Copyright by Fred Jenga 2020

The Dissertation Committee for Fred Jenga Certifies that this is the approved version of the following Dissertation:

“Selling God in Uganda”: A Critical Cultural Study of Persuasion in

Mediatized Neo-Pentecostalism

Committee:

Barry Brummett, Supervisor

Sharon Jarvis

Scott Stroud

Oloruntoyin Falola

“Selling God in Uganda”: A Critical Cultural Study of Persuasion in Mediatized Neo-Pentecostalism

by

Fred Jenga

Dissertation

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Texas at Austin December 2020

Dedication

This work is dedicated to the Late Reverend Robert Hesse, CSC. A dedicated long term missionary to Uganda ~ He “loved tenderly, acted justly,” and deeply cared for the poor.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the Congregation of Holy Cross for giving me the opportunity, the time, and the needed resources to pursue graduate studies in the United States. I am grateful to the members of the Holy Cross communities where I lived in Berkeley

California, St Joseph Hall in Austin, and Brother Vincent Pieau Residence in Austin.

Special thanks go to the community directors (Harry Cronin, CSC; Harold Hathaway, CSC; and William Nick, CSC) who saw to it that I am comfortable, and lacked nothing.

I also thank my dissertation committee that included Professors Barry Brummett

(advisor and chair), Sharon Jarvis, Scott Stroud, and Falola Toyin. All my encounters with the committee were highly engaging and academically stimulating. Thank you too to other

Professors who have been part of my studies in the field of Journalism and Communication such as Monica Chibita, Goretti Linda Nassanga, George Lugalambi, Gust Yep, Karen

Lovaas, Amy Kilgard, Samuel McCormick, Mindi Golden, Roderick Hart, Josh Gunn, and

Madeline Maxwell.

Lastly I thank my family, my classmates, and several confreres in Holy Cross who have been in graduate studies in the US at the same time with me such as David Eliaona,

Linus Nviiri, and Patrick Tumwine. Thank you all for your encouragement and for your support.

v “Selling God in Uganda”: A Critical Cultural Study of Persuasion in Mediatized Neo-Pentecostalism

Fred Jenga, PhD The University of Texas at Austin, 2020

Supervisor: Barry Brummett

Abstract

This Africa-focused study explored the mediatized religious rhetoric of neo-

Pentecostalism in Uganda. Situated at the intersection of communication and religion, I explored the construction of neo-Pentecostal rhetoric and also questioned the long term social impact of such rhetoric on Uganda and other developing countries.

Interdisciplinary in nature, my study focused on three Ugandan pastors who own media houses, and have a long term presence in media. Through a contemporary rhetorical analysis of television broadcast programs and popular books written by the pastors, I examined the construction of the rhetoric in relation to the Ugandan socio-economic and cultural context. The study reveals that through a good reading of Ugandan traditional cultural beliefs and practices, and a good understanding of Ugandan socio-economic challenges, the pastors have strategically created religious rhetoric that is effectively aligned with the needs of a Ugandan audience. Through appropriation of media technology, the pastors produce and circulate rhetoric that promises hope, economic upward mobility, and good health for all through a miraculous intervention of God. vi While the neo=Pentecostal rhetoric has provided some answers to help Ugandans cope with their challenges, in primarily proposing faith in God, relentless prayer, donations to

God through the pastors, and honor and obedience to the pastors, neo-Pentecostal rhetoric has potential of shifting attention away from social and systemic causes like bad governance that underpin many Ugandan social challenges.

Key Terms: Cultural Studies, Rhetoric, Media, Pentecostalism, Uganda.

vii Table of Contents

List of Tables……………………………………………………………………….xi

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………...xii

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION………………………………………...1

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...1

Definition of terms……………………………………………………………………5

Historical background to Pentecostalism……………………………………………11

Historical background to Communication and religion in Uganda………………….17

Anglicanism and Catholicism in the Print Media……………………………………18

Catholicism and Anglicanism in the Broadcast Media………………………………24

Islam and Media in Uganda………………………………………………………….29

Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism in Media in Uganda……………………………30

Other Christian faith groups in Media……………………………………………….33

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAME.35

Overview of the chapter……………………………………………………………...35

Communication and Religion in North America and Europe………………………..38

Communication and Religion in Africa……………………………………………...49

Cultural Studies as a Theoretical Frame……………………………………………..56

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY………………………………………...65

Design and Approach………………………………………………………………...65

Data Management……………………………………………………………………69

Constructing the "text"……………………………………………………………….71

Analyzing the "text"………………………………………………………………….77

viii CHAPTER FOUR: DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS………………………………...81

Overview of the chapter and the analytical process………………………………….81

Profiles of Pastors Kayanja, Kiganda, and Serwadda………………………………..85

Broadcast programs of Kayanja…………………………………………………….91

Broadcast programs of Kiganda…………………………………………………….120

Broadcast programs of Serwadda…………………………………………………..135

Printed material of Kayanja…………………………………………...... 139

Printed material of Kiganda………………………………………...... 151

Printed material of Serwadda……………………………………………………….150

Synthesis of the broadcast and printed work of the three pastors…………………..165

CHAPTER FIVE: CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS……………………………….178

Overview of the chapter…………………………………………………………….178

Uganda's traditional culture and beliefs…………………………………...... 188

Uganda's unstable and violent political history…………………………………….194

The effects of neo-liberal reforms and corruption on Uganda……………………...203

CHAPTER SIX: EVALUATION AND GENERAL CONCLUSION…………219

Evaluation of the mediatized neo-Pentecostal rhetoric in Uganda…………………219

Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………….233

General Conclusion…………………………………………………………...... 234

ix Appendix 1: ……………………………………………………………………...238

References………………………………………………………………………..239

x List of Tables

Table 1: Cathollic broadcast stations in Uganda…………………………….…26

Table 2: Pentecostal and Evangelical broadcast stations in Uganda…………..31 Table 3: Broadcast stations of other Christian faith groups in Uganda……. ….33 Table 4: Titles of Kayanja's broadcast programs………………………….…...92 Table 5: Titles of Kiganda's broadcast programs………………………….….121 Table 6: Titles of Serwadda's broadcast programs………………………..…..137

Table 7: Titles of books written by Kayanja…………………………….……140 Table 8: Lay out of chapters in Kayanja's book………………………………146 Table 9: Lay out of chapters in Kiganda's book………………………………153 Table 10: Titles of books and pamphlets written by Serwadda…………..……156 Table 11: Lay out of chapters in Serwadda's book……………………….……158 Table 12: Key themes in the rhetorical texts of the three pastors………...……165 Table 13: Subject positions taken by the three pastors……………………...…171 Table 14: Major ethnic groups in Uganda………………………………………188

Table 15: Similarities between African Traditional beliefs and Pentecostalism..193

Table 16: Uganda Corruption Perception Index…………………………………212

xi List of Figures

Figure 1: Map of Uganda showing linguistic and cultural composition……….…189

xii CHAPTER ONE: General Introduction

Introduction

According to a 2006 survey of global Christianity by the Pew Forum on Religion and

Public Life (2006), Pentecostalism and related Charismatic ‘spirit-filled’ movements represent one of the fastest growing segments of global Christianity. The study points out that Pentecostalism was one of the most influential developments of the 20th century, and it was poised to have even greater influence in the 20th century. The report highlights that nowhere is the growth and influence of Pentecostalism and related movements more evident in shaping the social, the political, and the economic landscape, as has been in

Latin America and Africa.

Earlier studies by scholars such as Walls (1996), Jenkins (2007), Fyfe and Walls

(1996) had also noted the gradual shift of the growth of Pentecostalism from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere. Jenkins (2007) particularly notes that the “centre of gravity in the Christian world has shifted inexorably southward, to Africa, and Latin

America” where “the largest Christian communities on the planet are to be found”(p.1).

Fyfe and Walls (1996) observe that the dramatic growth has been largely in the

Pentecostal brand of Christianity which is becoming “the standard Christianity of the present age” (p.3).

This Uganda-focused study explored the rapid growth of Pentecostalism or

Charismatic Christianity in Africa with a specific focus on its rhetoric. The increasing growth of Pentecostalism in countries in Africa points to the effectiveness of the religious

1 rhetoric being used on the continent. My interest was to understand the reason for such effectiveness. Whereas Pentecostalism or Charismatic Christianity has been studied elsewhere, there are no known scholarly studies from a rhetorical studies perspective that have examined how such religious rhetoric is constructed and operates under the particularities of a Ugandan context. The focus of the study was to explore how such rhetoric is being constructed, how it operates in a Ugandan context, and the nature of logics that underpin its operations.

This study unpacks the Pentecostal rhetoric in Uganda investigating its features, exploring contextual elements that have fostered its growth, and unveiling the logics that underpin its operations. Specific guiding questions for this research included: How is

Pentecostal religious rhetoric being constructed in Uganda? What contextual elements have fostered the growth of such rhetoric in Uganda? What positive or problematic discourses hide behind such rhetoric in Uganda? What social impact will such religious rhetoric have on Uganda? My research questions address the nature of the messages being constructed, highlighting the rhetorical strategies being employed. My questions also explore the socio-economic context of Uganda noting elements that have influenced the reception of the messages. I also note the role the appropriation of media technology has played in this type of religious rhetoric; and I conclude with an evaluation of what the growth of such religious rhetoric means for Uganda and other developing countries.

Another justification for this study is that religion has been a powerful element in world affairs throughout the ages. History is replete with examples where religion

2 influenced politics, economics, and culture. The rapid growth of any religious group in terms of numbers and media influence has significant social repercussions. As Shorter and Njiru (2007) note, the East African region in particular has seen in recent years the rapid growth of Pentecostalism or “charismatic” Christianity (Shorter & Njiru; Pew

Forum on Religion and Public Life, 2006) and such growth calls for inquiry so as to understand the social repercussions.

In the study, I examined mediatized messages of select Pentecostal-Charismatic pastors or preachers in Uganda. I examined on archival material of audio-visual artifacts in form of sermons, teachings, songs, prayers, testimonies; and documentary artifacts specifically books that were written by the pastors or preachers. Detailed information about the select pastors and their cultural artifacts examined is provided later in the methodology section.

Pentecostalism is a broad concept that encompasses different groups and movements in Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world. My study focus on neo-

Pentecostalism or “New Wave” Pentecostalism that is the fastest growing version of

Pentecostalism known particularly for it promises of prosperity, healing, quick happiness, contentment, and purpose in life. It is this type of Pentecostal Christianity that is rapidly being spread through radio and television, revival camps, conferences and conventions that have become a common feature in many African cities. Key characteristics of “new wave” Pentecostal or Charismatic churches and movements include the elements that they are independent, founder-led Churches and movements run by indigenous pastors,

3 apostles, or prophet who extensively use media in their operations and in spreading their message (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2004, p.65). Detailed elaboration of Pentecostalism and in particular “new wave” Pentecostalism is provided later in this study under the different categorizations of Pentecostalism.

The study is divided into six chapters. Chapter One introduces the research problem, the research questions, the justification for the study, definition of key terms, the historical background to Pentecostalism, and the intersection of communication and religion in Uganda’s history. Chapter Two explores studies on Communication and religion highlighting existing scholarly gaps that my study attends to. In the same chapter

I also explain the theoretical framework that guides my study.

In the Third Chapter I explain my methodology in terms of research design, sampling, data management, and analytical methods drawn from the field of rhetoric. In the Fourth

Chapter I make thick descriptions of the work of the three select pastors or rhetors, looking at their broadcasts and the books they have written. The Fifth Chapter focuses on an interpretive analysis of the work of the three identified pastors from a rhetorical studies approach. I make an internal and an external analysis. In the Sixth Chapter I make an evaluation of the religious rhetoric of the pastors, with an eye on truth and ethical considerations; ideological and hegemonic considerations. It is also in the same chapter where I highlight limitations of my study and I make recommendations for directions for possible future studies.

4

Definition of terms

Asamoah-Gyadu (2005) broadly defines Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity as

“Christian groups- churches, movements and fellowships-which emphasize salvation in

Christ as a transformative experiences wrought by the Holy Spirit and in which pneumatic phenomena including ‘speaking in tongues’, prophecies, visions, healing and miracles in general, are perceived to be standing in historic continuity with the experience of the early church as found in the Acts of the Apostles”(p.12).

To Asamoah-Gyadu (2015), the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not only valued and accepted, but they are encouraged as a sign of God’s presence in the lives of the believers. It should be noted that the emphasis on the dramatic manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as “speaking in tongues” or glossolalia is what differentiates Pentecostals and the broad group called “Evangelicals.” Evangelicals primarily understand conversion as “accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior” without necessarily emphasizing the manifestations of the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues.

Anderson (2015) provides four broad categorizations of Pentecostalism operative on the African continent and these include: Classical Pentecostalism, African

Independent “Spirit” churches, Older Church Charismatics, and Neo-Pentecostal and neo-charismatic Churches. These categories overlap in some aspect and cannot be considered neat categorizations, but can in a sense shed light on the emphases of each of the churches or movements. 5

According to Anderson (2015), “Classical Pentecostals” have their origins in

Western revival and missionary movements at the dawn of the twentieth century.

Theologians tend to categorize Classical Pentecostals into four main groups: the Holiness

Pentecostals, the Baptists of “Finished Work” Pentecostals, the Oneness Pentecostals, and the Apostolic Pentecostals. The “Holiness Pentecostals” who trace their origins in the

19th century holiness movement, emphasize effort at personal sanctification. The

“Finished Work” Pentecostals primarily emphasize conversion and then allowing God to lead one sanctification. The “Oneness Pentecostals” reject the doctrine of the Trinity, and also teach Unitarianism in Jesus Christ’s nature. The Apostolic Pentecostals believe in the authority of present day ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets. The emphasis in all these sub- groups with a Western is belief in empowerment by the Holy Spirit, ordinarily demonstrated through the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as speaking in tongues or glossolalia.

The African independent “Spirit” churches according to Henderson(2015) include churches started in the early twentieth century by African leaders, some reacting to what was perceived as cold formalism in the missionary churches. Their practices of healing, prayer and spiritual gifts are decidedly “Pentecostal” (Turner 1979, p.97). In Southern

Africa there are the Zionists and Apostolic Churches, “Zion-type” and “Spirit-type” churches; in Central Africa they include Kimbaguists and various prophet-led movements; in West Africa “spiritual”, “Prophet healing” and “Aladura” (prayer)

6 churches; and in East Africa “Pentecostal” and “spiritual” churches. Most of these churches prefer to be known as “churches of the spirit.”

Anderson (2015) further notes that some African Independent “spirit” churches claim links to “Classical Pentecostalism” but several “classical” Pentecostal sub-groups distance themselves from links with African “spirit” churches which they which they pejoratively view as “syncretistic” for combining Pentecostal Christian beliefs with

African traditional religious beliefs. The various beliefs and practices of the African

Independent churches situate them among the broader category of Pentecostal churches, with the exception that they tend to be attentive to African cultural beliefs, rarely expand beyond their regions; and in case of expansion it is ordinarily to places where people from the church’s origin have immigrated to. For instance, when significant numbers of people from a region where such a church operates immigrate to a different part of the country or the world, likely a branch of such an African Independent church will be established in such an area.

The “Older Church Charismatics” refer to members of older churches such as the

Catholic Church, and the Anglican Churches who practice a version of Christianity in many ways similar to the Pentecostal. These movements that go by the names of Catholic

Charismatics, Anglican Charismatics, and Protestant Charismatics according to Anderson

(2015) “remain in established older churches, are widespread in Africa, and often approach the subject of Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts from a sacramental

7 perspective”(pp.68-69). This section of Christians in the older Churches has grown over the years and in some African countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria constitute a significant segment in older churches. There are widespread and large numbers of older

Church charismatic renewal movement members in Africa than in Europe and North

America.

The fourth category is the “Neo-Pentecostal” or “Neo-charismatic Churches”— sometimes known as “New Wave” or “Third Wave” churches. According to Anderson

(2015) “these are probably the largest of the new churches in Africa. They include mega churches in African cities, and consist a) ‘Word of Faith’ churches and similar churches all formed since 1975, where the emphasis is on physical health and material prosperity by faith. Examples include the Rhema Ministries of Ray McCauley in South Africa, and

David Oyedepo’s the “Winners Chapel” churches in Nigeria and around the world.

Different scholars (Marshal-Fratani, 1998; Ihejirika, 2005, 2006a; Ukah, 2008a, 2008b;

Kalu, 2008) these kinds of churches and “ministries” as the fastest growing segment of

African Pentecostalism. They combine an entrepreneurial spirit, a deeper understanding of the African cultural context, and an ability to tap into powerful global currents such as the use of media technology like radio, television, the print, billboards, and digital platforms meant for public consummation. The “New Wave” or the “Third Wave” churches are the primary focus of my study in Uganda.

8

A different term that needs clarification is “charismatic.” The earlier use of the term referred to African Independent Churches (AICs) that emerged during colonial times as a protest against the Westernization of Christianity. Such churches tended to combine elements of classical Pentecostalism and aspects of African traditional religious beliefs and worship styles. With the growing Westernization of AICs in Africa and the adoption of aspects of the African world views in classical Pentecostalism the neat conceptual boundaries between “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” are fading. Given such conceptual fluidity between “Pentecostal” and “Charismatic” there is an emerging tendency among scholars such as De Witte (2005a) to combine the terms into the hybrid term “Pentecostal-Charismatic” or “Charismatic/Pentecostal” (Hackett (1998) that covers the two related groups and movements.

Anderson (2005) pointedly observes that the challenge of getting airtight classifications for Pentecostalism as a religious movement is situated in the varied nature it manifests itself in Africa. The consequence of such a situation is that Pentecostalism can mean different things to different people (Van Dijk 1992, p.159; Asamoah-Gyadu,

2005c, p.1). Some scholars such as Kalu (2008) have actually argued that because of the variations in Pentecostalism and an absence of a uniform set of beliefs and practices; and a lack of a single leadership structure, scholars need to speak of “Pentecostalisms” so as to capture the existing variations. The variations in Pentecostalism sometimes makes it difficult to study, make comparisons, or find similarities with faith groups.

9

Other terms that need clarification are “mediation” and “mediatization.” Gunter

(2015) argues that “ ‘mediation’ lies at the core of religion and the dynamics of mediation have always been crucial for any sound understanding of religious communication”(p.1).

For instance, different individuals in the scripture have played the role of mediation as prophets or mediums for different deities. “Mediatization” on the other hand is a deliberate choice of religious institutions or individuals to employ media technologies in their operations. Mediatization therefore appears a meta-concept in the sense that mediatized messages can carry mediated messages where a pastor or prophet speaks on behalf of God or any other deity over a radio or television. Gunter notes that several religious institutions have undergone a process of “mediatization” in recent years through appropriation of media technologies (Gunter, 2015). The Ugandan context with its colonial experience and successive dictatorial regimes that relied on the state-controlled media to control the masses, there appears an enduring association of media with authority and truth. There are also operative cultural beliefs and attitudes in Uganda about power and authority that may need to be explored so as to understand how mediatized religious rhetoric functions in such a context.

The term “rhetoric” can be fluid and mean different things to different people in different contexts. As used in this study “rhetoric” follows Aristotle (335 BC) who in his book The Rhetoric defined rhetoric as “the power of discovering the means of persuasion in any given situation.” Other contemporary scholars such as Kypers and King (2016) follow Aristotle’s definition by defining rhetoric as “the strategic use of communication,

10 oral or written, to achieve specifiable goals” (p.10). The definition of rhetoric that best captures the sense in which I use it in my study is provided by Campbell and Burkholder

(1997) who define rhetoric as “persuasive discourses, written and oral, encountered face- to-face or through the electronic or print media that seek to affect attitudes and actions”

(p.3). My study focuses on strategic persuasive religious communication through the electronic and print media, directed at changing people. There are other broader definitions of rhetoric that are valid but are not part of this study.

In the following section I provide a historical overview of Pentecostalism in Africa and Uganda in specific. Additionally, I also provide background information to the intersection of media and religion in Uganda upon which contemporary Pentecostalism has built its operations.

Historical background to Pentecostalism in Uganda

The history of Pentecostalism or Charismatic Christianity is a contested area within the available literature. In this section I provide some historical background of

Pentecostalism in Africa especially Uganda. I also highlight the debate between Western and African scholars about the historical origins of Pentecostalism in Africa. Differences exist among African and Western scholars as to location of the origins of Pentecostalism.

African scholars such as Kalu and Asamoh-Gyadu attribute the origins of

Pentecostalism to internal forces within Africa. On the other hand, Western scholars such as Birgit Meyer, Rijik van Dijk, David Maxwell, and Paul Gifford attribute the origins to the winds of globalization that started from the Western world. African scholars such as 11

Wariboko (2014) and Kalu (2008) specifically locate the origins of the version of

Pentecostalism currently popular in Africa, in itself. Kalu (2008) observes that “…it must be stressed that the events in Africa had little to do with what happened in the United

States from the 1960s onward” (p.99). The contemporary forms of Pentecostalism in

Africa according to Kalu, can be traced to idealistic, passionate, and evangelistic young

Africans who worked out of African secondary schools and universities. The 1970s, Kalu observes, witnessed a rise in young reformist, revivalist, and puritanical African preachers who changed the religious landscape in Africa. It is these young preachers who shaped Pentecostalism as it currently is on the planet, and it is some of these preachers who went on to start their own independent churches and ministries.

A different scholar Okorocha (1987) earlier before Kalu made arguments similar to

Kalu in tracing the origin of Pentecostalism. Okorocha notes:

Most of these Christians and the evangelical groups they lead have their roots in

the “Evangelical Revival” which was born during the Biafran War. The radical

evangelical Christianity of the modern Nigerian “Scripture Union Movement” is an

overspill of that “revival.” Reacting against what they see as the syncretism of the

second generation Christians, and rejecting the eclecticism of “urban man” these

young people seek to recover the fervor and power of first generation converts,

through a radical biblical literalism…though they generally refuse to be grouped

together with Independent African Churches whom they regard as extreme

12

indiginisers at best, or a form of “Christianized pagans” at worst. They insist on

purity of faith and conduct: combining the moral austerity of early Christian pietism

with the millennialism and exuberance of modern Pentecostalism, but seeking to

anchor all this in a strict Biblicism which reminds the observer of the European pre-

reformation humanists (Okorocha, 1987, p.74).

Whereas Pentecostal core beliefs are similar in many ways to beliefs of the group termed

“Evangelicals”, the Evangelicals place less emphasis on the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual. Evangelicals instead focus on prioritizing the authority of the Bible in an individual’s life, and a greater imperative to “win” people to

Christ.

The youthful upsurge was like a charismatic wind that blew through the African continent in the post-independence period. In each country, certain socio-economic and political factors determined the pattern of the early concerns. But the various strands connected across national boundaries. The movement emerged from young people groomed in the missionary churches, student-led charismatic movements in many African countries within the same period. Attesting to the youthful origin of the movement,

David Maxwell (2002) argued that these movements embody systematic attempts by young men, women, and youth to restructure social relations in the face of the intransigence of male elders, and that they represent the continuing search of the wider community for healing and liberation. The story of this youthful charismatic movement

13 was similar in various parts of the continent –from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria,

Ghana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. Kalu (2008) illustrates similarities in the origins of modern African Pentecostalism in the youth movements of the different African countries where the Pentecostalism grew rapidly.

The historical background of Christianity and Pentecostalism in Uganda used in this section relies on material drawn from an earlier journal article I wrote Pentecostal broadcasting in Uganda (Jenga, 2017). In the article I observe that in Uganda, the introduction of Christianity in general is traced to the arrival in Buganda Kingdom’s

Mutesa I’s palace of British explorer-journalist Henry Stanley Morton in 1874 (Tuma &

Mutibwa, 1978). Mutesa displayed interest in Christianity, and it was Stanley who asked for missionaries to evangelize the Kingdom in his famous letter in the Daily Telegraph of

15th November 1875. Anglican missionaries of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived in 1877, to be followed two years later by the Catholic White Fathers (W.F) in

1879. Both Anglican and Catholic missionaries stayed near the court of the King where there was considerable interest on the part of the young courtiers. Tuma and Mutibwa

(1978) further note that King Mwanga who succeeded his father Mutesa I originally welcomed both missionary groups, but was baffled by the rivalry between the two. The rivalries set the stage for later religious rivalries that would permeate Uganda’s politics.

Kasozi, King and Oded (1973) note that long before Christianity was introduced to

Uganda, Islam had been introduced in 1844 by Arab traders from the East African coast who came to Buganda Kingdom in search of products such as ivory. 14

Shorter and Njiru (2001) observe that the groundwork for the introduction of

Pentecostalism in Uganda was unintentionally facilitated by the British Anglican Church missionary George Pilkington who sowed elements of Pentecostalism in Uganda in the

1890s under the “Revival Movement” an offshoot of the British Keswick holiness movement that operated within the evangelical wing of the British Anglican Church. The

Revival Movement carried a powerful message of personal and spiritual witness, emphasizing that the traditional ways of being church were no longer adequate, and consistent with the gospel message (Hastings, 1994; Kalu, 2008). Whereas members of the Revival Movement continued operating within the structures of the Anglican Church in Uganda the local name of the members of the Revival Movement “Balokole” or “the

Redeemed”, has been adopted to refer to all members of Pentecostal and charismatic churches and movements and churches in Uganda including those of that trace their origins to the Pentecostal events of 1901 at Bethel Bible College in Topeka Kansas USA, and the events of the 1906 Azusa Street revivals in Los Angeles, USA (Shorter & Njiru,

2001).

