Njangali’s Childhood and School Life

Njangali was born in Parajwoki village, in the present-day Hoima District, on April 10, 1908 to Nyakwebara and Eva Kacungira Amooti. Njangali was taught from an early age to love the Church and the Lord God with all her heart. Since her parents were committed Christians, they always took her to attend church services, especially on Sundays. Njangali, therefore, was brought up in a religious home under a Christian environment. She was a well-behaved and hard-working child and her parents and the entire village were proud of her.

Njangali was baptized on October 31, 1920 in St Peter’s Cathedral, Hoima, and from then henceforth, she came to be known as Florence Septume Njangali. It was a well-attended service, filled with the families of the several candidates from Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School and the surrounding daughter churches. Her uncle and king of Bunyoro, Bisereko Duhaga II, attended the function. As she grew up to maturity, Njangali was not only loved by God, but also, as a wonderful warm young lady, loved by her own family and claimed as a friend by very many people in Hoima.Footnote 5

Even though Njangali’s parents strongly adhered to the faith and practices of the Native Anglican Church, which in 1961 became the Church of the Province of Uganda, her uncle Duhaga was mainly responsible for her spiritual nurture. Duhaga had spent some time in Buganda in the household of one of the first ordained Baganda priests, the Revd Henry Wright Duta Kitakule, and had shown himself quick to pick new ideas. Even when he became King of Bunyoro, Duhaga continued to participate once in a while in teaching reading classes at the palace, and at times financed the building of churches in the villages in his kingdom. Christopher Byaruhanga says:

Njangali’s formative years came to be greatly influenced by the principles and way of life of the Native Anglican Church. She used to spend a lot of time at the King’s palace. Njangali was occasionally invited to the King’s palace for talks and prayer. She was also given jobs to do at the King’s palace. She enjoyed the way the King administered his kingdom. Njangali was fascinated by the court debates, trials and judgments made in cases that often came before her uncle.

Njangali’s school life began in 1920 as one of the pioneer students of Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, a church-founded institution. Right from the beginning, Njangali was a keen learner of everything around her. In this endeavor she was assisted by her parents and her uncle Duhaga, who was a great supporter of formal education in Bunyoro. Her uncle, Duhaga, willingly paid all the school dues per term and usually encouraged her to set her sights higher than the rest of her colleagues. Njangali was one of the brightest students at Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, not only excelling in academics but also showing exceptional character. She became an active participant and leader in singing hymns, prayers and Bible lesson reading. Njangali did well in Religious Knowledge, Geography, Arithmetic, Swahili and in English. English was to be invaluable to Njangali in her later years, giving her the capacity to argue out issues at the national level. Although Njangali worked extremely hard and attended all extra-curricula activities, she enjoyed her school days at Duhaga Boarding Girls’ School.

When Njangali joined Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, she had no idea that she was joining a tradition that was later to play a great role in the history of missions, namely, the evangelization of Uganda not just by missionaries from Britain and North America, but by the indigenous Christians. At this early age, Njangali did not clearly know the implications of joining this long tradition. At Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, Njangali met committed teachers who greatly influenced her spiritual life. It was here that she came in contact with the headmistress of the school, Miss M.B. Leakey, who was being assisted by two African women trained at Kyebambe Girls’ School in Toro.Footnote 7

As a schoolgirl Njangali was deeply influenced by Leakey’s love for God and administrative ability. Leakey came from the conservative, Evangelical wing of the Anglican Church. She held the Bible to be the supreme authority for all matters regarding Christianity. Her teaching was that God inspired the Bible, and that it contained all spiritual truth. The Bible became the sole rule of faith and practice among the students at Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, since they considered it to be the only unerring standard of religious truth. Leakey also taught salvation as a definite turning at a specific point away from one’s past sins, to Christ. She always taught her students that following the first step of accepting Jesus Christ as personal savior and Lord, a convert had to live a holy life committed to Christ. For Leakey, school education was aimed at telling the world that Christ died as a substitute for sinful humanity. It was this tradition, with great emphasis on the Bible and the cross rather than on church tradition, which Leakey would pass on to Njangali.Footnote 8

