Condolences pour in for renowned evangelist Bonnke

President Uhuru Kenyatta and German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke during the dedication ceremony of the Faith Evangelistic Ministry's Family Church in Karen.

Condolences are pouring in for Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, who died on Saturday aged 79.

Bonnke is well-known for his Great Gospel Crusades throughout Africa.

Leaders and Christians across the world paid glowing tribute to a man they said touched their hearts with his message on Holy Spirit evangelism.

Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari mourned the renowned evangelist, describing his death as a great loss to Nigeria, Africa and the whole world.

“Great loss to Nigeria, Africa and the entire world,” said Buhari in a tweet.

In his tribute, televangelist Benny Hinn said few had touched his life as Bonnke did.

“The home-going celebration for my dear friend Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke has begun. Few have touched my life as he did. My heart is broken for his wife Anni, and his family, yet I join them in honouring the remarkable legacy of a life well lived,” said Hinn in a tweet.

American televangelist Paula White-Cain said Bonnke “was one of the greatest evangelists of our time”.

“I was honoured to minister with you on several occasions. You served Jesus well and finished your course,” she said.

Bonnke first visited Kenya in 1988 and instantly became a household name, with a number of parents even naming their children after him.

He was born in 1940 in Königsberg, Germany. The city on the Baltic Sea is now called Kaliningrad, and is part of Russia.

His passing was confirmed by his family through a Facebook post on Saturday. In the post, his wife Anni Suelze said Bonnke passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family.

“Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, it is with sorrow that the Bonnke family would like to announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on December 7, 2019,” said Suelze.

Unwavering support

She added: “We want to thank you on behalf of him and our family for your kind love and unwavering support, which enabled him to preach the matchless message of salvation to countless people.”

It has now been 45 years since Bonnke founded the international ministry of Christ for all Nations (CfaN), which currently has offices in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Nigeria, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.

The Pentecostal preacher oversaw more than 79 million conversions to Christianity, his organisation says.

In his biography posted on the CfaN website, it was said Bonnke, who was the son of a pastor, gave his life to the Lord at age nine, and heard the call to the African mission field before he was even a teenager.

After attending Bible college in Wales, and his ordination in Germany, he pastored a church and then went on to start missionary work in Africa.

“It was there, in the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, that God placed upon his heart the vision of ‘the continent of Africa,” read the document. He founded CfaN in 1974.

Live audiences

Bonnke drew some of the largest live audiences in history. In November 2000, at a single meeting in Lagos, Nigeria, 1.6 million attendees heard him preach.

His activities in Africa at times stirred controversy.

In 1991, there were religious riots in the Nigerian city of Kaduna after police granted permission for Bonnke to hold a revival meeting and thousands of Muslims took to the streets in uproar. At least eight people were reported killed.

In 1999, 16 people died in a stampede during a rally organised by Bonnke in Benin City, Nigeria.

In 2014, the Associated Press reported that he was living in a $3 million (Sh305 million) apartment near Palm Beach, Florida in the United States.

Bonnke held a farewell gospel campaign in 2017 in Nigeria, after which he stepped down as the organisation’s leader due to health issues. The ministry is now under the leadership of Evangelist Daniel Kolenda.