One of the founders of the Anglican Mission in the Americas is in Colorado this week to encourage people to turn to Christ. Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, who is staying with a Longmont family this week, will deliver a sermon Sunday morning in Broomfield. The service is open to the public. “He’s seen as our spiritual father in terms of the formation of this church,” said the Rev. Gerry Schnackenberg, senior pastor of Epiphany Anglican Fellowship, which has worship sites in Longmont, Broomfield, Lakewood and north Boulder. “He really had the vision and courage to go against the Episcopalian Church.”
The Anglican Mission in the Americas was founded in 2000 after theological differences caused orthodox members of the Episcopalian Church to break away. The new church operated under the spiritual guidance of Kolini until earlier this year when the Anglican Church in North America formed under the leadership of Archbishop Robert Duncan. Kolini and Duncan are now working together to lead the church, Schnackenberg said. During his stay in Colorado, Kolini will meet with local clergy and discuss ways to “bring people back to Jesus Christ.” He said he also wants to warn Americans about the dangers of turning from their faith and relying another to find happiness. “We are trying to remind people who they are from — creation to redemption,” he said. On Wednesday afternoon, Kolini spoke with a group of pastors at Calvary Church in Longmont who meet monthly to discuss issues facing their congregations.
The Rev. Tom Beaman of Grace Evangelical Free Church said Kolini’s message of accepting Christ transcends denominations. “I was absolutely humbled and excited by him,” he said. “To be in his presence and hear how he lived his faith in the midst of the most unimaginable, horrible things and to just hear the strength in his voice and see the light in his eyes was just incredible.”
Rwanda is undergoing a “re-evangelizing” as people heal from the wounds of the 1994 genocide, Kolini said. For too long, “tribal blood was stronger than the water of baptism,” he said. Now the church and government are working together to promote reconciliation. Nearly 120,000 people were imprisoned for murder after the genocide. Despite losing family and friends in the genocide, Kolini ministered to the prisoners, preaching repentance and contrition. The bulk of the prisoners have been released and have sought forgiveness from the families of the people they killed, he said.
Kolini also preached to the survivors, asking them to follow this example and “love the sinner and hate the sin.” But Kolini cautioned that “the devil doesn’t need a visa” and it’s all too easy for people to fall victim to hatred. Genocide takes many forms, and they all stem from rejecting the Gospel, he said. “There is no short cut,” he said. “You have to come back to Jesus.”