Gifford (1998) points out that the Pentecostal sector of Ugandan Christianity has had a challenging existence, because under the British Protectorate Pentecostal churches were discouraged by the colonial administration in preference to the Anglican, Catholic and the much smaller Orthodox Church. Gifford adds that even with such an attitude towards Pentecostal Churches and movements by the colonial administration, some

Pentecostal denominations that had already been established in neighboring Kenya were

15 introduced in Uganda and managed to take root. The biggest and by far the largest is the

Pentecostal Assemblies of God founded in Uganda in 1935, the Elim Church established in the country in 1962, the Full Gospel Church established in 1962 out of the famous

1960s Gugudde (“The burden of sin is fallen from me”) crusades in Mengo Kampala, and the Deliverance Church that traces its origins to itinerant Kenyan Evangelist Joe Kayo and Nabumali High School students in 1967 (Musana, 1991).

All the above Pentecostal denominations with connections to “Classical

Pentecostalism” founded in the US (Azusa, Los Angeles, and Bethel, Topeka) almost died out when Ugandan president Idi Amin Dada outlawed in the 1970s any other religious groups with the exception of the Anglican, the Catholic, the Islamic, and the much smaller Greek Orthodox Church. Pentecostal churches in Kampala operated underground in the form of home fellowships or prayer cells until President Idi Amin was ousted from power in 1979.

In the 1980s and the 1990s when freedom of worship was restored for all, the underground home fellowships re-emerged as the numerous independent, indigenous pastor-led Biwempe (papyrus mats-built) according to Kasirye (2010) and Kayanja

(2004). Locally established, indigenous-led Pentecostal churches and ministries in

Kampala include Namirembe Christian Fellowship under Pastor Simeon Kayiwa, the Rubaga Miracle Centre of Pastor Robert Kayanja, Liberty Worship Centre of Pastor

Imelda Namutebi, the Prayer Palace Kibuye founded by the late

Apostle Deo Balabyekubo now under Pastor Gervase Musisi, Victory Christian Centre of

16

Pastor Joseph Sserwada, Christian Life Church Bwaise of Pastor

Jackson Ssenyonga, Christianity Focus Centre of Bishop David Kiganda, the Synagogue

Church of all Nations under Pastor Samuel Kakande, Global Gospel Healing Ministries of Bishop Patrick Makumbi, Canaan Ministries of Pastor Aloysius Bugingo, Phaneroo

Ministries of Apostle David Lubega, and Zoe Ministries run by Prophet Elvis Mbonye.

Historical background to communication and religion in Uganda

Uganda’s formal media traces its distant origin in the work of the British colonial administration and the early Christian missionaries who introduced formal education and

Christianity as part of the European civilizing and evangelizing strategy of Africa (Isoba,

1980; Chibita, 2006; Lugalambi & Tabaire, 2010). As a consequence, the Anglican and

Catholic faith missionary groups produced the earliest newsletters in Uganda. The Mengo

Notes that was first published by the Anglican Church Missionary Society in 1900 was followed by Uganda Notes in 1902. Ebifa mu Buganda came in 1907, and the Luganda monthly Munno produced by the Catholic White Fathers was started in 1911 (Gariyo,

1992). Whereas the initial publications in the local languages were geared at the evangelization of native Ugandans, Christian missionaries quickly saw the power and benefit media in shaping not only the natives’ faith but also the natives outlook on other issues such as politics, health, education, and economics. Publications by religious groups in indigenous languages that started off as vehicles of evangelization quickly evolved to accommodate and address pertinent socio-economic and cultural issues of their time.

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Anglicanism and Catholicism in the Print media

The first indigenous language newsletter in Uganda was Ebifa mu Buganda and it was first produced by the Anglican Church Missionary Society Church in 1907

(Gariyo,1992). The newsletter later evolved into Ebifa Mu Uganda so as to take on a national outlook as the Anglican Church grew throughout the Uganda British Protectorate

(The Archives of the Church of Uganda, Newspapers 1902-1990). Ebifa Mu Uganda was produced at Namirembe and was predominantly a Luganda language newsletter. The newsletter carried news about other regions such as Busoga, Lango, Ankole, or Teso; and also made endeavored to run columns in other languages such as “Ahi Rukundo eherra” in the Runyankole language. Besides running articles on faith matters such as fasting, sermons, hymns, it also ran articles on socio-economic, political, and cultural matters of the time such as outbreaks of diseases like typhoid, famine, world wars, news on the

British royal family, Baganda culture, and announcements by the colonial administration

(The Archives of the Church of Uganda, Newspapers 1902-1990). Anglican clergy and highly educated Baganda lay Anglicans contributed articles to the newspaper. At some point E.M.K Mulira a highly educated Muganda noble was the editor in chief of the newsletter (The Archives of the Church of Uganda, Newspapers 1902-1990).

At the dawn of Uganda’s independence in 1962 the Anglican Church decided to produce New Day as an English language new paper with a truly national outlook, but it lasted only until the 1970s. The New Day focused on the relationship between Church and State and post-independence aspirations of Uganda. The New Day was replaced in

18 the 1980s by another English-language national new paper the Church Times, which was also replaced in the 1990s by the bi-lingual English-Luganda paper the New Century

(Archives of the Church of Uganda, Newspapers 1902-1990). The folding of the New

Century in the 1990s has not seen an Anglican Church-run new national newspaper neither in English nor in any indigenous Ugandan language (Church of Uganda Office of

Communications, personal communication, July 24, 2019).

Ssekitto (2016) a longtime reporter with the Catholic owned Munno newspaper and former director of the archdiocese of Kampala office of Social Communications offers in his book a detailed historical background to the evolution of the Catholic print media over the years. Ssekitto notes that from the earliest years of the Catholic Church in

Uganda, the missionaries recognized the importance of the printed word in the work of evangelization. Fr. Simeon Lourdel better known in the local Luganda language as

“Mapeera” - prepared the very first manuscript of the catechism (basic summary of the

Catholic faith) in Luganda and sent it to Algiers for printing and it was printed in 1881.

Lourdel then asked his superiors in Algiers to send him a small printing press that arrived in Uganda in 1893. Later upgrading of the printing press allowed missionaries to print small books for use in schools such as seminaries, and even a Latin-Luganda Dictionary was printed (p.g25). Newer, bigger, and more advanced printing machines were procured and arrived in Uganda in 1906, prompting the White Fathers to step up the spreading of the Good News through the establishment of a newspaper. The inaugural copy of the

Luganda language paper Munno (“Your Friend”) came off the press on the January 1st,

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1911. The pamphlet-like paper in A5-format heralded the arrival of the indigenous language Catholic-owned press in Uganda (p.26). Ssekitto (2016) further notes that right from its inception the editorial policy of Munno was clear and precise; “to propagate the

Catholic faith through the printed word; protect, advance and promote the interests of the

Catholic Church in Uganda.” (p.27). Being Church founded but largely distributed in the

Buganda region, Munno adopted a motto which explicitly depicted the paper’s character and identity: “Katonda n’Obuganda, Omwoyo gumu n’Emmeeme emu” (“God and

Buganda, One heart and One Spirit”). To Ssekitto (2016) the direct identification with

Buganda Kingdom was in itself a statement of allegiance to the Kingdom of Buganda.

Catholic parishes and bookshops in Buganda and other parts of Uganda where Luganda was understood such as Busoga, Bukedi, and Bugisu were used as distribution points for the paper.

Ssekitto (2016) further elaborates that throughout the turbulent political times of

Uganda just before independence and in the post-independence times, Munno was considered a reliable news source by most Ugandans and the western world. For instance, during the Idi Amin military junta times when most newspapers folded, the British

Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) relied on Munno for news stories about Uganda. The outspokenness and commitment to objectivity of the paper especially during Amin’s regime had tragic consequences with the murder in 1973 of its Editor in Chief, the

American trained priest-journalist Fr. Clement Kiggundu. Munno went through different administrations after Fr Kiggundu’s death with a radical shift from a focus on

20 evangelization through spreading Catholic beliefs, to addressing pressing social issues in the country especially human rights violations.

While the spreading of Catholic beliefs had been a core mission of Munno throughout the years, socio-economic, political, and cultural issues have also been a key focus of the paper. For instance, health matters such as leprosy and the Asian Flu in the 1940s featured prominently in the paper in the 1940s, while matters of political transition from colonialism were dominant in the 1950s and the 1960s. The 1970s and the 1980s focused on human rights violations, bad governance, and economic challenges in Uganda.

The liberalization of the Ugandan press in the early 1990s saw the emergence of different newspapers and letters which presented challenges to Munno. The paper was privatized as a commercial newspaper and its coverage shifted to politics and international news, entertainment, and sports; with minimum news on the Catholic

Church (Marianum Press Archives, Newspapers and Magazines 1911-1990). The change in Munno’s mission and the complicated new media landscape eventually led to its folding in the late 1990s. Efforts to revive Munno as a bi-lingual Luganda-English newsletter didn’t succeed (Ssekitto, 2016). Later efforts in the year 2000 by the

Archdiocese of Kampala to produce a bi-lingual (Luganda/English) monthly magazine—

The Catholic News Report have not been successful in the measure of Munno.

There are additional developments around the Munno newspaper that are worth noting. Ssekitto (2016) notes that in the post-World War II era when new printing press equipment was imported in Uganda by the Catholic Church, two new magazines Musizi

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(“The Sower”) and Kizito were inaugurated. Musizi complemented Munno by giving in- depth analysis to social issues within the Church and outside the Catholic Church; and also, outside Uganda. The Kizito magazine named after one of the youngest Ugandan

Christian martyrs “was an exclusive magazine directed at the evangelization of children”

(p.26). As Uganda prepared to get independence, the Comboni Catholic missionaries started the Leadership Magazine in 1957 with a purpose of inculcating Christian values into Uganda’s future leaders. The Combonis also started the English language newspaper

The West Nile Gazette with a supplement in Lugbara called Suru Amadri. The West Nile

Gazette with its supplement covered both Church and social news with a focus on

Uganda’s West Nile region.

The availability of a Catholic Church owned printing press also led to the production of prayer books, catechetical materials, and later newspapers or newsletters in other indigenous Ugandan languages. With Munno as the flagship and model Catholic newspaper in the country, some regional indigenous language papers that were produced by the Catholic Church included Ageteraine, Mwebingwa, and Erwom’Iteso to serve regional indigenous language needs and address regional issues. Most of these papers were modelled after Munno but carried issues of local concern both within the Church and outside the Church.

Ageteraine was a registered Catholic newspaper in Runyankore that served not only

Ankole region but also Kigezi and Bufumbira regions. It focused on Church news, local and national politics, matters of culture such as the Obugabe cultural institution or local

22 wisdom. It also addressed international issues such as the cold war and the Arab-Israel war, and later critical issues such human rights during the Idi Amin rule (Marianum Press

Archives, Newspapers and Magazines 1911-1990).

Mwebingwa newspaper was published in Runyoro/Rutooro and served the regions of

Tooro, Bunyoro, Bukonzo and Bwamba regions. The paper carried stories on the relationship between the colonial government and the different regions such as Bunyoro or Tooro. It carried Church news such as indigenous Ugandans from the regions who received Papal Knighthood, and also addressed socio-economic matters such as the growing of coffee or health matters of the time. Erwom K’Iteso also followed a similar template of Munno where it addressed faith matters alongside socio-economic and cultural matters. The Acholi vernacular magazine Lobo Mewa was started in the early

1950s by the Italian born bishop of Gulu, Angelo Negri of the Verona Fathers. Lobo

Mewa focused on the propagation of the Catholic faith and the cultivation of an Acholi identity (Gingyera-Pinycwa, 1972).Some of the early regional newspapers later developed children print versions specifically directed at children’s faith formation such as Omwebembezi for the Rwenzori region (Marianum Press Archives, Newspapers and

Magazines 1911-1990).

The 1950s and the 1960s it can be argued were the ‘golden age’ as far as Church-run indigenous language media were concerned. The collapse of the economy and the turbulent political changes in the 1970s and 1980s made production costs high and engagement in the media industry unsafe. The Church-run print media never really

23 recovered from the challenges that came with the political challenges of the 1970s and the 1980s. The time period saw the massive departure of foreign missionaries who had for long run the print media and outsourced subsidies for Church media work. The period also saw the fleeing into exile of competent indigenous Ugandan journalists and publishers into countries like Kenya, leaving Church-run media with limited skilled indigenous media talent to rely on.

With the collapse of national newspapers and regional papers in the 1980s and the

1990s, there emerged within the Catholic Church smaller diocesan indigenous language newsletters such as Ebifa mu Ssaza ery’e Kampala, Agafa mu Lugazi, Agafaayo in

Masaka, and Amawulire g’Essaza ly’e Jinja (Marianum Press Archives, Newspapers and

Magazines 1911-1990). The Uganda Catholic Bishops conference in the 2000s started production of Contact Magazine which is an English language online magazine that summarizes major church news in Uganda (These newsletters are simple pamphlets that primarily focus on matters of faith and the different church’s efforts in the areas of health or economic empowerment. The current Catholic Church’s indigenous print media appears to have gone back to the simple, basic version of the early 1900s!

Catholicism and Anglicanism in the Broadcast Media

Since the inception of the national radio and television stations in 1954 and 1963 respectively (Gariyo,1993), both stations set aside broadcast time for the three historical and populous faith groups in the country (Islam, Catholicism, and Anglicanism) to air their programs (Jenga, 2017). Each of the faith groups was allotted a “Half Hour” or a

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“Quarter Hour” to have a minister on air in one of the local languages. Such programs relied on a steady supply of ministers from the Catholic-run Ggaba National Seminary, the Anglican-run Mukono Theological College, and the Islamic-run Bilal and Buzigo

Islamic schools. All the institutions being of a national character, ministers from the different indigenous language families could be easily found to produce content for the broadcast programs (Turyagenda, 1982; Jenga, 2017).

Throughout the politically turbulent 1970s to the 1990s before the country liberalized the media, religious groups used the national broadcaster to run faith-related programs in indigenous languages. Popular indigenous language programs on the national broadcaster included Ija Tumuramye, Endabirwamu y’Ubukristo, Tumutendereze that primarily addressed matters of faith and rarely commented on sensitive matters such as politics or the performance of the national economy (Jenga, 2017). When additional time was allocated by the national broadcaster, ecumenical programs were also created to discuss different theological issues from the different faith perspectives. Visible faith leaders then included Reverend Jackson Turyagenda, Fr Lawrance Kanyike, Sheikh Nuhu

Mbogo, Shaban Mubajje, and Reverend Peter Bakaluba Mukasa (Jenga, 2017).

With the liberalization of the airwaves in 1994 each of the faith groups thought about opening their own national radio stations that would take care of the programs that were initially run on the national broadcasters. The Catholic Church opened Radio

Sapientia in Kampala with hopes of rolling it out to the whole country, but it has proved an economically non-viable undertaking limiting Radio Sapientia’s coverage to the

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Central region that predominantly uses the Luganda language. Other dioceses have opened their own radio stations that cater to their indigenous languages needs.

Table 1- Catholic broadcast stations in Uganda

Catholic Media Station Town/Region 1- Radio Sapientia Kampala/Buganda 2- Kasese Guide Radio Kasese/Bukonzo 3- Kyoga Veritas Soroti/Teso 4- Delta FM Soroti/Teso 5- Radio Pacis Arua/West Nile 6- Radio Wa Lira/Lango 7- Jubilee FM Fort Portal/Tooro 8- Voice of Karamoja Kotido 9- Radio Centenary Masaka/Buganda 10- Radio Maria-Kampala Kampala/Buganda 11- Radio Maria-Mbarara Mbarara/Ankole 12- Radio Maria-Mbale Mbale/Bugisu 13- Radio Maria-Fort Portal Fort Portal/Tooro 14- Radio Maria-Gulu Gulu/Acholi 15 Radio Maria-Moroto Moroto/Karamoja 16 Radio Maria-Hoima Hoima/Bunyoro 17 Radio Maria-Nebbi Nebbi/West Nile

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Table 1 (continued) 18 Radio Maria-Kabale Kabale/Kigezi

19 Radio Maria-Lira Lira/Lango 20 Bukalango TV Wakiso/Buganda 21 Uganda Catholic TV Kampala/Buganda 22 TV Wa (off air) Lira/Lango

Source: Uganda Episcopal Conference, personal communication, July 13, 2019 Almost all the Catholic radio and television stations in Uganda broadcast in the dominant indigenous language of the area where the station is located, with some effort made to cater for minority ethnic languages in the area of coverage. With the exception of

Radio Maria Uganda which is strictly a confessional station entirely focused on the propagation of the Catholic faith and spirituality, all Catholic radio and television stations in Uganda combine a focus on the propagation of the Catholic faith and a promotion of integral development in local. As such programming on most Catholic radio stations includes matters of faith, news, politics, education, health, entertainment, family life, agriculture, human rights; and issues specific to each area such as peace building as happens on Radio Wa, refugee life on Radio Pacis, or disarmament as happens on Voice of Karamoja.

The Anglican Church of Uganda on the other hand has a longer history in the use of indigenous language media for evangelism, but recent years have seen minimal involvement in broadcast. Veteran Ugandan Anglican clergy and broadcaster Turyagenda

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(1982) rightly notes that of all the historical faith groups in Uganda, the Anglican faith had a better plan for engagement in broadcast media than other faith groups. Turyagenda observes that at the dawn of independence in 1962, Reverend Canon John Paulton a

Church Missionary Society missioner established the Church of Uganda Radio Center at

Bishop Tucker Theological College. The intention of the center was to produce Christian broadcast content “tailored to the needs and thinking of the natives, and to profitably make use of radio and television time which government was ready to give free for the use of religious organizations in Uganda” (Turyagenda, 1982, pp.67-68). He adds that with the establishment of the radio center, there was increased production of Christian broadcast material in several languages such as Luganda, Runyankole/Rukiga,

Runyoro/Rutooro, and Luo. With a growing ecumenical spirit in the country, “the

Anglicans and Catholics cooperated in building a television studio workshop attached to the Radio Center with the hope of cooperating in the use of the facilities in religious broadcasting” (Turyagenda, 1982, p.72).

Whereas the Anglican Church was active in broadcast media in the past, recent years have seen less involvement by the Anglican Church broadcast media. There are three Anglican Church- owned broadcast media institutions in Uganda that include

Namirembe FM in Kampala, Revival Radio in Mbarara, and Messiah FM in Kasese. The

Anglican Church also partners with different organizations to do media-related work.

Some of the organizations include Words of Hope Ministries (Church of Uganda Office of Communications, personal communication, July 16, 2019) which is an independently

28 registered gospel recording ministry that partners with different Anglican dioceses to produce evangelistic programs in indigenous languages. The indigenous language programs range from music, counseling, to Bible studies. Other partners of Church

Uganda dioceses include DIGUNA – a German evangelistic agency that runs Voice of

Life Radio in Arua and primarily broadcasts evangelistic programs in Lugbara, Alur,

Madi, and Kakwa (DIGUNA, 2019). The Anglican Church also partners with local private Anglican entrepreneurs in the operation of Family TV (Church of Uganda Office of Communications, personal communication, July16, 2019).

What is observable from the Anglican-Church related broadcast media is that much of the programming is geared towards spreading the gospel or evangelism. The broadcast media is perceived as a tool to spread Christian beliefs and practices. This is no different from the earlier uses of indigenous media by the early European missionaries.

Islam in the Ugandan Media

Whereas Islam was the first foreign religion to be introduced in Uganda (Kasozi,

King & Oded,1973), its participation in the print and broadcast media over the years has been limited. For instance, there has almost not been any faith-owned, nationwide

Ugandan Islamic newspaper or magazine. There was in the 1990s two prominent, privately owned Islamic leaning newsletters. The Shariat was edited by Haruna Kanaabi, and Assalaam was edited by Hussein Musa Njuki. Both newsletters focused on fighting the marginalization of Muslims in Uganda’s politics and because of the relentless criticism of President Museveni’s government, the editors were severally arrested for

29 sedition and eventually the newsletters folded. The newsletters were not so much into propagation of Islamic beliefs than into the defense of Islam’s place in public space.

The situation however has been changing in recent years since the liberalization of the media in Uganda. The Islamic faith or private individual Muslims have in recent years established Bilal Radio, Voice of Africa Radio, Pearl FM, IUIU FM, and Salam TV.

Additionally, an interesting development in the Islamic engagement in media has been the rise of numerous Da’wah television programs which are primarily Islamic faith propagation programs. The programs are ordinarily run on private television stations such as NBS TV or Bukedde TV, and they are sponsored by wealthy Ugandan Muslims such as

Mutaasa Kafeero or local commercial enterprises such as Katumwa Sports Center. The moderators of such programs are journalists who are practicing Muslims who work for that particular media house.

Pentecostalism and Evangelical participation in media

As earlier noted, prior to the liberalization of Uganda’s air waves only the mainstream, traditional faith groups such as the Anglican, the Catholic, Islam, and the

Orthodox were allotted time on the national broadcasters to run their faith related programs (Turyagenda, 1982; Jenga, 2017). Pentecostal, Evangelical and other smaller faith groups entered the media scene much later after the liberalization in the 1990s.

Currently Pentecostal, Evangelical faith groups and individuals dominate Uganda’s religious media landscape (Jenga, 2017). Pentecostal and Evangelical faith ministries own and operate several media houses that include the following:

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Table 2- Pentecostal and Evangelical broadcast stations in Uganda Radio Stations Name of Station Location Faith Affiliation

Christian Radio Network of Pastor Joseph Impact FM Kampala Serwadda (Pentecostal)

Alpha FM Kampala Christian Radio Network of Pastor Joseph Serwadda (Pentecostal)

Radio ABC Kampala Africa Bible College (Evangelical)

Power FM Kampala Kampala Pentecostal Church (Pentecostal)

Kingdom FM Kampala Christianity Focus Ministries of Bishop David Kiganda (Pentecostal)

Family Radio Kampala Family Broadcasting Service of Pastor Stephen Ssebyala (Pentecostal)

Record FM Kampala Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Pentecostal) Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Top Radio Kampala Ssenyonga (Pentecostal)

Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Kampala FM Kampala Ssenyonga (Pentecostal)

Dunamis FM Kampala Prayer Palace Ministries (Gervase Musisi)

Joy FM Kampala Pastor Tom Sembera (Pentecostal)

Salt FM Kampala Pastor Aloysius Bugingo

Favor FM Gulu Carol Ward (Favor of God Ministries) Childcare Kitgum Servants (Irene Gleeson Mighty Fire FM Kitgum Foundation)

Peace FM Kitgum Salt and Light Christian City Church

Faith Radio Mbale Impact Ministries Uganda

Imani FM Kapchorwa Imani Radio and TV Ministries

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Table 2 (continued)

Mercy FM Mbarara Hope in Christ Power Ministries

Grace Radio Bushenyi Lion of Judah (Bishop Nathan Ibrahim)

Life FM Fort Portal Dickson K. Lubega (World Evangelical Ministries)

Heart FM Mubende Together in Christ

Fire FM Mubende Bishop Herbert Kuuku and Sons

Innerman Ministries FM Kampala United Christian Centre (Bishop Stephen Senfuma)

Kampala FM Kampala Christian Life Ministries (Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga)

Record FM Kampala Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

Spirit FM Mukono Dynamic Broadcasting Services

Table 2 (continued): Television Stations Name Location Ownership/Faith Affiliation

Life TV Kampala Pastor Tom Sembera (Pentecostal)

Miracle TV Kampala Pastor Robert Kayanja (Pentecostal)

Record TV Kampala Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Pentecostal)

Lighthouse TV Kampala Lighthouse Television (Pentecostal)

Top TV Kampala Christian Life Ministries of Pastor Jackson Ssenyonga (Pentecostal)

Dream TV Kampala Apostle Joseph Serwadda

Salt TV Kampala Pastor Aloysius Bugingo

ABS TV Kampala Pastor Augustine Yiga

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Table 2 (continued): Television Stations Kingdom TV Kampala Bishop David Kiganda

Gugudde TV Kampala Makerere Full Gospel Church

Glorious Time Kampala Prophet Samuel Kakande

Rest TV Kampala Kansanga Miracle Centre (Isaac Kiweweesi)

KS TV Kampala Good News Evangelical Ministries (Pastor Solomon Brian Mwesige)

Fresh TV Kampala Pastor Twaha Muzira (Fresh Fire Deliverance Church)

HG TV Kampala Holy Ghost Healing Tower Ministries (Apostle Deo Ssemakula)

Namirembe Christian Fellowship (Pastor Simeon S TV (Shiloh) Kampala Kayiwa) Source: Uganda Communication Commission, July 2019 Report

Besides the ownership of media houses, several other individual Pentecostal-

Evangelical pastors ministers own media production studios and buy broadcast time from media houses to run their programs. It is the appropriation of media technology and religious rhetoric in Uganda that was of interest for this study.

Other Christian faith groups and media in Uganda

There are other smaller faith communities worth mentioning that are engaged in the use of media in their operations for evangelization and social ministry. These include the Seventh Day Adventists and the Baptists. Their media stations include the following:

Table 3 - Broadcast stations owned by other Christian faith groups

Radio Stations Name of Station Location Faith Affiliation

Prime Radio Kampala Seventh Day Adventist Church (Adventist) 33

Table 3 (continued) Prime Radio Masaka Masaka Seventh Day Adventist Church

New Life Church FM Moyo Madison Baptist Church

New Life Church FM Hoima Madison Baptist Church

Calvary Radio Soroti Baptist International Mission Uganda

Trinity Radio Kapchorwa Presbyterian Church of Uganda

Ebenezer FM Mbale SDA Eastern Ugandan Field

Truth Radio Mbale Baptist International Mission Uganda

Word of Life Masaka Baptist International Mission Uganda

Maranatha FM Jinja Busoga inter-district BIDADO-SDA

Way of Life Radio Kanungu Baptist International Mission Uganda

Life Radio Mbarara Baptist International Mission of Uganda Source: Uganda Communication Commission, July 2019 Report

In all we notice that Uganda has a long history at the intersection of media and religion. While in the earlier years mainstream religions such as Anglicanism and

Catholicism dominated presence in media, later years show new faith groups such as

Pentecostalism control a sizable section of Uganda’s broadcast media. This research was focused on Pentecostal religious rhetoric situated in media.

