I stood there with my wife, Sandra, in 2004 and whispered to myself: here is where God began to save the Anglican Communion.
We were visiting Kabare in the central western part of Uganda. We were there to take a look at an Anglican theological seminary, and visit the grave of Bishop Festo Kivengere a remarkable African leader whom I had slightly known. There, near the seminary in a grove of trees lies a natural amphitheater. On its curved hillside hundreds gathered in 1935 to hear an African layman preach powerfully about his conversion to Jesus Christ, his repentance from sin, his breakthrough to victory over recurrent wrong behavior, and his overflowing love for other believers regardless of denomination.
This event, continuously recalled in recurrent festivals right up to this day, sparked a revival that has left an indelible imprint on the worldwide Anglican Communion and continues to bear fruit today.
The preacher that day, Simeoni Nsibambi, had only recently met in Kambala with a missionary from England with a most improbable name: Dr. Joe Church. The two men met for several days, reading the Bible and praying together. They lamented the sad state of Christianity in Nsibambi’s home country of Rwanda, and elsewhere throughout East Africa.
“In the past similar revivals had led to schisms. People with new zeal were rebuffed by their churches, and then broke away to form new fellowships or denominations. But this time it was different. These renewed Christians stayed in their churches – and since the main Protestant church in East Africa is Anglican (because Church of England missionaries evangelized the area) – these Anglican churches of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and other nations in the area (Burundi, Tanzania, Congo, etc.) were revived. One very noticeable fruit of all this is that today it is almost inconceivable that a man would be appointed bishop in one of the Anglican Churches of those countries unless he had been touched in some way by this revival.”
Very thankful that is the case.