I, The Rt Rev. Gaddie Akanjuna, the 6th Bishop of the Diocese of Kigezi, with a grateful heart do appreciate God for His goodness and loving kindness for having chosen me to lead His sheep in His Vineyard. By His Grace, we have seen His wonder working power in and with us in mission and ministry.
I dearly recognize the Lord’s work in the lives and works of my Predecessors, who worked hard and laid a firm foundation upon which we are continuing to build. The Church in Kigezi is vibrant!
The Diocese of Kigezi is blessed with Christians committed to serve Christ and their Diocese, bearing fruits of spiritual revival and this service is evidenced in Kigezi, in Uganda, and through the world. This commitment to service and spiritual formation is planted in them as they go through Children’s Churches and Schools through catechism and they also have their parents as role models; who are embroidered in Christ’s service in their Churches. The Diocesan strategic direction is focused on Children and Youths, purposeful on the mission of establishing effective Children’s Churches at all Churches, and running Chaplaincies in all Schools and Colleges.
In testimony for our continued service of the Lord, both Clergy and Lay Christians do support Church Projects like Church Structures, Staff Houses, and buying Church equipment. Accomplishments are seen in Christians buying Vehicles for Church use; all our 17 Archdeaconries have Vehicles for Ministry. The rich and the poor, the young and the old willingly sacrifice to contribute support towards the growth of our ministry. The Diocese is progressing well in Education and Health services. Though some communities in the Kigezi region are still poor, the Church continues to define herself as a model agent of change in community and households transformation.
Our Church runs a 5-Year Strategic Plan, which continues the Church’s future growth. With Christ in our hearts, we will continue this journey of liberation. We heartily thank God and all Partners in Mission.
Brief Diocesan Profile.
Diocese of Kigezi is a vibrant Church that has overtime been spiritually rejuvenated by the famous outpouring of The Holy Spirit in the 1935 Spiritual Revival, which stimulated its unique spiritual growth and direction that is now celebrated worldwide as the East African Revival movement. Since 1935, the Church in Kigezi has grown upholding characteristics of the East African revival which centre on evangelical theological direction. It is a Church that upholds and exploits spiritual gifts to bear spiritual fruits of the Spirit. The work of mission continues to be emphasized and people continue to surrender their lives to Christ. The Diocese has upheld holistic Christian values that liberate God’s people.
The Diocese has 17 Archdeaconries, 102 Parishes, and 417 Local Churches. It also has 25 Chaplaincies that are vibrantly raising children and students in schools and colleges. The recent (2023) internal Diocesan Census put the total population at 300,000 people.
The Diocese covers the 3 Districts of Kabale, Rukiga, and Rubanda, and the Diocesan Headquarters (Diocesan Offices and Cathedral) are located at Rugarama Hill in the Centre of Kabale Town.
Being a strong arm of the Church of the Province of Uganda, our mission, in fulfillment of the Great Commission is “The advancement of Christ’s kingdom through evangelism, teaching, healing, leading people to worship, nurturing and rendering services to the people so that they may have abundant life”. We have implemented this great commission over years, and the growth indicators are overwhelming. The Diocese of Kigezi is well known internationally and nationally as one of the strong Dioceses of the Province in all matters of growth. We have implemented holistic 5 Year Development Plans over years, well evident in the level of worship, spiritual maturity, and order of governance, order of priesthood, the lay involvement, structural growth, physical infrastructure, social capital, and international networking. The Diocese of Kigezi has for years recorded numerical growth in all matters of Church growth.
The above growth pattern is realized through implementation of the 5 Year Strategic Plan, under 5 Diocesan Boards; Mission, Education, Health, Land and Finance, and Planning and Development.
Mission and Evangelism;
Education ministry which expands mission through youth and children, and also proving the cognitive aspect of growth; (185 Primary Schools, 25 Secondary Schools, 5 technical colleges, 1 Nursing School, 1 Teacher Training College, and 1 University College).
Health ministry in the Diocese;
The Diocese runs 18 Health Centers, one of which is a Hospital. These offer health care and support to all people irrespective of gender, religion, and origin. They are scattered all over the Diocese especially in the remote hard to reach areas of Kigezi.
Planning and Development
The Diocese runs several development programs which support mission, mostly aimed at raising both the Diocesan, and Christians’ incomes and standards of living. Kigezi being an under developed region, the Diocese remains one of the strong agents of change and transformation though raising household incomes. The Diocese runs projects ranging from Savings and Credit groups, agricultural production and agro processing groups, land and environment protection groups, and business enterprise groups at household levels. At the Diocesan level, here is a variety of projects including Estates / property developments, Diocesan SACCO, Agricultural Production and Processing projects, and Tourism enterprises.
Land, Finance and Administration.
The Diocese owns the largest percentage of land as an entity in the Districts of coverage. This land is occupied as Church centers, Schools centers, Health Centers, and community development centers. The Diocese continues to use these centers as sites through which growth technologies are shared and exhibited. For instance they are centers of agricultural technological transfer to farmers, as well as information flow to communities.
The Diocese also runs a robust Administration that entails a manpower scattered across the Diocese at all Church centers. The Diocese is a pronounced employer through her full time Church workers, as well as her project workers in Schools and Colleges, development Projects, and Community service Projects. The Administration structure always ensures that the Diocesan Staff are kept aloof in competences to be able to realize the Diocesan vision. Training and retraining are constantly held to retool workers.
The Diocese also brings together several partners in Development; both locally and internationally that bring in financial support towards community development. Compassion International remains the lead Agency in this development. Others major partners include Tearfund International, Go Africa, and the Government of Uganda.
Diocesan Christians are also another strong force that ably support the growth of our Diocese. The Christian of Kigezi are well mobilized and have overtime grown the passion of supporting the growth of their Diocese right from the local Church to the Diocesan level. Their commitment and involvement in the management structures, and financial areas of the Diocese is overwhelming. Most of the Diocesan financing is done by Christians, both residing in and out of the Diocese.