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CHAPTER TWO: Literature Review and Theoretical Frame

Overview of the chapter

In this chapter I review available scholarship in the area of communication and religion. While the studies in chapter one provided relevant background studies in the different field of religion, and the field of communication; in this section I focus on interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of communication and religion relying on an earlier literature review I did for the journal article Pentecostal broadcasting in Uganda

(Jenga, 2017). In this review I offer an overview of the development of the sub-field highlighting the type of questions that have been focused on in the sub-field over the years. In the review I examine the methodological, theoretical, and geographical focuses of the existing studies, and I point out the scholarly lacuna that my study addresses such as an absence of studies from a rhetorical studies approach on countries like Uganda.

Stout and Buddenbaum (2002) observed in the editors’ note years back that scholarly work on media and religion was noticeably absent from major textbooks in the fields of journalism and communication. Such a condition however is gradually changing with the growing study of media and religion especially in North America and Europe.

White (2009) notes that there is an increasing number of academic journals that entirely focus on communication and religion such as the Journal of Media and Religion,

Communicatio Socialis, Journal of Communication and Religion, and also an

Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication and Media edited by Daniel Stout (2006).

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Clark & Hoover (1997) lay out useful categories for available scholarship at the intersection of media and religion. The two scholars observe that studies of media and religion have primarily focused on three different areas: negative criticism of media as bad for religion and religious work; media as neutral “tools” for religious work; and scholarship on “religion in the news.”

The first category of studies that criticize media are primarily informed by the

“secular media hypothesis” that argues that media are too secular and therefore dilutes religious messages and values. An example of such studies includes Televangelism and

American Culture by Schultze (1991) that argues that the use of television secularizes the gospel “turning Christ into another consumer product” (p.123). Fore (1987) shares a similar attitude in lamenting television’s influence on a culture in which “we are dominated not by force but by trivialization, by infantile gratification, by what

Kierkegaard called ‘twaddle’ “(p.32). Other studies in the same category of media criticism as noted by Jensen (1990) include Boorstin (1972), MacDonald (1962), Mander

(1978), and Postman (1985). Clark and Hoover (1991) also note that other studies

(Melchert, 1994; Olasky,1988) believe media are biased, hostile to religion, and offer competing values that challenge the religious worldview, and the appropriate response a situation is “inoculation” against such media effects (Melchert, 1994; Thomas, 1993).

A second but minor category of set of studies sees media as “neutral” tools that can be utilized by religious institutions and individuals (Clark & Hoover, 1992) to advance the work of religion. Such studies (Armstrong, 1979; Benson, 1988;

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Boomershine, 1987 qtd in Clark & Hoover 1992) argue that religious values need to enter the world of media as a counterpoint to the negative values proposed by the wider culture.

The third category that is increasingly growing in the field of media and religion focuses on “religion in the news” (Clark & Clark 1997), or how religion is covered in media. This growing body of research includes foundational works by Dart & Allen

(1993), Hoover, Hanley, & Radelfinger (1989), and Hoover, Venturelli, & Wagner

(1995). These foundational studies of Dart & Allen (1993) and Hoover et al (1989, 1995) particularly disputed the assumption that media “elites” tend to be less religious and therefore are hostile to religion. The studies noted that the avoidance of religion by editors and reporters was based on ignorance about religion and a fear of controversy since religion tends to be an emotive topic (Clark & Hoover 1997). The bulk of studies in the area of “religion in the news” fall in the broad clusters of how religion in general is covered different media, some focus on media bias, other studies focus on media representation of particular religious groups or individuals.

My study does not address how religion is covered in media because that is an area that has received some significant attention; neither does my study address criticism of media by religious groups or individuals. Instead my study addresses how religious groups “use” media in some contexts. It is an area that has received limited scholarly attention in contexts such as Uganda.

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In the two sub-sections that follow I review specific scholarly case studies at the intersection of communication and religion. In the first sub-section I focus on North

America and Europe; and in the second sub-section I specifically review Africa-focused research. The choice on North America and Europe for an Africa-focused study is driven by the fact that it is the locus of the bulk of available studies at the intersection of communication and religion. The literature review provides scholarly context on what has so far been done in the different regions, and concludes with an evaluation of what is lacking, and what my stud addresses.

Communication and Religion in North America and Europe

In the following subsection I offer a survey of literature especially in North

America upon which other studies have been built. The review highlights the tendencies in terms of focus, method, and theory in the available North American-focused studies at the intersection of media and religion, or communication and religion. An understanding of such tendencies is important in understanding the rationale for my research. My research will cover the geographical, methodological, and theoretical lacunas available in the North American/European focused research.

In the 1980 researchers Hart, Turner and Knupp (1980) examined how the Time magazine attempted to “construct” American religion over time. The scholars noted that

“media-based, rhetorical protocols—not empirical facts or even popular perceptions— have guided Time’s treatment of religion” (p. 257). The scholars used content analysis to examine 648 religion sections that appeared in Time magazine between 1947 and 1976.

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The researchers investigated how American religion has been defined, described and given ‘social reality’ via mass communication (Hart, Turner & Knupp, 1980). In their rhetorical analysis, the investigators concluded “religion in America is an overwhelmingly institutional affair, more concerned with matters of bureaucracy than with pastoral matters” (p. 261). They also found that religion, no matter the denomination, is permeated with conflict, with four out of every five articles on religion in the past 30 years of the study containing a primary conflict element (Hart, Turner &

Knupp, 1980). Hart, Turner and Knupp put forth “five rival hypotheses” to explain

Time’s religious coverage, before settling on a sixth. The researchers found evidence for gate keeping, straight news, political, institutional, and sociological hypotheses, but they opted for rhetorical analysis to explain the coverage, in which “any communicative transaction--including the reporting in popular newsmagazines—involves selecting and shaping of messages for particular Others” (p.273). The researchers concluded that Time depicted religion as a “conflict-ridden, human enterprise”; that stereotypes based on denomination and geography affect media coverage of religion; and that the way media portrays religion differs sharply from “demographic and sociological facts” (p. 257).

Studies of communication and religion similar to the above Hart, Turner & Knupp (1980) are lacking in most African countries such as Uganda.

In a different study, Buddenbaum analyzed the coverage of religion by the New

York Times, Minneapolis Star and Richmond Times-Dispatch during the summer of 1981

(Buddenbaum, 1984). The primary focus was on Christians and Christian organizations,

39 particularly from Protestant churches. In terms of religion coverage, denominations with the largest populations received the most attention at all three newspapers, save for this exception: “Although Judaism was covered less frequently than this explanation suggests it should have been, this may be due to the way news is covered at the Times. Other writers, covering their own beats, produced numerous ‘Jewish stories’ that were not included in this analysis”(p. 60).

Using a cross-national study, Perkins (1984) looked at the content of mass- circulated magazines in the United States, England and Canada over five decades.

Perkins used magazines (Reader’s Digest, Saturday Review and National Enquirer in the

United States; Reader’s Digest: British Edition, Illustrated London News and Weekend in

Great Britain: and MacLeans’s and Saturday Night in Canada) as “cultural products” in asking how prominent overt religious content appeared in the popular press (Perkins,

1984, p. 162). Perkins’s content analysis found that there was very little material devoted to religious themes in the pages of the magazines, but could not predict a decline or increase in religious content over time. Perkins wrote that the limited supply of such religious content appeared to be persistent: “In short, a small but continuing stream of religious material seems to reach public attention through this form of mass media” (p.

164).

There are other studies done in recent years primarily focused on the representation of religious groups in media. Such studies include Ibrahim (2010) and

Kumar (2010), and Kerr (2003). Kerr (2003) examined the framing of fundamentalist

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Christians on network television news between1980-2000. A population content analysis of network television news from 1980 to 2000 gathered from the Vanderbilt archive using search terms Fundamentalist and Christian indicated fundamentalists are reported in a consistent, mildly negative manner. Although often portrayed as being somewhat

“…intolerant, racist, violent, and prone to impose their views on others,” fundamentalists were also depicted as being “…somewhat patriotic.” Ibrahim (2010) explored the framing of Islam on network news following the September 11th attacks. His article investigated the shifting discourse on Islam and Muslims in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. He sought to investigate and compare the visual and verbal frames used to describe Islam within and outside America, focusing on which aspects of the religion were emphasized or omitted and how closely the frames of Islam concurred with the ideology of officials. Through a case study of American network news coverage post-

9/11, he argues “…objective coverage of Islam is a myth, not just in America, but across the world.”

For religions that are considered out of the mainstream, Chen (2003) wrote about the complex framing of Mormons as a “model minority” religion during the news coverage of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Newspaper and magazine journalists used the spotlight on the city to examine some of its most famous

(or infamous, depending on the news item) residents. Some journalists viewed it as a coming out party for Mormonism, a chance to convey or negate the stereotypical images that many have about Mormons. One result from these articles was to continue to frame

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Mormons as outside of mainstream American culture (Chen, 2003). In using content analysis and a historical comparison for his study, Chen wrote, “Over the past six decades, journalists’ accounts have signaled, in a multitude of ways and through discussion of a variety of events, continuing Mormon ‘Otherness’” (p. 37).

In the same vein, Hill, Hickman and McLendon (2001) used a content analysis of two newspapers and three wire services to determine whether news coverage of religion or religious groups at the turn of the millennium met the criterion for neutral and unbiased coverage. Researchers analyzed The New York Times, The Washington Post,

Associated Press, Reuters and State News Service and found that the terms used to describe these groups and their members did not support the criticism from “religious elites” that coverage was biased (p. 31). Scholars found, however, that the news organizations were prone to “characterize Heaven’s Gate, Aum Shinri Kyo, the Solar

Temple, the Concerned Christians and Falun Gong as cults” (p. 34). The researchers also concluded that the wire services were found to be the most negative in their coverage (p.

33). Hill et al. also observed “The media also fails to cover new religious movements except when they become controversial or appear eccentric. Contrasting the coverage of new religious movements with coverage of the Evangelical Jerry Falwell illustrates this problem. The media not only avoided branding Jerry Falwell and those for whom he speaks as millenarian (and certainly as cultists) even when he proclaimed that the anti-

Christ is alive today; it also reported on a broader range of activities by Falwell that off- set his more eccentric-sounding claims. Devoting greater coverage to a movement as

42 large as Evangelicalism is surely natural, but reporting on new religious movements only when they engage in sensational conflict with larger norms or institutions reinforces the stereotype of these groups as cults” (p. 34).

Haskell (2007) used positive, negative and neutral frames to determine if there was bias by Canadian news media toward evangelicals. The study concluded that evangelicals were portrayed in a neutral fashion in nightly national television news reports (1994-2004), which suggests that Canada’s national TV journalists tried to provide balanced coverage. But the “concentrated framing of evangelicals as intolerant, criminally-minded and un-Canadian may stem from specific differences in the value systems" (p.140) of the journalists and the evangelicals.

Additionally, Moore (2003) used Silk’s (1995) “unsecular media hypothesis” to examine 2001 national newspaper coverage of Rev. Jesse Jackson’s adultery scandal.

Moore researched whether journalists framed their stories about Jackson in ways that promoted a particular religious worldview. He argued that media could use traditional themes or motives that could be perceived as religious in nature, but use those themes and motives in such a way that vacated the religious dimension (Moore, 2003). In other words, journalists can secularize what are commonly thought to be religious themes.

Moore concluded that the brief criticism of Jackson in the national news media following the disclosure of a long extramarital affair and an out-of wedlock child raised real questions about the secular or unsecular nature of the news media. In comparing

Jackson’s scandal to those of Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker (in which both men

43 publicly admitted to extramarital affairs), Moore (2003) found that the framing of

Jackson’s affair as “hypocrisy” did not go as deep as it did for Swaggart and Bakker because Jackson, a former Democratic presidential candidate, was seen more as a political figure as opposed to a religious figure.

In terms of framing news stories, McCune (2003) found that journalists are influenced by the people they cover, and often journalist allow story frames to be set for them. McCune examined the coverage surrounding a 1996 Tennessee bill that would have prevented evolution from being taught in school as fact, igniting controversy reminiscent of the 1925 Scopes trial. In that case, Tennessee teacher John Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution to high school students. The 1996 bill was defeated, and in her analysis McCune showed that the bill’s opponents were largely able to

“[frame] the debate in terms of their own worldviews” (p. 12), and therefore dominated the public sphere. The analysis of newspaper articles found that many stories skewed largely against the bill.

There are a number of studies that directly address the disagreement among scholars, journalists and religious elites about press bias against religious groups and religious individuals. Hoover (1998) provides a synthesis of the four major camps in the scholarly debate on bias in religious news. Hoover (1998) points out that Rothman and

Lichter argue that media elites hold attitudes of indifference and disdain for religion; Dart and Allen found out that religion is misunderstood and undervalued in newsrooms; while

Olasky (1988) notes that what began with the emergence of the secular, objective press in

44 the 1800s has today morphed into a media enterprise that assumes a humanist, anti- religious perspective. Olasky’s key argument is that pressing for more balanced coverage will not correct the problem; rather, an alternative press, assuming a religionist perspective, is needed to provide true balance.

Silk (1995) on the other hand argues that rather than chase the “phantom of secularism” in American news media, (p. 36) American media over all tends to be attentive to religious matters. “Not only is American journalism reasonably attentive to matters of faith, but it also approaches these in what can only be described as a pro- religious posture,” (p. 148). Silk is quick to clarify that news media are not religious, as opposed to secular institutions, rather, because American culture is nondenominationally religious, American media, as a part of the larger culture, are religious, too.

Bolce and De Maio (2007) in their study interrogated the assumption by different social scientists such as Layman (2001) that secular media tend to lean towards the

Democratic Party and traditional media toward the Republican Party. In their comparative content analysis of different media such as the Times, the Post, Los Angeles

Times, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and The St Louis Post-Dispatch, the two scholars found that the establishment press in the period studied tended to highlight the growing phenomenon in the US of the political mobilization of religious conservatives and the dangers politicized fundamentalist religion could engender in narrowing democratic pluralism in the US.

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Other scholarship has noted that while in some cases religion is covered as “soft news” (Hoover, 2006), there is also a tendency among reporters in mainstream media to rely on a small set of rhetorically salient topic and long-held stereotypes in their coverage of religion. Silk (1995, pp.49-51) identified seven major topics in news coverage of religion that included good works, tolerance, hypocrisy, false prophecy, inclusion, supernatural belief, and declension. Any story that fitted any of such topics fitted desired journalistic narratives and was good for publication. Christensen (2006) notes that while we do not expect to see stereotyping in newsrooms, there is evidence that demonstrates that in their coverage of Islam “television and newspaper coverage of Muslim countries shows that, in many cases, journalists fall prey to the same clichés and stereotypes found in entertainment genres such as television drama and action films,” (p.30). Christensen details three examples of templates used by most journalists:

Example 1: When Covering a Muslim Country, Show a Mosque Example 2: Religion is the Determining Factor Example 3: “Modern” West vs. “Backward” Islam From the literature reviewed above on North America, it is observable that a bulk of available research at the intersection of media and religion or communication and religion has been produced in the Northern Hemisphere particularly North America and

Europe. However, recent Pew Research (2006) studies show that major world religions such as Christianity and Islam are growing fastest in the southern hemisphere – specifically Latin America and Africa. With the influence of globalization especially through media, there is a noticeable intersection between media and religion in the global

46 south. This intersection however has not been widely explored especially in Africa.

While some limited scholarship has been done in West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal) and in Southern Africa (Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa), limited work on East Africa

(Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi) currently exists. While countries in Sub Saharan Africa share a lot culturally, the varied socio-economic and cultural differences in the different parts of Africa make the available studies on media and religion on the continent inadequate in explaining phenomenon at the intersection of media and religion. My study in media and religion broadens the studies by extending to the East African region particularly the country of Uganda. The broadening of the geographical scope of the scholarship captures country-specific nuances not available in current scholarship at the intersection of communication and religion.

It is also observable from the scholarship reviewed on North America that the approach of the available research is predominantly from the perspective of how the press frames religious groups or religious figures. Such scholarship is largely underpinned by

Goffman’s work (1956; 1974). My study shifts the focus from how the press covers religion, to how religious groups and religious figures use media. This shift introduces a rhetorical studies approach to the study of communication and religion in Uganda in context of media technologies. The shift focuses on the rhetors and how they create messages for media.

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Additionally, research reviewed above on North America highlights a focus on the traditional press such as newspapers and television leaving out other forms of media such as billboards, handbills, and the growing online digital platforms. For instance,

Africa being a predominantly “radio” continent with a limited number of newspapers and online presence, research needs to pay particular attention to forms of media that a lot of people in such a context use or consume. Whereas my research in Uganda is exploratory and touches on different aspects at the intersection of media and religion or communication and religion, the study comes with the broad in meaning of the concept of media beyond the traditional press as reflected in the research available at the intersection of media and religion or communication and religion.

The studies noted above also gave limited attention to the socio-economic, and cultural contexts. The socio-economic, political and cultural context in which media operate influences how media covers particular phenomenon, or how media is used. For instance, the generally negative US American media portrayal of Islam or Arab countries can be best understood in light of America’s rough political relationship with some Arab or Islamic countries in the Middle East. Such contextual background is important in offering useful interpretive lenses of the operative rhetoric. My study provides a detailed socio-economic, political and cultural context of Uganda in which Pentecostal religious groups and figures operate and create their mediated rhetoric.

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Communication and religion in Africa

While the bulk of the studies at the intersection of communication and religion focus on North America and Europe, there are smaller bodies of studies that focus on other parts of the world. In the following section I give an overview of scholarly work that has been going on in Africa at the intersection of communication and religion.

Available scholarship, however, primarily focus on the West and Southern African regions, with a limited work on the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania.

Dominant scholars in the sub-field on the African continent too have their intellectual homes in other fields such as religious studies and anthropology, and only limited group of scholars are media, or communication scholars. Scholarship on Uganda is absent, and scholarship from a rhetorical studies approach is also absent.

In Africa, media and religion or communication and religion as a scholarly subfield is still young. Ihejirika (2009) maps a good history of the growing research in the field of media and religion on the African continent that covers two important decades. The first decade was situated between 1987 and 1998; and the second decade between 1999 and 2008. What characterized scholarship in the first period Ihejirika observes, was a pre-dominance by non-African scholars such as Meyer (1999), Hackett

(1991) and Marshall-Fratani (1991). Ihejirika (2009) further notes that the majority of the first group of scholars of media and religion in Africa were either social anthropologists, political scientists, religious studies scholars, and only a few such as Artsen and Lundby

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(1993) were media scholars. The large bulk of the studies in the two decades according to

Ihejirika were done in West or Southern African and the prominent theme was the cultural and social consequences of the Pentecostal appropriation of the electronic media.

The second decade between 1999 and 2008 was characterized by the involvement of new scholars of African origin such as Asamoah-Gyadu (1998), Ukah (1999), Ihejirika

(2003), Haron (2004), Niang (2006), and Dipio (2007), and research went beyond

Christianity to include other religions such as Islam. The studies on media and religion in

Africa that were conducted during the two decades with a focus on Christianity in West

Africa can be categorized under the sub themes of history, globalization and its effects, and formats and styles. The sub themes highlight the approaches or emphases of the scholars to the study of media and religion on the continent.

Scholars such as Hackett (1987; 2003), Ihejirika (2005), Musana (1991), and

Kasirye (2010), took a historical approach to the study of media and religion in Africa.

Hackett (1987) in one of the earliest studies on the subject on new religious movements in Nigeria especially some of the lesser known or largely neglected movements and personalities on the Nigerian religious scene argues that each of the new religious movements has its origin in a crisis of some sort whether economic, cultural or spiritual.

The scope of the study is the period of diversification and change that followed the 1960-

70s Nigerian civil war. The author highlights the role of the media in the operations of these new movements but the presence in the media of the new religious movements’ was not as well developed then as it later came to be. In another study that examines the

50 theme of religious conflict in Nigeria, Hackett (2003) argues that with a great increase in competition between religious groups, the media have been sites where interreligious tensions have unfolded since the 1970s. Hackett argues that both the print and broadcast media have served some role in initiating, exacerbating, and in some cases reducing the tensions between the two religious constituencies of Muslims and Christians.

In like manner, Ihejirika (2005) takes a historical study of the development of

Christian fundamentalism in Nigeria propagated by conservative Evangelical/Pentecostal groups through the mass media, but specifically notes that the domination of the mass media is a strategy by Pentecostal groups and movements to dominate public space and color popular opinion with conservative, fundamentalist beliefs. Similarly, Kasirye

(2010) and Musana (1991) study Pentecostalism in Uganda from a historical standpoint.

Kasirye’s work is an apologetic work that makes effort to capture the history of

Pentecostalism in Uganda and its growing influence in public spaces such as politics and the media from the perspective of a practicing Ugandan Pentecostal. Kasirye makes no claims that his work is objective, but the work is meant to provide useful information on the thinking that guided the efforts of the leaders of the Pentecostal movement in Uganda over the years. Musana (1991) gives a historical development of Pentecostalism in

Uganda with concentration on the different key characters in the early development of

Pentecostalism in country highlighting their approaches and their messages at different time periods. While mention is made of the use of the media in the operations of the

Ugandan Pentecostal churches and ministries by Kasirye (2010) and Musana (1991), little

51 treatment is given by the two studies of the use of media in the work of Pentecostal churches and movements in the Ugandan context. My study focuses on select number of

Ugandan Pentecostal pastors, and their use of media in promoting a particular form of religious rhetoric.

A different approach to the study of media and religion in Africa has been from the perspective of globalization and its effects. Scholars such as such as Asamoah-

Gyadu (2005b), Ukah (2006; 2008b), Marshall-Fratani (1998), and Ihejirika (2009) argue that the accelerated flow of information from the global north to the global south facilitated by media is affecting the way religion is spread and practiced in Africa.

Asamoah-Gyadu (2005b) notes that Ghanaian Pentecostal preachers in the media are in many ways imitations of US American radio and television evangelists in elements as basic as accents. Ukah (2006; 2008b) addresses the political economy of Pentecostal churches such as branding and the marketing of charisma through media, a borrowing from US American preachers such as Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, or Bishop

T.D Jakes.

Other studies by Asamoah-Gyadu (2005a; 2005d), De Witte (2005b), Dipio

(2007), and Ukah (2003) focus on the formats and styles that are employed by

Pentecostal pastors in their use of media in West Africa. Asamoah-Gyadu (2005a) analyzes pictures and messages on bill boards, hand bills, tracts, websites, book titles, and banners. Asamoah-Gyadu’s conclusion is that visual media and material culture are important for Pentecostal/Charismatic movements because as world-

52 affirming/accommodating movements, the images of wellbeing and prosperity projected are meant to underscore the efficacy of the gospel of prosperity they preach, and the material signifiers of this prosperity are the flamboyant pastors and their wives. In another study, Asamoah-Gyadu (2005d) notes that Ghanaian Pentecostalism has managed to create a unique discursive practice suited to the demands of the media. A religious discourse that is crisp clear and direct, and speaks to the broad masses of Ghanaians in a language that is fascinating, and enchanting has been developed by Pentecostal pastors who use the media. Asamoah-Gyadu particularly identifies the expression “anointing” as a key word in Ghanaian charismatic Christian discourse. “Anointing” according to

Asamoah-Gadu (2005d) refers to the “empowering presence of God that makes things happen” and when “the anointing is great” upon a person or at a meeting, as the phenomenon is often expressed, it manifests in acts of power (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2005d).

In other words, “anointing” is the power of God in action, and the idea that miracles can be performed through radio and television broadcasts extends the idea of

“sacramentality” where the invisible power of God is mediated through radio and television sets.

Other scholars such as Dipio (2007) and Ukah (2003) took a different approach to examine Pentecostalism in Africa by analyzing Nigerian home videos. Dipio and Ukah particularly argue that the production of low cost video films is guided by local cultural and economic needs. Dipio (2007) notes that the video films are essentially driven by the passion to share moral stories sometimes at the expense of aesthetic consideration.

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Dipio’s study focuses on Nigerian films and doesn’t include Uganda or other East

African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania, where the local film industry is undeveloped. Due to a lack of films as cultural material in much of East Africa, my

Uganda-situated study focuses on television broadcasts and printed material of Ugandan pastors. Ukah (2003) observes that whereas the version of Pentecostalism and its message projected in locally produced films is couched in a traditional African world view of spirits and curses, at its very core it is controlled by consumer tastes and behavior. The world view therefore is exploited to serve Westernized consumer market needs. De Witte

(2003) demonstrates “how the format of televisualisation of religious practice creates charisma, informs ways of perception, and produces new kinds of religious subjectivity and spiritual experience” (p.172). In her observation of the film making process, broadcasting, and watching Living Word, De Witte notes that there is growing appropriation of new styles of worship and being religious beyond the confines of the charismatic-Pentecostal movements and churches.

