Tukutendereza Yesu" The Balokole Revival in Uganda

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Origins
For over a century the Balokole Revival has had a deep impact on many of the Protestant Churches of
Eastern Africa, invigorating and renewing their life and offering to individuals the challenge of a
deeper experience of salvation in Christ and a more radical commitment to Christian discipleship. In
many respects the East African Revival falls within the pattern of Evangelical Awakenings which have
been a feature of European and American Protestantism since the 18th Century. The influence of the
British Keswick movement on the Revival in East Africa is to be particularly noted in this context.
Nevertheless, the Revival has been the means by which the Christian Gospel has become incarnated
more deeply and radically into African patterns of thinking and action, a genuinely African expression
of Christianity.

The origins of the Revival lie in the life of the Anglican Church of Uganda, and particularly the
situation in Buganda. "Balokole" is a Luganda word meaning "The Saved People", a nickname given
at first by the detractors of the new movement, but which well expresses the basic theological
emphasis - the experience of receiving salvation in Jesus Christ. Those who claim this experience
prefer to be known simply as "Ab'oluganda" - Brethren and Sisters. But the term Balokole is widely
accepted as a convenient designation for the, movement and is so used far beyond Buganda itself.
Similarly, the Luganda chorus Tukutendereza Yesu (We Praise You Jesus) has become the theme song
of Revivalists throughout East Africa.

Thus, although the first manifestations of a large-scale revival occurred at Gahini in Rwanda at the
end of 1933, the seeds of that revival must be traced back to their origin in Buganda. The Church
Missionary Society mission hospital at Gabini was an outpost of the Anglican diocese of Uganda, on
the frontiers of the cultural and religious influence of the Ugandan Church. Most of the hospital staff
at Gahini and most of the leaders of the awakening were Baganda or from the western parts of
Uganda.

The Native Anglican Church of Uganda was outwardly one of the most successful in the history of
missions in Africa. But by the 1920's serious weaknesses in the development of the Church,
particularly in its heartland of Buganda, could be discerned. Despite the Pilkington Revival of the
1890s, and indeed partly because of the very success of that Revival in giving the impetus for the
wide diffusion of the Gospel, Anglican Christianity had grown in terms of numbers and prestige, but
at the expense of real faith and genuine commitment to a distinctive Christian life. This, at least, is
how many CMS missionaries assessed what they considered to be a deep malaise in the life of the
Church. But the most trenchant critics of the "Laodicean State of the Church of Uganda" [3] came
from the Ruanda Mission of CMS, which operated as a separate entity within the Anglican diocese of
Uganda - in Kigezi, in South-West Uganda, and in the Belgian mandate territory of Ruanda-Urundi.
The Ruanda Mission had come into being in the early 1920s as an attempt to remain loyal to CMS and
yet to stand for a distinctively conservative evangelical point of view at a time when CMS was being
assailed by disputes over "modernism" or liberal theology. The role of the Ruanda Mission as a kind
of self-appointed guardian of evangelical orthodoxy and critic of the state of the church in Uganda
was not always appreciated, particularly by CMS missionaries in Uganda itself, who rather resented
the implication that they were not fully committed to the need for reform. The growing alliance
between the Ruanda Mission and the movement for spiritual renewal within the Church in Uganda
was to cause some problems for the acceptance of the Revival by the Church in its early days."

Simeoni Nsibambi and his circle

Serious-minded Baganda, as much as missionaries, were exercised by the problems of the Church.
One such was Simeoni Nsibambi, in many ways the father of the whole Balokole movement.
Nsibambi was a member of the Protestant elite whose dominant position in Kiganda society had been
assured by the 1900 Agreement. The son of an important chief, the Ssenkanzi of Busiro, he went to
the top CMS schools of Mengo and Budo and, after military service during the First World War, he
became a clerk in the Kabaka's administration. His early career was parallel in many ways to that of
another critic of the Anglican establishment - Reuben Mukasa Spartas. But, whereas Spartas'
criticisms led him to form his own rival Church, Nsibambi remained loyal to the Anglican Church. It
is not insignificant that Spartas came from a lower social stratum than Nsibambi and was a persistent
critic of the Protestant elite to which Nsibambi belonged.

In the early 1920s Nsibambi's life had been set on a new course by a significant religious experience.
Disappointed that he had not got a scholarship to study abroad, he was assured in a vision from God
that such earthly things were not the most important things in life; rather to receive eternal salvation
was the pearl of great price. In the light of this experience, Nsibambi began to devote himself
increasingly to preaching this message of repentance and salvation. He abandoned his job to become d
full-time (self-appointed) preacher who became a familiar figure dressed in kanzu and sandals
addressing the worshippers outside Namirembe cathedral (his home was nearby). Nsibambi was also a
neighbor of Mable Ensor, that outspoken critic of the Church of Uganda. He attended her fellowship
at Mengo but was never willing to identify himself totally with her sectarian coterie. It was, rather, a
partnership with another missionary which was to prove so decisive in the development of the Revival.
This was the meeting in 1929 with a young missionary doctor, Dr. Joe Church, working with the
Ruanda Mission at Gahini. Dr. Church was taking a much-needed rest at Namirembe. After two years
work in Ruanda, he was keenly feeling the pressures of over-work and spiritual dryness. His
experience closely parallels that of Pilkington some 50 years earlier - a naive evangelical enthusiasm
strained by the realities of missionary work leading to a severe spiritual depression, followed by a
liberating experience of renewal and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Church's "Kome island"
occurred at Namirembe during a time of fellowship, bible study and prayer with Nsibambi. Church
went back to Gahini with a new heart and a new spirit. He kept up close contacts with Nsibambi, who
began to send some of his "disciples" to work with Dr. Church at Gahini.

One disciple was Nsibambi's own younger brother, Blasio Kigozi. Converted in his youth by
Nsibambi, Kigozi expressed a burning desire to follow in the footsteps of the pioneer Muganda
evangelist, Apolo Kivebulaya (still alive and working in Mboga at this time). Kigozi trained as a
school master at Mukono (the college at this time combined a teacher training section with theological
training). After graduating in 1929 he went out to Gahini to take charge of the school network there.
He soon got a reputation as an uncompromising preacher of the Gospel, denouncing sin wherever he
found it. The chief medical assistant at Gahini was a Muhima called Yosiya Kinuka, from the
pastoralists of Ankole in western Uganda. He had at first somewhat negative feelings towards this
stern, unbending, preacher, but by 1931 he had, been converted. He became a strong ally of Blasio in
his forceful evangelism. In 1932 Blasio himself returned to Bishop Tucker College, Mukono, for a
special ordination course in English. He came back to Gahini as, a deacon.

Kigozi's, passionate intensity, had in no way diminished by his becoming a clergyman. His renewed
zeal irritated those who resisted the implications of his message, especially among the relatively
sophisticated Ugandans working at the hospital or in the schools at Gahini. But it was among this
group that the first breakthrough occurred, at a convention organized during Christmas and New Year
1933/4. As Kigozi preached; many repented. The fires of revival, set a light within the mission station,
began to reach out into the hill communities of Batutsi pastoralists around. The revivalists were
named Abaka (meaning "those on fire" in Kinyarwanda). Many of the features particularly associated
with the revival were manifested in these early days - the emphasis on repentance through open
confession, the breaking down of barriers of race, tribe or clan, the use of "teams" of evangelists, the
awareness of a new equality between European and African.
The Revival returns to Uganda

In 1935 Kigozi, Kinuka and Joe Church led a team to a convention in Kabale. Nsibambi joined them
from Kampala. Kabale had been evangelized by the Ruanda Mission of CMS; but it was in the Kigezi
district of South West Uganda. The 1935 Convention marked the first large-scale impact of the
Revival on Uganda. Lawrence Barham, a clergyman of the Ruanda Mission in Kabale, and an
enthusiastic supporter of the Revival, described the convention in these terms: "Confession of sin,
restitutions, apologies followed; many had dreams, sometimes receiving strong impressions to read
certain verses of the Bible which led them to put away some sin, beer drinking for example. Preaching
bands have gone out all through the district and very many are stirred. There is naturally a good deal
of opposition and a certain amount of persecution."

