Eliud Wabukala

Last updated


Eliud Wabukala
Archbishop and Primate of All Kenya,
Bishop of All Saints' Cathedral
Church Anglican Church of Kenya
Predecessor Benjamin Nzimbi
Successor Jackson Ole Sapit
Orders
Consecration13 October 1996
Personal details
Born1951 (age 7273)
SpouseKaren
Children5
Previous post(s)I Bungoma; Chairman of GAFCON

Eliud Wamukekhe Wabukala (born in Bungoma West District, 1951) is a Kenyan Anglican Archbishop notable as a leader in the Anglican realignment. He is Bishop of the Diocese of All Saints Cathedral and the fifth Primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The Archbishop was a widower, following the death of his wife in 2010, and has five adult children from his first marriage. He married for the second time at 11 May 2012, in a ceremony that took place in Mombasa. [1]

Contents

Early life and studies

He was raised in an Anglican family and as a child he used to walk 10 km daily in both directions to attend Malakisi Primary School. He went on to attend Butonge Primary School and Kolanya High School, where he completed his studies in 1969. Afterwards he worked as an untrained teacher at Butonge Secondary School to help educate his two sisters and five brothers. He started to work as a clerical officer in the Nakuru Provincial Commissioner's office, being promoted to the level of district officer two in Narok. He concluded that this was not his vocation, so he returned to untrained teaching, in Kitale, in 1972. He entered Kaimosi Teachers College to become a qualified teacher, finishing his studies in 1974. Wabukala went to work as a qualified teacher at Naifarm Primary School, in Kitale, being moved to Bungoma afterwards. There he was promoted to Inspector of Schools in charge of the Butonge Zone in Sirisia Division.

Religious career

In 1985, he left his profession to study Theology at the St. Paul's Theological College, in Limuru, finishing his studies in 1988. He still had the obligation to work for the Teachers Service Commission, teaching at the Matulo Secondary School, in Webuye, and at the Nagina Girls High School, in Busia.

In 1990, Wabukala received a scholarship from the Anglican Church of Canada to study at the Wycliffe College at Toronto School of Theology, of the University of Toronto, in Canada, where he became a Doctor of Philosophy in 1994. [2] Returning to Kenya, he was a lecturer at St. Paul's Theological College, in Limuru, where he became academic dean.

Wabukala left office, to be elected the first Bishop of Bungoma on 13 October 1996, remaining in office for the next 12 years. Wabukala was elected Archbishop of Kenya on 24 April 2009, succeeding outgoing Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. [3] He was enthroned at All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, on 5 July 2009. [4]

He was national vice-chairman of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, from 2000 to 2004, and national chairman from 2004 to 2009.

Wabukala is the serving Chairperson of National Anti Corruption Campaign Steering Committee having been appointed by Mwai Kibaki the President of the Republic of Kenya. [5] He previously served as an NACCSC Committee Member for five years.

Wabukala is a leading name in the Anglican realignment movement, both at the Global South and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, like his predecessor. He was the chairman of GAFCON and as such a supporter of the Anglican Church in North America admission at the Anglican Communion. [6]

Wabukala announced he would retire on 26 June 2016. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wycliffe College, Toronto</span> Canadian theological seminary

Wycliffe College is an evangelical graduate school of theology at the University of Toronto. Founded in 1877 as an evangelical seminary in the Anglican tradition, Wycliffe College today attracts students from many Christian denominations from around the world. As a founding member of the Toronto School of Theology, students can avail themselves of the wide range of courses from Canada's largest ecumenical consortium. Wycliffe College trains those pursuing ministry in the church and in the world, as well as those preparing for academic careers of scholarship and teaching.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church of Kenya</span> Province of the Anglican Communion

The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) is a province of the Anglican Communion, and it is composed by 41 dioceses. The current Leader and Archbishop of Kenya is Jackson Ole Sapit. The Anglican Church of Kenya claims 5 million total members. According to a study published in the Journal of Anglican Studies and by Cambridge University Press, the ACK claims 5 million adherents, with no official definition of membership, with nearly 2 million officially affiliated members, and 310,000 active baptised members. The church became part of the Province of East Africa in 1960, but Kenya and Tanzania were divided into separate provinces in 1970.

The Anglican Church of Tanzania is a province of the Anglican Communion based in Dodoma. It consists of 28 dioceses headed by their respective bishops. It seceded from the Province of East Africa in 1970, which it shared with Kenya. The current primate and archbishop is Maimbo Mndolwa, enthroned on 20 May 2018.

The Anglican Church of Rwanda is a province of the Anglican Communion, covering 13 dioceses in Rwanda. The primate of the province is Laurent Mbanda, consecrated on 10 June 2018.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) is a series of conferences of conservative Anglican bishops and leaders, the first of which was held in Jerusalem from 22 to 29 June 2008 to address the growing controversy of the divisions in the Anglican Communion, the rise of secularism, as well as concerns with HIV/AIDS and poverty. As a result of the conference, the Jerusalem Declaration was issued and the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans was created. The conference participants also called for the creation of the Anglican Church in North America as an alternative to both the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada, and declared that recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury is not necessary to Anglican identity.

