Thousands turn up for X-mas prayers

KIGALI - Thousands of Christians in Kigali city turned up in several places of worship to celebrate the birth of Jesus. When The Sunday Times visited Zion Temple, one of the city’s biggest Pentecostal churches at around 8.00 am, hundreds of Christians were already in the church praising and worshiping in a service that was led by Pastor Paul Gitwaza.

Sunday, December 26, 2010
St Michele Church was filled to capacity during Christmas Day prayers (Photo / T. Kisambira)

KIGALI - Thousands of Christians in Kigali city turned up in several places of worship to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

When The Sunday Times visited Zion Temple, one of the city’s biggest Pentecostal churches at around 8.00 am, hundreds of Christians were already in the church praising and worshiping in a service that was led by Pastor Paul Gitwaza.

The same celebratory mood was exhibited by Christians who turned up for prayers at the St. Michael Catholic Church situated in the city centre.

Here, the congregation included high profile personalities like ministers and the who is who of our society.

At St. Etienne Anglican Church in Nyamirambo, thousands of believers turned up for the two services, the English service which ends at 10am and Kinyarwanda service which ended at 1pm.

The new Bishop of Kigali Diocese, Louis Muvunyi, led the services which were also attended by ministers, Dr. Richard Sezibera of Health and James Musoni of the Local Government and Charles Munyaneza, the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

The rest of the city was quiet during the morning hours as most shops remained closed with the exception of some places like the popular Nyabugogo market where people were seen still shopping.

Ends