Lastly, it should be noted that there is a small but growing body of literature that studies contemporary Pentecostal Christianity both in the Western hemisphere and in Africa from the broadly defined approach of rhetoric. Just like other studies earlier noted, these studies are limited in their geographical scope, the time period covered, and the theoretical and methodological approaches employed. Some studies that focus on the Northern Hemisphere include studies Winslow (2008), Hunt (2000),

Butterworth (2011), Coleman (2000), Balmer (2006), Bruce (1990), Harrison (2005),

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Elisha (2011), and Kintz (1997). Africa-focused studies in the rhetorical category include

Heuser (2015), Lindhart (2015), Mhando, Maseno, Mtata, & Senga (2018), Ong’onga &

Akaranga (2015), Hasu (2006), and Ntarangwi (2016). The lacuna in such rhetorical studies is that they are geographically limited and omit Uganda with its specificities. As earlier noted in the introduction, the definition of rhetoric can be fluid and therefore mean different things to different people in different contexts. Some of the above studies use the concept rhetoric in terms that are valid but don’t precisely fit the definition as used in my study. Rhetoric as used in this study refers to forms of “persuasive discourses, written and oral, encountered face-to-face or through the electronic or print media that seek to affect attitudes and actions” (Campbell & Burkholder, 1997, p.3).

Further observable in the literature reviewed above is the limited approach of phenomenon from a rhetorical studies angle. There are limited studies that focus on processes of the construction of religious messages by Pentecostal rhetors or pastors. As noted in the introduction earlier, the Pentecostal segment of Christianity is the fastest growing segment of global Christianity especially in the global south. My study asks questions about the construction of such messages and what makes the message being promoted persuasive to such target audiences in contexts such as Uganda. Rhetorical approaches that examine how messages are strategically constructed need to be explored to provide a multidimensional understanding of how media and religion operates in different contexts in Africa.

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In summary, the above literature review highlights a combination of limitations in the available literature to which my study responds. We notice geographical limitations in the parts of the world where the available studies have been carried out - with the northern hemisphere and some parts of Africa taking significant attention. There are conceptual limitations in the available studies such as in the understanding of media to mean the mainstream press. Available studies also address less contextual factors such as the socio-economic and cultural settings in their analysis of mediatized religion. There is also limited attention given to aesthetic and marketing rationales that underpin the form of popular Christianity that is sweeping across Africa particularly through media. And finally, there is no available approach to Pentecostal Christianity in Uganda from a rhetorical studies approach. My study covers the lacuna and provide insights into how such religious rhetoric is constructed, and the circumstanced under how it effectively operates. In the next section I explain my theoretical frame and the justification for it.

Cultural Studies as a Theoretical Frame

Clark and Hoover (1997) note that recent studies at the intersection of communication and religion have taken a “culturalist turn.” This came after many years of scholars in the two fields of communication and religion treating each other with suspicion for the reason that each of the fields is focused on the business of communicating “truths” and “narratives” about meaning. The emergence of the field of

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Cultural studies provided space for interdisciplinary dialogue for the two fields; and also provided “needed tools for problematizing the site of reception”(p.15).

Clark and Hoover further note that an area that has been largely left unexplored in the available research is the “interplay between religious thought and popular culture”

(p.31). While there is growing interest through scholars such as Clark (1996) and Pardun

& McKee (1994), other scholars such as Mukerji and Schudson (1991) however observe that the available scholarship at such an intersection is still limited. My study is interdisciplinary in nature and situated at the intersection of communication and religion.

The “culturalist turn” in the study of communication and religion, provided a good theoretical frame in which to respond to the available scholarly gap.

Sardar and Van Loon (1994) define Cultural Studies as an interdisciplinary approach that theorizes how meaning is generated, disseminated, and produced from the social, political, and economic spheres within a given culture. Sardar and Van Loon

(2010) further explain that Cultural Studies functions by borrowing freely from the social science disciplines and all branches of humanities and the arts such as anthropology, psychology, linguistics, literary criticism, philosophy, political science. In a nutshell,

“Cultural Studies takes whatever it needs from any field discipline and adopts it to suit its own purpose” (Sardar & Van Loon, 2010, p.7). The radical interdisciplinarity afforded by

Cultural Studies suited my study which is interdisciplinary in terms of the fields being studied; and the methodology being employed. The interdisciplinarity is highlighted at

57 different stages of my work. In the next sub-section, I highlight the history of Cultural

Studies and the marks that set it aside in terms of its purpose as a scholarly approach.

Cultural Studies traces its roots to theorists in postwar Britain connected to the

University of Birmingham’s renown Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies (Lindlof

& Taylor, 2011). The scholars drew from the fields of Marxism and literary studies to construct “an anti-elitist, radically contextual, and multi-methodological project concerned with emancipating that nation’s working class”(p.66). The project sought to create a social revolution by legitimating the cultural practices of the working class, and opposing the tyranny of the elite ‘high culture.’ Later developments of Cultural Studies in places such as the United States expanded the focus to address other questions of

“intersectionality”(Collins, 2004) such as race, ethnicity, nationality, gender &sexuality, and more recently disability. As a consequence, research sites too were broadened to encompass cultural institutions of art, business, education, entertainment, health, immigration, law, literature, media, politics, religion, security, sciences, sports, and technology (Lindlof & Taylor, 2011).

According to Lindlof & Taylor (2011, p.65), in the Cultural Studies tradition of qualitative research, theory is a provocative framework that usefully illuminates the complexity of situated phenomena and their practical constitution (Alasuutari, 1996).

Over its forty years and more of existence, Cultural studies has generated a rigorously eclectic body of theory that draws from blends, innovates several of the traditions

58 including phenomenology, poststructuralism, and neo-Marxism (Barker, 2008; Saukko,

2005; Tudor, 1999). Projects under Cultural studies are approached as opportunities to investigate the dynamic relations between political-economic influences and individual/collective desires for greater autonomy and self-expression.

Frow & Morris (2000) note that Cultural Studies projects combine archival, textual-criticism, and qualitative methods. Such research projects are directed at a

‘radical cultural democracy’ in which forms of power and knowledge may be continuously questioned and revised by the diverse groups organized under their dominant logics. The different struggles are meant to achieve adequate and inclusive agreements meant to reclaim possibilities for labor, governance, spirituality, family, and community. In particular, Cultural studies research is focused on how ‘production, circulation, and interpretation of cultural artifacts contribute to ongoing contestation that is conducted within and between cultural groups’(p.66). In examining these ‘circuits of culture’ (du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay, & Negus, 1997), scholars in Cultural Studies compare often contrast an object’s ‘official’ value in a financial economy with its unanticipated potential for generating ‘unofficial’ meanings and pleases within local systems of cultural value and belief (Bennett and Woolacot, 1987; Conquergood, 1994;

Johnson, 1986/87). These subversive practices can disrupt conventional claims of authority and legitimacy (p.66). Put another way, Cultural Studies scholarship considers how historical crises of modernity and postmodernity (e.g rapid economic cycling) and how that are registered in the activity of cultural symbol systems and how that activity

59 influences the practical reproduction of identities, relationships, and communities

(Berman, 1982).

In the field of Communication Studies, Cultural Studies is a late arrival, but it has offered communication scholars humanistic resources for analyzing media texts as cultural-political artifacts (Kellner, 1993). Cultural Studies, Lindlof & Taylor (2011) note, holds that texts are “complex and contested artifacts of ideologies that operate to shape their symbolic form and content” (p.66). Different sub-areas in the field of communication have embraced Cultural Studies such as rhetoric (Rosteck, 1999), organizational communication (Carlon & Taylor, 1998), intercultural communication

(Halualani, Mendoza & Drzerwicka, 2009), and performance studies (Madison and

Hamera, 2006).

Rosteck (1999) observes that while some scholars have announced the

“renaissance of public address” (p.229) in rhetorical studies, there is no unanimity yet about such rebirth. Rosteck highlights that some scholars such as Campbell (1995) contest the current model of teaching rhetoric based on “master pieces” without taking into account issues such as the material situation or diversity. Campbell (1995) one of the top contemporary rhetorical critics proposes that “Perhaps it is time to develop courses designed to teach people how to study discourse in ways that focus on assessing the role of rhetoric in shaping the course of economic, political, social, and intellectual history”

(p.143).

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Other scholars such as Gaonkar (1989, p.268) similarly suggest a new model of rhetorical analysis which might deepen the understanding of the complex relationship between a text and the context in which it is situated, “without merely noting or valorizing the ‘intellectual influences’ of particular individual public address leaders”

(Jasinski, p. 216). Understood a differently, Gankor and Jansiski argue that current rhetorical scholarship situated in Cultural Studies needs to adopt an understanding that rhetorical discourse is representative of “shared meanings of a particular society ‘in history’; and that such discourse is itself a cultural practice that ‘shapes history’.”

Hoerl (2016) notes that many Cultural Studies projects have always taken into consideration the way symbolic action reproduces, resists, and transforms existing power relations and conditions of inequality. As a consequence, one of the core tenets of scholarship situated in Cultural Studies is the need to be “explicitly interventionist”

(p.270). With this interventionist goal in mind, rhetorical criticism of popular culture not only explains how meaning is constructed within a particular text, but also “evaluates the implications of the text”(p.271). In other words, the pursuit of social change is partly one of the reasons for a study situated in Cultural Studies.

In exploring the relationship between culture and power, several rhetorical critics of popular culture draw upon several concepts for interpretation. In my study I focused on three connected concepts that include ideology, interpellation, and hegemony. Hoerl

(2016) explains ideology as a system of ideas that provides the framework through which people understand and interpret their social experiences. Ideological beliefs are part of

61 the environments that people are born and live in and a lot of people unconsciously adopt the beliefs without even knowing. Popular culture is a strong element in the

“environments” people live in and serves as a vehicle for the transmission of such beliefs.

Ideological beliefs are taken for granted and it is when people step outside such

“environment” that they are able to imagine a different world from what they had taken for granted. Hoerl (2016) adds that the danger of ideological discourse is that it provides a partial view of reality that privileges some perspectives over others. Critics of ideology specifically draw attention to particular strategies in which specific instances of ideological discourse make the uneven distribution of resources and other conditions of inequality seem natural. These critics explain how the mundane features of everyday life affirm the interests of powerful classes.

The second concept I used is interpellation. Hoerl (2016) relying on the ideas of

Althusser (1965) explains it as the way “by which ideological discourse constructs subject positions for individuals and groups from which they can make sense of their experience”(p.271). Through such a process people internalize ideological discourses that offers them a certain image of their place in the world and then use that image to guide their beliefs and behaviors. Renown British Cultural Studies critic Hall (2003) argued that ideologies construct for their subjects “positions of identification and knowledge which allow them to ‘utter’ ideological truths as if they were their authentic authors. (We) find ourselves mirrored in the positions at the centre of the discourses from which the statements we formulate ‘make sense’ ”(p.90). Interpellation highlights the

62 difficulty sometimes people encounter to imagine a world outside the dominant ideology that controls their worldview and the challenge it presents for pushing for social change.

The third concept I used is Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony. According to Hoerl (2016) Gramsci (1971/2012) defined hegemony as “the process by which the social order remains stable by generating the voluntary consent of its members”(p.271).

Hoerl (2016) explains that “social order” refers to “a system of social hierarchies, structures, institutions, relations, customs, values, and practices that correspond to specific ideological assumptions. Thus, consent to the social order is achieved through the construction and circulation of ideological texts” (p.271). For instance, to maintain consent to capitalism, individuals have to be convinced about the value of free enterprise and hard work. That way people’s economics challenges can be framed as personal failures based on not working harder or failure to work smarter. The insight drawn here is that for ideology to operate, it must convince marginalized groups that the existing social order works in their best interests.

White (1997) observed that earlier research up to the 1990s primarily focused on media effects and the effectiveness of religious broadcasts. Later research however sought a broadening of studies in communication and religion that would “create a field of study dealing with media, religion, and ‘socio-cultural conditions’ ”(p.181). Such studies would explore how powerful religious leaders are working through media to construct new cultures; the studies would examine the nature of cultures mediated

63 religion is creating; and the studies would question “whether this is the way we want religion and media to be used in constructing cultures”(p.181).

Cultural Studies provides a useful framework in which to analyze the forms of mediated religious communication growing in Uganda, with an eye on the socio- economic and cultural situations in Uganda. While I studied the “texts” produced by the

Ugandan Pentecostal rhetors, Cultural Studies provided the tools I could use to analyze the social impact of the analyzed religious rhetoric on the local Ugandan society.

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CHAPTER THREE: Methodology

The study was interdisciplinary placed at the intersection of rhetorical studies, religious studies, and cultural studies. Rosteck (1999) notes that within the past two decades, the theoretical commitments of rhetorical and cultural studies have increasingly converged around the critique of media, institutions, and discourses that constitute and govern public culture. As a consequence of such shifts in the field of rhetoric, rhetorical scholars have revised several of their traditions to incorporate the epistemologies and methods of qualitative research (Hess, 2008). Katriel (1994) too observes that the conception of rhetorical sites has been expanded to include different forums of cultural narrative production and collaborative rhetorical invention (Katriel, 1994).

My study was a qualitative and text-based study that relied on rhetorical artifacts such as sermons or teachings; and documents. There was no need to “control” or

“manipulate” the elements of my analysis as happens in experimental, “fixed” theory- driven designs. My study was based on a Descriptive design and involved observing and describing behavior of a phenomenon in its natural environment. Mander, Rose, &

Powell (2014) note that Descriptive research answers questions such as “What is happening? How is something happening? Why is something happening?” (p.117). These kinds of questions are well suited for an exploratory study such as mine about Uganda that had almost nothing written about it. A Descriptive Design provided the needed flexibility in the data collection process as I explored potential relations among the

65 different elements that define the phenomenon of the rapid growth of Pentecostalism in

Uganda and the effectiveness of its rhetoric.

The study was Qualitative in nature, and Cresswell (2014) highlights that qualitative approaches have the advantage of allowing the research to explore and understand meaning that individuals or groups of people attach to social and human problems. Holiday (2016), too notes qualitative approaches “look deep into the quality of social life and allocates the study within a setting, which provide opportunities for exploring all possible variables and set manageable boundaries” (p. 6). The qualitative approach was suited to my study that explored communicative practices within the specific Ugandan setting.

A case study approach was used because according to Creswell and Poth (2018) it has the advantage of allowing the investigator to “explore a real-life case or cases, through detailed description of the phenomenon involving multiple sources of information” (p.96). Yin (2009) eloquently defined the case study approach as “an empirical analysis that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context” (p.18). Instead of examining all the Pentecostal pastors in Uganda or

Kampala, my study selected a number of them using a specific criteria explained below.

The research employed Purposive Sampling in its selection of sites and cases.

According to Schwadt (1997), in purposive sampling “Sites or cases are chosen because there may be good reason to believe that ‘what goes on there’ is critical to understanding some process or concept, or testing or elaborating some established theory” (p.28). Under

66 purposive sampling I specifically employed Criterion Selection where my choice of geographical site, the time frame covered, the rhetors focused on, and the artifacts collected for analysis was based on a stated rationale explained below. The research was located in Uganda, and specifically the Ugandan because there is little to no scholarly research that has approached the subject of the rapid growth of Pentecostal Christianity in

Uganda and the effectiveness of its rhetoric from a communication studies perspective.

The Ugandan capital of Kampala was specifically selected because Pentecostalism tends to be an “urban phenomenon” (Shorter & Njiru, 2001) with limited presence in rural areas. Kampala has the largest concentration of Pentecostal churches and ministries including their media ministries like radio and television stations (Jenga, 2017). Such a location provided the best samples and the best vantage point at which to observe the subject under study. It is important to clarify that given the lack of available research on the particular subject under study in Uganda, it was pre-mature to use a highly theoretical approach for my study.

Through Criterion selection, I focused my study on the work of three indigenous

Pentecostal pastors. I specifically focused on pastors who currently own media houses; and also have a long, consistent, established media presence. While there are several pastors with media ministries, I focused on pastors who strictly meet the four criteria. The three pastors selected were Pastor Robert Kayanja, Bishop David Kiganda, and Apostle

Dr Joseph Serwadda. Detailed information about each one of the selected pastors is provided later in the study. What can be briefly highlighted at this point is that each of the

67 pastors is an indigenous Ugandan, the independent founder of the ministry, and has actively been using media for a long time, owns a media house, has written books, and continues to pastor a real-life congregation (s). Each of the pastors is a leader in his own right with several satellite churches and pastors under his care, and in a way a trend-setter in matters of faith and communication. The three pastors can be placed in the media savvy, prosperity-oriented “New Wave” or “Third Wave” category of Pentecostalism that is sweeping across Africa.

Hackett (2010) pairs the rise in Pentecostal broadcasting in Africa with the liberalization of media in Africa. Unlike the state owned broadcasters that served the interests of colonial governments and successive post-independence governments in

African countries such as Uganda (Chibita 2006; Lugalambi, Mwesige, & Bussiek 2010), there was a dramatic increase of private radio and television stations in the early 1990s when much of Africa liberalized the media under pressure from the International

Monetary Fund and the World Bank to embrace the Structural Adjustment Programs

(SAPs) with hopes of energizing weak African economies. The disassembling of government monopolies in media and the commercialization of ownership and broadcast airtime altered the media landscape in countries such as Uganda. Such radical changes in

Africa’s media landscape affected communication practice among religious groups on the continent (Nyamnjoh, 2004; Fardon & Furniss, 2000; Meyer, 2006).

Given the above developments in Africa in an era of media liberalization, the sample time frame of my research was the post-liberalization period when more

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Pentecostal-Charismatic churches and individuals made their way in media. I focused on the time period between the year 2000 and 2019 when Uganda’s liberal media policies had been extensively adopted and the number of Pentecostal pastors who owned and used media had significantly increased. The sample time frame gave me a broad sample to work with in the data collection process and to look for patterns for a longer period of time.

Data Management

The research was Historic-Archival in nature. I did my research in Kampala,

Uganda. I visited the three main Churches of each of the selected pastors in the Kampala areas of Ndeeba, Rubaga, and Mengo-Kisenyi where I collected archival audio-visual and documentary material that was produced by the selected pastors from their media houses and gift shops. The choice of the audio-visual material was focused on flagship television programs of the selected pastors. The programs are available in DVD form after television broadcasts. While details of each program analyzed are covered in the next chapter, each program primarily combines elements of advertisement, a sermon or teaching; songs, and prayers. I analyzed thirty audio-visual broadcast programs with each program averaging one hour and half. In total, I had 2,700 minutes of video footage to view, review, categorize, and analyze.

The documentary material focused on one book sole-authored by each of the pastors. I collected other books or documents written by the pastors for the secondary purpose of understanding the context. The criteria used in selected the book for analysis

69 sole-authorship by the pastor, and the size of the book. The two identified criteria signaled the longer amount of time the pastor spent on producing the book, and the importance the pastor attached to the identified book. In a sense the book was a synthesis of the pastor’s main message, and a significant investment of rhetorical effort.

The three books focused on are: Tougher times: Tougher people by Bishop David

Kiganda; The seed, the soil, and the season by Pastor Robert Kayanja; and Principles, power and purpose or prosperity-Journey on how to discover prosperity and ideas on how to attain power and influence by Apostle Dr Joseph Serwadda. The titles pastors in

Pentecostalism go by such as “Apostle” “Prophet” or “Bishop” can be self-imposed or confirmed by another Pentecostal leader, but what needs to be understood is that

Pentecostalism is theologically fluid and independent, and separate congregations have different emphases or approaches to church practice. Among the three pastors, I had 680 pages to read, reread, and analyze. Different scholars (Lindlof & Taylor, 2011; Creswell and Poth, 2018) note that the advantage of a wide sample size from multiple sources for research data serves the purpose of triangulation which guards against biases thereby increasing validity in a study.

The coding of this study was manual. After the data collection exercise, I familiarized myself with the data through reading and re-reading, viewing and reviewing the collected material. I developed a “Content Observation Form” which helped me summarize, and reduce the data into manageable sizes. Each artifact was assigned a

Content Observation Form which captured the name of the pastor, the title of the artifact,

70 aesthetic or packaging elements, details of the internal setting or location where the communication act took place, the message or sermon; and stylistic aids used to advance the message. Based on the Content Observation Forms I wrote a prose descriptive summary of each of the artifacts. It is these descriptive summaries that I used to construct a “text” for my subsequent analysis. In the following two sub-sections I explain the theoretical underpinnings that informed the process of “text construction”; and I also explain my process of analyzing the text.

Constructing of the “text”

Frentz and Rushing (1999) remind us that rhetorical studies has a “rich history” that has proven capable of dealing provocatively with issues relating discourse to society.

As they describe it, rhetorical studies has always productively used case study analysis as its exemplar of critical practice, coupling that with the fluidity to move between sophisticated theoretical analysis and narration of local particulars through the disclosure of rhetorical texts. While my study does claim “sophisticated” theoretical analysis since it is an initial study on the subject in Uganda, it combines close reading and case study methodology with a level of theoretical analysis necessary to form a bond between rhetorical studies and cultural studies (Nelson, 1999, p.212; Rosteck,p.13). Not only is my study located at the intersection of rhetorical studies and religion, I am also interested in understanding the impact of the socio-economic and cultural particularities of Ugandan society in making effective the religious rhetoric under study.

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Rosteck (1999) locates the origins of the “cultural tradition in rhetorical studies”(p.230) in the publication of Wrage’s essay: “Public address: A study in social and Intellectual History” (Wrage, 1970) which calls “for a ‘new’ paradigm of public address studies to shift attention away from individual orators toward a point of view that analyzes and interprets speeches as documents in social history”(Wrage,1970,pp. 454-

455). In the essay, Wrage (1970) called for rhetorical analysis to consider the “whole ensemble of a culture, its ‘mosaic of documents’ including constitutions and laws,

…scientific treatises,…lectures and sermons. But, more than that, also its literature and song, folklore, speeches” (p. 452). Wrage in a nutshell qualified all the artifacts that make up a society’s popular culture as good for analysis, in the sense justifying the choices I made of artifacts for analysis in my study.

Wrage (1970) further highlights that an “adequate social and intellectual history cannot be written without accounting for popular opinions, beliefs, and constellations of attitudes” (p.452). Considered then as a “ ‘whole way of life’ culture is more than the exhibition of the grand ‘high culture’ rather even low cultural artifacts have the potential to yield knowledge of…cultural strivings and heritage” (p.457). In theorizing what can constitute rhetorical artifacts, Wrage broadened the objects open to critical inquiry beyond the ‘official’ or ‘artistic’ to include the ordinary, popular culture. Recent years have seen greater scholarly embrace of the ‘ordinary’ or popular culture in part due to the influence of cultural studies. To read the “rhetoric of popular culture” is at once to extend the artifacts open to reading and the approaches to their reading beyond the traditional

72 oratorical paradigm. This broad understanding of what constitutes “text” for rhetorical analysis is at the center of my study.

Wrage (1970) further urged rhetorical critics not only to study “what happens to ideas under the impact of the interaction of rhetor, text, and audience” (p. 453), rather better understanding of texts needed to include “not only the conditions of the creation of ideas but also the conditions of their reception” (p. 454). Through this reasoning, Wrage pointedly highlighted how ideas or messages “are the product of a ‘social environment’ and do not enjoy an independent existence” (p. 451). Wrage’s theorization was important to my study, because one question that I explored in my study was the role of the socio- economic and cultural particularities of Uganda to the effectiveness of the Pentecostal religious rhetoric.

Other scholars have built onto Wrage’s theorization expanded the understanding of rhetorical texts that can be analyzed. For instance, Brummett (2006) in Rhetoric in popular culture defines text as “a set of signs related to each other insofar as their meanings contribute to the same set of effects or functions”(p.34). This definition suggests that the scope of the “text” may be determined according to the patterns across different products in media culture that share similar messages and themes. These patterns may be more interesting than a single text because they construct a structured symbolic environment that encourages audiences to share similar interpretations.

Brummett in this approach adds the dimension of the possibility of “constructing” the text from multiple media products that share messages and themes. In my study I look at

73 three indigenous Uganda pastors operating in media, and I examine audio-visual and documentary rhetorical artefacts they have produced in recent years. While the three rhetors are different, I examine their work looking for similarities and connections that enable me to “construct” a single text for analysis.

One justification I would like to make for my choice of “new wave” Pentecostal pastors is the lack of analysis of religious popular culture in Africa. While scholars such as Barber (1997) made effort to explore African popular culture in terms of music, theater, cartoons, dress, movies and literature, there is an absence of a focus on religious popular culture. Pype (2015) observes that with the rise of Pentecostalism since the 1980s and its appropriation of media technologies, the analytical boundaries between popular culture and religion have been pulverized. This can never be truer than in the Uganda context. Several indigenous Uganda pastors who operate in media such as Robert

Kayanja, Jackson Ssenyonga, Aloysius Bugingo, Irene Manjeri, Imelda Namutebi, Elvis

Mbonye, Deo Lubega, David Kiganda, and Augustine Yiga are all public figures and popular cultural leaders. Pentecostal gospel musicians such as Judith Babirye, Kirwana

Africa, and Joy Tendo Mata are equally popular and their gospel music has crossover appeal beyond the Pentecostal circles.

Pype (2015 ) further observes that because of the rise of “new wave”

Pentecostalism on the African continent “a whole new Christian celebrity culture thrives in African communities especially cities” creating a whole new popular culture with its own particular style of “creativity, persuasion, experience, and world-making that is

74 distinguishable from other kinds of popular culture through its own artistic, creative genre features”(p.346). It is some of these new “cultural texts” being produced by

Ugandan Pentecostal and Charismatic rhetors that were the focus of my study.

As earlier noted, my research focused on three Ugandan pastors who personally own media houses, extensively use broadcast media, and also produce printed material. It is this mediated audio-visual and documentary cultural material that these pastors have produced over the years that I used in “constructing” a cultural “text” that I analyzed. I focused on their flagship broadcast programs, and a key book each one them has written.

A triangulation of the mediated cultural works of the three prominent indigenous pastors gave an in-depth but also broad understanding of the Pentecostal rhetoric currently operative in Uganda.

