Dr Laurent Mbanda, Archbishop of the Anglican church of Rwanda, was joined by the House of Bishops and other senior staff serving the church in various disciplines to inaugurate the Church’s new headquarters in Kibagabaga on Wednesday March 1.

The state-of-the-art, named Trinity House, is surrounded by other church-owned facilities including Trinity Plaza, a commercial building and Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Trinity House, a three storey building worth nearly Rwf 250 million will accommodate church related services and programmes.

One part of the house will be occupied by Gasabo Diocesan while other parts will be used as offices for the Archbishop, executive secretary, and accountant. Also, there are rooms reserved for meetings, a book shop, restaurants and modern kitchen. The facility still has a free space which can be rented.

Trinity House replaces the former headquarters of the church located in the vicinity of Amahoro Stadium in Remera.

According to officials, the move to relocate it was linked to the fact that the church needed new headquarters with more space.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Dr Mbanda thanked all Anglican diocesan for their support towards the construction activities, adding that the facility will serve every Anglican church member.

Mbanda added that the church is still working hard towards sustainable development and more facilities will be constructed to support the operation of the church’s East African Christian College.

Mbanda was elected as Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda in 2018 for a five-year term replacing the retired Onesphore Rwaje. Based on his excellent leadership, the House of Bishops in 2021 decided to extend Mbanda’s term for three years. Mbanda who was supposed to leave office August 25, 2023 will instead end his term on October 25, 2026.

Upcoming global conference

The Archbishop also talked about GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference)-the upcoming global meeting set to take place in Kigali next month.

The conference is expected to bring together nearly 1500 Anglican global leaders from 40 countries to discuss various topics on retaining and restoring the word of God to the heart of the Anglican communion as well as proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.

Mbanda also revealed that during the conference, the participants will discuss the Church of England’s recent decision to support LGBT, where the church voted to offer blessings to same-sex couples.

According to the Archbishop, the Church of England seems to be lost since they became disloyal to the word of God, adding that the church of Rwanda will never be influenced by the church of England or anyone else who becomes disloyal to the word of God. He described the Church of England’s development to be a heresy.

Church’s contribution to MICE

Mbanda explained that hosting such a global meeting displays the church’s contribution to the country’s drivers towards economic growth through MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibition) tourism.

“It’s a pride for the country to accommodate guests from 40 countries around the world. East African revival started in Rwanda and everyone will be curious to explore more about the history. And this means that the church in Rwanda is effectively contributing to the global church. Rwanda is beautiful and every guest has something to learn from Rwanda and share it with the rest of the world, “he added.