With the Anglican Church of Rwanda preparing for a new chapter under Archbishop-elect Manasseh Gahima, outgoing Archbishop Laurent Mbanda has reflected on the eight years he spent leading the church, the challenges, and the growth recorded during his tenure. Mbanda, who took office in 2018, will retire on October 25, handing over to Gahima, who was elected on September 11. In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Mbanda spoke about rebuilding the church, efforts to make it financially self-reliant, the expansion of its institutions and international influence, his position on major issues within the Anglican Communion, his plans after retirement, and his message to his successor and young people. Excerpts; How did the election of the new archbishop unfold, and what made Bishop Gahima the choice of the bishops? The election went well. There was an anonymous vote, and this showed our unity. We thank God. The 13 bishops voted, we asked God, and He gave him to us. There were several criteria the candidates had to meet. They had to be between 55 and 60 years old, have served as diocesan bishops for at least five years, have the required educational qualifications, and demonstrate discipline and good conduct. Bishop Gahima is a humble person who knows how to relate with people. He has experience in the Church and in schools, and he is someone who can solve issues and work through challenges. What would you like to see the incoming Archbishop focus on as he begins his tenure? I pray that he finds his priorities, builds on the foundation that has already been laid and continues the journey. He is a godly man and a visionary, and I would highly recommend that he gives attention to keeping pastors, focusing on children and youth, and staying close to the people in the Church and the communities they serve. But let him come with his own charge. When an Archbishop comes, he comes with a vision that the Lord may have given him for the institution he is inheriting. My prayer is that he will unite the Church and minister to the hearts of the people. You inherit joys, but you also inherit burdens. You inherit people with joys, but also people carrying heavy loads and difficult issues. I know that God will use him for His glory. If I were to recommend anything, I would say to him: “My brother, keep the Bible at the centre. Keep Christ at the centre. Walk humbly with the Lord, and the Lord will bless your walk.” Take us back to the beginning of your term in 2018. What did you find when you took office? I started in June 2018, knowing that I had only one year and four months before reaching the retirement age of 65. At the time, we were also preparing for The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) 2018, which was held in Jerusalem. One of my immediate responsibilities was to lead a team of bishops there. I had to raise the money, pay for the tickets and make sure everyone could travel and spend time together in Jerusalem. Thankfully, God provided the resources we needed. I took the team to Jerusalem, and we even had some extra time to sightsee. What initially looked like a challenge turned into a blessing. By the time we returned, I was ready to take on my responsibilities fully. We were operating from an old office in Remera, which needed considerable renovation. The headquarters of the Anglican Church also had almost no budget. Our only income came from some of our partners and fluctuated between $3,000 and $5,000 a month. Given the staff and other needs, that was not enough. There were several challenges such as human capacity, financial resources and the fact that I was new in the position. But I have never been shy of challenges. I welcome them because they provide opportunities and keep me going. How did you begin addressing those challenges? Within a short time, the Lord provided what we needed. I want to thank my family. My son had just taken on a role in a movie, and my daughter, together with the rest of the family, looked at the office and told me, ‘Dad, you will be depressed if you sit here, so we need to set you up.’ What you see here, especially on the right-hand side, is a gift from my son for my office. They remodelled the whole office, put tiles throughout the building and installed new curtains. My wife also helped make the office feel more like home and created an environment conducive to the new challenge I was taking on. That was a blessing for my family first. How did you go about transforming the church headquarters? I reached out to my network, including old partners and friends I had developed relationships with over the years. Through different avenues, we were able to renovate the old building and eventually construct a new one, which we now call Anglican House in Remera. We also removed some of the old structures that were no longer serving much purpose. Today, it is a completely different place. I started from Remera, near the stadium, where there was a small clinic and a police station nearby. What were the main priorities you set for the Church when you took office? I came with five pillars, or what I called strategic directions. They were not a strategic plan, but strategic directions. The first was equipping leaders and building capacity. The second was evangelism and discipleship. Many people asked me why I did not begin with evangelism and discipleship. My answer was that evangelism and discipleship also require equipped people to carry them out. I wanted to start by equipping leaders, while also focusing on evangelism and discipleship. The third pillar was early childhood development. I had spent many years working with children, and I wanted to establish something that specifically focused on early childhood. The fourth pillar was financial accountability and management. We wanted to ensure that we were accountable, transparent and responsible in the way we managed resources. Having travelled to many places, I had seen that churches and church institutions often face challenges in financial management and accountability. I am not judging anyone, but I had seen the same challenges repeatedly. Sometimes church properties are treated as personal properties, and