Fired by the success of this convention in September 1935, Kigozi journeyed at the end of the year to
Kampala to attend the Synod of the Native Anglican Church. Though still a deacon he made a
passionate speech urging the "sleeping" Church in Uganda to shake off its apathy and "Awake"--
Zukuka! A few days later he suddenly and unexpectedly died of relapsing fever. The word Zukuka
was engraved on his tombstone in the grounds of Namirembe Cathedral. Naturally his death was a
great shock and his speech to the Synod came to be regarded as prophetic; Kigozi was the John the
Baptist of the Revival.

Bishop Stuart, Bishop of Uganda since 1934, had a warm sympathy for what had been happening in
Gahini and Kigezi. He had trained Kigozi as a deacon and shared his concern to bring the fruits of the
awakening back into the centre of the Church of Uganda. He hoped that the celebrations for the
Diamond Jubilee of the church in 1937 would be the occasion for a general renewal of the Church. In
pursuit of this aim he organized a series of evangelistic missions to take place in every parish as a
climax to the celebrations. In preparation for this, Stuart invited Joe Church to bring a team, from
Ruanda to hold a mission at Bishop Tucker College late in 1936. Many of the students were to be sent
out to participate in the parish missions in 1937. The result was not happy. The Warden of the college,
J .S. Herbert (whom the Bishop had already appointed as coordinator of the Jubilee missions) felt that
he had not been properly consulted about the Mukono mission. He was a veteran missionary who had
first come to the country in 1904, and he did not appreciate the strident enthusiasm of the young
Baganda and Ruanda missionaries, most of them laymen, especially when they openly challenged him
about his pipe smoking! He felt that the emphasis of the preachers on the book of Jesus was unhealthy,
a kind of new fetish - he used the Luganda word nsiriba. His theological tutor, John Jones, was also
distressed by the mission. He had already come under fire from Mabel Ensor for his supposed liberal
theological views (she had directed a defamatory tract against him provocatively entitled "Wolves are
Out Tonight"!) Jones had a temperamental aversion to all excessive enthusiasm in religion, springing
from his own experiences in the Welsh Revival at the beginning of the century. Despite the coolness
of the college authorities, the mission did succeed in influencing some of the ordinands and student
teachers - some of whom would be back at Mukono in 1941 when the most serious crisis in Balokole-
Church relations broke out.

The Mukono Crisis of 1941

Although the Jubilee missions of 1937 did not produce the large scale awakening that many were
hoping for, Bishop Stuart persisted in encouraging the "Ruanda" Revivalists. In particular he wanted
to encourage some of the young educated people to follow in Kigozi's footsteps and train for the
ministry at Mukono. The Bishop hoped by this means to regenerate the clerical profession both
spiritually and academically. In 1940 he sent to Mukono a number of Budo graduates, and others,
teachers and medical assistants who had a high level of education - men like Eliezar Mugimba of
Ankole, Yowasi Musajjakaawa and John Musoke of Buganda and Erisa Wakabi of Busoga. The man
who quickly emerged as the leader of this group was a 28-year-old Muganda working at Gahini,
William Nagenda. He was the brother-in law of both Nsibambi and the late Kigozi and he had
inherited the mantle of Kigozi as leader of revival at Gahini. Nagenda, like Nsibambi, came from a
high status family in Buganda. His father, Festo Mnyangenda, had been one of the Regents during the
minority of Kabaka Cwa, and he was an important landowner. Nagenda went to Budo and became a
clerk in the Protectorate government at Entebbe. Dismissed for financial irregularities, he underwent a
moral crisis and, under Nsibambi's influence was converted in 1936. He went off to work at Gahini,
where he soon became an indispensable companion to Joe Church on his evangelistic safaris,
travelling not only around Uganda, but also as far as Nairobi and the southern Sudan. Totally at ease
in the company of Europeans, fluent in English, sophisticated and with a boundless self-confidence,
he did not fit easily into the usual type of Mukono ordinand, described by one missionary rather
unkindly as "dull and heavy and beyond the stage when they can respond to intelligent teaching"!

Nagenda soon became the acknowledged leader of a small, tightly-knit group of saved people,
numbering about 40 (perhaps a third of the theological students). They met early in the mornings for
prayer and fellowship and conducted an aggressive campaign against the evils of sin, theft and
immorality, which they discovered in the college. They also lead a militant stance against the
Warden's liberal theological teaching (by this time Jones was the Warden). They challenged him on
these issues during his lesson in what Jones considered to be a disruptive way. Jones felt threatened by
these attacks, not least because they were backed up by a young CMS missionary called Bill Butler
whom the Bishop had posted to Mukono after hastily ordaining him deacon. Butler was also
conducting a parallel campaign against the 'ritualistic" elements in the Warden's conduct of worship
(the wearing of liturgical stoles, bowing at the name of Jesus in the Creed etc). The student body was
also antagonized by the constant accusations that they were sinners. Things came to a head in October
1941 when disputes within the college reached such a pitch that the Warden issued an authoritarian set
of regulations forbidding the early morning meetings of the Revivalists, and their daily preachings
against other members of the community. The Balokole saw these regulations as an attempt to stamp
out the Revival. They believed this was an issue on which they could not compromise; they must obey
Gad rather than man. A total of 30 people refused to accept the Warden's regulations. After refusing to
apologize they were dismissed. They included the chaplain of the college, a Muganda clergyman
called Benoni Kagwa, twenty-three theological students, three wives, and three trainee primary school
teachers. They were dubbed bajeemu--rebels. Half of them were from Buganda, with significant
numbers also from Bunyoro, Ankole and Busoga.

It was recognized that the Church of Uganda had lost some of its brightest and most committed
ordinands. At least one missionary had talked of Nagenda as a potential Bishop. The "rebels" hoped
that Bishop Stuart (who had been out of the country when the crisis broke) would support them and
enable them to return with dignity and finish their studies - some, inc1uding Nagenda, were within a
month of finishing their course and being ordained as deacons. But Bishop Stuart felt that it was
necessary to support Jones, and he wrote to the rebels strongly urging them to repent and to "obey
their bakulu (elders)." It was a simple matter of obedience --they should not pretend that they were
suffering for the sake of the Gospel.

The Bishop underestimated the deep feelings aroused among the Balokole. His hope that they would
relent received further setback from the support which the rebels received from their European friends.
Lea Wilson was a tea planter at Namutamba, in the Ssingo county of Buganda. He was a personal
friend of Joe Church, a supporter of the Ruanda Mission theological position, and a keen promoter of
the Revival. He offered refuge and employment to a number of the rebels. Namutamba became a base
for William Nagenda. Nagenda became convinced that God was calling him to a ministry as a free
evangelist without the constraints of being an ordained minister. He never, wavered in this conviction.
In this he was following the pattern pioneered by his mentor Nsibambi, who had given up a paid job
to be an evangelist.

The other event which sabotaged Bishop Stuart's aim of getting the rebels to repent and return was the
strong support given to the rebels by a group of Ugandan and Missionary Balokole meeting at Kabale
in December 1941. Nagenda was himself present at this meeting, which issued a strongly worded
Memorandum in support of the stand of the Balokole at Mukono: "We are unanimously convinced
that the "Mukono incident" was unwisely handled and that the students were not in any true sense
"rebels". They were technically guilty of disobedience to the Warden's authority; but the issues at
stake were far more important than any technicalities of College discipline and they were therefore
justified in their refusing to obey."

The Memorandum went on to say that "modernism" and "ritualism" (in Luganda bulombolombo)
were at the heart of the dispute: "For the Modernist view minimizes sin, and the substitutionary death
of Christ on the Cross, and mocks at the ideal of separation from the world to a holy and victorious
life."

