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Anglican Church of Rwanda Marches on and Grows in Strength
By Godfrey Olukya
VOL African correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
November 17, 2020
With the ongoing modernization of Kigali city, the Anglican Church of Rwanda has been quietly developing its prime land most evidenced by the new magnificent cathedral at Giporoso, Remera, a local newspaper in Rwanda' Tarifa reports.
The Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda Laurent Mbanda tweeted, "another architectural masterpiece" and accompanied the two photos with these words; 'Come and be our neighbour! Anglican Church of Rwanda.'
The magnificent cathedral with three stories will host office space and rooftop restaurant seated on a prime street. Archbishop Mbanda does not say where this structure will be built.
"Congratulations! Neighbors might have different orientations. Do you plan to have offices and shops?" asked Dr. Nkurunziza Joseph Ryarasa.
Another tweet identified only as Kmerarry asked, "Where is this coming up and when is it going to be complete?"
Definitely the new infrastructure project has caused a lot of excitement from faithful Anglicans locally and across the world.
The Anglican Church of Rwanda (ACR or EAR in French) is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 11 dioceses in Rwanda. There are over 1,000,000 Anglicans in Rwanda, making P.E.A.R. one of the largest church bodies in the country.
It should also be remembered that on 04 October 2019, the Church of Rwanda 'decolonialised' its name. Changed its name from "Province de l'Eglise Anglicane au Rwanda" to "Eglise Anglicane du Rwanda" in order to assert that it was no longer a colonial subject.
"We are not subjects. Some want us to accept that it is essential to being Anglican that you are recognized by Canterbury, but we find our identity first and foremost through our biblical and Anglican doctrinal inheritance in Christ in the Jerusalem Statement and Declaration of 2008, said Archbishop Mbanda. "We can only come to the devastating conclusion that we are a global Communion with a colonial structure. We seek only to be a colony of heaven!"
Responding to the archbishop, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Rt. Rev. Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon said, "Each Province is autonomous, but also interdependent because we are brothers and sisters in Christ. The Anglican Communion is based on fellowship and relationship, a gift of God's grace and love, no more and no less. The link between Provinces is, and always has been, through relationship -- communion -- with the see of Canterbury, never as its subject."
There are more practicing Anglicans in Rwanda than the Church of England which can barely muster 750,000.
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