there is not always a clear distinction between what belongs to whom or where. Financial management can also be a challenge. I wanted to bring some of my expertise, experience and lessons from other places into my responsibilities here. That is why financial accountability was one of the strategic directions. The fifth and final pillar was sustainability. We needed self-reliance. I think we had become too comfortable extending our hands to others, looking to America, the UK and other places for support. We would polish our shoes, take our briefcases and go fundraising, and sometimes return without anything. I had experienced that myself. The first time I went to Germany as a bishop to raise money, I was turned away. That experience made me think differently. I asked myself, why start something that you cannot sustain? That is why I often tell people, if you cannot sustain it, do not even start it. Looking back, what progress did you make on those priorities, particularly in making the Church more financially sustainable? When you look at the five pillars, I can say that we have seen progress in each of them, both within the Diocese of Gasabo, at East African Christian College and across the Anglican Church, mainly at the headquarters. One of the achievements I thank God for is the Anglican House in Remera. We have also developed other properties for the university as part of our efforts to become more self-reliant and generate income to support its work. I also count Trinity Plaza among the achievements. The building generates income for the Church headquarters. Compared with the $3,000 to $5,000 we were receiving each month when I started, we are now in a much more comfortable position. We have also developed properties that generate income for the university and the Diocese of Gasabo. These include Trinity Corner and The Fork, which houses a restaurant. We have also transformed the cathedral. Those are some of the infrastructure achievements under the sustainability pillar. As you prepare to leave office, how would you describe the state of the Church? When it comes to sustainability, I think you can see for yourself where the Anglican Church was when I started and where it is today. A lot has been achieved in the last eight years, more than was achieved in the more than 20 years since this office was established in 1992. I believe I am leaving a healthy office. Challenges exist because we are human and have a sinful nature. We struggle, and over the past eight years, we have had our ups and downs and faced different challenges. But through it all, we have had an amazing journey with the Lord, working together as a team. Those challenges have also helped us to grow. I thank God for where we are today. The Anglican Church of Rwanda is now in a position to sustain itself. Eight years later, what has been the biggest change in the Diocese of Gasabo? When I took over, there were not many churches in the diocese. I thank God that we have since built 14 new churches in Gasabo, and each of them has an early childhood centre attached to it. When the diocese was handed over to me, we had 2,903 members. Today, we have almost 10,000. This diocese has more than tripled in size. We have also reached a point where the diocese can meet its needs without having to go outside to raise money to support its work. That is another achievement. What has contributed to the growth of evangelism and discipleship? In terms of evangelism, we have grown through initiatives such as community Bible study. Across the Anglican Church, about 200,000 people now meet every week for Bible study in their communities. These groups also involve savings and other activities aimed at improving the lives of church members. We have a partnership with HOPE International, through which we support the savings component. At the same time, the groups provide an opportunity for people to study the Word of God. We have started more churches, but the growth has also included the establishment of new dioceses. Karongi was started as a missionary diocese, while Nyaruguru became a diocese during my leadership. Apart from what you have achieved in the diocese, what other triumphs are you proud of? We started East African Christian College in March 2021. Today, the university has more than 6,000 students. One of our priorities has been meeting the needs of the Church by training pastors. We have trained more than 2,000 pastors through diploma and bachelor’s degree programmes. Recently, about 700 students graduated from the college, which shows the expansion we are seeing. We have also expanded beyond theology. We now offer nursing programmes, including training for midwives and general nurses, as well as degree programmes in those areas. We offer programmes in business management, monitoring and evaluation, finance, education and theology. The school has five departments and continues to grow. Its infrastructure has also developed significantly since we started in 2021. We now have a sports centre with an indoor basketball court, two tennis courts and a soccer field. The soccer field is not yet where we want it to be, but we have made significant progress. We have also invested in the environment by planting trees and improving the landscaping around the campus. Landscaping is actually one of my hobbies, so it is something I enjoy doing whenever I can, both for myself and for friends. You have placed a strong focus on early childhood development. What progress has been made in that area? Before I came here, I had already helped start about 197 early childhood centres in the north, and they are still operating. When I came to Gasabo, we started 22 more early childhood centres. They are active, and the children receive three eggs a week and fortified porridge twice a week. Their parents are also involved in small groups focused on savings and improving their livelihoods. We were able to extend the same approach to other dioceses, including Kibungo, Gahini, Butare and Kigeme. Some of the centres we helped establish encouraged others to start more, and that is how the number has grown. The last time I counted, we had 640 early childhood centres across