FIFTH ARCHBISHOP OF BURUNDI ELECTED

24 May 2021 • News

THE FIFTH ARCHBISHOP OF BURUNDI ELECTED

The Bishop of Buye, the Rt. Rev. Sixbert Macumi, has been elected as the fifth Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Burundi. Bishop Sixbert will succeed Archbishop Martin Blaise Nyaboho, who has led the church since 2016, when he is installed on 21st August 2021

Bishop Sixbert was born in 1968 in Gakoni, in the eastern province of Muyinga. He was baptised in 1979 in the parish of Giteranyi and confirmed in 1981. At the age of 20, when he was a member of the Bible group and the choir at the Technical School of Buhiga, he made a commitment to Christ. Two years later he felt called to full time service in the Church.

Supported by Buye diocese, he studied theology at the Theological Institute of Matana from 1991-1994, and gained a diploma. During that time he was ordained deacon. After his studies he returned to Buye diocese and taught at Bishop Barham Theological College in Buye. He was ordained as a pastor in 1996 and worked as Director and teacher at Bishop Barham College while also serving as a pastor at Gatukuza parish and at All Saints Cathedral, Buye.

From 1997 he was Diocesan Secretary for Buye diocese until, in 2000, he resumed his theological studies at Uganda Christian University from where he gained a diploma in Theology. After studies he returned again to Buye where he continued to teach at Bishop Barham College.

He became the coordinator of the department for evangelism and was also involved in the coordination and development of Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade in Burundi.

Bishop Sixbert became the third Bishop of the oldest diocese in the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi in 2005. At Provincial level he is chaplain to the Mothers’ Union.

Married to Clotilde Muhimpundu, a primary school teacher, he has three daughters.