In 1925, Leakey retired and was replaced by Miss E.H. Ainley. Ainley also came from the conservative Evangelical tradition. In her Christian witness to the girls at Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School, Ainley drew a line between people who had undergone the experience of conversion and those who had not. The conversion experience, according to Ainley, marked the boundary between Christians and non-Christians. Once converted, according to Ainley, a Christian was expected to demonstrate the reality of this new faith by personal holiness. She constantly made appeal to the high standards and disciplined life required of the girl converts with the hope that the individual lives, which had been redeemed and made anew as a result of conversion, would result in the reformation of society as a whole. It was this tradition, with great emphasis on the demonstration of the reality of the new faith by personal holiness, which Ainley would pass on to Njangali.Footnote 9

Njangali’s Teaching Career

Within a few years of her stay at Duhaga Girls’ Boarding school, Ainley had detected Njangali’s inquiring mind and recommended her for appointment as her teaching assistant. By this time, Njangali had been nicknamed by her fellow girls magezi (wisdom) because to them she was as well informed academically as her two African female teachers. Njangali began to instruct girls who were even older than her into the mysteries of reading and writing. When Njangali completed her studies in 1928, she was appointed a teacher and was later promoted to deputy headmistress of the school. Njangali taught her students that Jesus Christ expected them to live by the highest moral standards.

Ainley’s leadership style deeply influenced Njangali at a critical juncture in her own development, and contributed to the awakening of her sense of vocation. Ainley’s philosophy was hard-work, honesty and self-determination. Njangali observed and became interested in Ainley’s way of life and particularly her commitment and conduct as she carried out her duties as headmistress. Njangali was very much impressed by the way Ainley carried out her duties loyally, diligently and vigorously without supervision. Njangali’s upbringing blended in very well with Ainley’s philosophy and work ethic. When Ainley left in 1938, Njangali became headmistress of Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School. Although by this time Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School was more than fifteen years old, no headmistress had stayed for more than a few years and the school was suffering from lack of constructive long-term leadership.

By the time Njangali became headmistress, Hoima was a small town, and Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School had grown into a small institution. But Njangali foresaw that Hoima would become a great town and she envisioned the school, at its center, responding to the needs of the growing town. Her vision was to see Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School give its best to the people of Uganda. The Speech Day tradition and the joyous participation of the students in the great festivals seized the imagination of the people of Hoima more perhaps than any other one thing, and Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School took a place of prominence and influence for the schools in Bunyoro. It was in Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School that Njangali’s contribution to the training of future women professionals and scholars was greatly impacted. Hoima church leaders supported Njangali and proudly followed her lead in the role she played in the larger life of the school.

From the time of her baptism, Njangali had relied on good works and mental assent to the Christian message, instead of surrendering all to Jesus Christ. On October 18, 1938 Njangali fully appreciated what it meant to be personally committed to Jesus Christ. In the East African revival tradition, it is not enough for someone to merely state that he or she is a Christian or that they are a member of a given church denomination. One must declare to God and the entire church congregation that he or she has made a personal commitment to love and to serve Jesus Christ. In this new understanding of her belief, Njangali found inspiration and comfort in the Christian friendship and companionship of the East African revival movement. The revival movement invigorated and renewed her life and offered her the challenge of a deeper experience of salvation in Jesus Christ and a more radical commitment to Christian discipleship. From this time on she began to think seriously about joining full-time church ministry.

Njangali’s career at Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School was briefly interrupted when, as a result of her spiritual transformation, she enrolled in Bishop Tucker Theological College, Mukono in 1942 for a two-year Lay Reader’s course. When Njangali set out for Bishop Tucker Theological College, it was an historic event itself. No woman had ever attended that course let alone studying alongside men. She was the only female student in a class of thirty.Footnote 10

Njangali completed her Lay Reader’s course in 1944 and returned to Hoima to continue with her duties as headmistress of Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School. She was commissioned as Lay Reader in St Peter’s Cathedral, Hoima. Her licence, in part, reads:

Njangali’s passionate intensity was in no way diminished by her training at Bishop Tucker Theological College. Her renewed zeal for the gospel irritated those who resisted the implications of her message, especially among the relatively sophisticated men working at the school. Njangali always emphasized repentance through open confession, the breaking down of barriers of clan or tribe and the equality between men and women.Footnote 12

Under Njangali’s distinguished leadership, Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School expanded and gained national recognition as a center of excellent academic standards. Njangali’s own educational background helped her to guide and inspire her students to aim higher in life. Soon the Native Anglican Church in Uganda recognized Njangali’s work and influence and in 1953, she was appointed a member of the Native Anglican Synod in Uganda. As early as 1909, Bishop Tucker had come up with a type of Constitution that would give more power to the Ugandan Christians from all over his diocese to manage their own church affairs. In this Constitution, church members were to elect their representatives to the Synod. There were two guiding principles of Tucker’s Constitution, namely, concentration and decentralization. It created at the center a strong governing body that would carry the weight, which only a truly representative body can.

