In Memoriam: Evangelist Kalisa

February 2023

This week in Uganda, we lost to this life one of CIM’s evangelists, Alphonse Kalisa. Evangelist Kalisa was refugee from Rwanda who settled with others in Uganda many years ago to escape war in his own country. He quickly became a part of the village community where he settled and took on the work of an evangelist, springing out from one of the CIM churches. He lived in Buhumuliro village and his home church was Njumbira. Evangelist Kalisa did the work—traveling by foot, bicycle, and later the motorcycle purchased for him by CIM.

Evangelist Alphonse Kalisa (pictured third from left)

In the few days prior to his death, he had attended a CIM board meeting and visited a village for ongoing evangelism. He is responsible for churches being planted and people being saved across a wide area. He leaves his wife, children, and brethren who will miss him dearly, including those of us in the U.S. who knew him. We remember seeing him leaping off the ground in fervent praise. He was always quiet and contemplative around us, perhaps because of the language barrier, but we believe he knew of our great love for him and respect for what he was doing for the body of Christ.

Alphonse was young, but his life was full. He had set up a market in the town near his village, in addition to the constant evangelism that he did. Whenever we traveled to Uganda, we could always expect to see him at whatever church we visited.

We grieve with his family and our Ugandan brothers and sisters, but not without hope, for we will see him again.