Festo Kivengere

Banners from the Rotunda of Witnesses

Festo KivengereBanner Quote:

The Cross is the flesh and bones, the heartbeat of evangelism . . . with the power to heal broken lives and broken relationships.

Festo Kivengere, the “Billy Graham of Africa,” was born in a Ugandan village. Converted in a revival in 1939, he eventually became a pastor and then Anglican bishop of Kigezi, Uganda. With a heart for African initiative and unity, he was part of the team that organized the Pan-African Christian Leadership Assembly, bringing together 800 Christian leaders from 47 African nations. He preached throughout Africa, even at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, shown here. When dictator Idi Amin came to power, Kivengere and his wife were forced to flee to Rwanda, becoming the voice of the persecuted Ugandan church, a time reflected in the banner’s red panel. But Kivengere’s focus was always reconciliation, even penning the book I Love Idi Amin. The Ugandan national bird on the continent of Africa represents Bishop Festo’s Ugandan identity and his desire to bring the Good News to all of Africa.