Late Pastor Ezra Mpyisi, an elder and mentor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Rwanda has been laid to rest by hundreds of mourners including government officials and church leaders.
Pastor Mpyisi passed away on January, 27 at the age 102.
This Sunday, government, church leaders and friends accompanied the Mpyisi family to bid farewell to their beloved father and grandfather.
They included the former President of the Senate and Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza, Retired Anglican Bishop, John Rucyahana and former chairman of the Unity and Reconciliation Commission and retired Catholic Bishop Smargde Mbonyintege of Kabgayi diocese among others.
Mourners bid farewell to Pastor Mpyisi’s body at the Seventh Day Adventist University in Kigali and was later afternoon buried at the Rusororo cemetery in a ceremony attended by many Rwandans including family members, close and distant friends.
Mpyisi’s burial was marked with memorial of his commitment to spreading the word of God, compassion and mentoring people in the ways of God.
Before his death, the renowned and outspoken pastor had embarked on a religious calling to distribute the Bible to Rwandans and had requested that the same is done if he died.
One of his son, Gerald Bayingana told mourners that his father (Pastor Mpyisi) had tasked him to distribute free bibles and since March 2023, his father had distributed 1,300 free bibles.
Bayingana revealed that in order to honor his father’s legacy, the family plans to establish “Pastor Mpyisi Bible foundation” to the effect and carry on his legacy.