This uncompromising statement seriously aggravated the crisis in Bishop Stuart's view, converting a
little local difficulty into a major crisis in the life of the Church. The speedy printing and circulation
of the Memorandum (at Lea Wilson's instigation) jeopardized the Bishop's attempts to mediate. For, if
the Revivalists were adopting such an uncompromising stand, the Bishop was also hard pressed by the
opponents of revival, who wanted him to take radical measures to curb the excesses and discipline the
rebels. The Church was in serious danger of pushing out the Revival and in creating a sectarian
revival movement outside the Church.

The Opposition to Revival in the Church

It is worth pausing to examine the forces ranged in opposition to Nagenda and his colleagues, and to
the whole manifestation of revival as it had begun at Gahini. The Ugandan clergy were a formidable
group opposed to the young enthusiasts for revival. One of the consistent themes of the early Balokole
was their opposition to what they called obukulu in the Church. Bakulu is Luganda for "elders", those
in authority; Obukulu is a hierarchical system of authority, in itself a neutral concept not implying any
moral judgment on the value of such a system. But for the Balokole obukulu had come to represent
authoritarianism in Church life, a wholly negative critique of the clergy, who clung to the trappings of
prestige and respect and power which their status gave them. At the Synod in December 1941 they
were insistent on a tough and uncompromising stand against the Mukono rebels and the Balokole in
general. Conversely, the few Balokole clergy in Buganda (Disan Mukasa, Nagenda's elder brother,
and Besweri Galiwango) were having severe problems with their congregations, who resented their
attacks on many aspects of traditional Kiganda culture. Incidentally this issue of the relationship
between Christianity and traditional culture was receiving particular prominence in 1941 due to the
re-marriage, against all precedent, of the Namasole (the Queen Mother) - as it happens to a young
schoolmaster who had been training at Mukono, and who was subsequently to become a strong
Mulokole. The Bishop and the leaders of the Church of Uganda were unpopular for sanctioning the
marriage. On this issue the Balokole were whole-heartedly in support of the church authorities, but
this only served to increase the hostility against the Balokole on the part of many Baganda.

If the Bakulu of the church, the clergy, were deeply suspicious of the Balokole, the Bakulu in society
at large, the chiefs, were equally hostile. Here again generational and educational differences between
the old elite and the rising generation of well-educated Balokole leaders may have exacerbated
suspicions. In Ankole, a Mulokole clergyman, Erika Sabiiti, educated at Budo, was finding himself in
conflict with his own brother, Chief Katungi, who accused Sabiiti of encouraging people to disobey
the authorities and to defile venerable Kihima traditions (by, for example, encouraging women to eat
chickens). [20] In North Kigezi Chief Karugyesa (the uncle of Festo Kivengere, a future leader of the
Revival) was arresting Balokole in his area and sending them to gaol in Kabale. The fear that the
Balokole were a potentially subversive force was shared by the colonial government -- in this case
they were worried by the threat to social order which an incipient mass-movement like the Revival
posed. In Kigezi the British administration had vivid memories of the Nyabingi cult--a traditional
spirit-possession movement with strong political overtones which had fueled resistance to British rule
until the 1920s. [22] The British feared a revival of this kind of agitation under a new guise, especially
when the Balokole began a campaign of burning sorghum fields, a crop used for brewing beer but
which happened to provide a source of cash for Bakiga to pay their government poll-tax!
1939-45 were war years, and the British recalled the rise of the Bamalaki religious movement during
the First World War, and its opposition to the war effort. European Balokole leaders complained of
censorship of their mail during this time.

The Revival also divided the missionary community. Most of the CMS missionaries in Uganda, while
longing for some kind of revival in the church of Uganda, were opposed to the particular
manifestation of revival among the Balokole. They resented the anti-clericalism of Dr. Church and the
Ruanda Mission, regarding their criticisms of CMS and the Ugandan Church as arrogant and
insensitive. But even within the Ruanda Mission itself, the actual experience of revival was proving
controversial. The radical egalitarianism and untrammeled freedom of the Balokole were difficult for
many missionaries to accept. The hostility of some Balokole missionaries to the compromises
involved in being Anglican, even questioning whether the Ruanda Mission should become a non-
denominational mission, caused problems with Bishop Stuart, with non- Balokole missionaries in the
field, and with the Ruanda Council in London. In the early 1940s these conflicts at times seemed to
threaten the cohesion of the Ruanda Mission.
The Search for a 'modus vivendi'

Amidst all the dangers of schism, Bishop Stuart was determined to work for compromise and
harmonious relations between the Church and the Revival. He fully supported Jones and the college
authorities and a Commission of Enquiry which reported in 1943 vindicated the measures taken by the
Warden and his theological approach. This in turn provoked a minority report by Lawrence Barham
(who had been a member of the Commission) defending the original-stand of the rebels and again
drawing attention to the unacceptable modernism and ritualism of Jones. But the Bishop hoped to get
beyond a repetition of these sterile conflicts and in 1943 he issued a compromise formula which he
entitled The New Way, a fourteen point program, or guidelines for a harmonious working relationship
between the Church and the Balokole. At first the inauguration of the program served rather to fuel
the old disputes, with Ugandan Balokole like Nagenda and Sabiiti unable to accept the terms of the
cease fire and seeing it as yet another attempt to destroy the distinctive message of the Balokole. But
Stuart was able, slowly and painfully to convince the Balokole of the Ruanda Mission of his good
intentions, and to encourage them to search actively for peace. And even the Ugandan Balokole,
suspicious as they were of any sell-out, had no real inclination to form schismatic Church. As Sabiiti
wrote in 1943: "The people, of the Church of Uganda do love their Church much, and wouldn't listen
to anyone who was supposed to be trying to leave the church, and we feel that the message that God
has given us was for the whole Church of Uganda - the message of living the victorious life through
the Cross of Christ…The people of the Church of Uganda have seen those who failed to reform the
Church of Uganda by leaving it, and they would be afraid of us if they supposed that we were trying
to form a new Church."

This sense of having a mission from God to the whole Church, of being a critical witness from within
the Church, is a dominant theme throughout the history of the Balokole movement. The fact that so
many of the leaders - Nsibambi, Nagenda, Sabiiti himself, later Kivengere, came from the ruling elite
of society, and identified with that elite even when critical of it, and with the Anglican church
establishment, is one important reason why the Balokole in Uganda did not form their own Church.
Another factor is the close collaboration with the Ruanda Mission, which despite its criticisms of
Anglicanism, always in the end remained loyal to the Church. The distinctive theology of the Ruanda
Mission -- a conservative evangelicalism which owed much to the Keswick movement -- became, in a
subtly transmuted form which will be examined later, basic to the Balokole also. The Balokole have
shown little inclination in Uganda towards an independent African form of Christianity divorced from
its roots in classical evangelicalism.
As a result both of the active sympathy and moderation of the Bishop and the nature of the Balokole
movement itself, by the end of the 1940s Church and Revival had weathered the storm and were set
for a period of fruitful partnership. The 1949 Kako Convention can be seen as a decisive point in the
growing acceptability of the Revival and its acceptance into the main stream of the life of the Church.
It is significant that of the Mukono rebels, all have remained Anglican. Eight of the twenty-three who
were studying for ordination in 1941 did eventually get ordained (some as late as the 1970s). Some
have become archdeacons and canons--in fact venerable bakulu of the Church. But none has become a
bishop. Nagenda, who might well have become a Bishop, never did get ordained. But despite his
charismatic personality which could undoubtedly have become the focus for a new church, he
remained to the end a member of the Church of Uganda.

The Spread and Impact of the Revival

In considering the spread of the Revival it is necessary to distinguish the differing impact it has made
in different parts of Uganda. One can broadly distinguish three types: In Western Uganda the Revival
has become the dominant expression of Anglican Christianity, permeating the life of the Church to
such an extent that it is difficult to distinguish Revival and Church from each other.

In Buganda the Revival, challenging an already entrenched Church structure (which although shaped
by a broad Evangelical tradition has developed in a different environment from that of the Balokole),
has made a deep impact on many Christians as individuals but has not permeated the Church
structures to the same extent as in the west of Uganda.

