No miracles in Rwanda: An American missionary comes to Rwanda with his entourage and his claims of healing

By Josh Kron
The Guardian
Friday 16 April 2010

Not a lot of planes land at Rwanda's central airport. Perched on the top of a hill, Kigali International is a tiny architectural throwback from the 1970s, incongruent with the country's forward-looking and ambitious plans. Most of the traffic is from nearby outposts such as Bujumbura, Burundi or Uganda; propeller planes and commuter jets. A couple times a week, the late-night gets in from Brussels, Rwanda's commercial link to Europe.

Walking across the runway one bright morning on a recent arrival in Kigali, something was blocking the sun, something out of place; a massive 747 Jumbo Jet. It towered as large as the terminal, with specially painted livery. It belonged to the American televangelist and missionary Ernest Angley. As well as the jet, Angley owns his own broadcast network, and his crusades and sermons are – he claims – broadcast to nearly 1 billion people from Indonesia to the Caribbean.

Packed into the jumbo-jet were stadium speakers, flood lights, scaffolding and television cameras, and a full stage crew to operate it. On this trip to Rwanda the Star Triple Seven brought 80 followers from America, including doctors, teachers, and sheriffs; they booked out much of Rwanda's most expensive hotel.

American missionaries in Africa have a bad reputation , but they claim that they can react more quickly and effectively to disasters than secular aid agencies, and some are certainly popular.

In Kigali last month Angley was the biggest show in town. Thousands attended his sermons each day; donations were given and books sold. Dozens of Angley's assistants, clad in neon-green t-shirts, had been handing out fliers throughout Kigali's downtown the week before, offering: hymns, prayers, and miracle healings. Grandmothers and young boys poured onto the soccer fields in their weekend best. On stage, a Rwandan R&B singer crooned an evangelical song about Jesus. For a country often quiet and sober, it was a rare and loud public gathering.

This wasn't Angley's first time in Rwanda; and as he called for the sick and deaf to line up along the side of the stage to be healed, he listed some of his work here. He has visited hospitals, prisons, schools and orphanages, he said, and has handed out thousands of bibles. He had an advertising campaign banned in South Africa in 2007 because he claimed to have healed cases of Aids. His reaction to this is to shout "We have the documents! We have the documents!" on stage.

Between performances, Angley sat on the corner of the stage in a white plastic chair. A younger man in sunglasses stood on the steps of the stage at the ready in case anything happened. Angley is 88 years old. On stage his voice can be shaky and scarce. He wears make up and a dark toupee. "Don't I act like I'm 29?" Angley asked the crowd. They laughed and cheered . "Don't I act like I'm 29? I just keep on going."