Awuye, Gershom Wakabi (1932–2009)

Gershom Wakabi Awuye was an Adventist evangelist, pastor, church planter, and administrator in Uganda.

Early Life

Gershom Wakabi Awuye was born May 1, 1932, to Noah Lw’akumwa Wakabi and Bakoba Wakabi of Nawandala, Kigulu county in Iganga district, Uganda. G. W. Awuye was born in an extended polygamous family and he was the sixth child of his mother. His father, Noah Lw’akumwa Wakabi, was a parish chief and was among the very first people from the Basoga tribe¹ to be trained in literacy and catechism by the early Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) at Iganga. G. W. Awuye accepted the Adventist message in association with his elder brothers Yokoyakazi Kaswabuli and Methusela Bamulumbye, who were among the first Adventist trained teachers in the Eastern Uganda region. He was baptized on November 11, 1947. Over time, most of his siblings embraced the Adventist message and joined the church. As a result, the G. W. Awuye family roots expanded all over the Seventh-day Adventist Church in eastern Uganda, in the territory of the Uganda Union Mission, and beyond.

Education, Early Service, and Marriage

After embracing the Adventist message, G. W. Awuye and his elder brother, Bamulumbye, trained at the Adventist schools in eastern Uganda—starting at Busei SDA Primary School in Iganga, proceeding to Nawanende SDA Primary School, and later going to Kakoro SDA School in Mbale for his junior and secondary school education.

G. W. Awuye next went to Bishop Tucker College, Mukono, where he completed his post-secondary education and graduated as a grade III primary school teacher in 1953. In January 1954, he began his career in church service as a fulltime teacher at Namulesa SDA Primary School where he served for five years in what was then the Uganda Field. In 1959 G. W. Awuye briefly served at Katikamu Primary School, after which he transferred to Busei as a substantive head teacher at the age of 27. During the time of his stay at Busei, G. W. Awuye lived with his family at Bugodi village near Iganga town on the Jinja highway.

On January 24, 1956, G. W. Awuye met Janet and later married her at the Busei SDA Church. They were blessed with nine children, six girls and three boys, six of whom are still alive and serving in various capacities in the Church within Uganda and beyond.

From Teaching to Preaching

Although G. W. Awuye had a very successful teaching career, his passion and heart were focused on the ministry of the Word. It was during his years of service at Busei as the head teacher that G. W. Awuye received his call to the gospel ministry. In 1961 he left his post at Busei and enrolled at Bugema Adventist Missionary College (now Bugema University) to train as a gospel minister. In 1965 G. W. Awuye went to Solusi College (now Solusi University) in Zimbabwe, where he acquired a higher diploma in ministry encompassing skills and knowledge in church leadership, church management, and principles of administration. With his strong background in education, G. W. Awuye became an astute student of the Word and turned out to be a prolific and effective teacher and preacher in the pulpit. He was ordained to the gospel ministry on October 11, 1968.²

Pastor Awuye worked as a frontline pastor from 1968 to 1988, when he became the executive director of EUF. During these years, he served in various places in the Uganda Field (now Uganda Union Mission). Notable among the places where he served was Masaka, where he conducted an evangelistic meeting at which Balam Kirya, who later became president of Eastern Uganda Field, was converted and baptized. Also notable was the Nsuube SDA Church district in the Busoga region, from where he started the gospel work in Jinja town, which did not have any Adventist presence at the time. He then went to Makerere SDA Church in Kampala and is believed to have started many of the present-day church congregations in Kampala city.

When the Uganda Union Mission was organized in 1989, G. W. Awuye was elected as the first executive director of the Eastern Uganda Field, where he served devotedly and diligently in laying the foundation of the work in the eastern Uganda territory. After serving his full term as executive director, he was assigned to lead the department of evangelism and personal ministries at the Uganda Union Mission, where he served with passion until his retirement in 1995.

Years in Retirement

G. W. Awuye formally retired from active church service on December 31, 1994. In retirement, Awuye continued to be a prolific gospel crusader for Jesus Christ, establishing new congregations and conducting church revivals and seminars on Daniel and Revelation. He never lessened his pace in mission. It is believed that his homiletical astuteness in evangelism was more evident during the years that followed his formal retirement. It was as if the Spirit of the Lord had descended upon him in a more bountiful measure than ever before. On an annual basis, he conducted more gospel rallies during this period than during his active years of ministry. His wife asserts that her husband was much sought after as a preacher and church planter during the time of his retirement to the extent that almost all his weekends were full of preaching appointments.³

In the final years of his life, Pastor Awuye ventured back into his old profession of teaching when he pioneered in the establishment of an educational institution called Eastern Progressive Secondary School, operated as a family ministry to the community.

Pastor Awuye is remembered by his family members as a resilient person who seldom fell sick. The short illness that took his life started as a breathing complication and in a couple of days he was pronounced dead, thus ending an illustrious ministry of the gallant soldier of Christ. He rested from the labors of this world on November 11, 2009, at the age of 77. He was buried at his ancestral home in Bugodi, Mayuge district, near Iganga town, where he rests awaiting the trumpet call of the Lord Jesus Christ upon His Second Coming.

Legacy

One of G. W. Awuye’s childhood friends and fellow workers in the ministry, Pastor Mukaabya Livingstone, describes him as “one of the most prolific and inspirational preachers Uganda has ever produced.”⁴ G. W. Awuye is thought to be one of the greatest public crusaders in the history of Uganda. He was endowed with the gift of public speaking. He was the first Ugandan local evangelist to hold gospel rallies with a seating capacity of 1,000. In his 40 years of active service to the Church, G. W. Awuye is believed to have established more than 53 local congregations in unentered areas through various evangelistic activities. He led out in more than 120 gospel rallies that resulted in the revival and reawakening of many struggling congregations in the present-day Uganda Union Mission.

Sources

Service record of Geshom Wakabi Awuye, Uganda Union Mission, Kampala, Uganda.

Notes

1. The Basoga tribe, found at the shores of Lake Victoria and along the Nile River, constitutes the Busoga Kingdom with 11 Chiefdoms. It is among the biggest and most dominant tribes in Uganda with a population of over three million people, according to the Uganda “National Populations and Housing Census, 2014,” https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/census/documents/Uganda/UGA-2014-11.pdf.↩

2. Janet K. Awuye, a telephone interview by the author.↩

3. Janet K. Awuye, interview by the author, Bugodi, near Iganga town, Eastern Uganda.↩

4. Pastor Livingstone Mukaabya, interview by the author. Mukaabya grew up with G. W. Awuye, and later found themselves together in the gospel ministry.↩