The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans is a communion of conservative Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to ongoing theological disputes in the worldwide Anglican Communion. Conservative Anglicans met in 2008 at the Global Anglican Future Conference, creating the Jerusalem Declaration and establishing the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA), which was rebranded as GAFCON in 2017.

Nicholas Dikeriehi Orogodo Okoh is the former archbishop of Abuja Province and primate of the Church of Nigeria in the Anglican Communion. He retired on 25 March 2020. He has been married to Nkasiobi Amaechi since 1986 and they have five children.

Bernard Ntahoturi is a Burundian Anglican bishop. He was the Primate of the Anglican Church of Burundi from 2005 to 2016, and is the Bishop of Matana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Chan (bishop)</span>

Andrew Chan Au-ming is the Archbishop of Hong Kong and Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui since January 2021 and the Bishop of its Western Kowloon diocese since March 2012. He was ordained as deacon in 1991 and priest in 1992. He was priest-in-charge of Holy Spirit Church, vicar of St. Luke's Church and the first Chinese dean of St. John's Cathedral.

Benjamin Paul Mwanzia Nzimbi is a Kenyan Anglican archbishop. He was the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Bishop of the Diocese of All Saints Cathedral, from 2002 to 2009. He is married to Alice Kavula and the couple has five children.

David Mukuba Gitari was a Kenyan Anglican archbishop. He was the third primate and archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya, from 1997 to 2002, and at the same time, Bishop of the Diocese of Nairobi. He was married to Grace Wanjiru, since 1966, and they had three children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mouneer Anis</span> Egyptian Anglican bishop

Mouneer Hanna Anis is an Egyptian Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Egypt from 2000 to 2021, and the first Anglican Archbishop of Alexandria from 2020 to 2021. He was the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East from 2007 to 2017, when his diocese was part of that ecclesiastical province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon Tilewa Johnson</span> Gambian Anglican bishop

Solomon Tilewa Ethelbert Willie Johnson was a Gambian Anglican bishop. He was the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Gambia and the Rio Pongas and archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa. He was married and had a son and two daughters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Deng Bul</span> South Sudanese Episcopalian bishop

Daniel Deng Bul Yak is a South Sudanese Episcopalian bishop. He was the fourth Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, now called Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, since his enthronement on 20 April 2008 and until his retirement on 22 April 2018. He is married and has six children.

Jacob Erasto Chimeledya is a Tanzanian Anglican bishop. He was elected archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania on 21 February 2013 in a vote against the incumbent, Valentino Mokiwa, in a controversial election. He was enthroned on 19 May 2013 and also remained bishop of the Diocese of Mpwapwa. He was in office until 21 May 2018.

Festo Habakkuk Olang’ was a Kenyan Anglican archbishop. He was born in Ebusakami Esabalu village. In 1925 he began attending Kisumu Primary School, then called Komulo School. In 1927, he sat for the Common Entrance Examination at Maseno School and was admitted in 1928. He studied there for three years but found it quite a traumatic experience to be away from home, having to conform to the school regulations and dress code. However, he was greatly helped and influenced by the headmaster of Maseno School and famous mathematician, Mr. Edward Carey Francis. Olang’s faith in Jesus Christ grew and was strengthened under his guidance and, like many of the 300 boys at the school, Olang’ taught at Sunday schools in the area each Sunday, after learning how to give the lesson under Mr. Francis’s tutelage each week. Olang’ taught Luhya speaking groups and was also encouraged to plant trees around the village churches.

Donald Leo Mtetemela is a former Tanzanian Anglican archbishop. He was archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, from 1998 to 2008. He is married and has seven children.

Jackson Nasoore Ole Sapit is a Kenyan Anglican bishop. He was elected as the sixth archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Kenya on 20 May 2016 and was installed on 3 July 2016 at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.

Martin Blaise Nyaboho is no longer a Burundian Anglican archbishop. He was elected the fourth archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi, and was installed on 21 August 2016 in Bujumbura's Holy Trinity Cathedral. He was succeeded by the Rt Rev Macumi Sixbert and was installed on the 21 August 2021.

The Anglican dioceses of Maseno are the Anglican presence in and around Maseno, the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria, and the western slopes of Mount Elgon, south-west Kenya; they are part of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The remaining dioceses of the Church area in the areas of Mombasa, of Mount Kenya, and of Nakuru.

References

  1. Kenya: Anglican Archbishop Eliud Wabukala Weds, AllAfrica, 11 May 2012
  2. Insight: The Wycliffe College Newspaper July 2009, No.67, p.3
  3. Peter Leftie (24 April 2009). "Wabukala picked to head ACK". Daily Nation. Retrieved 17 August 2009.
  4. Archbishop Eliud Wabukala elected as the new Archbishop of Kenya, Anglican Communion News Service, 28 April 2009
  5. Kenya Gazette Notice no. 8738 of 14 August 2009
  6. KENYA: Anglican Primate Recognizes ACNA in Resurrection Message, 31 March 2013, Virtue Online
  7. "Primate approaches retirement with call to trust". anglicannews.org. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.

See also

Anglican Communion titles
Preceded by Primate and Archbishop of All Kenya
20092016
Succeeded by
Bishop of All Saints' Cathedral
20092016
New title Bishop of Bungoma
19962009
Succeeded by