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 “I COME as a Barnabas, to bring a word of encouragement,” Emmanuel Kolini said.
The Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda was in British Columbia the weekend of May 22 – 23 to visit churches of the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC).
The ACiC consists of churches that withdrew from the Anglican Church of Canada and came under Kolini’s authority in 2004, in order to remain part of the worldwide Anglican
Communion.
Talking to BCCN, Kolini downplayed his official position in regard to the ACiC, saying he had
come for fellowship.
“The authority belongs to the Lord . . . Jesus is the head of the church, and we are just servants.”
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Kolini met with leaders of congregations of local ACiC churches at a tea on
Saturday, and with ACiC pastors and spouses on Saturday evening. He preached
Sunday morning at Calvary Worship Centre, an independent multicultural church in New Westminster; and at an interdenominational
celebration service in Fraserview MB Church in Richmond Sunday evening. Also
taking part in that service was Yong Ping Chung, retired Archbishop of
Southeast Asia.
It may seem “crazy” for churches in Canada to be under the authority of an archbishop from Rwanda,
Kolini admitted, but there is a simple explanation: “The door was open.
When Rwanda was crying out for help” to prevent the 1994 genocide, “no one would pay attention. So when others [the ACiC] cried out, we responded.”
Asked why the church in Rwanda seems to be doing better than the church in the
West, Kolini suggested, “Ask the Holy Spirit.”
He added that people in the West tend to “think they are educated and civilized, not sinners. But sin has no limit. The
most educated and most primitive all need Jesus as their Saviour. “ – Jim Coggins
June 2010
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