The Native Anglican Church Synod in Uganda was such a representative body. It consisted of members, of whom not more than a third were clergy, drawn from every part of Uganda. Each district in Uganda was to elect so many representatives in proportion to the number of communicants. Njangali represented Bunyoro district. The Native Anglican Church Synod was a democratic body. Europeans, kings, chiefs and the indigenous Ugandans sat together and voted on equal terms, the indigenous delegates forming the large majority. All questions of outstanding importance were referred to the Synod and its decisions were binding on all members of the Native Anglican Church. As a representative body, the Synod counted among its members many of the most powerful traditional leaders in the country. Consequently, the Synod had a remarkable influence in the Native Anglican Church, and commended, as no other body did at the time, the confidence of the country. Njangali was proud to belong to such a powerful entity.

Njangali was also a member of the Diocesan Council that acted for the Synod in the interval between its sessions. The members of the Diocesan Council were appointed by and responsible to the Synod. It consisted of two delegates from each of the large districts, which formed the diocese. It met once a month and to it the minutes of all local councils and of all its own advisory Boards were submitted. The more detailed and departmental work of the Diocesan Council was entrusted to a variety of Boards, which were purely advisory and reported to the Council. In this way, the work of the Native Anglican Church was unified and centralized.

For quite long, Njangali was part of that controlling power of the Native Anglican Church in Uganda. Her experience in the Native Synod, the Diocesan Council and from 1961 in the Provincial Assembly gave her a unique opportunity to learn about the principles of democracy, self-government and self-support. As a member of the Synod, Njangali was very instrumental in the creation of the Church of the Province of Uganda with a new Constitution. Tucker’s 1909 Constitution was succeeded by the 1961 Church of the Province of Uganda and Rwanda-Burundi Constitution. The 1961 Constitution was accepted and approved by the Synod and the Diocesan Council of the Upper Nile on April 27/28, 1960, and came into effect in 1961. Article 1 of the 1961 Constitution reads:

Njangali was happy with the 1961 Constitution which, like the 1909 Constitution, had a built-in ability of weakening tribal boundaries and barriers, thus creating a comprehensive church. But she was always critical of the Church Missionary Society missionaries who tended to favor the central region. She always warned that the Church Missionary Society missionaries’ attitude toward other regions would create a situation where the dioceses in the central region would consider themselves special and the rest of the dioceses would develop the feeling of deprivation. Njangali often argued that the horizontal conflict within the Church would compromise the original idea of a comprehensive Church of Uganda.

Njangali’s fear of the horizontal conflict within the Church was confirmed at the time of Archbishop Bishop Brown’s resignation in 1965. Brown was British and had been Bishop of Namirembe, the cathedral headquarters of the Church. So long as Brown was Archbishop of the Church of the Province of Uganda and Rwanda-Burundi and the Diocesan Bishop, Namirembe also functioned as archdiocese of the Province. And Namirembe Cathedral was popularly regarded by all Christians in Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi as the Provincial Cathedral. As soon as Bishop Brown announced his resignation, the question of who was to succeed him became one of the hottest issues in the Province. Since Namirembe Cathedral was in the traditional Baganda territory, and the Baganda were the largest single tribe in Uganda with the biggest number of Christians, the majority of the Baganda Christians thought that a Muganda Bishop would succeed Brown. It was at this time that Njangali transferred her services to Ruwenzori diocese to work with Bishop Eric Sabiti who later became the first archbishop of the Church of the Province of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. When asked what was at stake in the Church in 1965, Njangali said, ‘in 1965, seniority was not an issue, but tribe. By showing tribal sentiments in 1965, the Baganda lost any possible support from their colleagues for the post of Archbishop’.Footnote 14

Njangali as a Lay Theologian

Undoubtedly Njangali did more than any other woman in the Church to help women gain access to theological education. In 1957, she retired from her position as headmistress of Duhaga Girls’ Boarding School and returned to Bishop Tucker Theological College for an ordination course the following year. Njangali’s decision to resign her post and join full-time church ministry surprised many Christians in Bunyoro. Full-time church ministry during Njangali’s time was popularly known as ‘a poor man’s profession’ because it was characterized by poverty. Church workers did not know where their next meal would come from. One could not afford decent living conditions because of the unpredictable and very low income from the Church. Why should one leave a well-paying job for a dead-end position in church ministry and more so when she is a woman? Some people would ask. But for Njangali, serving the Lord was more important than all other callings in life.