According to Hodder (2000), material culture and documents are “mute evidence.” Because unlike speaking subjects we engage in interviews and observational contexts, they are unable to respond directly to the researcher’s questioning. Moreover, people are “curiously inarticulate”(p.703) when it comes to their reasons for acquiring or handling material things. Additionally, Lindlof & Taylor (2011) point out that a resourceful qualitative researcher must be ready to pay close attention to all the ways in which people interact with things and texts. The characteristic actions of this methodology are “collecting, reading, and interpreting” which means after gathering our artifacts, “we collect specimens of material objects and documents; we read their surfaces

75 and characterize them in great detail; and we interpret them in light of theory, history, and other contextual evidence” (p.218).

Lindlof & Taylor (2011) note that while cultural products are made by people, they are not just passive, malleable “clay” in the hands of “homo faber.” They also possess a degree of agency and can influence, and colonize both the “private and public spheres of its human hosts”(p.219).

Winner (1980) in his classic essay “Do artifacts Have politics” long argued that technological artifacts are not only products of group politics, they too contain power to change the contours of the geographical areas where they are located in terms of communication or economics for years. In other words, Cultural texts can be acted on, but also have power to act on people in powerful ways and influence how they think and act. My study examined the mediated cultural material of the pastors and while audiences have the power to interpret the works as they wish, the productions also have power to influence the way audiences make meaning out of their lives. Brummett (2010) shares the argument of Winner (1980) about the power of texts or artifacts. In arguing for a close reading of rhetorical texts Brummett (2010) notes that texts have power to shape individual and social consciousness. As a consequence of such power, consumers or readers need to pay attention to what a rhetorical text claims, asks the audience to think, do, or assume; and to ask: “who is empowered or disempowered” (p.101) by the text.

This type of reading of a rhetorical text is important in unveiling the ideology that underpins a text.

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I would also like to clarify the category of the nature of artifacts I analyzed.

Madge (1965) distinguished documentary sources between ”primary” documents “which comprise the testimony of eyewitnesses of the events described”(p.89); and “secondary” documents “which are based on indirect evidence such as media stories about an event or the expressed opinions of social actors who are affected by, but not directly involved in and event” (Lindlof & Taylor, 2011, p. 234). Other scholars categorize documentary sources between “personal documents” and “records” (Holder, 2000;Lincoln &

Guba,1985; Madge1965). Both terms differ, but in their essence carry the same meaning.

While the categorization of sources above focuses on documentary sources, the classification can accurately be applied to other forms of sources. I categorize both the audio-visual and documentary sources as “primary sources” because they are directly, and solely produced by the rhetors under study. Several scholars (Banks, Louie, &

Einerson, 2000; Otnes, Kim, & Kim, 1994) argue that such “primary sources” are valuable compared to secondary sources, in providing insight into the authors’ beliefs, identities, relationships, and communicative styles.

Analyzing the “text”

In this sub-section I explain the three main steps I undertook in the process of analyzing the “text.” In the first step I made a descriptive or internal analysis which introduces the reader to the inside of the text. In the second step I make an external analysis which informs the reader about the world in which the text was created and

77 operated; and in the third step I evaluate the social implications of Pentecostal religious rhetoric using the truth and ethical criteria.

Kuypers (2016) rightly observes that one way a critic’s readers are able to encounter or get exposure to a rhetorical artifact under analysis is through an accurate description. My research is “organic” as opposed to a “prescriptive” criticism which applies a set formula or a prescription to a discourse. The “organic” approach “considers rhetorical acts on their own terms, not to approach it with prejudgments and prior assumptions”(Campbell & Burkholder, 1997, p.18). My study was “organic” and heavily relied on “thick description” of the rhetorical artifacts prior to any forms of analyses.

Campbell & Burkholder (1997) consider Descriptive or Internal analysis an essential requirement of contemporary rhetorical criticism. Such description of the artifact ought to be done with an eye on the goals of the persuaders, and an eye on how the rhetorical act works to achieve its ends. Elements I considered in my internal analysis of the artifacts included the rhetors’ message, their purpose, the personae they performed, their possible audience, their structure of their work, the rhetorical strategies employed, and the supporting materials used in their persuasive efforts.

The descriptive analysis or internal analysis was situated on the rhetorical canons of Inventio and Style. The two canons of the Greco-Roman rationalistic approach, were first developed by Aristotle, then later further developed by Cicero and Quintilian.

Inventio refers to the “rhetor’s skill in choosing argumentative options and using creative lines of argument” (Campbell & Burkholder, p.77). In essence, it is the rhetor’s ability to

78 choose from the available proofs, the best proofs for the for the specific audience and the specific situation. In Inventio I explored the choice of message and the use of the persuasive elements of logos, ethos and pathos. Style which basically refers to how rhetors use symbols such as language and other aesthetics to build a discourse, enchant or excite, and also persuade audiences, I explored how different symbolic elements are used by the rhetors to interact with each to construct discourse and meaning for Ugandans.

The Contextual analysis or External analysis was focused on the socio-economic realities and cultural beliefs of Ugandans and the role they have played in the reception of the Pentecostal religious rhetoric. Campbell & Burkholder (1997) further observe that rhetoric is “practical because rhetors are motivated to speak or write by events that they encounter”(p.49) and their primary goal is to solve some problem or prevailing condition in the audience’ life and persuade the audience to view the events and issues in a particular way. In the external analysis I rely on different sources outside the “text” to understand Uganda’s socio-economic and cultural conditions, and what the social impact might be when such conditions meet the Pentecostal religious rhetoric.

I concluded my analysis with an Evaluation of the text’s contribution to the public. Hoerl (2016) points out that when it comes to evaluating texts, “critics identify the beliefs and value systems that are elicited within the text and explain how these value systems might shape audiences responses to related social conflicts or controversies” and also critics have to “describe how the text’s messages provide implicit lessons that could inform how audience members understand and act as citizens, workers, and or/family

79 members” (p.277). My evaluation employed criteria that include the truth criterion and the ethical criterion. The truth criterion focuses on privileging truth telling over its opposite of lies, distortion, willful misrepresentations or half-truths. Aristotle (350/1954) long argued that good rhetoric upholds the truth. I evaluated whether the key claims made by the rhetors are truthful as presented to Ugandan audiences. The ethical criterion looked at the long-term social and political implications of both the means and the ends of the neo=Pentecostal rhetoric (Campbell & Burkholder, 1997). Ordinarily rhetors have a desired worldview and values that they intend audiences to adopt, and the ethical criterion evaluated the long-term implications of the world view being promoted to the

Ugandan society. My evaluation employed ideas drawn from Cultural Studies such as ideology, interpellation, and hegemony. More about each of these ideas is shared in the last chapter.

In the next chapter I provide a descriptive analysis or internal analysis of the audio-visual and documentary material of the three Pastors. I open with a description of the nature of the material I analyzed, and then I delve into the material of each of the individual rhetor. I describe the profile of each of the pastors, the different rhetorical elements of their cultural material; and I conclude with a focused internal analysis of the three as a set of rhetors.

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CHAPTER FOUR: Descriptive Analysis

Overview of the chapter and the analytical process

Hackett (1998) argued that one of the defining characteristics of Pentecostalism as a strand of Christianity is “the appropriation and use of modern media technologies”(p.258). She notes that, the appropriation and the use of media technologies facilitates the dissemination of the word to the masses, and as such, is a tool for expansion. In her analysis, it is also a reflection of the globalizing aspirations, as well as a calculated attempt to transform and Christianize popular culture so that it is safe for consumption by born again Christians.

Several researchers have looked at various ways in which the Pentecostals are exploiting the modern media. Much of such scholarship is focused on West Africa particularly the countries of Nigeria and Ghana. The following areas have attracted particular attention in such scholarship: use of the electronic media especially radio and television by Pentecostal leaders (Lyons & Lyons, 1987; Hackett, 1998, 2006; De Witte,

2003, Asamoah-Gyadu, 2005b), the Pentecostal production and development of the popular cinema and home-video industry (Myer, 1999, Mitchell, 2004; Ukah 2003; the use of audio tapes and the production of gospel music (Ojo, 1988, Udofia, 2004); and the

Pentecostal use of the new information and communication technologies (Hackett, 2003,

Ihejirika, 2008a); influencing of national media laws and policies (Ihejirika, 2006b;Ukah,

2008b), and the trivialization of religion by turning missionary outreach into advertisement (Asamoah-Gyadu, 2005b, 2005d;Ukah,2005, 2007,).

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While my study focuses on a specific area of Pentecostal use of media identified earlier, for purposes of understanding the Ugandan Pentecostal media landscape it is important to understand the different forms of media engagement that have developed alongside radio and television. There is in Uganda within Pentecostal circles an increased use of advertising, gospel music, CDs and DVDs, the use of posters, banners and occasionally billboards. In the Ugandan context, several gospel artists and “teams” have sprung up mainstreaming gospel music in the Ugandan music industry making household names some gospel artists such as Pastor Wilson Bugembe, Judith Babirye, Exodus, Julie

Muteesasira, and Kirwana Africa. The popularity of gospel music in Uganda has attracted the attention of major secular music artists interested in tapping into the Christian music market. Some secular music artists have done joint song projects with gospel artists such as Pastor Wilson Bugembe who worked with secular artist Bobi Wine on Ojanga Nosaba

(Come Pray), and other secular artists have outrightly composed gospel themed songs such as Kanyimbe (I Will Sing Out Your name Jesus) by Juliana Kanyomozi, and Abita

Ebikute (He Makes Possible the Impossible) by ‘Dr’ Hilderman. Ihejirika (2008d) notes in a different study located in West Africa that the crossover appeal of such music beyond age, social class, and religious differences is playing an ecumenical role of bringing different faith groups together.

In the area of advertisement Ugandan Pentecostals are known by Ugandans for creating highly emotional advertising videos that invite the public to “miracle-packed” revival meetings led by “anointed men of God” who are showcased in the video clips

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“performing” miracles. Other popular forms of advertisement include overhead banners and billboards that invite the public to mass rallies such as the end of year “crossover” prayers or “independence nights.” It is not uncommon in Uganda to find Pentecostal banners or billboards in close proximity with billboards of other big commercial corporate brands such as Coca Cola and telecommunication companies like MTN and

Warid.

In this chapter I analyze three key pastors who own and operate media. I examine a sample of their flagship broadcast programs, and I also analyze some of the key books they have written. As earlier noted, I open with a description of the nature of the material

I analyzed, and then I delve into the material of each of the individual rhetor. I describe the profile of each of the pastors, the different rhetorical elements of their cultural material; and I conclude with a focused synthesis of the three as a set of rhetors.

My process of reviewing each of the artifacts followed four steps: In the first step

I examined the packaging of the artefact looking at the choice of title, the quality of the

DVD or book, and the images used on the covers. In the second step I looked at the signature introduction or preface used in the program or book. Signature ‘intros’ and prefaces are ordinarily thesis statements of what the broadcast programs or books are about. They are directed at hyping and exciting audiences about what is inside the artifacts. Signature intros and prefaces bottle for audiences the spirit, and the key message of the broadcast program or the heart of a book. In the third step I examined the setting within the artefact with a focus on elements such as the nature of the venue, the

83 aesthetics such as the dressing of the pastor, the colors used, artefacts displayed on the set, decorations, and the quality of the sound system and images used. In the fourth step I focused on the key message itself and its delivery. I examined the themes, how they are developed, the elements used to make them persuasive, and the nature of delivery employed by each of the rhetors.

The audio-visual and documentary cultural material analyzed is modeled in many ways to that of US American prosperity preachers such as Pastors Robert Schuller, Creflo

Dollar, T.D Jakes, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, and Joel Osteen. Both the books and the audio-visual materials are produced in jingoistic, soundbite form; have catchy titles and covers, are not situated in any scholarship except the Bible; and primarily are focused on individual progress, empowerment, or improvement. The cultural material can easily pass as a form of Biblically inspired religious pop psychology, directed at people dealing with different social challenges with a message of how such individuals or communities can empower or better themselves.

In dealing with printed material, I briefly introduce all the available and known books or booklets each pastor has produced over the years, then I focus on a particular major book of the pastor. The choice of the book selected for in-depth analysis is based on criteria explained in the methods section such as how developed the book is. The process of in-depth primarily focuses on the book titles, the packaging of the book, the lay out of the chapters, the message in the chapters, and how the pastor builds himself and his discourse throughout the book.

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It should be noted that Pentecostalism is known for its powerful appeal to emotions through language, dance, settings, and packaging. The appeal to emotions is what Aristotle in Rhetoric identified as pathos and defined as the rhetor’s ability to adapt to the qualities and characteristics of audiences and to develop materials in states of mind or feeling that make them amenable or vulnerable to arguments in support of the rhetor’s position (Aristotle, 350/1954). In my descriptive analysis I identify in “the moment” the strategic appeal to emotion that the rhetors make through their choice of language, packaging of their material, and the setting of their spaces. The building of credibility

(ethos) and the production of evidence to support their arguments is each analyzed in detail separately in the synthesis at the end of the chapter.

Profiles of Pastors Kayanja, Kiganda, and Serwadda

In the following sub section, I provide profiles of Pastors Robert Kayanja, David

Kiganda, and Joseph Serwadda. I highlight their biographical information and the nature of their pastoral ministry especially through the broadcast and print media. Each of the pastors is a leader in his own right in Uganda, with a long prominent history of operating in media.

Profile of Pastor Robert Kayanja

According to one of his books (Kayanja, 2004), Pastor Robert Kayanja was called to ministry at the age of 17, and at the age of 22 started his own ministry. He is currently the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Miracle Cathedral Center in Kampala Uganda with over 1,000 branch churches in Uganda; and also, the Founder/C.E.O of the television

85 station Channel 44. The primary mission of his ministry is to “bring God’s people back through a ministry of miracles, signs and wonders”(Kayanja, 2004, cover page). He adds that “he ministers with a unique anointing” and his evangelistic work has taken him to

“over 54 nations around the world holding crusades of up to 150,000 people nightly, seminars and revivals in the world’s leading churches as well as speaking to corporate organizations’ employees” (Kayanja, 2004, cover page). He writes of himself as “one of the most sought-after conference speakers” (Kayanja, 2004, cover page) who has also been a constant guest on American evangelical Christian television shows such as

“Celebration” hosted by Marcus and Joni Lamb; and “The 700 Club” of Pat Robertson.

Kayanja’s flagship program “Miracle Life” produced by his Ugandan television station

Channel 44 is run on “various television stations all over the world” (Kayanja, 2004, cover page).

Additional information not captured by the biographical profile on the book cover is that Pastor Kayanja was raised in an Anglican family and his father Reverend John

Walakira was an Anglican priest. Other siblings of Pastor Kayanja have gone on to do church ministry as well. Kayanja’s elder brother Archbishop John Sentamu is the current

Archbishop of York in England; while Archbishop David Makumbi runs “The World

Evangelical Redeemed Church” in Boston, Massachusetts - an independent Pentecostal church that serves a largely Ugandan diaspora community (Mugagga, 2016). Kayanja considers his encounter with US American televangelist Dr. T.L Osborn who visited

Uganda in 1985 a turning point in his life: “My life and ministry was changed forever as

86 a result of the encounter I had with this great General of God” (Kayanja, 2018b, p.75).

Through a chance opportunity to interpret for Dr TL Osborn at his rallies, Kayanja found a “father in faith” and an “impartation of the spirit and anointing” upon his life (Kayanja,

2018b, p.77).

Besides the 10, 500-seater glass Rubaga Miracle Cathedral in Kampala, he also superintends over 1200 affiliated churches, a television station, a DVD ministry, an online ministry and a publishing ministry. Kayanja also runs Miracle Bible College

“which has graduated ministers with Diplomas in Ministry from over seven different nations for the last 13 years” (Kayanja, 2018).

Profile of Bishop David Kiganda

Bishop David Kiganda is introduced in his own book (Kiganda, 2008) as the

“Founder and President of Christianity Focus Ministries and Senior Pastor of Christianity

Focus Centre, Kampala, Mengo-Kisenyi” (p.138). Besides the main church in Mengo-

Kisenyi Kampala, he also runs a ‘City Lunch Hour Fellowship’ in the busy commercial

Nakasero area downtown Kampala. Kiganda points out that the lunch hour fellowships are “geared at encouraging, motivating and impacting people in the market-place and business community” (p.138). As far as his beliefs are concerned, he “believes in miracles that are performed in the name of Jesus Christ as it is written in Mark 16:17-20.”

And because of such faith his “ministry is surrounded by undeniable evidence of miracles performed…in the anointing and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Glory be to God!”

(p.138).

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By being a “General Overseer” Kiganda highlights that he has oversight over several Pentecostal branch churches under his Christianity Focus Ministries, “spread across the nation” (p.137). Additionally, he highlights that he has served in the past as the

“Kampala Regional Overseer/Chairman of the National Fellowship of Born Again

Pentecostal Churches (NFBC) an umbrella organization that brings together more than

850 Pentecostal Pastors in Kampala for fellowship, networking, teamwork and accountability” (p.137).

Kiganda further notes that besides being a Pentecostal minister with extensive history in media, he currently owns and runs Kingdom Radio FM and Kingdom TV. In the past before acquiring his own media stations, he ministered as a guest “on Light

House Television (sister TV station to TBN USA); and also ran daily broadcasts on more than five different radio stations across Uganda for more than 20years until when God blessed him with a TV Station (Kingdom TV)” (p.137). The effect of his broadcast programs according to him, has been the inspiration of “millions of Ugandans and across the globe to live successful lives” (p.137).

The profile provided by Kiganda, portrays him as a minister who is media savvy, a respected leader within the Ugandan Pentecostal circles, and a firm believer in the health and wealth or prosperity gospel. In portraying himself this way, Kiganda builds his ethos in the eyes of audiences as a credible and believable religious rhetor focused on helping his audience achieve a good and successful life.

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Profile of Apostle Dr Joseph Serwadda

According to biographical notes at the back of the different booklets that Apostle

Serwadda has authored (Serwadda, 1992; Serwadda, 2007; Serwadda, 2018a; Serwadda,

2018b), he was born in the greater Masaka District of Uganda that was later split into smaller districts and now identifies with the recently created Kalungu District of Uganda.

Raised in the Catholic faith, he abandoned Catholicism and became born again

“accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior in 1975” (Serwadda, 1992). In 1978 while serving as a schoolteacher, he felt called into full time church ministry. Several years later in 1982 while discerning the nature of ministry he was called to, he “went on a long “dry fast” which led him into the heights of a visitation from the Lord. The Lord appointed him an apostle in the body of Christ. Joseph preaches and teaches with great power and conviction with signs and wonders”(Serwadda, 1992).

Serwadda has gone on to attain academic training in different fields connected to the vision of his ministry. He studied Theology at the Baptist Bible College in Nairobi

Kenya, has a diploma in ministry from Agape Bible College in Winchester Virginia

USA; got diplomas in journalism and legal studies in Uganda, and also attained a Doctor of Divinity. He has also so far been awarded two Honorary Doctorates (Serwadda, 2018).

Serwadda notes that given his background, he is highly involved in the use of mass media. He points out that he has established Impact FM radio and Dream

Television, and has “written numerous selected articles for local newspapers, he has appeared on both national radio and Television stations in Australia, New Zealand, USA

89 and many European and African nations” (Serwadda, 2018a). He considers himself a

“forward thinker and astute Church minister who preach with enormous divine fervor, anointing and energy” whose “annual end of year Passover rallies at Mandela National

Stadium since 2002 have gathered record attendances of more than 80,000 people in a single service” (Serwadda, 2018a).

Overall Serwadda considers himself and his wife Freda “a success story” whose

“simple, action-oriented approach to ministry has helped many to make sense of life and the faith message”; and through their print and broadcast media reveal some of “their secrets, insights, and observation for breakthrough in life” (Serwadda, 2007, back cover page).

The profiles of the three pastors frame them as respected leaders with thousands of followers who look up to their leadership. The auto-biographical bits of information shared portray them as individuals who have overcome challenges in their own lives through the power of God which now they share and have the authority to use in helping other people. An illustration of the countries they have been to all over the world, the individuals they have met, and the wide media presence influence they possess, is meant to provide social proof of their credibility in the eyes of their audiences.

In the following sections, I make a descriptive presentation of the broadcast, and printed materials of each of the three pastors. The first sub section focuses on the audio- visual broadcast programs of each of the pastors; and the second sub section focuses on

90 the printed materials of each of the pastors. In the third sub section I provide a synthesis of the combined work of the three pastors from a rhetorical studies perspective.

It should be noted that the understanding of “rhetoric” in this study as earlier pointed out is based on the broad definition of Campbell and Burkholder (1997) who define “rhetoric” as any forms of “persuasive discourses, written and oral, encountered face-to-face or through the electronic or print media that seek to affect attitudes and actions” (p.3). The choice of material or “texts” for analysis is informed by Wrage’s argument that rhetorical analysis should not only focus on “texts” from a societies’ “high culture” rather, it be open to studying a “whole ensemble of a culture, its ‘mosaic of documents’ including constitutions and laws, …scientific treatises,…lectures and sermons. But, more than that, also its literature and song, folklore, speeches” (Wrage, p.

452). My study approaches the pastors’ programs and printed material as a form of

“rhetoric” or strategic, goal-oriented communication, intended to affect people’s attitudes and actions in Uganda.

Broadcast Programs of the Pastors

Kayanja’s broadcast programs

Pastor Kayanja is the proprietor of The material was first broadcast on Channel 44 television also known in Uganda as “Miracle TV.” Kayanja’s live broadcast programs television programs on his television station are later packaged in form of DVDs for sale to the public. I analyzed ten broadcast programs that included the following:

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Table 4 - Titles of Kayanja’s broadcast programs

Number Title 1 Instant Healings 2 Networking: Boat-sinking 3 When God Speaks 4 We are Money Lenders 5 Fruitfulness: God’s delivery system to you 6 Miracle Experiences: A collection of some of the most notable miracles from Robert Kayanja 7 The offering you ought to give 8 God is my money 9 The Hand of God: Investment in the Holy Spirit 10 The anointing of the Holy Spirit

An in-depth analysis of the topic of each of the above audio-visual artifacts is provided later in this study under the sub-section on message.

Packaging of Kayanja’s audio-visual products

The packaging of Kayanja’s audio-visual products is radically intentional. The titles are carefully crafted, and the covers are carefully designed with images and colors that work together enhance to amplify the power of the message and capture audiences and buyers particularly in a Ugandan context. For instance, the DVD cover of Instant

Healings set against a background of thousands of people has video grab pictures of people supposedly healed lifting up in the air crutches, walking canes, wheelchairs, chest and neck-braces all in a celebratory stance/mood. The thousands of people shown in the background of the picture are meant to convince audiences that Kayanja and his work has already between accepted by a lot of people. It is meant to play the role of a sort of 92

“product endorsement” for Kayanja and his work. The large audiences displayed bear

“testimony” to the effectiveness of Kayanja and therefore persuade possible consumers to embrace the product and try it out. The audience members who display their wheelchairs, canes, and braces play the role of “satisfied consumers” who powerfully display the effectiveness of the healing work of Kayanja and in a way invite viewers to buy into

Kayanja’s work. A different DVD Miracle experiences: A collection of some of the most notable miracles from Robert Kayanja is designed more as a commercial that summarizes dramatic healings in Kayanja’s different healing rallies. The cover closely similar to the cover of Instant Healings, has pictures of wheelchairs, braces and crutches. The cover invites the viewer to join an ecology filled with a lot of physical cures and different other kinds of healings. What we notice with the packaging of the video is that the numerous healings are directed at convincing would be viewers that ‘miracles’ are not a once-off occurrence in Kayanja’s work but rather a regular occurrence. This serves the purpose of framing Kayanja as an ‘anointed man of God’ with powers to heal and perform all kinds of other miracles while at the same time telling viewers to embrace his message.

The cover of We are money lenders has the images of US dollar notes flying in the air set against a background of pictures of high-rise buildings similar to those on

Wallstreet in New York, and other buildings similar to US American bank headquarters that tend to have facades with tall, large, strong neoclassical Greek columns. These images are symbolic of the global systems that control much of the world’s financial economies. The title We are money lenders and the accompanying images make claims

93 that Kayanja and those who embrace his message already participate in these systems and in a way control the global financial wealth. Such participants determine who becomes wealthy and who does not, similar to the way powerful global financial institutions operate. The cover and the title play on people’s desire to become wealthy and escape poverty. And also, the cover persuasively invites people to embrace Kayanja and his work so as to learn the secrets of how to participate and benefit from the powerful global financial systems. A different DVD in the same category God is my money that focuses on how the wealth of the wicked will be transferred into the hands of the righteous, has a cover with images of gold coins and bars of gold. The images highlight wealth that is available for taking by believers but currently in the hands of unbelievers. The video promises to unlock for viewers the secrets of how such wealth can be taken. Hidden behind the images are promises of wealth and financial breakthrough to Ugandan audiences a majority of whom currently wallow in poverty.

Connected to the above DVDs on financial themes is the DVD Fruitfulness:

God’s delivery system to you. The cover has at its center a basketful of colorful, big and beautifully arranged fruits such as pineapples, grapes, apples set against a beautiful blue sky with a white dove hovering high up in the sky. There are no human characters in the setting and yet the basket-full appears ready for delivery to someone. The basket-full speaks of plenty, thoughtfulness, love, care, and concern by whoever prepared it. In a country bedeviled by lack in some many ways and a struggle to attain the basics of life, the image of abundance and the promise of a tapping into such plenty is attractive.

