundi and Boga Zaire. The first Diocese was initiated in 1966, having the Rt. Rev. Adony Sebununguri as the first Bishop of Rwanda. The name of Anglican Church of Rwanda (Église Anglicane au Rwanda) was adopted on 18 October 1979, still at the Province of Rwanda, Burundi and Boga Zaire.

On 7 June 1992, the Province of the Episcopal Church of Rwanda in the Anglican Communion was formed, consisting of seven dioceses, Kigali, Butare, Shyira, Byumba, Cyangugu, Kigeme and Shyogwe with the first Archbishop being the Most Rev. Augustin Nshamihigo. In 1998, he was succeeded by Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, who would be in office until 2011.

The 1994 genocide and war left the Church and the nation in ruins. Since peace has returned, the Church has embarked on a program of spiritual healing for thousands of traumatised people. Kigali Anglican Theological College (KATC) was started in February 2006 as a response to the training needs of the Anglican Church of Rwanda in post Genocide Rwanda and is staffed by pastors from several home dioceses, local staff, one CMS Britain Mission Partner and a number of visiting lecturers from partners from the UK and the USA. The college states that it strives to provide quality Christian training to the next generation of Christian leaders for Rwanda and, in turn, to assist in the development of the whole country. The School of Theology was the first to open in the custom-built buildings situated in an area of new development not far from Kigali. A Language School was opened in 2006 to meet the language needs of Francophone students who had to study in English. In 2008, there were around 40 students studying in both the School of Theology and the Language School.