In Northern Uganda the situation is complex. In many parts Revival has had only a marginal impact
and has adopted an aggressive stance of opposition to the Church as an institution. Yet, in this area the
Revival has produced two archbishops of the Church of Uganda; and the vitality of Christianity in the
West Nile owes much to the Revival.

It is important to examine each of these areas in more detail.

The Revival in Western Uganda

In Kigezi the Revival arrived at a time when Christianity was still in its infancy. Kigezi was one of the
last areas of Uganda fully to accept colonial rule, and the administration had some fears that the
Balokole might be a revival in a new guise of the Nyabingi spirit-possession cult which had mobilized
religious opposition to colonial rule earlier in the century. It might; however, be argued that the
Revival came at a strategic time, when the political defeat of the Nyabingi cult (by the late 1920s) had
led to a cultural vacuum and a hunger for a new form of religious expression to cope with the new
situation. Balokole themselves would strongly deny any real similarities between Revival and
Nyabingi. What the Revival did was to offer a dramatic and yet swift means of incorporation into the
new religion of Christianity. The long process of education, the traditional means of incorporation,
could come later; the Revival offered an immediate opportunity of identifying oneself with the new
way of life. Hence the Revival in Kigezi took on the character of a mass movement from "paganism".
The initial apprehension of some of the Ruanda missionaries about the Revival rapidly gave way to a
universal acceptance; and the Muganda clergyman in Kabale, Ezikeri Balaba, was an early convert.
This ensured that a person who wished to train for the ministry of the Church must be a saved man--
and thus the Church as an organization became permeated with the Balokole ethos. The fact that
Revival and Church became so closely identified has stamped a strong puritanism and evangelical
theology on the Church in Kigezi; it has also prevented the Balokole from becoming a small inward-
looking sect and has given the Revival in Western Uganda a relative openness to the World.

Among the Bahima pastoralists of Ankole there was a similar incorporation into Christianity
associated with the Revival. Since the introduction of Anglican Christianity into Ankole at the
beginning of the century, the Bahima had nominally identified themselves with the religion of the
Mugabe" (the ruler of Ankole). But Christianity had penetrated only superficially into the life of the
kraal. In the 1940s and 50s the evangelistic zeal of the Balokole began to transform this situation. The
mobility of Balokole in travelling round from kraal to kraal holding evangelistic meetings and
fellowships seemed well adapted to the dynamics of pastoral life and to traditions of giving and
receiving hospitality. The anthropologist Stenning has also noted similarities between initiation into
the traditional Bacwezi(kubandwa--spirit possession) cults and the experience of being saved --
especially in the area of open confession of sins, often of a shameful nature which would not normally
be talked about. While such parallels are interesting to the student of religion, Balokole would
naturally wish to distance themselves from such comparisons.

Ankole was part of CMS rather than Ruanda Mission territory. Yet the linguistic and cultural links
between the agricultural Banyankore majority and the Bakiga, along with the impact of the Revival
among the Bahima minority, have tended to create within the Anglican Church in Ankole a situation
similar to that pertaining in Kigezi.

The Revival in Buganda

Despite the origins of the Revival in Buganda, the Balokole have never been able to assume the
leadership of the Church as a whole in Buganda, as has happened in western Uganda. In Buganda the
Anglican Church was already well established with its own traditions, with a vigorous indigenous
clergy jealous of its status and rights, and an articulate laity. Many Baganda resented the iconoclasm
of the Balokole, their attack on deeply held Kiganda traditions and practices. The Balokole upset the
informal accommodation between Kiganda culture and Christianity which had gradually grown up.
The Balokole denounced the continuance of traditional religious practices by Christians and they
accused the Church of turning a blind eye to this. They refused to have anything to do with such
rituals as those connected with the birth of twins, or with the last funeral rites (Okwabya Olumbe),
both of which Balokole felt involved immoral practices. As a result there has tended to be a suspicion
of Balokole on the part of ordinary Baganda Christians, and a resistance to Balokole ideals becoming
normative in the Church. Nevertheless many individual Baganda have been deeply influenced by the
Balokole; and increasingly from the 1950s more and more Baganda Balokole trained for the ministry
of the Church. But, unlike western Uganda, it has never been essential to be "saved" (in the Revival
sense) in order to get accepted as an ordinand.

If the Revival has been an important but not a normative element in the Church in Buganda, the
Baganda leadership has continued to be normative for the development of the Balokole movement in
Uganda as a whole. Although the Balokole have always resisted taking on a bureaucratic
organizational structure, priding themselves on their openness to the Spirit, there has nevertheless
developed a quite tightly-knit informal structure of authority based on senior brethren (ab'oluganda),
who often received the honorary title of Taata (Father). Each district has a number of such senior
brethren, and the mobility of brethren in travelling around to attend weekly or monthly fellowship
meetings or larger scale conventions means that the senior brethren have many opportunities for
meeting each other and discussing the development of the movement. Thus an informal network of
authority established itself, and this has enabled the leadership to exert a fairly tight control-
sometimes even to the extent of causing feelings of excessive authoritarianism, friction and schism
within the Revival. The Revival has always existed with a certain amount of tension between the
desire for cohesion and solidarity and resentment, especially from strong personalities of an undue
exercise of authority by even more dominant senior brethren.

Kampala has always held a key place in this network of authority based on fellowship meetings. From
the beginning Nsibambi and Nagenda were the dominant personalities, at the center. An early instance
of the dangers of allowing too much freedom to individual fellowships arose in the late 1930s on
Nsibambi's own land at Buloba (not far from Kampala). There a small group of people became
convinced that, having been saved, they were no longer subject to sexual desires and could
demonstrate their new freedom by walking about naked during fellowship meetings and sleeping side
by side with a member of the opposite sex without falling into sin. This type of extremism, which
would soon have discredited the whole movement, was soon stamped out by Nsibambi.
The "nakedness stunt" was a somewhat extreme example of a wider feeling within the Revival at this
period that a saved person should be in a position to overcome the temptations of the flesh. The idea
was current that one should be able "to kill the old man (Omuntu Owedda)". In reality saved people
were only too well aware of the continuing power of sin in their own lives. This led Nsibambi and
Nagenda to seek some experience which would enable them to overcome this problem. In 1944 while
on a retreat in Toro, they achieved the experience they so earnestly desired. They returned claiming to
have conquered the Old Man. Back at Namutamba, Nagenda urged others to seek this experience. But
for Nagenda the new doctrine produced increasing strain as he tried to cope with the burdensome
necessity of continuing to proclaim his complete victory over sin and his awareness of the reality of
his need daily to fight temptation. Soon he began to see that the whole experience had been a delusion.
He made open confession to the brethren and turned his back resolutely against any search for a
"second blessing" to add to the only important blessing of being saved by the blood of Christ. This
whole incident was a decisive one for the development of Balokole theology. All Christian experience
after being saved was a continual returning to the Cross in brokenness and confession. Any attempt to
get beyond this, onto some higher level of Christian experience, was denounced as "striving"--
Okufuba.

This emphasis led to a decisive reorientation of Balokole thinking away from the second-blessing type
of theology of the Keswick movement, out of which the Balokole grew, and which was very much an
emphasis of Joe Church's presentation of the gospel. It led to criticisms of what were in many respects
sympathetic movements among Europeans in East Africa -- for example the Oxford Group (later
known as Moral Rearmament),with which the Balokole had at first shared many common concerns; or
Pentecostalist ideas which some of the Ruanda missionaries were imbibing from other Protestant
missionaries working in Ruanda-Urundi.