From the 1950s, the Church began to respond to modern culture in many ways. For instance, during this time Bishop Tucker Theological College administration allowed Njangali as the first woman student to study theology much earlier than anyone ever thought of the ordination of women in Africa. Eventually, Bishop Tucker Theological College women graduates, especially Njangali, were influential in the ordination of women campaigns. When Njangali signed up for theological training alongside men at the college, she was not easily accepted in the lecture room by her male counterparts. Olivia Nasaka says:

Commenting on her experience as a woman training for church ministry at Bishop Tucker Theological College, Njangali said:

Throughout her theology course, Njangali took it upon herself to defend the rights of women as equal partners in church ministry. Referring to the status of women in the traditional society, Njangali argued that in the past women in Uganda were not excluded from decision-making processes. What used to obtain was that parallel organizations would be established for both sexes. Where it was necessary for women to be excluded from some traditional matters that necessitated serious discussions, to arrive at the final decision and implementation, women could not be excluded or else those decisions would fail. For instance, while leadership in traditional marriages was largely retained by the father of the girl or the boy, the leadership role in discerning what was needed for the occasion would include the views of the mother of the girl or boy.

Njangali was of the view that of all the doctrines of the church, Christology was the one most used to oppress women because of the way the maleness of Jesus was being interpreted. She said that the fact that Jesus was a male human being was beyond question. That this was a historical fact that had to be respected. However, the problem arose when during her time the maleness of Jesus was taken for granted as the only proper way to represent God. Njangali disagreed with those church leaders who used to say that God is more suitably thought of in an analogy with male human beings. Njangali did not suggest the use of an inclusive language but while not going as far as this, she emphasized the point that although God is referred to with masculine names, this does not mean that God is male.

At the Synod, although a laywoman, whenever she was allowed to address the delegates, she always made a passionate appeal to awaken the Church to its need to abandon its patriarchal attitudes. She used to argue that Jesus’ preaching proclaims justice and peace for all people, inclusive of women. That the reign of God is diametrically opposed to any group setting itself up as exclusively privileged and relegating others to the periphery. At this time, the clergy in Uganda were a formidable group opposed to the young women enthusiasts for gender equality. However, Njangali always exploited one of the consistent themes of the East African revival movement, namely, its opposition to authoritarianism in church life. Even then one of the outstanding characteristics of Njangali was her fundamental loyalty to the Church. Despite her strong, often passionate criticism of the Church, she saw herself as called to witness to her church from within.

When Njangali graduated from Bishop Tucker Theological College in 1960, she was posted to Ankole-Kigezi diocese not as a deacon but as a ‘church commissioned worker’ to head the Mothers’ Union Department. Mothers’ Union was very well known, as it is today, for its desire to have everyone married to one partner in the church. Its understanding of marriage to be a lifelong commitment falls within the African understanding of marriage. It is believed in many African societies that from the very beginning of human life, God commanded people to get married. Therefore, marriage for Africans is a sacred duty. Once the full contract of marriage has been executed, it is extremely hard to dissolve it. The Mothers’ Union considers marriage to be like the rites of passages in Africa, which can never be repeated by individuals. For this reason, Mothers’ Union is against divorce.Footnote 17

Njangali worked to further the ideals of the Mothers’ Union and to promote the dignity of women by presenting monogamy as the best solution for marital relations. She taught that openness, integrity and honesty — characteristics of healthy relations between committed Christians — should apply even more to the marital relationships to foster real sharing, mutual love and respect. Thanks to her efforts within the Mothers’ Union in Ankole-Kigezi diocese, women gained the right to confess, testify, preach and pray on an equal basis with men.