the Anglican Church of Rwanda. What steps did you take to improve financial management and accountability across the Church? When I became archbishop, one of the first things I did was acquire QuickBooks Professional, software to help our dioceses manage their financial resources. We distributed it to the dioceses and provided training on how to use it. I assigned someone to train all the dioceses for a full year, and we have continued to provide regular support. I cannot say how consistently every diocese is using the system, but Gasabo is using it, and the other dioceses are also using it. This was part of our effort to improve financial management, accountability and training across the Church. I believe the Anglican Church has made progress in how we manage our finances. Are we perfect? No. Nobody is perfect, and we still have room to grow. We also introduced both internal and external audits, which have been carried out. That is another area of improvement and achievement that we can celebrate. What has the Anglican Church of Rwanda been doing on the international stage in recent years? We have been playing a significant role on the international scene. The Anglican Church of Rwanda has taken a leading role within the Global Anglican Communion. We hosted the Global Anglican Future Conference in 2023, when almost 2,000 people from different provinces around the world came to Kigali. I was also selected to serve as chairman of GAFCON, and more recently, I was elected chairman of the Global Anglican Communion in Abuja. I will continue serving in that role until 2028. Although I am retiring here, I will continue in that international responsibility for the next two years. What is the Church’s position on homosexuality and women becoming bishops? We have sought to bring the Bible back to the centre of church life and to uphold orthodox theology and the authority of Scripture. Our position is that the Word of God does not change. We have worked with other provinces, including Uganda, Nigeria, Sydney in Australia and Recife in Brazil, to uphold that position. That has been one of our achievements, but also a challenge because it has exposed us to criticism. Some people say we are against homosexuals. Far from it. Let them come. Let them meet Christ. In terms of biblical theology, we hold on to our position on issues such as human sexuality and church leadership. We have women pastors, but we do not have a woman bishop. We will not allow women into the episcopacy because we believe that would be against Scripture. Why does the Church allow women to serve as priests and pastors but not as bishops, and should that change in the future? Worldwide, there are Anglican provinces that accept women in the episcopacy and others that do not. The ordination of women as bishops is a relatively recent development. Even in the Church of England and elsewhere, it is a fairly new phenomenon. In Rwanda, we accept women as priests, pastors and archdeacons. The door is open, and the future is bright. Exactly when we will have a woman bishop, I don’t know. But there is still a journey to go because some provinces remain conservative on the issue, while others are already ordaining women as bishops. In Rwanda, we accept women in the priesthood. Uganda and Kenya also accept women in the priesthood. Kenya has already had a woman bishop, as have Sudan and South Africa. As you prepare to retire from the Church, what do you see yourself doing in the next years? This is almost a semi-retirement, not a full retirement, because I have two more years. I am looking at October 25 this year for my retirement, and I want to invest the next two years in the Global Anglican Communion by providing leadership and helping the provinces become more sustainable. One of the reasons we struggle is that the West tries to buy and manipulate us with the little resources it provides. I want to look at how we can generate our own resources to support ministry across the Global Anglican Communion. I also want to see progress on the physical headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria. We have already decided that Abuja will be the location, and one of my hopes is that by the time I leave, we will have built the centre. That will require fundraising and mobilising resources. Another priority is the Bishops Training Institute, which is costly in its current form. We need to look at digitising it so that the training can be offered online. I am also preparing for GAFCON which is expected to bring between 3,000 and 5,000 people to Athens, Greece in 2028. I will be responsible for organising it, so I will spend time mobilising resources, planning and securing the support needed for the conference. Next year, there is also G27, a conference designed for young people, which will be held in Recife, Brazil. There is still a lot on my agenda. As for my personal life, I want to travel, play golf and spend time with my family. I want to cherish my grandchildren. You have been a young person yourself. What would you say to young people about the choices they make and the future they want? I have a warning for young people. They are being taken by everything that comes their way. My message is to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, rethink their priorities, hold on to their culture and family values, and let the Word of God transform their lives. I also challenge the Church to come alongside young people and help them. I have been a youth, so I know the temptations they face and how easily we can make choices that destroy our lives. Young people, especially here in Rwanda, have an opportunity that no one should miss. We have a peaceful country, many opportunities and support from the country’s leadership and others who are thinking about the future of young people. They should recognise and appreciate what is around them. Young people have big goals and want to reach the sky, and it is possible. But they also need to take small steps, stay focused and understand that things do not come overnight. You have to work for them. Build your lives for the future, work hard and do not run yourselves into things that can destroy your lives.