More significant was the fact was that the opposition to Okufuba (striving) became the touchstone for
orthodoxy among the Ugandan brethren, and the focus for a series of conflicts, which were also bound
up with the personal authority of the leadership, particularly of William Nagenda. The first conflict of
this type was with a Muganda medical doctor, Eliya Lubulwa. He had shared with Nagenda the
anguish of the Old Man episode, but he then quarreled with Nagenda over Nagenda's insistence on
continual repentance, in particular of those sins committed before conversion: a Christian ought to
progress beyond these things. Nagenda interpreted this as an attempt to get beyond the brokenness of
the Cross, to re-introduce Old Man doctrines and striving by the back door. Many detected behind
Lubulwa's criticisms a personal animosity against Nagenda, a jealousy of Nagenda's growing
international career as an evangelist. Lubulwa also developed an aggressive technique of evangelism
using megaphones, which could be used to disrupt church services. This was felt to be out of place in
the growing climate of co-existence between the Church and the Revival. By 1950 Lubulwa had
broken with the Buganda leadership and, like a latter-day Kakungulu, he quit Buganda to find fruitful
fields for his activities in Northern Uganda.

The Revival in the Upper Nile Diocese

In 1926 a vast area of Northern and Eastern Uganda had been constituted as a separate Anglican
diocese of Upper Nile. Unlike the diocese of Uganda, this was the predominately non-Bantu part of
Uganda. Christianity had never been accepted as enthusiastically as in the south, and many parts of
the North and East felt themselves victims of Kiganda sub-imperialism at the beginning of the century.
This made them reluctant to accept a new version of Kiganda Christianity in the guise of the Balokole.
From 1936-62 the Bishop of Upper Nile was Lucien Usher Wilson who was much less sympathetic to
the Revival than Bishop Stuart. Bishop Usher Wilson's "SCM" brand of liberal evangelicalism did not
endear him to Joe Church; and the negative feelings were reciprocated. Usher Wilson had taught
Nagenda at Budo and found him altogether too arrogant. All of this made the Upper Nile diocese
rather stony ground.

But in the various places in Acholi and West Nile where Lubulwa worked as a government medical
doctor the Revival did make an impact. Using their megaphones, Lubulwa's group preached
vigorously outside churches denouncing a dead and institutionalized Church. They became known as
Trumpeters, with reference to their use of megaphones. Alternatively they were called Strivers,
referring to the original dispute with Nagenda and the Balokole of Buganda. Not surprisingly the
Church authorities reacted negatively to the attempts to disrupt church services. Local chiefs and the
District Commissioners also feared that the movement might become subversive. In Kitgum in the
late 40s, Janani Luwum (the future Archbishop) was beaten and imprisoned by an irate chief for his
preaching activities. Silvanus Wani (who was to succeed Janani as Archbishop after his murder) had
similar experiences in Arua. This was similar to the treatment of Balokole in Western Uganda some
ten years earlier, and in the 1950s this kind of petty persecution tended to die out. But whereas in
Western Uganda and Buganda conflict gave way to co-operation, in the North the Trumpeters kept up
their hostility to the Church. This led to a fragmentation of the Revival. Some, like Luwum and Wani,
went on to study theology at Buwalasi College (the diocesan theological college near Mbale). They
were ordained and served the Church loyally. The other wing of the Revival, led in Acholi by Yusto
Otunu, continued to have an ambivalent and basically hostile attitude to the Church, though they
continued to regard themselves as members of the Church of Uganda. This group began to call
themselves the Chosen Evangelical Revival, or Cer (which means "resurrection" in Luo). For many
years this group existed neither as a fully independent Church nor as part of the Church of Uganda.
But in 1984 they were registered with the government as the CER Church, with Otunu as leader. The
Church of Uganda Revival considers that they have made a number of unacceptable compromises
with traditional culture--using, for example, the traditional head dress of the Acholi war dance, skins
and ostrich feathers and horns as regalia in their worship - and that they do not have the strict moral
standards expected of Balokole. The insecurity which has persisted in the North since the fall of the
Obote regime in 1985 makes it difficult to know whether the CER Church will survive as a separate
church, a rather heterodox off-shoot of the Revival movement.

West Nile has a distinctive church life of its own, largely because it was evangelized not by CMS but
by the Africa Inland Mission, working as part of the Native Anglican Church. The initial attitude of
AIM to the Revival was one of suspicion, more especially as they met it first in Lubulwa's aggressive
variety. With a rather more paternalist attitude than CMS, AIM was less likely to welcome a
movement inspired so strongly by local initiative. In Kenya AIM was to reject the Balokole revival,
partly because it was so closely identified with the Anglican Church. But in Uganda, where the AIM
was working under the Anglican Church, there developed a rather more favorable attitude, especially
after some of the missionaries working in West Nile were deeply touched by the impact of staying at
Namutamba and attending the 1949 Kako Convention. This led to rather stronger backing for the
Revival in West Nile than CMS missionaries gave in other parts of the diocese of Upper Nile. West
Nile Christianity has thrived under the impact of the Revival - indeed the experience of West Nile is
more that of Kigenzi than any other area in northern Uganda. But the Revival has been divided
between the Trumpeters and the Church of Uganda Revival. In 1976 Bishop Wani managed to effect a
reconciliation which harnessed the whole Revival movement in the service of the Church. But the
bitter experiences of war in West Nile in the early 1980s, personality conflicts among the Balokole
exile in Sudan, and the influence of Otunu's CER from Acholi, have combined to make the
reconciliation seem fragile at times.

The Balokole Experience: Belief and Practice

Church Commitment: One outstanding feature of the Balokole in Uganda, as has been seen in the
historical discussion above, is their fundamental loyalty to the Church of Uganda. Despite their strong,
often passionate, criticism of the Church, they have seen themselves as called to witness to the Church
of Uganda from within the Church. Even the Trumpeters have been reluctant entirely to dissociate
themselves from the Church. Balokole are conspicuous for their regular attendance at Sunday worship,
their desire to baptize their children, to be married to one wife in the church, and to attend the
sacrament of Holy Communion. They are adamant, however, that the sacraments of themselves do not
have the power to mediate salvation. In particular Balokole warn people not to trust in the mere fact
that they have been baptized as a guarantee of being saved.

The Blood of Christ: Salvation comes only through being washed in the blood of Christ, the blood
shed on Calvary. The centrality of the atonement is a classic feature of evangelical revivalism; but the
Balokole gave it an objective reality which a number of the European Evangelicals found disturbing:
"The tendency is for an almost objective conception to be given to it as something visible in itself to
the spiritually minded and almost distinct from the Lord Himself."

It was this aspect which Herbert at Bishop Tucker College had found so disturbing in 1936, when he
accused the team from Ruanda of creating a new nsiriba (charm/ amulet) in their preoccupation with
"the Blood". He even asked Joe Church to desist from using the chorus "What can wash my away my
sins? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus."

Put in a more favorable light, a number of commentators have pointed to parallels between the
function of the blood for the Balokole and the function of blood in the Omukago ceremony of blood-
brotherhood, as practiced in many African societies. Traditionally, Omukago was undergone by
individuals from rival clans or tribes as a means of overcoming or transcending the natural hostility
which existed and establishing a new relationship of love going deeper even than that between natural
brothers. (Cf. Ephesians 2:13f: "But now in Christ you who once were far off have been brought near
by the blood of Christ…He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility.") Josia Kibira, a Lutheran
bishop from Western Tanzania (an area with strong cultural affinities with western Uganda), and also
a Mulokole, has explored this theme at some depth, identifying central aspects of Balokole thinking
with the Africa world-view. It should be said, however, that for the Balokole the new relationship with
Christ dispenses with the need or the desirability of entering into human covenants such as omukago -
these have been rendered obsolete, just as (according to the author of Hebrews) Christ's sacrifice has
rendered obsolete the Temple sacrifices and priesthood (Hebrews 9-10).