Njangali was the pioneer of feminist theology in Uganda. She was always conscious of the way in which women are perpetually relegated to second-class citizenship in the Ugandan society and in the Church. She always said that ‘this should not be; this is against the will of God’. The vision that guided Njangali’s feminist theology was that of a new human community based on the values of mutuality and reciprocity. In her ministry as Mothers’ Union worker, Njangali always encouraged women in Ankole-Kigezi diocese to love to work with men. The reason she usually gave was that God created women and men to help each other and not one sex to oppress the other. She used to argue that her goal was not to reverse oppression, with women oppressing men; that would be the same problem in reverse. Her conviction was that women share equally with men in the dignity of being human. Njangali looked forward to a church with no one group dominating and no one group being subordinated, but men and women participating according to their gifts. She did not envision that men and women be the same, but that the uniqueness of each be equally respected in a community of brothers and sisters.Footnote 18

Today, feminist theology, which Njangali pioneered, is divided roughly into two categories, namely, revolutionary and reformist. The revolutionary feminist theology is produced by women in Uganda who, upon examining the Christian tradition, find it so male-dominated that they pronounce it as hopelessly irredeemable and therefore opt to leave the church. On the other hand, reformist feminist theologians, whom Njangali would identify with, agree about the male-dominated character of the Christian tradition but always find reason to hope that the male-dominated character may be transformed. They, therefore, chose to stay within the church in Uganda and work for reform.Footnote 19

Njangali played a substantial part in changing traditional views of women and their work in Uganda. She opened up a new space for women within the Church. During Njangali’s time it was often said, as it is sometimes said today, that women who were unmarried had no status at all in society. They would agree with John S. Mbiti who says:

As an unmarried woman and as Mothers’ Union worker, Njangali was in a very interesting position but her understanding of Gal. 3.28 helped her to reconcile her status as a Christian and the concepts of society around her.Footnote 21

In her feminist theology, Njangali always emphasized the point that ‘the value of a woman begins when she is born, not when she gets married’. The role played by Njangali in bringing changes in the status and roles of women is now receiving more attention in Uganda. She broke with the traditional roles considered normal for women church workers, and became a legend in her own time. Her advocacy of independence for women went beyond what was considered correct in the Church. Although Njangali was aware that acute marital problems arose from the prevailing concept of inequality of men and women in Uganda, she tended to look at the issue of marriage as a spiritual matter.

Although Njangali had no ‘official status’ according to the Ugandan culture, her role in the Church and society opened the way for future possibilities, to which African women might also attain. She recruited the unmarried women into the Mothers’ Union as ‘Associate members’. Associate members in the Mothers’ Union have continued to redefine women’s roles in Uganda. Njangali is now seen by many people as a change agent in the Uganda church history.

In 1965 she transferred her services to Ruwenzori diocese and eventually to Bunyoro-Kitara diocese in 1972. In all the three dioceses, Njangali assumed a position of great significance and came to be recognized as the foremost figure in the Church. When Bunyoro-Kitara diocese was formed in 1972, Njangali was one of the faithful supporters of Bishop Yustus Ruhindi’s garuka nkokwoli (return as you are) philosophy.

Njangali was also involved in building ecumenical relations between the major denominations in Uganda, namely, Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. In 1963, Njangali attended the All Africa Conference of Churches Consultation in Kampala, Uganda, in which she participated in a discussion on the place of women in the church. She believed that the role of any church was to meet the needs of the local community and that if Christian denominations in Uganda continued to engage in religious wars against one another, the needs of the local community would never be met. Njangali argued that the church in Uganda was called by Christ to shed the gospel light on God’s poor and broken people, rather than to allow inter-denominational quarrels to perpetuate the darkness of Uganda’s painful past history that had shamefully defined the church.Footnote 22

Njangali also believed that Christians in Uganda were called to live in a unity that respected diversity. She upheld the value of denominations but she also underlined the inherent dangers, saying that Christians in these denominations were called, as Christ’s own, to respect the dignity and wholeness of every human being. For every person is as precious and valued as God’s own son, Jesus Christ. She always said that the church is called to protect the body of the living Christ here on earth against the forces that would destroy it. The Uganda Joint Christian Council deeply respected Njangali’s position on ecumenism.

