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The news of the Brotherhood's
successful ministry in bringing men to Christ within the Episcopal Church in the
US spread quickly throughout the Anglican Communion. By 1886, when the first St.
Andrew's CROSS magazine was published, it announced to the Church there were 500
Brotherhood chapters with 6500 members in the US In 1887 there were 2 Brotherhoods
with 30 members in Canada. In 1889 the first Brotherhood was established in Britain
with 12 members. This swelled to more than 200 Brotherhoods with over 2500 members
within 2 years.
In 1889 the once independent, individual Brotherhoods
in the US, Canada and Britain confederated to become Chapters of The Brotherhood
of St. Andrew with a central office in Chicago, Illinois. While the Brotherhood
continued growth in the US, its introduction to the Church of England resulted
in it spreading to Scotland, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia,
Ghana and West Indies. In 1892 it was estimated there were 1200 Chapters of the
Brotherhood with 15,000 members throughout the entire Anglican Communion.
In 1892
the Brotherhood in the US sent 3 missionaries to the Philippines to work with
the US Armed Services there. Several Chapters were established at various bases
with the object of bringing the men to Christ. Since there was no Episcopal Church
in the Philippines, the Brotherhood established St. Peter's Mission Church in
Manila. Soon the local Filipino people became interested in attending Bible study
programs and worship services at St. Peter's Mission.
By the time the
Brotherhood withdrew their missionaries a year later, St. Peter's had become a
thriving Mission Church and the history of the Church in the Philippines records
this as the site where The Brotherhood of St. Andrew began the first Episcopal
Church of the Philippines.
As a result of the missionary work of the Church of England, Brotherhood Chapters
existed for many years in South Africa, Ghana and Liberia.
However, when
the Church of England decided the laity in The Brotherhood of St. Andrew had become
too independent, the bishops of the Church dissolved the Brotherhood and advised
all Chapters they were to be a Chapter of the Church of England Men's Society
or CEMS for short.
This resulted in little to no contact with the former
Brotherhood men in Britain and we lost contact with the Brotherhood in African.
In 1980, as the result of the formation of the new Diocese of Mukono in the Anglican
Church in the Province of Uganda, Bro. Frank Marshall, Chairman of the National
Council of the Brotherhood, was sent there by the Presiding Bishop to visit the
new Diocese and report on its needs to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief.
When the needs were listed, they were many, but the Fund directors decided
the Mukono area was too unstable to fund any program there. Bandit remnants of
recently overthrown Idi Amin's army controlled much of the new Mukono Diocese.
Bro. Marshall told about the needs of the Bbaale Village in the Mukono Diocese
at a meeting of the Finance Committee of the Brotherhood held in Connecticut.
The Finance Committee agreed unanimously that the Brotherhood should make an effort
to set up a program of assistance in the remote Bbaale Village in Uganda. The
program was called "The Bbaale Farm Project" and a fund of approximately
$8000 was set up to begin work there.
Since our initial funding of a
chicken farm, renovating St. Andrew's Church, building a residence for the local
priest, hiring of a lay farmer to teach in the village, shipping two containers
with tools, a tractor, a grain mill, bicycles and clothes, the Bishop of Mukono,
the Rt. Rev. Livingstone M. Nkoyoyo, asked that we build an orphanage in Bbaale.
This was completed in 1997 and now houses 66 children. Sponsors among the Brotherhood,
parish churches and other friends contribute $30 a month to cover food, housing,
clothes, schooling and health care of the children.
Bishop Nkoyoyo has
now been enthroned as Archbishop of the Province of Uganda. At his request The
Brotherhood of St. Andrew purchased an office building in Mukono which is the
African Office of the Brotherhood. The Rev. Titus Baraka is employed full time
as the Executive Director of the Brotherhood in Uganda and Africa. We now have
22 Chapters with over 500 members in Uganda and 12 Chapters with 160 members in
South Africa.
As the result of visiting the
U.S. and obtaining information on the Brotherhood, the then Bishop of Shaba in
Zaire, now Congo, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Kolini, began 25 Brotherhood Chapters in his
diocese. Later we learned Rt. Rev. Methusela Munzenda, Bishop of Nord Kivu in
Zaire had established 20 Chapters in his diocese.
Due to the factional
problems in Congo (formerly Zaire) we have not been able to make contact with
these Chapters.
During another sabbatical to the US, Bishop Kolini learned
the Zarian government had "terminated" his citizenship and sent his
family to live in Rwanda. The Muslim factions leading government had made it a
practice to rid the country of all Christian clergy, especially the bishops, and
Bishop Kolini being in the US provided an ideal opportunity to restrict his reentry
to Zaire.
About the same time Bishop Munzenda, who had been told several
times to leave Zaire by the local government army commander, returned to his home
one Sunday evening, after visits to several parishes in his Diocese, to find bed
and bedroom shot up with bullet holes. Considering this as a final threat to leave,
Bishop Munzenda now resides in Kenya.
After
establishing his home in Rwanda, Bishop Kolini was enthroned as Archbishop of
the Province of Rwanda. During a visit with the Archbishop, Rev. Paul Nsubuga,
Executive Director of the Brotherhood's African Office, was asked to establish
Chapters of the Brotherhood in all parishes in Rwanda. This task has just begun
in Rwanda.
It is Archbishop Kolini's belief that by bringing together
the Tutsi and Hutu tribal factions of Rwanda in Chapters of The Brotherhood of
St. Andrew , they will learn to love and respect each other as Christian brothers.
He hopes and prays this will overcome the hatred and mistrust between the Tutsi
and Hutu tribes that has existed for more than 100 years and lead to the slaughter
of 500,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu people that took place in 1997 - 1998 under
the Hutu controlled government.
The Brotherhood has also been invited
to help with the orphan problem in Rwanda by finding sponsor to support the children's
needs for housing, food, clothing, schooling and health care. | |
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