Sin and Confession: The experience of being saved in the blood comes through a deep awareness of
one's own sinfulness, often expressed by Balokole as being broken. In this awareness all hypocrisy
and self-justification are done away with. That being the case, it is essential to make a full and open
confession before the brethren in a fellowship. The claim to be saved is not likely to be taken
seriously unless this is done. One controversial aspect of this is connected with the confession of
sexual sin. In the early days of the Revival it was considered as a matter of course that confession
would include the confession of sexual sins often of a shocking and shameful nature. Sometimes a
person confessing did not very precisely distinguish between lustful thoughts and actions, on
the .grounds that "everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her
in his heart" (Matt 5:28). In criticism people have also mentioned that some young people might feel
under pressure to confess to sins they had not in fact committed, in order to be accepted by the group
as really saved; conversely that they might be led to sexual experimentation on the basis of what they
had discovered at fellowship meetings. It is in this area of sexual confession that some commentators
have seen parallels with emmandwa initiation rites, in which the initiate was expected to admit to
shameful sexual activity regarded as taboo in society. In acknowledgement of the problem associated
with this aspect of confession, Balokole have tended over the years to become more reticent on these
matters. The naming of partners in crime (who may even be there in the fellowship) is particularly
discouraged.

In the case of stealing or misappropriation of funds, it was expected that a personal confession be
made to whoever was wronged, and that restitution be made.

The completion of a person's confession during a fellowship meeting is usually (followed by a

spontaneous burst of the chorus "Tukutendereza". This serves as a kind of "absolution" by the
brethren, in the Lord's name. The problem with increased reticence in confession is that confessions
may become increasingly formalized and stereotyped so that they fail any longer really to lay bare the
radical brokenness of human beings before their Savior, nor reach out into a deep sharing with
members of the fellowship.

Testimony: As well as confession, an important part of a fellowship meeting will consist in testimony
of what the Lord has done in your life--how he has enabled you to conquer a persistent sin or
weakness, how he has guided you through a particular verse of Scripture or through a dream. The
Bible is expected to speak directly and personally to you as an individual. There is impatience in the
fellowship with the idea of using the Bible for sustained teaching on theological issues or knowledge
for its own sake, since this does not directly bear on personal experience and morality. Similarly there
is often a feeling among the brethren that Balokole who receive an academic training in theology tend
to lose the heart-felt dynamic quality of personal experience in their preaching and that sermons
become dry and academic. This is often a quite justified complaint!

Testimony also involved witness to those outside the fellowship - in the market, outside the church, at
the bus park, in the bus or taxi, outside the chief's enclosure. Such preaching was not a dialogue; it
was aggressive and (seemingly) impervious to mockery and derision. While speaking of the joys of
salvation, it also was also a decisive warning to those who were perishing. A hymn in the old
Rukiga/Runyankore hymn book expresses well "the radical dichotomy between the saved and the
damned in the minds of the brethren":
You who delight in worldly pleasures
You will never feel satisfied
For even your ancestors
Were not satisfied
You eat and drink
You dress yourselves well
You play and laugh
But you forget that there is death

For only after your death

They will not prevent you
Or your hearts
From being taken to Gehena.

That's it our friends

How shameful it is
To refuse life
And choose to die

We are your friends

We pity you
For being so blind
As not to imagine that world

We the saved ones

We have seen it.
And never shall we stop
Talking about it

And when you see it

After your death
Do not regret
For it was you who rebelled

The Balokole had an equally clear and stem attitude to those Christians who did not feel able to
identify themselves fully with the brethren. They are reluctant to accept the idea that they are a group
or party, as if there are other options for Christian discipleship, other understandings of salvation. Max
Warren, the General Secretary of CMS wrote in 1954 Revival, An Enquiry, a most sympathetic and
appreciative appraisal of the East African Revival. But he was also perturbed by this intense mono-
vision. In trying to assess William Nagenda, he confided these reflections to his journal: "He seems to
be a terribly insensitive person to any approach to God other than his own. Almost, if not actually, he
doubts its validity. The very terms "born again", 'Cleansed by the blood", "saved" most be given one
precise meaning, and the results of the experience have to follow one pattern to be recognized as
authentic. This is in many ways a noble and courageous creed but it is desperately impoverished, and
leaves wholly out of account a vast range of human need."
A new clan: "…each man will have to bear his own load." (Gal. 6:5) "Bear one another's burdens."
(Gal. 6:2)

Although the experience of acknowledging your sinfulness and receiving salvation begins as an
intensely individual and personal decision, it immediately transforms your situation, leading you from
isolation into fellowship. The brethren take very seriously the necessity of bearing one another's
burdens". One way in which this is expressed is through walking in the light. This involves being
completely open and honest about your attitude to your brother or sister, sharing what you have found
offensive and not allowing grudges to fester undisclosed. It also involves giving counsel and
correction about a person's general conduct. This must be given in love and received with a humble
spirit and without resentment. In this way the fellowship group comes to have a strong disciplinary
role among its members, enforcing community norms in such matters as clothing fashions and hair
styles, drinking and smoking, and relations with members of the opposite sex. In the early days young
people were sometimes expelled from their homes when they were converted; they moved in with
senior brethren, who acted as parents. But even where this did not happen the fellowship claimed a
right to be involved in choosing a marriage partner. Young people were expected to marry from within
the fellowship, and Balokole parents were expected to dispense with the traditional bride price
(though this has not always proved practicable).

In these ways the Balokole see themselves as a new clan, operating along the same lines as traditional
clans, but also cutting across traditional clan obligations: Balokole may make a point of eating their
clan totem, or refusing to give their children clan names; in Buganda, they refuse to participate in twin
rituals and, the last funeral rites. But, traditional clan obligations have never been superseded entirely.
Justas the Balokole have been critical of the Anglican Church while remaining part of it, so they have
been critical of society without withdrawing from it. Moreover, over the years there has been a
tendency to reach an accommodation with society and its basic obligations.
Women: Balokole claim to stand for the dignity of women. Monogamy is an important principle. The
openness and integrity and honesty which characterize relations, between the brethren should apply
even more strongly within the marriage relationship" so that there is a real sharing, and mutual love
and respect. The fellowship also gives women a role in their own right - they can confess and testify,
"Preach and pray on an equal, basis with the men. They can become ab'oluganda abakulu (senior
sisters) and were accorded the title Maama. But, unless she was a widow, this would often be on the
basis of her husband's role as a leader. Her role has been predominantly on the local level; women
have not been prominent as evangelists on a national or international scale; and the large issues
concerning the Balokole as a whole have tended to be decided by men.

Politics: The attitude of Balokole in Buganda, with the rise of modem nationalist movements in the
1950s, was decisively to shun politics: one might say that "Yesu Yekka" rather than "Kabaka Yekka"
was their motto. Nevertheless the Balokole insistence on the radical equality of Europeans and
Africans can be seen as playing a part in the libration of Ugandans from the colonial mentality. There
are interesting, similarities between Balokole leaders like Nagenda with his articulate public oratory
and band of devoted followers, and the nascent political leaders of the 1950s, where populism and a
personal following played such a part. Balokole were as deeply affected psychologically as other
Baganda by the deportation of their Kabaka in 1953 by the British; and by the onslaughts on
Buganda's integrity in the 1960s. The rise of the Bazukufu (Reawakened) wing of the Balokole in the
1960s and 70s, with its rejection of compromise and accommodation, in a sense mirrored the general
pessimism within Kiganda society at this time.

The different character of the Balokole in Western Uganda was reflected in their generally more
buoyant participation in politics. Balokole, like Protestants generally (unless they were Bahima), were
UPC sympathizers. In fact the 1950s and 60s saw a politicization of religion in Western Uganda to the
extent that baptism became a symbol of party allegiance. This did great damage to the Balokole ideal
of a Church permeated by the Balokole ethos, with a committed "saved" membership. It is something
of a paradox that this area, where the revival has had the most profound impact, should be the arena of
the most acute Catholic-Protestant tensions expressed in political terms, the "throne, of sectarianism"
to quote a recent comment by a politician.