Even with such a good track record, Njangali was denied ordination on the grounds that she was a woman. The Church’s objections were inextricably intertwined with prejudice and cultural sensitivities. Those opposed to her ordination would note that throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, and from the early Christian Church to Njangali’s time, God always chose only men for all leadership positions. That in ancient times, only men of a specific Jewish tribe could act as priests. This act of discrimination was rooted in the cultural bias of Ugandan men. During Njangali’s time, men argued that God had appointed women to be subordinate to men and, therefore, there was no basis for Njangali to rule over men in any way. But Njangali always reminded the church that within the African traditional religion, there were numerous female deities, female mediums, female priests and female diviners. Men of all ranks paid respect to them. Although in the Ugandan traditional society women had a role in the spiritual sphere, this did not lead to the assumption that they could have a leadership role in the church. Perhaps the reason was that there were no women priests in the Christian Church at this time. For Njangali, the discrimination of women in the church seems to have come from the European culture but not from the African culture. She quickly used to point out that Jesus Christ broke with the tradition of male superiority on many occasions and that St Paul acknowledged female ministers. By allowing women ordination, Njangali argued, the church would be returning to Jesus Christ’s pattern of gender equality.

Debate Over the Ordination of Women in the Anglican Communion

Organizationally, the Anglican Communion during Njangali’s time mirrored the hierarchical male culture of the post-World War years. Men occupied all major decision-making positions. The debate over the ordination of women in the Anglican Communion began in the 1920s with the debate over the entry of women into the diaconate. In 1944 Florence Tim Oi Li was ordained in Hong Kong. The 1948 Lambeth Conference rejected a proposal from Hong Kong that would have validated Li’s ordination to the priesthood, warning that such an action would be against the Anglican tradition and order, and would gravely affect the internal and external relations of the Anglican Communion. Eventually Li withdrew from active ministry in the face of pressure on her bishop from the Anglican Communion.

In 1964, Phyllis Edwards was ordered deaconess in the Episcopal Church, and based on the current changes, her bishop announced his intentions of admitting her to the diaconate without re-ordaining her. In 1968, the Lambeth Conference agreed on women deacons and encouraged study of ordination of women as priests and referred all debates concerning this issue to the first meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in 1971.

In 1971, the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Limuru, Kenya, declared that it was acceptable for a bishop to ordain a woman to priesthood with the consent of his national church or province. The Council said:

By the end of 1977, a good number of women in the Anglican Communion were ordained priests.Footnote 24

The Anglican Communion’s decision to ordain women was partly as a result of the recognition of what certain women such as Njangali had already accomplished in their ministries. However, such recognition was never granted without a serious battle. However, some bishops in the Anglican Communion remained opposed to the ordination of women and refused to consider women candidates in their dioceses. Some churches remained open on this issue and the Lambeth Conference expressed the same consensus by commending respect for those people who held differing views on the ordination of women to priesthood. While debates continued over the ordination of women to priesthood, the 1980s brought about the question of the ordination of women to episcopacy. In 1988 a Convention of the Diocese of Massachusetts elected Barbara Harris as Suffragan bishop. The consecration of Harris as the first female bishop on February 11, 1989, in the Episcopal Church represented for many Anglican women, including Njangali, finally, full acceptance into the Anglican Communion as ordained ministers.Footnote 25

Njangali as a Deacon

While Njangali’s male counterparts were ordained into priesthood, she worked as a commissioned worker until September 10, 1973 when her former classmate, the Bishop Yustus Ruhindi ordained her as the first deacon in the whole of East Africa. Ruhindi studied at Berkeley Divinity School, Yale University, where he was exposed to many new theological ideas especially in the area of ecclesiology. He was very much influenced by the Broad Church movement as well as Billy Graham’s theology. Ruhindi was consecrated bishop on August 6, 1972, at St Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe and enthroned as the first bishop of the Bunyoro-Kitara diocese on October 29, 1972. He began by calling all the Christians in Bunyoro-Kitara diocese to rededicate themselves to God. He considered the church to be a home for everybody regardless of their sex.

Due to his theology of the church, Ruhindi found no reason as to why Njangali should not be made a deacon. On September 10, 1973 Njangali became the first woman to be made a deacon by any of the two major branches of Christianity in East Africa, namely, Roman Catholic and Anglican. Some people have wondered as to whether Njangali’s relation to the royal family of the ancient kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara was a factor in her becoming the first woman deacon in Uganda. Wilson Turumanya, the former Diocesan Secretary and retired Bishop of Bunyoro-Kitara, argues that Njangali’s relation to the royal family was not a factor in her becoming the first deacon in Uganda, rather her ordination was the result of Bishop Ruhindi’s policy of utilizing the empowering values within Christian Scripture and the Western culture such as equality and freedom to improve the status of women in his diocese.Footnote 26

