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Death Announcement: Pan-Africanist Bishop Leo Ruccibigango Dead

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in Issue 7

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By EADM Reporter

 

The late Bishop Leo Rucibigango

In Summary: He took the gospel to Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. Political boarders never bound him. Tribal differences never discouraged him. Age never stopped him. Persecution never derailed him. Even the devil, it seemed, ceased daring him. And when the Cross crossed his path, he faithfully carried it to the end of his race. No one who knew him doubted his compassion, generosity, humility, faith, and love for God, His precious creations, and work. Those whose lives he touched, call him ‘a general’ who fought a good fight. “RIP, Bishop Leo Ruccibigango,” his spiritual apprentices proclaimed.  

Bishop Leo Rucibigango and his wife Daphrose

Grand Prairie, Texas--Bishop Leo  Ruccibigango passed away on Saturday April 24, 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.  Despite multiple surgeries and hospitalizations, he eventually succumbed to cancer last Saturday at the age of 77.  Bishop Leo  Ruccibigango was a father, a grandfather, a father-in-law to many, a  guardian, and mentor to several in the Dallas-Fort worth (DFW) area in Texas and also back home in Rwanda and Uganda. But above all, for over half a century, he was a selfless servant of God. He leaves a widow, Daphroza Muzaire Rucibigango, 7 children, and several grandchildren.

Born in 1939 in the Eastern Province of Rwanda where his uncle raised him when his father died during his childhood, he fled to Uganda in 1957, due to the civil unrest in Rwanda. In 1963, he  married Daphroza and the couple lived a worldly life punctuated with countless trips to bars and social clubs at every asking until 1964 when he encountered Jesus Christ, got saved, and his life dramatically changed until his death on Saturday.

Here in Grand Prairie, Texas, a vigil for the fallen “general’ was held at the residence of Dr. Michael Kaluya, husband to Rose, one of the daughters of the deceased. During an evening Sunday service to celebrate the life of the Bishop, speaker after speaker recounted their interaction with Bishop Leo. It was a full house. Led by Pastor Michael Wangolo, the vibrant service was also addressed by Pastors Hope Sekiziivu, John Musoke, Joseph Kamugisha, all who went through his stewardship at the Full Gospel Church (Guggudde) along Makerere-Nakulabye Road, Kampala. Pastor Leo ministered at the church as one of the senior pastors. They all paid glowing tribute to the man of God whom they described as “a father, a generous and kind man, a humorous individual, full of humility, but also, a disciplinarian.” Some said he paid their school fees, opened his house to them as his own children, taught them how to pray, worship and praise, and how to share the Word of God through preaching and music. Pastor Emily, originally from Tanzania, told the celebrants that she is where she is because she “reaped and ate of the holy fruits planted by the late Bishop as a result of associating with the people he ministered to.”

Pastor John Musoke
Pastor Joseph Kamugisha

He took the gospel to Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda. Political boarders never bound him. Tribal differences never discouraged him. Age never stopped him. Persecution never derailed him. Even the devil, it seemed, ceased daring him. And when the Cross crossed his path, he faithfully carried it to the end of his race. No one who knew him doubted his compassion, generosity, humility, faith, and love for God, His creations, and work. Those whose lives he touched, call him ‘a general’ who fought a good fight. “RIP, Bishop Leo Ruccibigango,” his spiritual apprentices proclaimed.  
Bishop Leo Rucibigango and his wife Daphrose

Pastor Moses Akitwine of the Heavenly Bridge Church who delivered the sermon, challenged the celebrants to emulate the exemplary life of the departed general whose legacy will endure through the lives of those he touched. Rev. John Kalimi of the African Fellowship of the St. Vincent Cathedral in Bedford who led the closing prayer challenged the congregants to re-examine their lives and assess their relationship with the Almighty with a view of getting closer to him.