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Kayanja promises to teach the audiences ways of how God’s delivery system works and how they can tap into it. A combination of the title and the images used portrays Kayanja as a pastor who knows how God thinks and works; and can empower his audiences with such knowledge. Similar related images appear on the jacket of the DVD The offering you ought to give. The central image is of an old rugged cross and white lamb at it feet; a church collection basket with US dollars in it, and a basket with different fruits that appear ripe, and juicy. The cross and the lamb have always been associated with big sacrifice in Christianity. Just like the Jewish lambs that were sacrificed so as to take away any sin within community, so was Jesus sacrificed so as to bring about forgiveness and open doors for blessings upon people. The DVD invites people to offer personal sacrifice in terms of financial resources and other types of “harvests” so as to open God’s blessings in their lives. The DVD packaging puts the message upfront right on the cover through explaining and associating the sacrifice of Jesus and the sacrifice viewers are called to make to reap God’s blessings.

The Net-working, Boat-sinking, Miracles DVD has a jacket with images of a ship struggling in deep and stormy seas some tilted sideways in sinking positions. The images look no different from those of the Titanic when the ship was in its last hours with the chaos as the people struggled to fight for their lives. The ocean has always represented the world, and a stormy sea with sinking boats represents a stormy, uncontrollable or difficult world yet the title mentions miracles amidst all of this. A later analysis shows the

DVD is based off Biblical text of the disciples of Jesus who spent the night without

95 catching any fish, yet when Jesus asked them to cast their nets on the other side of the sea they caught a huge catch that another boat had to be summoned to help with the catch.

The images speak of the restoration of hope after immense failure in different spheres of life. The framing packages and proposes hope for the many Ugandans who have experienced failure in different areas of their lives. Such a message presented using familiar images is attractive to a lot of Ugandans.

The last DVD titled The anointing of the Holy Spirit has a white dove in flying posture with a light shining upon the dove from the heavens. The white dove is associated with the Holy Spirit the active energy of God on earth. The DVD promises to teach people or audiences how to get ‘anointed’ or tap into the power of God on earth and for empowerment. Kayanja appears to be the person who has the secret of how to unlock such knowledge and help people get ‘anointed’ by the Holy Spirit.

Signature introduction of Kayanja’s broadcast programs

The programs analyzed have two types of signature introductions. Signature intros are primarily made in the format of commercials to hype up the coming program and get the viewer or set aside what they are doing and focus on the coming program.

Because they are repeated at the beginning of every broadcast, they announce the coming of a known program with a particular regular presenter. The intro bottles up the spirit of the program for media consumers. Ordinarily they are a highlights of key programs in the past. Whereas in Pentecostal broadcasting the intros appear to be simply meant to

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‘inform’ the audiences about the broadcast programs, the intros carry all the characteristics of a sales, or marketing effort.

For the program Instant Healings, the signature intro opens with clean, fresh water gushing from a pipe and Kayanja in an authoritative voice-over in English is heard saying:

It is the covenant God gave us! It is still alive! It is still active! It’s going to demolish that HIV! It is gonna breakdown every demonic activity! I don’t care what you have done! I don’t care who did it with you! But tonight, this morning, we activate the covenant of God! It is better than the covenant of Abraham! It is better than the covenant of nations! It is the covenant that makes all these cripple walk! It is not Pastor Kayanja! It is not Miracle Center! We have been here for many years, but when people tap into the current, the power of the covenant, poverty will go! Demons will go! Witchcraft will go! Oh, come on! Somebody shout Alleluia! You don’t have to pay for your healing! You don’t have to pay for your blessing! Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world! Come let us reason together! Even though your sins are as read as crimson, I will wash them and make them as white as snow! Lord cleanse your people! From sin! Cleanse me my sins! I am sorry for my sins! The actions of murder! The actions of abortion! From fornication! Witchcraft! Let your precious blood cleanse me today! I yield to you! I yield to Jesus! I surrender to Jesus!

Water in the Bible is associated with life, restoration, productivity. The gushing of such clean and fresh water plays on the Biblical imagery that says God will restore and give life to his people (see Psalm 23). The suggestion here is that what one needs to do is simply to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and they would tap into his life-giving energy.

Kayanja is again clear in mentioning that whatever challenging life destroying situations people are going through such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, and physical disability, the devil is responsible. Accepting Jesus Christ and his life frees one from the clutches of the devil and in effect frees people from such challenging situations.

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The signature intro to Net-workings, boat-sinking, miracles; The hand of God- investment in the Spirit, and When God speaks carefully combines sound, text, and images. The opening images show beautiful parts of Uganda’s capital of Kampala,

Uganda’s capital, zooming on the green sidewalks or lawns with cars in a distance. It is a perfect image of success and affluence. The image plays on the desires of viewers for the kind of Uganda many long to live in yet still illusive for the majority except for a small minority. The next images show hundreds of people on foot streaming into Kayanja’s

Rubaga Miracle Centre Church and the accompanying text reads “Uganda comes to the

Mountain of God.” Inside the church, video footage shows Kayanja telling the audience

“You will bear fruit! You are not praying for nothing! You are not singing for nothing!”

A different clip shows another preacher probably visiting the church given his non-

Ugandan accent, telling the audience “You are recovering everything the devil took from you!” More images show people being prayed for by Kayaja who is dressed in the regal

Nigerian or West African attire associated with authority and dignity. As the intro comes to an end texts run across the screen that say Great Preaching, Breaking Yokes,

Experiencing the Miraculous, Deliverance from powers of Witchcraft. Footage that accompanies the text shows what is considered witchcraft paraphernalia being burnt in fire and people being baptized by immersion. The soundtrack that plays in the background of the intro is “Victory Belongs to Jesus”—a slow, sentimental, rhythm and blues song by African American gospel artist Todd Dulaney that reinforces the message about miraculous healings at Kayanja’s Church that come through the power of Jesus.

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Basically, the song says that no one shall stand against Jesus the King, all victory belongs to him. The song urges hearers to believe in the power and victory of Jesus over anything.

The intro closes with footage of people “healed” raising their braces and wheel-chairs in the air and Kayanja urging the congregation to “Shout Alleluia!” The excitement and celebration in the closing images are not any different from the experience of a team after a big victory.

The above signature intro plays on the theme of an ongoing spiritual warfare between the devil and God. The children of God appear to be under attack through sickness and disability. The signature intro frames Kayanja and the prayers in his church as a source of deliverance and freedom to those oppressed by the devil. Kayanja’s church and the work that happens there is framed as divinely inspired with lots of miracles that powerfully manifest God’s power that leads to freedom and celebration as demonstrated in the images at the end of the commercial. The thousands of people shown streaming into the church is also meant to project the image that whatever is happening at the

Kayanja’s church has the approval of lots of people, and the viewers are missing out and need to be part of and benefit from what is happening at the “Mountain of God”!

The intro that used for God’s delivery system; God is my money; and The anointing of the Holy Spirit, Kayanja combines video footage of him on different missions in different countries around the world. There are people in the images that appear African, Asian, Anglo-Europeans, and Hispanics attending the different healing programs Kayanja conducts around the world. Kayanja is shown praying for people,

99 some are lying on the floors, while for others Kayanja is shown “commanding” demons to come out of them. The background soundtrack used for the intro is “We speak to nations” by African American gospel artist Israel Houghton. The song basically invites peoples “Of the earth” to “hear the sound” or the message that “Christ is King…Be

Open…Fall on your knees…The Kingdom is coming near to you.” The artist commands the “strongholds” to “Be broken…power of darkness you have to flee” and concludes by inviting listeners to “Be free! Be free!”

The above commercial intro builds Kayanja’s reputation as an internationally acclaimed gospel healing minister. It makes Kayanja one whom the rest of the world is listening too already and therefore worth listening to and one whose prayers have been efficacious in so many parts of the world. The images of people in Western countries are powerfully persuasive to a large segment of a Ugandan audience that still holds in higher esteem anything that is foreign especially from Britain and North America. This can be attributed to the country’s history of colonialism whose lingering effect still influence people’s judgment of what is important, valuable or legitimate. The choice of the song

“We speak to nations” frames Kayanja for the viewers as the messenger sent to the nations to proclaim Jesus as King and pray in Jesus’ name for the healing of all people and freedom from the powers of darkness or the devil. The images of the different peoples around the world confirm the fulfillment of the message. In all of this Kayanja comes off like one of the Biblical prophets or messengers of God, and even in some ways

100 as the contemporary version of Jesus himself. Kayanja comes off as one sent as a savior to the world and therefore deserving of hearing.

In the video Miracle experiences: A collection of some of the most notable miracles from Robert Kayanja, different video clips of the Kayanja’s dramatic miracle performances are showcased. Wheelchairs, walkers, canes and braces are shown with people jumping up and down in excitement after the “healing.” The intro is set against the background song “Let your glory fall” by African American gospel artist Kari Jobe. The song says that the spirit of God is falling like rain, and it is flooding the earth with grace and love. The artist cries out “Let your love crash down. Let your glory fall. Let your glory fall. Oh, let it rain! Oh, let it rain!” The accompanying text reads “The lame walk.

The Blind See. Hope is restored. People are set free.”

The above video is entirely promotional or testimonial about the powers from

God that Kayanja possess. It powerfully promotes Kayanja as an “anointed man of God” whose work has been followed by “signs and wonders” as the different video clips show.

The video endorses Kayanja as an authentic man of God who is believable and whose ministry has borne many miracles such as healings. The song plays the role of inviting viewers to understand the presence of God that is manifesting on earth at this time and

Kayanja is the instrument of God for such power. The video intro weaves all of that together to persuade viewers about Kayanja as a minister and his ministry as authentic and efficacious.

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The setting of Kayanja’s broadcast programs

There are two types of settings for the artefacts of Kayanja that were analyzed.

There are settings inside Kayanja’s 10,000-seater glass-walled church, and also settings outside the church or in other places where he conducted his missions. The lay out of the settings where the performances happened is choreographed and has hidden rhetorical power.

Kayanja’s Miracle Centre Cathedral is oval and inside is laid out like an amphitheater. There is a raised podium for the pastor and ministers, and a lower main area with chairs arranged with a focus on the podium. The podium has a red floor carpet, a giant wall screen at the back, and an altar from which the pastor preaches. The altar appears thick and made out of marble and it stands on four neoclassical Greek columns.

The altar invokes the old or the ancient, therefore the strong, time tested, and the authentic. The giant wall screen at the back is used to project music, Bible verses, images, and cell phone to which people can send their tithe, and offerings. In most of the programs, the podium is decorated with beautiful rose flowers, beautiful African baskets and tropical fruits like pineapples and oranges (see We are Money Lenders; God’s delivery system; The offering you ought to give; God is my money; The anointing of the

Holy Spirit).

The projection on the back screen and the lighting of the podium is bright and can be regulated to create different moods for the audience in the church. The extravagancy displayed in terms of lighting, the nature of the altar, decoration

102 arrangements and the red carpet gives the podium a regal feel to the front not any different from the description of the ancient Biblical temple of Solomon.

What we notice in the setting of the podium is a creation of a world that many people in Uganda long to live in. The beauty and the abundancy displayed through a combination of different elements gives the audience hope and a different world to imagine and aspire to. It is a creative play on the senses and pull of the emotions of the audiences. The display of the cell phone numbers and bank accounts to which the audience can send their tithes and offerings appears as framed as a creating convenience for both the live audience and the broadcast audience to fulfill their obligations to support

Kayanja’s ministry and also open blessings in the audiences’ lives.

What I also found interesting in the setting of the podium was a corner set aside for the display of crutches, wheelchairs, walking canes, braces, and lots of Islamic caps.

The display touts the efficacy of the prayers at Kayanja’s church and also frames Kayanja as a man with special powers. The many Islamic caps displayed point out that Kayanja’s prayers and God are more powerful than that of the God of other faiths. The existence of the caps tells audiences how God worshipped in other faith communities such as Islam is less in power compared to the God worshipped at Kayanja’s place. The many Islamic caps have power to serve as testimony to persuade other Muslims to shift attention to

Kayanja and his work.

The podium too has musical instruments such as electrical guitars, a drum-set, a keyboard, and a crisp clear sound system. The whole set looks similar to a lay out for a

103 music concert. In several of the artefacts reviewed, the music team largely made up of youthful singers performs or leads the audience in a live music session before the pastor comes in to preach and pray for the people. The music starts off with a high tempo before it slows down into a slow tempo that leads into prayers. It is after the music ‘ministry’ that Kayanja comes in to preach and pray for the audience. The music session combines both elements of dancing, entertainment, and messages that invite audiences to open up to God who works through Kayanja. Ugandans and other Africans have always used music in worship and other aspects to navigate through different aspects of life such as death, teaching, loss or work. Music has power to act for Ugandan audiences as

“equipment for living” (Burke, 1973). The songs performed speak about the power of

God, the miracles he has done in people’s lives, and need to trust and embrace God.

Largely songs of hope and testimony about God.

In terms of dress Kayanja alternates between wearing corporate business suits, flowing West African dress, and on other days especially for night programs leather jackets and blue jeans. Both the business suit and the flowing west African dress are exotic and associated in the Ugandan context with dignity, respect, extensive travel, social advancement. It is mostly people who are doing economically well that can afford to buy and wear with confidence the two dresses. The light evening wear of a leather jacket, and blue jeans are associated with a US American fashion style and communicate a similar message of wide travel, economic success, street smarts, and hidden power. The aura with which Ugandans hold the United States because of its economic and military

104 power, is subtly played upon to perform the spiritual power and might of God and

Kayanja as his representative.

The main space of the Church is filled with rows upon rows of plastic chairs for the congregation. At several of the programs the audience is seen waving in the air the plastic chairs in celebration; Ugandan, US American, and Israeli flags. The presence of the US American flag points to the US Evangelical or Pentecostal connections that

Kayanja and Ugandan Pentecostalism in general has to the US preachers such as Ernest

Angley, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, Kenneth Haggin most of whom have visited Uganda.

The economic success of the US is also looked at as sign of blessing because of the prayers of such Pentecostal preachers over the years. Just like US American preachers tend to be generally pro-Israel in international politics, Ugandan Pentecostals tend to be politically sympathetic to the state of Israel and theologically look at Israel as a source of blessings for the rest of the world.

For the programs that were conducted outside the church or in another place such as When God speaks, the artefacts tend to show an erected high podium to which Kayanja preaches and also allows people who have been healed to come up and give testimony.

Such erected podiums are well light with concert-type lights and a good sound system.

The open air, the lighting, and a good sound system and give Kayanja’s mission the flair of an open-air rock concert. The combination of the different aesthetic elements and preaching that borders on a theatrical performance turns Kayanja into a sort of rock-star,

105 captivates the attention of the people, and opens them up to the message and the prayers of Kayanja.

At all the programs especially toward the ends when Kayanja prays for the congregation, the audiences are ecstatic, they wave hands in the air, wave flags, dance, jump, clap, stand up, and some fall prostrate on the floors when prayers for deliverance are made. This type of prayer deeply taps into the traditional Ugandan shamanic prayer where people in prayer go into a trance possessed by the spirits. It is a form of prayer that people can identify with, and it plays on long held religious beliefs. In other words, it is like preaching to the choir that needs less convincing.

Key messages in Kayanja’s broadcast programs

The DVD of Instant Healings is a compilation of some of Kayanja’s most dramatic “healings” at some of his missions. They were all “performed” in front of cameras and footage of the person before, during, and after the healing is put together for the benefit of consumers of Kayanja’s media products and television audiences. The video opens with the text “People flew in from all nations of the world to receive healing and miracles for their bodies by the power of the Holy Ghost.” I focus on three individuals and the prayers that Kayanja made.

In one example an African young woman with her mother had flown from

Germany to seek Kayanja’s help with prayer for healing. The young woman’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer and the doctors in Germany told them that they couldn’t do much anymore about the situation. The young woman was crying and asking Kayanja for

106 help to pray for her mother who appeared in agony and sat on front row. Kayanja ordered the woman to be brought to the podium and as she is brought forward the choir started a slow song that spoke about God’s miracles. Kayanja told the audience that “I believe in miracles. I have seen so many set free and redeemed through Calvary!” He asked the woman now kneeling on the floor, to look up into the ceiling (symbolic of God’s heavens), and he tells her “You help comes from Jesus! There comes your help! Your help comes from Jesus!” As the Kayanja paced up and down in the front space of the church, the choir sang about song about miracles from God. The Pastor then pointed at the woman the way someone points a magic wand and prayed:

In Jesus’ mighty name I rebuke that cancer out of your lungs! I rebuke it out of your liver! Out of your kidneys! Out of your throat! Out of your blood! I rebuke it out of your blood! I rebuke it out of your blood!” And in a loud, authoritative voice he commanded “Get out of her throat! You cancer I order you! Come out! Come out! I order you by the authority of Jesus of Nazareth! I say to you woman be healed! You spirit of death get out!

As he touched her head and the woman shook, fell to ground breathing fast and hard; and appeared exhausted, in the same way one breathes after a sprint. As the woman lay on the ground the pastor continued on to pray: "Come out of her ribs! Come out of her head!

Come out of her cells! Bone! Bone marrows! I take my authority! I step on your head!” he then asked the woman to breath in and breath out, he asked her to “take her miracle.”

The pastor then started a song “Arise and be healed”, and he asked the woman to rise up and he walks her around the altar in the glare of the cameras. As she walks around with the pastor around the altar and the choir continues on singing “Arise and be healed” the congregation erupts in an applause with lots of “alleluia” and “praise you Jesus.” A 107 different clip shows the woman having returned to Kayanja after a period of time, to give

“testimony” about her healing and again the congregation erupts in applause.

What we notice in the production above is a story of hopelessness especially in the area of health. Through the media production Kayanja is framed as one with power and authority from God and can relieve or get rid of any forms of hopelessness or health issues. In fact, he is so powerful that even what science has failed to handle, Kayanja can resolve through prayer. The media production is important in providing persuasive evidence, amplifying Kayanja’s claims, and creating a powerful, charisma persona.

In a different footage in the video compilation, a Ugandan Anglican clergy in his clerical shirt and collar with a hearing impairment was brought by his daughter for prayers to Kayanja’s church. He had been using hearing aids for a long time. In the full glare of the cameras and bright lighting, slow music was started and Kayanja prayed: “Oh

Jesus, I rebuke the spirit of lack of hearing to leave your ear drum, and the tube of your hearing, and the three bones of your hearing in both ears. Ears were made to hear! You deaf spirit lose this man! Get out of his ears!” Kayanja forcefully hissed, extended his hands toward the cleric and commanded “Don’t come back again! For the Glory of Jesus!

You are opening his ear drums in Jesus name!”

Kayanja then stood behind the clergy and clicked his fingers and the cleric turned his head in the direction of the clicks. Kayanja whispered words in the cleric’s ears and he asked the cleric to repeat the words. The church went into excitement with shouting, clapping, and Kayanja leads the congregation in singing “Holy Spirit we need you!”

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There are other people shown in the video who are healed in front of audiences and cameras and the congregation goes into excitement. A woman from Mexico who had lost her sense of smell, a man who had tumors with puss oozing out of them, and a

“Muslim” woman with a headscarf who was healed of back problems, pulled off the headscarf and declared “Jesus is the answer” and she is shown other Muslims still with their Islamic caps “accepting Jesus as Lord and personal savior.”

What is observable in these individual “healings” especially of non-Christians or non-Pentecostal in front of audiences and captured on camera is that they project other faith groups as less in terms of divine power compared to what is happening through

Kayanja and at his church. The healings of Anglican clergy and Muslims tell a story about the absence of the power of God in other religious communities that failed to bring about the healing of their people who have found healing in Kayanja’s church. It projects the picture that the Pentecostal version of Christianity through specially “anointed men of

God” such as Kayanja is the real deal that has to be believed. All the promotional evidence is provided through technology or media. Healing. Credibility. Performative acts.

In the video Net-workings, boat-sinkings miracles Kayanja opens by inviting the live audience to turn to Psalm 28 which speaks about the coming of the “King of Glory” who will bring blessings and the Israelites needed to prepare well for the King and what he was bringing. The Pastor asked each of the congregants to “prophesy” to a congregant seated next to them in these words: “I prophesy to you, prepare ye your hear. If you do

109 the King of glory shall come in.” He told the congregation a story of how he hosted at his church all the heads of traditional monarchical institutions in Uganda such as kings, chiefs and other royals and everyone at the church worked had to work doubly hard to give good reception to the monarchs. Kayanja’s point was that when you have a lot going on and you are about to be visited by God and be blessed with things such as money, promotion, land, cows, and cars, you need all people around you to do their maximum.

All people need to pray harder than before.

Kayanja then directed the audience to the central text of the sermon which was the story of the great catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). In the story Jesus’ disciples spent the night fishing but did not catch any fish. In the morning as they were pulling on the shore they saw Jesus on the shore who directed them to cast their nets in the deep, but they told him they spent the whole night fishing and didn’t catch anything. But Jesus ordered them to cast the nets on the other side of the sea and the catch was so big that their nets were breaking, and they had to ask the help of another boat to haul in the catch. Kayanja’s explanation of the text was that many people in his audience had “failed” in different endeavors but if Jesus shows up in their lives he would attract all the “fish” for them.

Kayanja said:

Your business, broken life, broken marriage is about to attract the largest crowd ever because you have allowed Jesus to enter into that situation! The blessing is gonna be so abundant, that you will need other people to come help you haul in the catch! You will be surprised!” He further assured the audience that “You will earn so much money, that even the plans you had are now so small compared to the money you have Where you live will be filled with money. Your bank account will be filled with money! Your safes will be full of money!

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The audience jumped up in excitement clapping, waving hands and flags as the pastor was preaching this message. Kayanja tells the audience that one prepares for the coming of the King of glory with his blessings through fasting and prayer. The pastor ended by praying for the audience, asking God to “Fill them with the Holy Spirit, give them houses, give them money, heal them of their diseases!”

What is noticeable in this style of preaching is that Kayanja takes a Biblical text and uses it to speak about concrete Ugandan experiences such as poverty, broken relationships, and job promotions. The issues Kayanja identifies and speak and speaks about with passion and concern, are issues of concern to Ugandan audiences. In displaying a shared understanding and concern with his Ugandan audience, Kayanja plays on the Burkean notion of “identification” (Burke, 1969), where individuals are persuaded when they can see themselves or “identify” with the message of the rhetor.

In When God Speaks Kayanja opens by telling the audience that he has no doubt that the God of Israel speaks to people and when God speaks he does it with clarity. He further adds that when people want to speak to God they do that through prayer and when

God speaks back to them miracles start opening. Kayanja urged the audience to “talk to

God and God will talk back to you.” He told the audience:

I have already heard from God that tonight is the best night of your life. Tonight, there are different people praying for different needs. Some praying for houses, others for visas, others for money, but He is going to answer ALL your prayers! The first thing God does when we talk to Him, is to kill the demon of poverty! Demon of lack! Demon of financial embarrassment!

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He then directed the audience to the gospel of Luke 4:18 where Jesus told his audience that the spirit of the Lord was upon him to proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. Kayanja interpreted the text by telling the audience that “good news” for a cancer patient is healing of the cancer. He further adds that for those bound in poverty, witchcraft, and demons such as addiction freedom was coming their way. Kayanja assured the audience that “Your Mercedes Benz is coming! God does not tell lies! You are about to go where you have never gone. It is already happening! Your slavery is ending!”

In this we notice a literal interpretation of scripture suited for a Ugandan audience challenged by different issues such as poverty and health with limited social services to run to. Prayer is presented as a form of asking God for things and the good news is framed as God responding with help in the areas of wealth and health. Audience members were asked by Kayanja to lift up their hands, wave their hands in the air for long as Kayanja prayed for them for blessings.

Based off Deuteronomy 28:12 which says “You will lend to nations, but you shall never borrow” the video We are money lenders Kayanja preached that all members of his audience were going to be blessed with so much wealth that other people will come to them to borrow. “God is going to bless everything you touch. In one year, you are going to have enough money not only to lend to your neighbors, but even to nations! You may not have enough money at this time to take care of your needs but believe me there is enough ‘rain’ for this season for every seed you have sown. There is enough rain that is

112 going to rain that you will have enough resources that there will have more to lend to other people” Kayanja preached. Then he asked the audience members to raise their hands and declare that “I am rich! I am a money-lender!” which the audience promptly does. Further on he explained that the way one becomes wealthy is first of all to “lend

God” their wealth through sowing a seed. He said:

Get this child of God. The process of becoming a ‘money lender’ first of all is to make a decision to either be on the side of the curse or the side of the blessing. Let the poor say I am rich, let the sick say I am strong. By our confession we have made a decision to be on the side of the wealthy. Child of God the way you have access to the treasure is through your seed, through your giving, through your faith! The moment you believe all your bondages are broken. You need access to God through faith and giving!

In this video we observe Kayanja link the giving of financial resources to the minister and his ministry as a form of lending to God and therefore the opening up of one’s future financial blessings by God. The “sowing” is considered a sign of faith and trust in God and it has the power to “release” the blessings of God upon an individual so that an individual “recovers” what the “devil took” away. The video primarily focuses on

“sowing” as pathway one needs to use so as to get God’s financial blessings in their life.

Kayanja preached in Fruitfulness: Delivery systems that God has nine names such as Hope, Faith, Love, Jireh, Nissi which are all “delivery systems” that God uses to bless people. Kayanja compares them to a bank account from which someone one can withdraw funds from using different ways such as the use of an ATM card, a check, or electronic withdrawal. “We are here on earth but have access to everything in heaven!” he noted. In the sermon Kayanja focused on “faith” as a delivery system. He pointed at 113 other figures in the Bible such as Mary the mother of Jesus and Simon Peter who supposedly had a fearless faith:

We are too careful. We have to learn to be careless, for God cares! Like Peter who decided to walk on water. Mary was careless to accept the mission of God when she had a fiancée. When people became careless, God did incredible miracles. Faith in God is important!