Indigenization and modernization: It is clear that the Balokole have no interest in "africanization" or
"indigenization" for its own sake. Deeply critical of African values and lifestyles when they saw them
as inimical to the Gospel, they have adopted very often a "Christ against Culture" polemic (to use
Niebuhr's typology). Yet it can be argued that this very critique of African values springs from within
an African cultural perspective. We have already examined areas of African thought and social
organization (omukago and clan) which have penetrated into Balokole belief and practice. Quite apart
from the clan-like qualities of the whole fellowship, individual Balokole families have tended to fit
into the existing nexus of extended family and kinship relations. Balokole leaders have often taken on
quasi-chiefly characteristics, their home becoming clusters of dependants and being consulted by a
wide variety of "clients" on many issues, problems and disputes. On a more modest scale, Balokole
are not immune from the obligations of the extended family - they may be called upon to help in the
upbringing of children of their "new" family, the brethren; and non-Balokole relatives may well value
the strict discipline they are likely to receive. Undoubtedly there are tensions here between obligations
to kinsfolk and to the brethren, and also tensions between the old extended family and the desire for a
more nuclear family. But these are tensions within modern society generally.

In fact, the Balokole are often seen as "modernizers" - inculcators of the "Protestant ethic" with its
emphasis on hard-work, honesty, sobriety and capital accumulation; and therefore with a tendency
towards individualism and the breakdown of communal obligations. The early leaders of the Balokole
certainly did represent modernizing elite which was already well established, at least in Buganda. On
the other hand, Balokole were as forthright in condemning the destructive inroads of secularism and
materialism as they were in condemning unacceptable elements in traditional life. Balokole gave up
cultivation of "immoral" crops and refused to brew beer, often the source of what little cash was
available in a peasant household. Insurance policies were condemned and Balokole were discouraged
from adopting ostentatious life-styles or accumulating material possessions. It has been said that the
Revival was a protest against the increasing individualism and functionalism of life, a re-assertion of
traditional face-to-face values and human relationships.

Nevertheless, undoubtedly the Balokole were agents of modernization as well. They often rejected
traditional medicines because of the unacceptable religious rituals often associated with them. This led
to a greater reliance on western medicine. They put a high priority on education for their children. The
insistence on monogamy helped to reduce the children requiring education to manageable proportions;
the high value put on saving helped to provide school fees; the home discipline helped children to be
"high achievers" and to perform well in their studies. The virtues of honesty, integrity and hard work
helped Balokole to get jobs and having got them to keep them. Their educated children were in a good
position to get high-salaried professional posts. (But many children found the ethos of the fellowship
too narrow and have not become Balokole themselves). The general result has been that the Balokole
have been an upwardly-mobile status group, participating in the creation of a petit-bourgeoisie in
society at large. But this has also created tensions within the Balokole themselves; most notably in the
events which led to the establishment of the Bazukufu.
The rise of the Bazukufu (the Reawakened)

In the 1940s and 50s, Nagenda, with Nsibambi in the background, managed to keep a fairly tight
control over the majority of Balokole in Uganda. In the 1950s the Balokole gradually became a more
respectable group and more integrated into the life of the Church. But this brought a feeling among
some of the brethren that a worldliness was creeping in, a falling away from the fire and enthusiasm
and commitment of the earlier period. Nsibambi, who lived in a kind of semi-retirement but who had
still an enormous influence, began a new search for holiness and to revive Blasio's old battle cry of
"Zukuka" - Awake! In the 1960s this search for a reawakening came to be expressed in conflicts over
dress and fashion, about whether brethren should take out loans and become burdened with debt in
order to improve their material standard of living. Some of this dissatisfaction began to focus on
Nagenda. He had become an international figure, leading missions to other parts of Africa, to Europe
and as far afield as India and Brazil. To many of the brethren he seemed to be estranged from his
home base and from the sharply-focused morality of the Balokole, with their absolute standards
rigidly enforced. Yona Mondo emerged as the leader of this opposition. He had shared with Nagenda
expulsion from Mukono in 1941. A Muganda from a relatively poor family, Nagenda had helped
Mondo by giving him land at Kawempe (just north of Kampala). Many brethren explain Mondo's
growing estrangement from Nagenda as jealousy on the part of Mondo, who was consistently
thwarted in his desire to go to preach in England. His austere character and lack of facility in English
always made the brethren hesitate to send him abroad as their ambassador!

At the same time that Mondo was calling for a return to the old values, there was growing up a
generation of educated Balokole who wanted to integrate the Revival more into modem life. Many
were from western Uganda. Festo Kivengere from Kigezi had emerged as a prominent leader. He had
spent many years as a teacher and evangelist in Dodoma (Tanganyika) but had returned in 1959. With
Archbishop Brown's approval he decided to seek ordination and to attend a theological college in the
United States. As this was decided without the approval of the brethren in Kampala, it was considered
a betrayal of group solidarity. Festo was becoming increasingly critical of the narrowness of many of
the Baganda brethren, and from America wrote to Joe Church, by then living in retirement in Kampala:
"When the spirit of freedom gives place to the spirit of fear among the brethren, that to me is the
saddest day for Revival ... Revival is bound to die when Christ is replaced by any of these treasured
traditions - of plainness of dress, hair fashions--plus-plus!"

Joe Church was equally saddened by the disputes within the Revival, but wrote back to Kivengere:
"Buganda has changed since the burning of the lubiri. They are sad still and very sensitive, we have to
come and sit with them, where they are, like Ezekiel did (Ezek.3:15)."
This reference to the flight of the Kabaka in 1966 and the subsequent abolition of the kingdom of
Buganda puts the increasing isolationism of many of the brethren in the context of the tragic history of
Buganda in the 1960s, a tragedy which was to engulf the whole nation with the coming to power of
Amin in 1971. 1971 was the year when the disputes among the Balokole came to a decisive break. By
this time Nagenda was mortally sick with Parkinson's disease, and was spending long periods outside
the country in Oxford. Mondo's group no longer shared fellowship with the brethren at the
Namirembe weekly meeting, but began to meet separately at Kawempe. Nsibambi, who had in many
ways sympathized with Mondo's stand, now came off the fence and denounced the "Bazukufu" as
extremists. They responded by denouncing the moderate Balokole as "Abafu" - those who were asleep.
"Where has ever a revival like this one been seen, full of cows and money?"

The Bazukufu have remained a strong minority tradition within the Balokole, particularly in Buganda,
Busoga and Bunyoro. They are a strongly cohesive group, with a well-organized system of fellowship
meetings culminating in a regular gathering at Kawempe, where Mondo lived until his death in 1978.
They claim to have re-established the old strict ethical code of the first Balokole, and in particular
have rejected materialism, symbolized by their refusal to incur debts or to keep dogs (to guard their
property). They continue to have a critical loyalty to the Church Of Uganda. In the 1970s much of this
criticism focused on the new canon on baptism (1973) which made provision for the baptism of all
children whose parents requested the sacrament, not as hitherto only children of parents married in the
church. The Bazukufu felt that it was not fitting to baptize such abaana b'obwenzi (literally children of
immorality - bastards). They walked out of the Church when such baptisms took place. Similarly they
refused to receive the Holy Communion from pastors they deemed unworthy of celebrating the
sacrament. They sought the ministrations of Bazukufu clergy; however, they were at odds with their
bishop for their refusal to implement the new canon on baptism. These issues have now subsided and
the Bazukufu live in a fairly "peaceful tension" with the Church, upholding the principles and life-
style of the original Revival. They remain a tightly-knit group, retaining their members and even
attracting young people in search of some definite moral standards in an increasingly confusing
society racked by civil war and inflation, where without such absolute standards Christian principles
are continually being compromised.

The Balokole and 'modern Uganda Society

For the mainstream of the Balokole the years since Independence have seen increasing integration
into the life of the Church. The Archbishops, Bishops and the majority of the clergy come from the
Balokole tradition. Perhaps the two outstanding Balokole churchmen have been Janani Luwum and
Festo Kivengere. Luwum became Archbishop in 1974 and died in 1977 as a Christian martyr and
champion of human rights during the Amin tyranny. Kivengere had a remarkable career as
international evangelist, founder of Africa Evangelistic Enterprise, Bishop of Kigezi and a man at the
centre of Ugandan national life, working for lasting solutions to the intractable problems which
Uganda has faced. He above all transcended the limitations of Balokole piety and practice, and
encouraged the Balokole tradition as a whole to be dynamic, creative and responsive to the profound
changes in culture and society.