While some lay people and the clergy welcomed Njangali’s ordination, others were outraged. They argued that it was sacrilegious and not biblical for a woman to be ordained deacon, because Jesus Christ did not have a woman among his apostles. Others attacked Njangali personally as a radical and as an unmarried woman who lacked a good example in society. Njangali agreed that she had never been married, but she did not feel that made her unsuitable for church ministry as a deacon. At the end of 1973 and early 1974, it looked as if the church in Bunyoro might split over the issue. On May 11, 1974 Bishop Ruhindi called the Bunyoro-Kitara Diocesan Council and one of the main items on the agenda was the ordination of women. In his charge, Ruhindi drew examples of women leaders from the revival movement. After a long debate on the issue, the Council unanimously accepted Njangali’s ordination. From 1974 onward, the ordination of women was not an issue in Bunyoro-Kitara diocese.Footnote 27

Although at this time a woman could be ordained a deacon in Bunyoro-Kitara diocese, she was not allowed to be ordained a priest. This meant that a woman could be an assistant but not a full member of the clergy. Many dioceses in the Church preferred to continue with the practice of commissioning women. During Njangali’s time, the majority of men and the clergy in the Church presumed to speak for God as they demanded for total obedience of women. It was therefore not easy for a lot of women in Uganda to experience God as empowering when they were in the Church’s ambit. The majority of women in the Church’s ambit experienced God as a source of women’s oppression and Jesus as the author of the exclusion of women from sacramental roles in the Church. But Njangali always saw herself clearly as the elect of God. Her intense loyalty to Jesus Christ shaped and directed her character. She was a woman totally available to the purposes of God. She knew she was a woman chosen to bind up the broken and to lift up the downtrodden women in Uganda. No matter the cost of personal hardship, Njangali never shunned from the call to duty. She was a woman ready to comply at once with Jesus Christ’s wishes for women in the Church.

Although Njangali was very influential, as a deacon, her status was not encouraging. For instance, she rarely preached as she had no parish. Her major work was to serve women through Mothers’ Union. Even under such circumstances, Njangali continued to advocate for the loving acceptance, due recognition and sympathetic support of deacons and other women workers in the Church as co-participants in the church ministry along with men. When Njangali advocated for loving acceptance, due recognition and sympathetic support of deacons and other women church workers, she was hoping that these women church workers would be strong pillars for establishing relationships of trust and mutuality with women in the pews. She hoped that women workers would be willing to talk about the reality of women’s experiences in their sermons and therefore be able to make connections between church, home and society. That in itself Njangali thought was a possibility for women to be included in the telling of the story of faith to the community of faith. She was of the view that the body language of women and men working together in ministry would be a gesture of men and women sharing leadership and responsibility. Njangali warned women deacons and other women church workers against the attitude of competition between them and men, a power struggle and a search for positions of dominance, or mere wars between the sexes. Njangali’s argument was that no matter how logical an argument in support of ordination of women might seem, if it deviates from the biblical values of equality, mutual respect and the dignity of persons, that argument ceases to be valid. She always said that the Bible texts that are for and against the ordination of women must be approached with a new perspective, neither from the point of view of women nor from the point of view of men.Footnote 28

In Uganda, the ordination of women was started in Kigezi diocese where, in the 1960s, Njangali had worked as the head of the Mothers’ Union Department. In 1983, with the support of his own diocese, Bishop Festo Kivengere of Kigezi ordained three women as priests in spite of official opposition from the Church. Since 1983 the Church has ordained women as priests.Footnote 29

As a result of Njangali’s church ministry, there are two views concerning the role of women in church ministry in Uganda. There are those who believe women should be permitted to hold all positions of pastoral authority in the Church. There are also those who believe that only men can hold such positions in the Church. Those Christians who believe that women should be restricted from holding an authoritative, pastoral role in the Church embrace what is known as the traditional view. Those who hold to the traditional view of women in ministry claim the support of traditional Christian thought and teaching throughout church history. On the other hand, those who believe as Njangali did that women possess the ability to occupy all positions of leadership within the Church embrace what is referred to as the ‘progressive’ view. Njangali’s work and ministry in the Church is on the whole a reflection of the inevitable influence of culture on Christian understanding. It is also a demonstration of how culture conditions people’s understanding of reality at a particular time and location.