In Memory of Bishop Alphonce Lutakakwa
Born: January 21, 1950
Born Again: 1993
Crowned: April 29, 2010

"Of whom the world was not worthy."
                                            -Hebrews 11:38


Alphonce Lutakakwa
Anabaptists Bishop of Tanzania

Bishop Alphonce Lutakakwa was ordained the first Anabaptists Bishop of Tanzania, East Africa on December 9, 2007 at Malikisi, Kenya at the Annual Conference of the Anabaptists Churches of Africa, and served the Lord and the Anabaptists Churches of Tanzania in that capacity most faithfully until his untimely death in the city of Bunda, Tanzania on April 29, 2010.
       Bishop Lutakakwa was originally from Uganda, where he was converted to Christ in 1993 from a life of drunkenness and drug addiction that had led him to absolute poverty. Upon his new birth by the Spirit of God, the Lord took away his drinking, cursing and swearing, and cured him of all his addictions, and resolved all of his anger, and transformed that wicked sinner into one of the most knowledgeable and powerful men of God and preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ within the Anabaptists Churches of Africa. Said one of his converts in Bunda, Evangelist Stephen Katembo, "Bishop Lutakakwa taught me the Bible like no one had ever before, and his preaching of the scriptures and teaching concerning the history of the Anabaptists made me an Anabaptists unto this day. And I will die an Anabaptists." Bishop Majagoro testified that the powerful preaching and witness of Brother Lutakakwa made such an impact upon him, that he could not resist the wisdom by which Bishop Alphonce spoke to him. Mrs. Majagoro testified that the day before her husband was converted, she came into their home and heard her husband arguing defiantly against Bishop Lutakakwa's mighty witness to her husband, in which her husband was loudly trying to resist the arguments that Bishop Lutakakwa had put to her husband in trying to lead him to Christ. As he continued arguing with Bishop Lutakakwa, she entered the room and discovered her husband standing alone in the room, at his wits end, arguing vainly with an empty room, Bishop Lutakakwa not even being present. Her husband, Domitian Majogoro was soundly converted the follwoing day, and is now the Bishop of the church in Bunda. 
       At the Annual Conference, held in Malikisi, Kenya in December 2007, Brother Lutakakwa arrived with his entire children's choir, all of whom had walked five days from Bunda, Tanzania to attend the conference and witness their beloved minister ordained as the Bishop of Tanzania. The young girls' choir were dressed all in beautiful white dresses and bonnets, and sang wonderfully to the glory of God at the ordination of Bishop Alphonce Lutakakwa. Bishop Lutakakwa and his youth choir were sent upon buses back to Tanzania, and by June the following year, Bishop Lutakakwa had established 21 Anabaptists Churches throughout the Mwanza, Mara and Kagera Provinces. On July 4, 2008 Bishop Lutakakwa wrote to Brother McRae, "I am happy to inform you that God is doing miracles as every day people are receiving salvation in Christ Jesus. We have opened the Anabaptists Nursery School, with 58 pupils who are taught by two teachers." Bishop Lutakakwa paid the full time teachers out of his own monthly support from the church. In that same summer of 2008, the churches began having their annual two week camp meeting on Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria. By December of 2008 Bishop Lutakakwa had started 42 churches throughout Tanzania, eighteen of which were on the islands of Lake Victoria.
     Bishop Lutakakwa left his native Uganda to preach in Tanzania, assuredly knowing that the Lord had called him to preach in Tanzania, and little did he and his friend Bishop McRae know that when they met again at the Annual Conference in 2009, that it would be their last opportunity to preach together, and see one another's faces on this side Heaven. The Anabaptists Churches of North America provided Bishop Lutakakwa a brick making machine in March of 2010, which Brother Lutakakwa picked up in Nairobi with Bishop Mustafa and Evangelist Martin Esakina, and transported back to Bunda by bus. Bishop Alphonce's two week stay in Kenya, drew him ever so close to Bishop Mustafa and the young lad Martin Esakina. It was Bishop Lutakakwa that had given the young evangelist Martin his first opportunity to preach in another country, and enabled young Brother Martin to teach English to the young pupils at the Anabaptists School in Bunda. Sadly, just two months later, Bishop McRae and Evangelist George Calvas would meet Bishops Mustafa {Kenya}, Muliro {DR Congo} and evangelists Martin in Bunda to bury their friend and companion and fellow soldier of the cross. Bishop Lutakakwa lived and died for the Saviour he so much loved and wanted to serve for the good of Tanzania. Said Bishop McRae of Brother Lutakakwa, "Brother Alphonce was a very close friend and companion with whom I have preached with, worked with, ate with and slept on dirt floors with at our meetings in Africa. Within the church he walked as one of the least esteemed ministers of the gospel, but his witness and the testimony of his labors truly testify that he was one of the most powerful preachers and ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ in all of Africa. He was not without his trials and afflications. I had the great honour and privilege from God Almighty to dress and prepare his body for burial at the morturary in Bunda, assisted by Dr. Nayamhagatta, Bishops Muliro and Mustafa and the always faithful George Calvas. Bishop Lutakakwa had open sores and blisters on his feet from walking thousands of miles to preach the gospel, where none of America's most elite ministers would ever dream of venturing. He was my brother, and he was my friend. And I shall never forget him. His witness is in heaven, and his record on high. His bishopric and work will never be forgotten. Alas, God buries the workman, but the work goes on."  

    

DR Congo Bishop Adolphe Muliro & Martin Eskina translating
Preaches the funeral of his best friend Bishop Lutakakwa

Bishop McRae Praying over Bishop Lutakakwa's Casket in Bunda, Tanzania
   

Bishops Mustafa and McRae burying their beloved friend Alphonce Lutakakwa


Bishop Jesse Mustafa
The converted Kenya soldier burying his friend