Further on he urged the audience to live by faith even when what they desire is unimaginable:

I may not have what I need now, but I am going to call myself what I desire right now. I am living by faith. I may not be a billionaire now, but I call myself one now because that is what I am gonna be tomorrow. I am gonna drive a better car. I am gonna park two jets at Entebbe airport. Fear causes you to think you are a liar. How many of you have a careless faith?

What is noticeable here is a gospel that is no different from the American pragmatist

“Can do it yourself” philosophical system. Positive thinking and positive speech in this worldview has power to bring into reality what one thinks and mentions. Such a message is empowering for individuals and communities that feel disempowered by new and complex socio-economic systems and that have been ushered in by the rapid global changes. The preaching appears directed at lighting up new energies in people who had resigned themselves to the poor socio-economic situations, to start dreaming bigger.

In The Hand of God: Investment in the Spirit Pastor Kayanja plays on the Biblical metaphor “hand of God” to explain how God works in blessing people with wealth and health. He bases on different Biblical texts which speak about the “hand” such as Job

12:10 which says in God’s hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all 114 people; Isaiah 41:19 in which God says He will put trees in the barren desert, so that all people will know that the “hand” of the Lord has done this. Kayanja also uses stories from the Acts of the Apostles where they laid their “hands on the sick” and they were healed; and also, the story of how the Prophet Elijah (1Kings 18:41-19:8) prayed for rain when Israel expressed a great drought for years. To Kayanja, the “hand of God” refers to the Holy Spirit of God who is God’s energy force in the world. Anyone who in faith receives the Holy Spirit such a person is bound to see miracles in his or her life.

In opening of the sermon, Kayanja mentions that he has laid his “hands” on thousands of people around the world and they got healed. Then he rhetorically asked the audience that if he a mere mortal has laid hands on people and they received healing, how about the “hand of God”? He takes the Biblical text from Job 12:10 that speaks about all life being in the hand of God to persuade the audience that all of them are in God’s hand therefore already situated to receive blessings from God’s “hand.” He adds on that in the story of the Elijah and the drought, the rain did not follow the normal process of forming clouds, instead after the prayer of the prophet the rain happened almost immediately.

Kayanja’s interpretation was:

When God sees that your faith is so high, and you are so serious, and the time has come. He will not take you through the process of becoming a billionaire. He will literally get the money and throw it at you! This time we are not going through the process. Not going through the steps of how to become a billionaire. God is grabbing something, and is gonna throw it at you! That’s why Elijah told Ahab, get on your horse. It is gonna rain! There will not be warning. The process has been sabotaged. Those with dreams here, don’t wait for processes! Don’t wait for fundraising! Jehovah is going to grab money from somewhere and He will throw it at you!

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The audience erupted in cheer, clapped and danced in agreement to Kayanja’s message who spoke with confidence in his voice and demonstrated how God will throw millions of cash at people.

He concluded with the text from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 41:19 that speaks of trees growing in the barren desert. His interpretation was that ordinarily trees do not grow in deserts, but the “hand” of God can make that possible. For the benefit of his audience he noted that:

God wants to make you a miracle! He is not just going to give you rent, He is going to build you a house! He is not just going to take away your sin, He is going to make you the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is going to surprise everybody. Yourself, your enemies, etc. In your poverty, in your lack of proper papers, you are going to own buildings in America! You will buy a building in Kampala! You will drive a car that no wealthy person in Kampala had ever driven. You are going to see the hand of God!

The audience erupted in cheer and joy as the pastor preached, the audience also raised its hand in prayer. Kayanja’s is a simple straight forward message targeted at the desires and the socio-economic situations of the Ugandan audiences. It is also a message based on many Biblical texts which frames the message not as Kayanja’s message but rather a message from God himself. Kayanja offers simple explanations of how God works and also his message gives quick solutions to the challenges that many people in Uganda have struggled with for years. The good reading of the audience, the use of the Bible, the simplicity of the explanations, and the delivery make the message powerfully persuasive.

In a different sermon on The anointing of the Holy Spirit the pastor how the Holy

Spirit works so as to bring about miraculous happenings in the life of an individual. He 116 compared the anointing of the Holy Spirit to the oil in the car or machines that is used for lubrication, reduce friction and allow smooth movement. He explained that the anointing of the Holy Spirit is similar to being lubricated so that one moves without pain in life:

The anointing is the ability to break and destroy yokes. We fail to reach our destinies because we don’t have the oil or energy to go. We get frustrated, we get tired” he went on. “The anointing of God does what oil does in a car. It enables you to move easy. So that you don’t move with pain. The desire of God is that you can move from one glory to glory. It is why it is important that you get anointed by God because there are yokes that need to be broken, so that you move from point to the other. Tell your neighbor I am not going to die in this place or situation. I am going to move from one location to another location. Next time you see me, I will have three great testimonies to give you!

What is observable is that Kayanja connects the topic of the Holy Spirit to the “miracles” he offers his audiences. He frames himself as powerful or “anointed” with the Holy Spirit even without directly saying so. He puts himself between the people and God when he tells them right from the beginning when he opens his sermon by telling the audience that

“Today I am going to be speaking about the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When I do that you will be anointed, you will be healed, you will be delivered.” It is a creative rhetorical move for one to speak about himself without directly mentioning oneself.

In God is my money the pastor explains how the wealth of the wicked or unbelievers in God will be transferred into the hands of the righteous. The sermon is based on Proverbs 13:22 which says, “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.” Kayanja highlights examples of Biblical characters such as Abraham and Jacob who were faithful to God and God blessed them with immense wealth. “The Kingdoms of this world were 117 meant for believers, but they are now in the hands of non-believers. We need to steal them!” he noted.

For the transfer to happen however Kayanja urged the audience to follow what he called the “Law of the First Fruit” where God asked Israelites to offer him all the first fruits of their harvests. “Plant a ‘seed’ and that seed will speak for you so that you get your inheritance. Plant a ‘seed’ in God. Take the first of what you have and give it back to God in terms of money, time, agricultural harvests and other things. It has nothing to do with where you have been, where you are or where you think you are going. It is solely about God!” he emphasized. Kayanja narrated a story of a young Ugandan woman who worked in Britain as a house-help of an elderly man. When the man died, he had left all his wealth in the name of the young woman.

The topic of wealth being ‘transferred’ to the believers is attractive to listen to especially to people who are struggling economically. It offers hope for the acquisition of economic redemption with almost zero effort except faith in God. The teaching though hinges the acquisition of such wealth to the giving of real financial support to God through the “man of God” who is pastor Kayanja. In the sermon we see Kayanja asking the audience for money without being direct but rather making it appear that it is for the audience’s benefit if they put money in him. It is what will “release the blessings” into the audience’s lives.

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The offering you ought to give sort of continues the theme of the transfer of wealth to God’s people. The pastor explains the nature of offering or ‘seed’ that the audience members need to give God for them to receive wealth from God. He explained:

When we come to the House of Our Lord Jesus, we are not supposed to give Him just anything. We are called to give Him our very best in sowing seeds, praise, and worship. We can’t just do things anyhow. Discover what you need to give God and God will give back to you.

Additionally, Kayanja narrated a personal, but touching story about the effectiveness of his message, or approach:

Obedience is better than sacrifice. Give out of obedience than sacrifice. If you are giving without obedience to God as an act of faith, it will not affect anything! When Joyce Meyer came here, I gave her an offering of ten thousand dollars. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer. I had to move my family to England for four years. I had to house, feed, and treat them. If I had not planted that seed in Joyce Meyer, I wouldn’t have done it. But miraculously God provided for those four years.

Highlighting the faith of Abraham in the Bible whom God tested to see whether he could offer his son as sacrifice to God Kayanja argued the faith of Abraham is what invited wealth in his life from God. Pastor Kayanja’s weaving of personal stories, stories in the

Bible, the authority of the Bible, and the direct address of the challenges of his audience’s made the message moving and good to listen to by the audience. Again, in the sermon he asks the audience for money without directly asking for the money. He frames it as a

“law of God” that needs to be fulfilled so that the audience can benefit financially.

The last video artifact Miracle experiences: A collection of some of the most notable miracles from Robert Kayanja showcases what is considered the most dramatic

119 physical healings in Kayanja’s ministry. It shows Kayanja praying for different people in different parts of the world and the “miraculous physical healings” that happened at such rallies. The collection is a compilation of sharp footage with people jumping up and down on the podium in excitement about their healing and a display of wheelchairs, crutches, and braces. The video takes the format of a promotional video that paints

Kayanja as authentic and an ‘anointed man of God.’

Overall, looking at the nature of Kayanja’s rhetorical artifacts, it is observable that the heart of his message is the material, financial, health breakthrough of his audiences.

He employs strategies that range from personal stories, and testimonies of other people to demonstrate the effectiveness of his claims and performances. Technology is harnessed to construct a powerful narrative and an ecosystem for audiences to believe in God, the power of prayer; and belief in financial and health miracles.

In the next sub-section, I make an in-depth presentation of Kiganda’s audio-visual cultural materials. I examine the nature of the artifacts; their titles, their signature introductions, their setting, and their message.

Kiganda’s Broadcast Programs

Bishop David Kiganda has primarily focused on producing broadcast content which is run on both his radio station Kingdom Radio and Kingdom TV. The programs are later packaged as DVDs and MP3s that are marketed at his Church in Mengo-Kisenyi of

Kampala. Some of the broadcast content is are available online for free download.

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Kiganda primarily preaches in the local Luganda dialect which is understood by a lot of people in the low income but commercially busy Mengo-Kisenyi area of Kampala.

The artefacts I analyzed were gotten at his media products shop in Mengo-Kisenyi. The programs first ran on Kingdom Radio station and Kingdom Television station, before they were made available in DVD format. The titles are concise, catchy, and appear to directly address concrete issues such as poverty, hopelessness, or powerlessness. The framing of messages in soundbites is rhetorically powerful especially to audiences that have limited formal education, or limited theological training.

Table 5 - Titles of Kiganda’s broadcast programs

Title (Luganda) Title (English) 1 Enwaana y’Omulokole n’eby’okulwanyisa Battle strategies of a Pentecostal- bye – part 1 part 1 2 Enwaana y’omulokole n’ebyokulwanyisa Battle strategies of a Pentecostal- bye-Part 2 part 2 3 Enwaana y’Omulokole n’ebyokulwanyisa - Battle strategies of a Pentecostal- part 3 part 3 4 Olutalo kubwaavu – part 2 War on poverty 5 Engeri gyosobola okunyweeza ekisa kya How to sustain God’s favor upon Katonda kubulamu bwo one’s life 6 Enjawulo wakati w’omubiri n’omwoyo The difference between the flesh and the spirit. 7 Katonda bwayagala okuleeta esuubi When God wants to bring hope in awatali suubi a hopeless situation

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Table 5 (continued) 8 Katonda bwayagala okweraga Falawo When God decides to reveal his power to Pharaoh 9 Akabi akali mukukola ebintu nga oyagala Dangers of Peer Pressure kusanyusa boyita mikwano gyo.

10 Okugaba kuleeta emikisa Giving brings blessings

Signature introduction of Kiganda’s broadcast programs

Unlike Pastor Robert Kayanja whose media programs are packaged in DVDs with colorful and glossy covers for sales distribution, Bishop David Kiganda does very little of that. Kiganda’s programs are available for sale in plain DVDs with no designs on the covers. The DVDs are available at his Church in Mengo-Kisenyi Kampala, and at the downtown Kampala “Lunch Hour Fellowship” at Nakasero.

The programs open with showing different video clips of Kiganda preaching and praying for congregations. Kiganda primarily preaches or prays for audiences in

Luganda, a give a way of the type of his target audience, which is a predominantly

Luganda language understanding and speaking, with lower formal education and therefore lower level income. The prayer below captures part of the focus of Kiganda’s message in relation to the needs of his audience:

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Luganda English translation “Nkusabira mumbeera yo muyingiremu “ I pray that Jesus intervenes in your Yesu! Nkusabira mu-business yo situation! May Jesus intervene in your muyingiremu Yesu! Nkusabira business! May Jesus intervene in your mubufumbo bwo buyingiremu Yesu! marriage! May Jesus intervene in your Nkusabira mu-business yo muyingiremu business! Because when he intervenes, he Yesu! Kubanga bwanayingira anatereeza will straighten all that is crooked! He will ebyakyaama! Ebyanonooneka! heal all that is sick! He will bring about all Ebyalwaala! Ebyagaana! Binatereera! that became impossible! All will come to Wabeerewo ayimirira agambe “Alleluia”! be! May I hear an “Alleluia”!!! This is my “Nkuwa amagaezi musajja gwe, yingira advice to you man of God! I implore you mu Katonda! Wekweeke mu Katonda! to find shelter in God! Hide in God! Be in Beera mu Katonda! Abaloga baloge, God! Let people bewitch you, cast spells abasamira basamire! Bafuuwe emmindi on you, but none of that will ever affect zaabwe naye nga tewakyaali kikukwaatako you in Jesus’ Name! I have some Good mulinya erya Yesu! News for you! Heaven has a name for you! Nina amawulire amalungi gy’oli! Eggulu Heaven knows something about you! lirina kyelikuyita! Eggulu lirina Heaven knows you have been, where you kyelikumanyiiko! Eggulu limanyi gy’ova, are, and where you desire to be! Fire! It is wwa wooli, nawa gy’olaga! Fire! your responsibility to guard your ears and Buvunanyizibwa bwo oku-guarding amatu your heart!” go n’omutima gwo!”

The Pastor is emphatic in his voice, fast in his speech, and demonstrative with his body.

Other video clips show people clapping, jumping up and down in excitement, and others with hands raised in the air. Emotional involvement or appeal is a hall mark of the assembly or the services that are advertised through the signature introduction.

As more images of Bishop Kiganda praying for people are shown against background music, a banner runs across the screen with the captions Deep Worship,

Higher Praise, Healing, Miracles, Deliverance which sums up the kind of ministry that goes on in Kiganda’s Church. Additionally the video advertises the websites of

Kiganda’s church wwww.christianityfocuscenter.org, his television station

123 www.kingdomtvuganda.com; and his radio station www.kingdomfm.com. The rhythm and blues, slow, reassuring background song used in the signature introduction is “Who am I” by Casting Crowns. The message of the song is that who am I that God would care to know my name, my hurts, my sins, my wondering heart, and God would choose to light the way for me. It is one of those songs that speak about difficulty especially in one’s life and new answers or solutions being found in God.

The setting of Kiganda’s broadcast programs

The ten programs reviewed were either recorded in Kiganda’s church in Mengo

Kisenyi or at his weekday downtown Kampala “Lunch Hour Fellowship” in Nakasero.

The setting of the two places is similar in style in many ways. In each of the prayer places there is a front for the pastor and other ministers; and a long empty space for the rest of the congregation. The front has a red carpet, long wall-to-wall curtains, a glass rostrum or lectern embossed with the logo of Kingdom radio and Kingdom television station. The back of the front has a giant screen that projects Bible verses or images relevant to the pastor’s message, websites associated with the church and its different ministries, and also cell phone numbers to which one can deposit tithe and offerings.

The front also has a set of musical instruments such as the piano, a drum set, and microphones. There are beautiful rose flowers in vases and the lighting is in front is bright. The setting is similar to that of a five-star hotel ball room on a big dinner dance or fundraiser. The branding of the lectern and the microphones with “KTV” (Kingdom

Television) is strong and invites audiences to focus on the media ministry of Kiganda.

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All through the ten programs reviewed, the choir or the worship ministers are young, stylishly and colorfully dressed. Bishop Kiganda too in the programs is ever dressed in a corporate or business suit and tie. He carries the image of wisdom and success. The stylistics invite the audiences to imagine a world different from what many live in with poverty, social immobility, sickness, and dysfunctional public social systems.

The world painted in the setting is where everything works perfectly well and where the promise of one’s prosperity and success in life is a possibility.

Key messages in Kiganda’s broadcast programs

In this section I explore the message in the different television programs. As earlier noted all the programs were given before a live church audience and also broadcast on Kiganda’s Kingdom Television station. They are also available for purchase at the television station and the main church in Mengo-Kisenyi Kampala.

In Battle strategies of a Pentecostal-part 1 Kiganda opens with a declaration and assurance of his audience that all of them were to receive miracles of some sort by the mere fact that they showed up for the gathering. He said:

I just want to assure you that you won’t leave this place the way you came. Your life will change, your business will change, whatever is after you, it is you who will go after it with power and authority in the name of Jesus! I repeat it, what is after you it is you who will go after it in Jesus’ name! Whatever you have been afraid of, it will be afraid of you in Jesus’ name! whatever has made you bow down, it will bow down to you! When you encounter God, all that you feared, all that was after you, you authority over it!

The audience clapped and there was a raising of hands in agreement. Throughout

Kiganda struts from one end of the front to the other end of the podium. He is self- 125 confident and speaks loudly and with a commanding authoritative in his voice. This performance of power and authority is important in persuading audiences about the authenticity of the message. It can be observed that not only can technology extend the reach of messages, but it can also confer authority to the user especially in contexts with low media literacy. Technology can enhance and provide a platform for the performance of charisma, which is persuasive to audiences.

His teaching was based on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 6:10-16 in which St Paul asks his listeners to prepare for battle and dress up appropriately with the “armor of

God.” St Paul says “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Kiganda explained that by being Christians, they are part of an army and they have an enemy who is the devil.

He further explained that all the challenges individuals in the audience are going through are because of the “enemy” so they need to fight harder with the elements mentioned in the noted scripture. He urges his audience:

Do not lose hope! Keep fighting! Every challenge we face in life is brought by Satan to demoralize and weaken us, so as we give up on following Jesus! There are other Pentecostals who are going through the same experiences of challenge in family, their businesses, and in their health. Demons are the source of our challenges. Spiritual battles involve prayer and fasting!

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All through the preaching there is a lot of “clapping for Jesus” and raising of hands in the air by audience members in agreement of what the Kiganda was preaching.

What is observable is that the preaching is simple and not abstract in any way. He uses a version of the local Luganda language which a lot of people use which portrays him as in touch with what is one street. For instance, he tells people “topowa” for do not give up and refers to battle as “okwabika” which a lot of people in Kampala easily identify. I see a functional use of religion to help people become more resilient in confronting their daily challenges amidst pressing socio-economic and emotional challenges of city life. This version of preaching or teaching can be termed a form of

“mass counseling” of audiences confronted and negotiating multiple socio-economic, cultural, emotional challenges. In a country like Uganda with fewer trained psycho-social counselors to accompany individuals working through personal challenges, Pentecostal rhetoric fills the gap for a lot of people looking for inspiration, purpose, and answers.

Battle strategies of a Pentecostal-part 2 continues the theme of dressing in “the armor of God.” Kiganda expands on parts of the text to the Ephesians that speaks about the battle being “against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” To Kiganda all challenges such as poverty, sickness, broken relationships are caused by demons or evils spirits. Believers therefore need to focus on fortifying themselves through prayer and more prayer. Prayer in Kiganda’s preaching, is like getting a “four-wheel drive” facility in your car that can help your to drive through all difficult terrains. The four-wheel drive cars are common in Uganda where the roads

127 especially in rural areas are in terrible shape. It is an image that audience’s understood clearly. Kiganda in this way is a master communicator who uses the everyday imagery to pass along his message easily.

In Battle Strategies of a Pentecostal part 3 Kiganda focused on the importance of being “protected.” Through the use of an illustration projected on the screen of an ancient

Roman soldier who was covered in body armor with a sword in hand, Kiganda preached about the need to be well protected from harm. “People have succeeded to bewitch you, or curse because you are not well armored according to scripture. The reason you are hurting is because your heart is unprotected, your head is unprotected, your waist bare, your feet are bare!” he illustrated.

Kiganda used an ancient Romans soldier but explained using examples of local

Ugandan soldiers and how they dress. The army has been part of the local imagination for many year because of the violent changes of government Uganda has had over the years.

The example of the solder then is one that many in the audience clearly understood and easily could believe.

In War on poverty Kiganda with a bowed head opened the program with a prayer in which he prays:

We worship you! We adore you! We thank you for choosing us to be your children! Those who are poor give them wealth! Let the sick be healed! Wipe the tears of those who are weeping! Strengthen those with burdens! Give hope to the hopeless! Give wealth to the poor! Break every chain! Meet each one where they are! Let prisoners be released! Free them from debts! Thank you for your mercy!

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He then asks the audience to raise their hands in the air and wave them, to which the audience promptly responds. The opening prayer is telling of the kind of issues that the audience members seek solutions for in the church. These include extreme poverty, debts, hopelessness about life, sickness, and other emotional stress due to different issues in life.

The pastor demonstrates a clear understanding of such issues and offers prayers directly related to the real-life issues of his audience. His teaching is based on the Biblical book of Haggai 2:8 in which God says, “The silver and the gold are mine.” To Kiganda, if God is the father of believers, then “Poverty is not our portion as children of God.

Poverty must go in the name of Jesus. I have declared war on poverty!” he announced.

He notes in the teaching that it is difficult to be Christian while poor. “Let God deliver you so that you become economically independent! Let God give you financial independence!” he urged on his audience. The message struck a chord with audience members who clapped or raised their hands in agreement.

In the last bit of the preaching in the video, Kiganda urged the audience to contribute to the “work of God” that Kiganda is doing so that their blessings are

“released” by God. In this we see a message similar to what Kayanja and Serwadda teaches about the power of tithing and giving offerings for the benefit of the ministries that they lead. The tithing and the offerings are as conditions for the blessings that individuals are to experience in future.

In the video Giving brings blessings Kiganda uses the Biblical story of a barren but wealthy Shunammite woman who used to host the Prophet Elisha (2Kings 4:8-37).

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The woman asked the husband to build a special room in their house specifically for the prophet. Because of her hospitality, the prophet Elisha prayed for her and she conceived and got a baby of her own. The boy didn’t live and died, but the prophet Elisha prayed, and the boy miraculously got his life back.

In Kiganda’s interpretation, it is because of the generosity of the woman to

Prophet Elisha that the woman was blessed with children and the resuscitation of her child. “She received her blessing after great sacrifice of her wealth for the benefit of the prophet! Do the same and receive a blessing too! Don’t come before God empty handed if you want a blessing to be released upon you” Kiganda urged his audience.

Kiganda creatively ties the blessings of his audience to donations being given to

God through his ministry. He positions himself as a mediator of the blessings. Through the use of a Biblical example, Kiganda asks for money from the audience by making it a hidden Biblical secret of how Bible based financial breakthrough works.

In The difference between the flesh and the spirit based off Paul’s letter to the

Galatians (5:16ff), Kiganda explains the dichotomy between the two and asks the audience to be careful about the flesh. “The flesh and the spirit have different destinations. There is a war between the spirit and the flesh going on in people’s lives.

Put more focus on the Spirit because it will live forever while the flesh will die and rot!” he urged the audience. Here we see Kiganda emphasize the temporariness of life and the need to amplify the spiritual and make it the lens through which one sees or interprets everything in life. The danger of such an emphasis though is that it privileges the spiritual

130 and the afterlife which can lead some audience members to give limited attention to the present.

In the Dangers of Peer Pressure Kiganda focuses on the theme of obedience to

God in choosing to do good instead of listening to peers in one’s choices. He used the story of the Israelite King Ahab who listened to his wife Jezebel (1Kings 22:1ff) and the

King worshipped foreign gods instead of the Israelite God. Kiganda urged the audience to listen to God through listening to pastors through whom God speaks. In this teaching he creates a subject position of himself as a mediator between God and his audience. In such a position Kiganda gives himself divine authority therefore with an authority to which his audience have to submit. This means Kiganda’s voice is God’s voice, and therefore

Kiganda’s message, or instructions have to be taken with unquestioning obedience.

In How to sustain God’s favor upon your life the pastor opened with a prayer in praise of God and calling upon God’s power to intervene in different situations in the audience members lives:

Let captives be freed! Let the unwise gain wisdom! Let the sick be healed! I rebuke every evil spirit! I break every curse! I command all diseases to leave! Heart diseases-Mental illnesses-I command fire upon them! Leave! Leave! Leave! I declare healing upon you in Jesus’ name!

Kiganda concluded the prayer with an authoritative declaration, and the audience applauded in agreement of everything he had prayed for. His prayer and the enthusiastic audience response shades lights on the audience’s deepest cares or concerns, and a demonstration of the pastor’s awareness of the audience’s needs. It is a powerfully creative understanding and tapping into the audience’s needs. 131

In the opening of this teaching, Kiganda thanked the audience for coming and encouraged them to bring many more people to the services. The pastor has good customer care, and he urged audience members not to let anything “steal their love for

God…not even challenges in life.”

The preaching was based on the Biblical book of Judges 6:16-22 where God promised to help Gideon overcome his enemies in battle. Gideon in turn asked God to accept an offering from him. To Kiganda, an offering was what sealed or sustained God’s blessings upon the life of Gideon.

Kiganda noted that it is one thing to receive “the favor of God,” but maintaining it is totally another. He pointed out there are a lot of people who receive blessings from

God such as good marriages, healing of sicknesses, and good jobs but can’t maintain such blessings in their lives. “How do you keep your job! How do you maintain your marriage? Healed of disease but how do you maintain it?” he rhetorically asked and the answer to him is in giving an “offering God” just as Gideon did. He powerfully employs rhetorical questions to invite his audience’s agreement with his line of argument.

Kiganda thereafter went on to lead the assembly into a “penitential prayer” of

“confessing to God” for giving little or no resources to God through his donating to his ministry.

