Apolo Kivebulaya

Apolo Kivebulaya was born around 1864 in Uganda, in the kingdom of Buganda. He grew up in a traditional family and was a young man during the years when the first missionaries arrived. In the 1880s he heard the gospel and was drawn to it. He learned to read, and he was among the first generation of Ugandan Christians who suffered during the persecutions under King Mwanga, when many young believers were killed. Apolo survived, and he was baptized in 1895.

He wanted to serve God, and he began to work as a teacher and evangelist. He went to the kingdom of Toro in western Uganda and helped to build up the young church there. He had a quiet, humble manner and a deep love for Scripture. In 1896, he felt a call to cross the border and to carry the gospel into the great forest region of what is now the eastern Congo, where few Christians had gone. He set out on foot, with little more than a few possessions, and made his way into the Ituri forest.

The region was dense and dangerous, and the people who lived there spoke languages that he did not know. He had to learn them. He lived among the peoples of the forest, including the Pygmy peoples, whom others despised. He treated them as equals and gave himself to teaching them. At first he was met with suspicion, and he was beaten and threatened. Some of the local chiefs plotted to kill him. He did not fight back and kept preaching.

Over time, his patience and gentleness won hearts. He built a small church in the village of Boga, and he taught children to read. He translated hymns and parts of Scripture into the local languages. People came to faith, and he trained others to be teachers and evangelists. He worked with the Church Missionary Society, and he was ordained a deacon in 1900 and a priest in 1903. By then, he was the pastor of a growing church in a region that had known almost nothing of Christ.

He made several trips back to Uganda to see his family and to report to the church. He also faced great loss. Some of his coworkers died in the forest of disease and fever. He suffered from poor health himself and often faced hunger. He was also criticized by some colonial officials who found his independent work a nuisance, and he had to work under the political tensions of the Belgian Congo.

He is remembered as a man of deep prayer. He would rise before dawn to pray and read the Bible, and he spent long hours in prayer for those he served. He had a close relationship with the poor and was said to give away almost everything he received. He lived in a small house, with little furniture, and ate simply.

He died on May 30, 1933, in Boga. Thousands came to his funeral, and the church that he planted continues to this day. The Anglican Church of Uganda and the Church in the Congo honor him as an apostle to the forest people. His life shows how God uses an ordinary man who goes where he is sent, and how patience and love can break down the walls of fear and prejudice.