Rev. John Kalimi

Meanwhile, Dr. Kaluya, his wife Rose Kwikiriza Kaluya, and her brother FrancisRugomba, made haste and flew out, last Tuesday, to Kigali, Rwanda, to participate in the burial arrangements. To that end, a GoFundme link was created to assist them raise funds to pay for the funeral expenses for their beloved father and servant of God, Bishop Leo Ruccibigango. All the pastors at the service appealed to friends and well-wishers to contribute towards the funeral service fund via the GoFundme link created  for the purpose.


Bishop Leo Rucibigango alongside his wife with some family members.

The late Leo Ruccibigango, having arrived in Uganda as a young man in 1957,  he quickly adjusted to life and got a job with the Uganda Post Office in Kampala. After he got saved, he split his time between his job at the post office and preaching on Kampala streets, in Churches, and in homes every evening. Eventually, he quit his job and decided to dedicate his time to serving the Lord under the Full Gospel Church in Kampala. Soon, he was appointed a District Supervisor of 30 churches under the Full Gospel Church in Arua District. After a while, former President of Uganda Idi Amin Dada abolished all denominations not affiliated with the Church of Uganda (Anglican), the Catholic Church, or Islam (Uganda Muslim Supreme Council).

Bishop Leo Rucibigango

Despite the ban, Leo  Ruccibigango, then a pastor, continued his ministry underground until he was arrested in Arua together with 15 other pastors in 1977, the year when the late Archbishop Janan Luwum was assassinated. Although President Amin had ordered his soldiers to kill the 15 pastors, they were miraculously freed. After they were released, Leo Ruccibigango, scared and penniless, but with strong faith in the Lord the provider, fled to Kenya. He was hired as a pastor on the first Sunday of his arrival in Nairobi after he had recounted his ordeal in Uganda to a Church he attended. His family later joined him in Nairobi. 

He returned to Uganda after the fall of Iddi Amin and requested to become a national evangelist for the Full Gospel Church in Uganda. Together with other pastors, they started an orphanage called Ambassadors of War in Luwero District where thousands of orphans lived and roamed without shelter, food, clothing, love, and education. Many of the children were rehabilitated, loved, their basic needs provided, educated, and most joined higher institutions of learning in Uganda and abroad.

During the time he spent in Uganda and Kenya as a refugee, pastor Leo consistently told his fellow pastors, faithful’s, family, friends, and congregations that his heart was always in Rwanda. Indeed, he often and proudly said it was an honor to be Rwandan. After the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army took over power in Rwanda in 1994, Pastor Leo and his family returned to his homeland on 20th July 1994. He started the Restoration Church in Kigali. In the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, the number of orphans in the country was staggering and heart-breaking. He opened an orphanage at Kibirira for about 50 children and within a short time; the number had increased to over 2000 children. By faith, he managed to provide for their basic needs, built a school and many of the children went through it and have since become productive citizens and transformative agents in the country and abroad.

Bishop Leo  Ruccibigango continued his ministry with the Restoration Church in Kigali, restoring hope and forgiveness, planted more churches in other parts of the country, and by 2012, he had established 65 branches of the Restoration Church in Rwanda, with a goal of raising the number to 100.

Meanwhile, his zeal for evangelism took him to spread the gospel to neighboring Congo, Burundi, and frequently to Uganda, the United States, and Europe. On May 16th, 2012, Bishop Leo and his wife Daphrose celebrated their marital Golden Jubilee with a service at Kimisagara Restoration Church. Thousands of people including many pastors from Uganda, Kenya and the Congo attended the silver Jubilee celebrations of the ministry of Bishop Ruccibigango and gave countless glowing testimonies about his extraordinary ministry and the impact it has had on communities, institutions, and individuals. During his ministry, Bishop Leo served God faithfully and diligently and his impact on the lives of people he touched will continue to endure.

Bishop Leo Rucibigango and his wife Daphrose cutting a cake to mark 50 years in ministry, marriage, and the journey to fulfill his calling.

Bishop Leo Rucibigango will be laid to rest tomorrow Friday April 29, 2016 in Kigali Rwanda. “RIP, Bishop Leo Ruccibigango, a true General in God’s army,” Pastor Michael Wangolo declared in awe.