Festo Kivengere (Bitesize Biographies)

Festo Kivingere became a Christian against the backgound of revival in East Africa in the twentieth century. He came from a very ordinary rural background in southern Uganda. Before he was ordained as an Anglican priest at the age of forty seven, he had already been preaching for over twenty five years. Here is the staggering story of a man who remained faithful to his Lord right to the end, even through the brutal years of Idi Amin’s rule.

‘Bishop Frank Retief has done the Christian world a signal favour in bringing forth this challenging, readable and fascinating biography of Bishop Festo Kivengere, one of the greatest African Christian leaders and evangelists of the twentieth century. Read! Enjoy! And let Festo put a bomb under your seat!’
Michael Cassidy, African Enterprise.

Erroll Hulse comments, ‘This is biography at its very best and provides compelling reading from beginning to end. We read of the breathtaking courage of Festo who, face to face with Idi Amin, pleaded for the lives of innocent souls when that ruthless dictator went on the rampage. This was a saga of grim brutality. It is amazing that Festo survived. There are perceptive insights into the Rwandan revival which spread to surrounding nations. Festo’s own conversion is well told and illustrates the power of revival. Like Jonathan Edwards before him, Frank Retief reminds us that even though spiritual awakenings are sent from heaven they are a mixed blessing. There are many shallow-ground hearers; and fanatics also have to be contended with who divide rather than bear the fruit of humility and meekness. ‘This book has the added value of providing a much needed balanced overall perspective and understanding of twentieth-century evangelical Christianity in the heart of the African Continent.’
Erroll Hulse, editor Reformation Today.

Frank Retief was born in Cape Town in 1942. He received Christ as a teenager and became a minister in the Church of England in South Africa (CESA). He planted and pastored St James Church, Kenilworth, for many years. ​Frank was consecrated an Area Bishop for the denomination in 1985. In 1999 he was nominated as Presiding Bishop and served the denomination in this capacity until his retirement in 2010.