Kivengere died in 1988. His example remains a challenge to a movement which is now over half a
century old. Many young people are finding both the Anglican Church and the Balokole fellowship
too rigid and unresponsive to their needs. Many are joining charismatic churches outside the Church
of Uganda; or are rejecting Christianity altogether. Many of the weaknesses which the Balokole first
challenged in the 1930s still persist within the Church: a rigidity of worship, a "preponderance of
clergy", a lack of moral discipline, greatly aggravated by the general collapse of values in the civil
wars and economic upheavals of recent years.

The Church has been susceptible to the erosion of moral standards and integrity as has the rest of
society. In this situation there is surely in need again for a renewal of the Church. It remains to be seen
whether the Balokole will again be an instrument of this revival or whether God's spirit will operate in
an entirely new way. However, God chooses to work the Balokole will be content to praise their God
and Savior.

Tukutendereza Yesu,
Yesu Mwana gw'endiga:
Omusaayi gwo gunaazizza;
Nkwebaza Mulokozi.
Notes:
1. For printed works on the East African Revival see: Jocelyn Murray, "A Bibliography of the East
African Revival Movement," in Journal of Religion in Africa, 1976, fasc 2.
Apart from such printed material, this account is largely based on archival material, the chief
collections being:
CMS. The Archives of the Church Missionary Society,
London. These archives are held by the University of Birmingham, UK.
JCP. The Joe Church Papers. These are the personal papers of Dr. J. E. Church, who lives near
Cambridge, UK.
2. For the early history of the Revival at Gahini cf:
J.E. Church, Quest for the Highest, Paternoster, Exeter, 1981.
L. Guillebaud, A Grain of Mustard Seed, The Growth of the Ruanda Mission, Ruanda Mission,
London, n.d. (1959).
P. St. John, Breath of Life, Norfolk Press, London, 1971.
3. JCP.File: Awake! Church - Webster 19.1.1937.
4. For an example of CMS missionaries' attitudes to the Ruanda Mission, see CMS. G3 A7/0 Daniell
to Hooper, 4.2.1930.
5. I am grateful to Mr. EM.K. Mulira for giving me details of Nsibambi's early life.
6. Kome Island was where Pilkington had his famous experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit
in 1892. c.f. C.F. Harford Battersby, Pilkington of Uganda, London, 1898.
7. J.E. Church, Quest, pp 66-8.
8. J.E. Church, Awake Uganda! The story of Blasio Kigozi and his vision of Revival, 1938 (2nd
edition, 1957).
9. JCP. File: Abaka.
10. The Fifth Kabale Convention: Kabale Golden Jubilee: "Behold I am Making All Things New,"
1985. Pamphlet. Quoted by J.W. Katarikawe in an article entitled "A short history of Beginnings and
the First Kabale Convention."
11. J.E.Church, Awake Uganda!
12. I am grateful to Mr. Erasto Kato of Bunyoro for this information. Oral Interview at Mukono, June
1984.
13. JCP. File: Call to Mukono 1935-40
14. For a detailed account of the Mukono Crisis cf. Kevin Ward, "Obedient Rebels: The Relationship
Between the Early Balokole and the Church of Uganda," an article to be published in Journal of
Religion in Africa, 1989.
15. Details of Nagenda's early life are scattered in JCP, especially File: William Nagenda: A Short
Appreciation. For the comment on Mukono ordinands cf. CMS. G3 A7/0-1929.
16. For a full list of the "bajeemu" cf. K. Ward, op. cit.
17. CMS. G3. A7 e 8/1 Mukono Bishop Tucker Memorial College. Bishop to "students concerned"
8.11.1941.
18. CMS. G3 A 7/5 Revival Problems: Report of a Meeting of some CMS missionaries and Africans
at Kabale 16-17.12.1941, to think and pray over the "Balokole" problems in Uganda.
19. For the background to the Bishop's involvement in the Namasole issue cf. CMS. G3 A7 dl, Bishop
to Hooper, 7.7.1941.
See also D.E. Apter, The Political Kingdom in Uganda, Princeton, 1961, pp. 207, 213-14.
20. JCP. File: Revival Correspondence 1937-45, Sabiti to Church, 2.10.1941.
See also P.K. Tinka, Uganda's first Anglican Archbishop, thesis presented for the A.T.I.E.A. B.D.
Degree, 1987.
21. Oral interview with Peter Mugyeru, Rukungiri, December 1987.
22. E. Hopkins "The Nyabingi Cult" in R. Rotherg & A. Mzrui, Protest and Power in Black Africa,
Oxford, 1971.
23. C.E. Robins, Tukutendereza: A Study of Social Change and Sectarian Withdrawal in the Balokole
Revival. Ph.D. dissertation of Columbia University, 1975, p.235.
24. JCP. Various Files deal with these issues, including: Revival Correspondence 1937-45, License
Removed & New Way, and Muyebe & Mutaho.
25. CMS. G3 A7/5 Revival Problems, 'Mukono Commission Report.'
26. JCP. File: New Way. The Meaning of the "New Way" as I Understand it, by Bishop Stuart,
translated from Ebifa mu Uganda, April 1943.
27. JCP. File: New Way. Sabiti to C. Markby, 20.2. 1943.
28. Bill Butler, Hill Ablaze, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1976.
29. For details see K. Ward, op. cit.
30. For DJ. Stenning, "Salvation in Ankole," in M. Fortes &G. Dieterlen (editors), African Systems of
Thought, London, 1965.
31. D. Kiggundu, The Fears & Attitudes of Ordinary Christians to the Revival Movement, thesis for
the Makerere University Diploma in Theology, 1987.
32. John Wilson, Beliefs and Practices of the Revival Movement M. Th.Fuller, Pasadena, 1976.
33. JPC. File: Fellowship, Charles Wale J. Church, 29.10.1939.
34. JCP. File: Revival correspondence 1937-45. Circular letter of W. Nagenda June 15 (1945)
35. Kefa Zodia, The Revival in West Nile, Dissertation for Makerere Diploma in Theology, 1978.
36. M. Ford, Janani, 1977.
K. Gong, The History of the Revival Movement in Kitgum, dissertation for the Makerere Diploma in
Theology, 1985.
37. E. Adraa, The Growth and Impact of Chosen Evangelical Revival in Ayivu County, West Nile,
dissertation for the Makerere Diploma in Theology, 1986. S. Kermu, The Life and Times of Bishop
Silvanus Wani, dissertation for the A.T.lE.A. B.D. Degree, 1987.
Margaret Lloyd, Wedge of light, n.d (c.1982) Privately printed
38. Ruanda Mission Archives, London: P.J. Brazier, Some Characteristics of the Ruanda Revival
Fellowship, 10.8.45.
39. Information from Joe Church, 1979.
40. Josiah Kibira, Church, Clan and the World, Gleerop, Uppsala, 1974.
41. C. Robins, Tukutendereza op. cit. Appendix II.
42. Unpublished Diaries of Max Warren, General Secretary of CMS.
I am most grateful to Mrs. Pat Hooker, his daughter, for allowing me to see these valuable diaries.
43. C. Robins discusses these issues in her PhD dissertation, Tukutendereza.
For a critique see M Winter, "The Balokole and the Protestant Ethic: in Journal of Religion in Africa
XIV, I, 1983.
44. G.W. Kasangaki, The Revival Movement in Hoima, dissertation for the Makerere Diploma in
Theology, 1988.
45. JCP. File: Abazukuse 1962-72., Lweza, and Going deeper.
P.J. Magumba, The Bazukufu in Busoga, dissertation for the Makerere Diplpma in Theology, 1978.
46. JCP. File: Going Deeper. F. Kivengere --J. Church 23.8.1966.
47. Ibid. Church to Kivengere 30.12.1966.
48. Quoted in Robins, op. cit, pp. 319-26.
49. S. Tusuubira, Attitudes to the new Canon on Baptism in the Church of Uganda, dissertation for
Makerere Diploma in Theology, 1977.
50. A biography of Festo Kivengere is in preparation, written by Anne Coomes, to be published by
Monarch Press.