The teaching and the “confession prayer” based on the Biblical example of

Gideon, is framed as an expository teaching about the “secrets” of how God works for the benefit of the audience. But hidden behind it is a pastor asking the audience members to

132 give money to him and his work. It is a tight walk between availing information, and persuading the audience to give. The audience is given enough information and left with enough “freedom” to make the decision on their own to give.

When God wants to bring hope in a hopeless situation is a continuation of the story of Gideon who was besieged by Midianite enemies (Judges 6:11ff). The Midianites way outnumbered the Israelites whom God was asking Gideon to lead. To Kiganda, the

“Midianites” are the challenges that people go through in their everyday lives, but in all

God is ever present. Thus, Kiganda exhorted his audience:

What you are going through, does not mean God abandoned you. Be faithful when in difficult circumstances because God is testing you for bigger things! Be steady, be hopeful, be faithful in small things. It is a form of training. It is the lack of faithfulness that makes it hard for people reach their destiny, blessings, car, jobs!

Faith in God according to Kiganda, is what creates an enabling environment for God to perform miracles in hopeless situations. With an understanding of the people’s desired

“destiny” in Uganda, we again observe Kiganda hit a chord with the Ugandan audience.

He links the theme of faith and how it can miraculously address some practical pressing issues in the lives of Ugandans such as poverty and illness. Kiganda strategically performs what Burke (1969) calls “identification” by establishing a common ground between his audience and his message.

When God decides to reveal his power to Pharaoh is based on the Biblical story of the exodus of Israelites from captivity from Pharaoh’s Egypt (Exodus 14:3-4). The text speaks about God saying that he would “harden Pharaoh’s heart” so that Pharaoh pursues

133 the Israelites. But God would destroy Pharaoh and his army so that God would “gain glory” out of the experience. In Kiganda’s interpretation, “Pharaoh” is an image for the challenges that many people go through in life. Sometimes God allows the continuation for a time of such challenges in people’s lives so that when he takes them away, it is dramatic and God “gains glory” out of it. The teaching was focused on “setbacks in life” where someone who has been through a lot of difficulty and appears on the road to success, all of a sudden appears to be going back to the same situations he worked through earlier. To Kiganda, being dragged into challenges one worked through before may be a way for God to clear such problems for good in one’s life.

The above teaching was an encouragement or a message of hope for people who appear not to be making social progress, or are regressing into challenges or problems they had before. Kiganda cited examples of individuals who had worked and prayed hard and gotten a job, gotten a fiancée, or cleared their debts; then after a time started losing the very things they had achieved. Throughout the teaching the pastor was affable, laughed, and used easy street lingo for connection with the audience through phrases such as ‘okukuba omulabe awaluma’ (‘hit enemy hard where it hurts hardest’).

We observe in the above artifacts a continuation of Kiganda’s teaching about resilience amidst challenges or setbacks in life. The emphasis is relevant for many

Ugandans where public systems are dysfunctional or unreliable; and setbacks and frustrations are an everyday part of their lives. The message gives hope and encouragement amidst social problems and frustrations. As a rhetorical move, audience

134 members are likely to open up to messages that demonstrate an understanding of their problems and frustrations, while at the same time offering encouragement and hope.

Serwadda’s Broadcast Programs

In this section I analyze the television broadcast work of Apostle Dr Joseph

Serwadda. As earlier noted Serwadda is the proprietor of Dream Television, Impact FM station, and Alpha FM station. Impact FM runs Luganda language programs while Alpha

FM runs programs in English. The television station runs programs in both English and

Luganda. Serwadda has a signature program “Lwasamayinja” that is broadcast both on

Impact FM and Dream television.

Serwadda’s media programs are available for free downloading on his Church’s website (www.victorychristiancentreug.com). Alternatively, the media programs are available for purchase at Dream Television in Ndeeba Kampala. The DVDs are plain and are not packaged in glossy, creative covers in ways similar to those of Pastor Robert

Kayanja.

The signature introduction of the programs opens with an upbeat soundtrack that shows Serwadda waving his hands in air as he preaches to a congregation. A voice over the images and the sound track then says “Katukwanjulire program “Lwasamayinja” with an image and sound effects of a black rock breaking apart. “Lwasamayinja” means “Rock

Crusher” and it is meant to convey a message that the program is powerful and can break through any challenges that individuals in the audience are going through. Additional

135 footage shows Serwadda preaching on different occasions while moving up and down, and about in the congregation. In an amplified voice over of Serwadda he is heard saying:

Serwadda’s words (Luganda) Serwadda’s word (English translation) “Enjiri eno egiriride gwe! Oba waliwo “This gospel is meant for you! If there is byewasobya, Katonda akugamba ddamu anything you did wrong, God tells you bijja kuterera! Mwe mwenna muli ba- today all will be fine! You all are Candidate ba chance endala! Ebbanja candidates for a second chance! Debts terisaasira namwandu! Ebbanja terimanyi have no mercy for widows! Debts have no nfuuzi!Obulamu obweyagaza bujja! mercy for orphans! A good life is coming Obugaga bujja! Ojjukiranga kimu kyokka, for you! Wealth is coming to you! Webale Mukama! Omukisa ngukusabide in Remember only one thing—Thank you Jesus’ Name!” Lord! A special blessing, I have prayed for you in Jesus’ Name!”

In the above video footage Serwadda strongly uses his body through looking at people in the audience and in the cameras, pointing at people, pounding on the rostrum, orienting his body into the sky. All is meant for emphasis, demonstration, drawing shapes, or identifying. The message in the prayer used in the signature introduction is the possibility of overcoming socio-economic challenges through prayer and listening to the message of

Serwadda.

The setting in the programs is primarily Serwadda’s church of Victory Christian

Center in the Kampala suburb of Ndeeba. The Church is arranged as an amphitheater with podium or stage. The front has a red carpet with flowing curtains that drop from ceiling to floor similar to those in a large theaters or ballrooms. The curtains seem to be regularly changed depending on seasons or occasions. There is a glass lectern with the word in bold print “Victory” emblazoned on it. A big Bible sits on the lectern. There is also at the back of the podium musical instruments such as guitars, a drum-set, and a 136 keyboard. At the very back there is a higher table likely used for communion, but in the programs reviewed has a bowl which contains “anointing oil.” There are beautiful decorative baskets, potted flowers, rose flowers in vases, and in the corner low tables with thousands of envelopes that contain “prayer requests.” The front is set beautifully like a stage or a television studio. Like other pastors earlier mentioned, the setting invites audience members to imagine a different world of affluence.

The general audience seating area has a tiled floor and plastic chairs. The majority of the people in the audience shown in the programs shown are women. The gender composition likely points to the demographic of who is finds the message more attractive and relevant. Through all the different programs Pastor Serwadda is shown dressed in corporate business suit and tie, and a big, shiny watch. The image he cuts is of a successful corporate executive, a dream many people in Uganda long for. The programs I overviewed included the following:

Table 6 - Titles of Serwadda’s broadcast programs

Title (Luganda) Title (English) 1 Okuyingira kwekigambo kyo The entrance of your words gives light kuleeta okumanya 2 Abayigirizwa bakola The apostles worked many signs and miracles aby’ewuunyo bingi 3 Ndikudiza enaku ezayonooneka I will return the days you lost 4 Amasogolelo go galijjula Your vats will overflow with wine and oil 5 Atubanja azze okutwaala abaaba Our creditor has come to take away my abange abafuule baddu children and make them slaves

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Table 6 (continued) 6 Bakawoonanawo Remnants

7 Amagumba amakalu Dry Bones 8 Mwoyo wa Mukama ali kunze The spirit of the Lord is upon me

9 Okukiriza kwa Ibrayimu The faith of Abraham

10 Okweloboza Making choices The above programs focus on achievement of socio-economic breakthrough or social mobility. They are based on Biblical texts of Ezekiel’s valley of “dry bones” that were given life; the faith of Abraham who trusted God in everything and was blessed immensely with wealth, Apostles who performed many miracles in the book of Acts of the Apostles, the widow of Zarephath who gave her little flour to prophet Elijah and God blessed her with even more. In all the programs Serwadda emphasizes that faith in God is the only way to go. He urges his audience:

Just like Abraham trust and follow even when it doesn’t make! Don’t lose hope in your big and glamorous wedding! Like the widow in the middle of a great famine who gave the little flour he had to prophet, wipe your bank account of any cash and give to God! God has a plan to fill it!” (see “The faith of Abraham”).

From the above examined audio-visual artifacts, Apostle Serwadda is portrayed as a minister focused on the financial breakthrough of his audience. His emphasis is that God can change people’s financial and material situations through an individual’s faithfulness to prayer, tithing, and giving of offerings to God through the ministers and their ministries. An evaluation of this rhetorical position is made later in the external analysis provided in Chapter five of this study.

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A similar message that runs through the broadcast work of the three pastors is that the socio-economic and health challenges exist because individuals have not understood the secret of the power that lies in prayer and offering to God. Each of the three pastors borrows the authority of the Bible and select biblical texts to provide grounding for their message. It is a powerful and creative way of constructing credibility for each of the pastors in the eyes of their audiences. It is observable too that their messages directly address real-life socio-economic challenges in the Ugandan context, and the message is delivered in an emotional dramatic or performative fashion. A combination of all these elements makes the three rhetors persuasive, and well suited for television broadcasts that highly value showmanship.

Printed Material of the Three Pastors

In this section, I analyze a select printed text of each of the three pastors. While I give an overview of all the available printed texts each of the pastors has produced, my analysis is specifically focused on a specific text chosen based on criteria laid out in the methods section. The analysis of the select print text focuses on its packaging, lay out of chapter, its key message, and the stylistic elements the pastor uses to drive his message.

Kayanja’s Printed Material

Kayanja has authored several printed texts but I make an in-depth analysis of one select books, The seed, the soil and the season. Kayanja has authored other pamphlets and book that include The Kiwempe Movement; Dream, desire and destiny; Bringing the presence of God home; Power beyond words; Meeting yourself; The incredible youth;

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The Holy Spirit, and Purpose” For this I was born. Each of the printed product started off as a broadcast sermon or a teaching that was later packaged as a DVD, and later packaged as a book available for purchase at the main church in Rubaga Kampala, and online. Each of the printed texts averages 80 pages but there are also much larger books of 150 pages or more. My key analysis is focused on the biggest of all Kayanja books The seed, the soil and the season that has 200 pages. The size I assume, points to the amount of time he devoted to it, the importance he attached to it, and the in-depth attention he gave to the topics he addresses for the best benefit of his audience. Available titles of all the printed products Kayanja has produced include the following:

Table 7 - Books written by Kayanja

Number Title Year 1 The Kiwempe Movement 2004 2 The Message of the Cross 2017 3 The Incredible Youth 2017 4 Meeting yourself: The Leader you’ve been waiting for 2018 5 The Holy Spirit: Omwoyo Omutukuvu 2017 6 Purpose: For this I was born 2018 7 The Seed, the Soil, and the Season 2014

Overview of Kayanja’s printed material

For each of the books noted above, Kayanja makes different rhetorical moves in his choice of a target audience, titles to the books, key message in the book, the images and colors used; and the sequencing of the book chapters.

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Kayanja’s pictures on the back covers of his books to introduce himself highlight someone careful about personal branding. In one of the pictures, Kayanja is presented dressed in a corporate business suit, tie and jacket. He has his arms crossed by his chest with hand that has a ring and an expensive watch visible to the readers. The image portrayed on the covers is taken out of the corporate executive play book. He portrays himself as knowledgeable, a leader, and successful in what he does. The image of a successful corporate business executive is attractive to those in search of career advancement or corporate success. In a different image on the covers, Kayanja is presented dressed in an expensive leather jacket. The contemporary-urbane style portrays a progressive pastor in touch with global fashion trends. In Kayanja we see an African pastor in a different class, one who pushes boundaries beyond the traditional perceptions of what Ugandan audiences have known of the personal presentation of religious leaders.

Kayanja is careful about the titles used on his books. In The Kiwempe Movement, he combines a Luganda word for reeds in the title making the reader curious about the content of the book. He applies cursive font that gives the title a jazzy feel to it but also a connection to history, aura, and suggestions of rare talent and special skill. The images on the cover include a heap of papyrus reed mats in a swamp at the bottom and glass windows in the clouds. The contrast created between the ascension from papyrus reed mats to the blue glass in the sky cannot be missed. He creates an aspirational theology of progress from the lower rungs of society to the heavenly, wealthy corporate levels of society which are symbolized by the glass-windowed, airconditioned offices of Kampala.

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Placing the words ‘the Kiwempe movement’ between the bottom rung papyrus reed mats and the glass windows in the clouds suggests that the Pentecostal movement has turned into the ladder upon which people can move from extreme poverty to wealth, influence, and abundance.

The image used on the cover of The message of the Cross is a colored, old, rugged cross with the half-naked, bleeding body Christ on it. Playing with the old, he connects his message to history, a bigger story, and by extension authenticity in the eyes of his readers. He appears to present himself as tapping into old wisdom that is necessary for the contemporary times. Not so different from marketers who exploit a tapping into the old so as to assure their consumers that this is the real thing, this is the real meal just as your grandmother used to prepare it for you.

The Incredible Youth is a book directed at the youth and is meant to call them to rejoice in their youth and to serve God. The choice of fonts for the title is playful and inviting to youth audiences/readers. It taps into longings for creativity and youth playfulness. Bright colors such as orange, purple, black are manipulated to create the cover that suggests fun and a carnivalesque atmosphere of celebration of faith. It suggests someone who understands youth culture, what is trendy, and invites youth to a fun-filled experience of faith.

The cover Meeting yourself: The leader you’ve been waiting for has a huge bald eagle with wings spread out to the full, flying up in the blues skies. The image of the eagle portrayed as majestic, powerful, free and unrestrained, sharp-eyed therefore

142 visionary and foresighted all combine to suggest leadership, strength, vision, and soaring into the socio-economic skies that exist. The image of an eagle is used in the Bible but also taken from the US American worldview both of which have influence on contemporary Uganda through media. The words of the title are written in font size that is measured, orderly, with edges on the letters that are golden. It is the type of writing you would fine desk nametag in the office of the bank manager of one of the old banks in a city.

The book The Holy Spirit: Omwoyo Omutukuvu about the power of the Holy

Spirit also combines both English and Luganda in its title. There is a curiosity created for non-English speaking people when a non-English word is employed. It creates a sense of exoticism, and out of this world secret or wisdom that needs to be discovered. It draws readers to want to read the hidden message in the book. The cover of the book has a shiny, vinyl finish to it. The words “The Holy Spirit” are embossed in gold in center of the cover. At the bottom of the cover is a huge gathering of people attending Kayanja’s rally while above the words is the image of an all-white dove wings spread out in a landing posture. The white dove has always been associated with the Holy Spirit, and image suggests the Holy Spirit falling upon those gathered at Kayanja’s rally. The Holy

Spirit is associated with power, change, transformation, victory, etc. Certainly, the book invites readers on how to get some of that power, victory, transformation by reading the book or attending Kayanja’s rallies.

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The book Purpose: For this I was born is focused on raising awareness among

Ugandans that each one was born for a particular purpose to lead and succeed in life and society. The book promises to help individuals rediscover the purpose of their lives. The cover is all white and the title on the cover is embossed in gold. Gold has historically been associated with material wealth, royalty, and upper social classes. The gold embossing suggests to the reader how they can become part of royalty, wealth, and social mobility. It is an attractive and well calculated choice Kayanja made for packaging the book.

In the next section I make an in-depth focus on the book The seed, the soil, and the season. I highlight the packaging of the book in terms of the cover, images, the description of the sequencing of the chapters and their arguments; and I conclude with a rhetorical analysis of what the book actually does and mean.

Analysis of The seed, the soil, and the season

The purpose of the book The seed, the soil, and the season is to teach prosperity through learning God’s “secrets” especially the secret behind the principle of “sowing” or

“planting the seed.” Kayanja weaves a teaching about the seed, the soils, and seasons based on the Biblical parable of the sower (Mark 4:3-13) who sowed, and some seeds fell on good ground, others on rocky soil, others among thorns, while others fell on the wayside and were eaten by birds. The “seed-faith gospel” Kayanja preaches emphasizes the power of tithing and giving offering to God for God to release health and material blessings in the life of an individual.

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The book was produced in Kampala Uganda by Robert Kayanja’s publishing house “Highway of Holiness International.” It provides contact addresses both in Uganda and Dallas Texas, in the United States of America. There is a website provided, a contact email, and a tollfree call number. What we notice here is Kayanja’s connections to US

American versions of Pentecostalism and his value of contact with his audiences. Such consistent contact with the audience is important for the expansion and survival of the ministry. The more people the ministry is in contact with, the more beneficial it is for the ministry in terms of mobilization of human and financial resources. Behind all this provision of contact information too, is hidden a concern with customer satisfaction and maintaining loyalty to the pastor and the ministry.

The front cover has the background of a golden sunset while the foreground has an image of a young green seedling sprouting from black and evidently fertile soils. The combination of the images concepts of the soil, the seed, and knowing the right season to plant so as to bring about a good harvest or abundancy. Golden sunsets are associated with beauty, a good life, and enjoyment as is portrayed in pictures of people vacationing in exotic places. The front cover is suggestive of how one can achieve the life of their dreams especially for people who struggle socio-economically.

The back cover has four quotations from two people with doctorates. The quotations are primarily about the “the seed.” Dr Robb Thompson is quoted saying that

“the seed can never change the soil; it can only reveal the quality of the soil.” In three different quotations Dr Mike Murdock is quoted saying “Seed-faith is sowing what you

145 have been given to create something else you have been promised”; “Your seed is the tool God has given you to create your future”; and in the third quotation he says “If you keep what you presently have, that is the most it will ever be.” The quotations emphasize the importance of giving God an offering such as money so that God in turn can bless you with prosperity, a key teaching in prosperity theology. Kayanja borrows the voices and authority of other supposedly important authors to frame the authenticity and importance of the teaching he gives in the book. By including the authority of some non-

Ugandan authors, Kayanja strategically persuades his readers to accept that his teaching is a globally shared and accepted message that many local Ugandans have not yet known and embraced. This way he invites audiences to quickly embrace the message without delay. The book is divided into twenty short chapters as shown below:

Table 8 – Layout of chapters in Kayanja’s book

Chapter Title

One What time is it?

Two The Greatest Gift

Three What Seed?

Four World Changers

Five When Money Fails

Six Turning your food into seed

Seven The power of the seed Eight Changing God’s mind to get you out of trouble

Nine The seed transfers wealth

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Table 8 (continued) Ten Where is your seed?

Eleven Your seed will make you forget

Twelve The seed shall prosper Thirteen The mystery of the soils

Fourteen The meaning of the soils

Fifteen The secret behind the soils

Sixteen The Wayside soil Seventeen Stony soil

Eighteen Thorny soil

Nineteen The Good soil Twenty The seasons The book opens with a dream that Kayanja had and in the dream the Holy Spirit tapped him asked him “What time is it?” Kayanja thought it was the regular chronological time he was being asked about. After the question being asked a couple of times, God told Kayanja it was “seed time” (p. 16). It was time for Kayanja to teach people “seed-faith principles” so that those who had suffered a lot would be able to increase, multiply and have abundancy in all spheres of their lives. Kayanja rhetorically mused:

Do you know the reason why some of us have failed to excel or develop to a higher level while others are progressing to higher levels all the time? I believe that those who succeed have determined to utilize the potential within them, which is I call ‘the seed’, while others have not (p. 24).

In other words, God’s blessings for the growth and prosperity of people were available but needed to be activated through “seeding”-the hidden ‘secret’ that a lot of people

147 hadn’t yet learnt well. Kayanja’s effort in the book then is to unveil ‘the secret’ to people on how to unlock their prosperity.

The chapters start off by explaining the broad and different meanings of “seed” as the as the word of God or “potential” God has put in every person in terms of gifts or talents. He tells the readers that the “seed will always multiply” (p.28) and individuals have to guard against letting the devil corrupt their seed because. “In every seed there is a prophecy for the future…in every seed lies the power to take care of you” (p.43).

Kayanja argues that seed is not meant to be kept, it has to be planted in good soil.

He explains the nature of the seed and how it ought to be handled:

Some people call it the anointing, the calling, the heart, the mind, while others call it motivation. Whatever name you may choose to call it, whether luck, blessing, anointing or calling, that is the seed that God has given you; if you don’t plant it, it will die (p. 62).

He further goes on throughout the book to give several examples of people in the Bible who gave away whatever they possessed out of faith; or gave to God through men of God like Elijah and Elisha and God multiplied it. The examples of Abraham, the widow of

Zarapeth are prominently used to illustrate his argument people who “sowed a seed” and

God blessed them beyond their imagination.

Kayanja continues and argues that “God is always on the side of the poor, the downtrodden and afflicted” (p. 80) and God “…owns everything” (p. 84). To Kayanja, the lack people experience in their lives is not really meant to be. What people need to learn is that tithing ‘transfers wealth’ into the hands of God’s people. He explains:

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God requires of us a tithe. We need to learn to sow our seeds. Whenever we eat our seed, we miss out on the cream of the crop and all that which would have come forth from that seed if it had been planted and allowed to germinate and produce fruit (p. 84).

He emphasizes Malachi 3:10 in the Bible which says some people are materially poor and lack because they have not tithed.

One of the biggest desires for nations Kayanja argues further on, is Jesus Christ, however apart from that “the thing all nations desire is money” (p. 96). To Kayanja, “God has a plan for gathering all the wealth of the nations into a field where he knows that His people will be able to get it into use for His Glory” (p. 97). But, according to Kayanja, between the wealth and the people destined to receive the wealth stands Satan, the Devil also referred to as the “devourer.” The ‘secret’ to accessing the wealth God has prepared for his children is the paying of the tithe or offerings. Kayanja elaborates how it all works:

So, after you pay your tithe and offering and yield yourself totally to God, He will rebuke the devourer. However, the Lord’s rebuke does not come down until a full tithe and offering has been given. There is a place we ought to be and a work we ought to do in order for God to rebuke the devil for our sake (pp.138-39).

In the last wo chapters of the book Pastor Robert Kayanja notes that the original gospel that was preached in Palestine was full of miracles or signs and wonders.

However, when the gospel was taken to other lands, it turned into a religion that its

“simple objectives of salvation, healing and blessing were left out”(p. 178). To Kayanja salvation means deliverance from all conditions of life. “The gospel has the power to save you from sin, poverty, ignorance, disease and infirmity”(p.179). And Kayanja bears 149 testimony that “We have seen this happen in all our miracle healing crusades. The sick are healed, life is restored, sinners get saved and the poor become rich”(p. 179). For all of that to happen in one’s life however, one needs to discover the secret of giving tithes and offerings to God:

It is a mystery that reveals that God can multiply, increase and pour out for you blessings that you cannot contain, because you have chosen not to steal his tithe. Giving God a tenth of your income will make everything great for you. Failure to do so will cause you to be besieged by the devourer (p. 191).

Kayanja considers the contemporary times as the right season to sow the seed for anyone who desires to “change curses into blessings” (p. 214). Heavily relying on the Biblical book of Malachi 3:8-12, he concludes by re-emphasizing his message that one’s

“curses” or challenges can be turned into “blessings” or prosperity through the act of tithing or offerings.

In conclusion we observe that Kayanja’s choice of an agricultural imagery about seeds, soils, sowing and harvesting is powerfully relevant to a country like Uganda where

75% of the people are farmers, and live off the land. The Ugandan audience understands how seeds, soils, seasons, sowing, and harvesting works. It is a simple and earthy image that is clear to all his Ugandan readers. The imagery is archetypal and therefore understandable in all farming communities; making it powerfully persuasive beyond the

Ugandan audience. In the next sub section, I analyze Bishop David Kiganda’s book

Tough Times: Tough people.

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Kiganda’s Printed Material

Kiganda has produced more broadcast material than he has produced printed material in book or pamphlet form. In this sub section I focus on Kiganda’s known and available book Tough times: Tough people highlighting its history, title, product packaging, chapter lay out, and its message. The book has 151 pages with well-developed topics and sub-topics.

Analysis of Tough Times: Tough people

Bishop Kiganda has so far produced one known and available book Tough Times:

Tougher people (2008) which is available for purchase at his church and bookshops in

Kampala. The book’s title is framed in catchy soundbite terms. The title directly gives away its purpose of providing readers with needed tools to negotiate social problems.

The book was an outcome of talks he gave in 2008 at a conference for church ministers at his church Christianity Focus Center in Mengo-Kisenyi Kamapala. Part of the conference’s theme focused on the resilience of tough people and why such people outlive their tough times. Kiganda then decided to write the book as “ a comprehensive guide to handling increasing critical situations during changing times”(Kiganda, 2008, back cover).

Building on the Biblical story of the Israelites while in Egypt, Kiganda argues that sometimes better times are preceded by radically challenging times. “When Pharaoh enslaved the Israelite nation in Egypt and they cried to God for deliverance, God heard them and sent Moses to deliver them. However, the road to freedom was not an easy one

151 because God ‘hardened’ Pharaoh’s heart so that He may perform great miracles during the transition process” (p.vi). In the same way deliverance by God from difficult situations sometimes comes after a time of struggle. Thus, Kiganda urges his readers:

I don’t know what is going on in your life, but I am pretty sure that there are good times and bad times—highs and lows. The way you conduct yourself in these moments will determine the quality of life you live now and in the future. One of my goals of writing this book is to stir you up and invite you to rebel against Satan’s schemes and change your perception from a resigned and mediocre spirit to a strong and mighty attitude of a champion (p. vii).

The front cover of the book has a picture of Kiganda seated on a park bench all wrapped up in heavy clothing on a snowy day likely in a western country. His eyes are pointed in a distance in a thoughtful pose. Snow has always been a symbol of challenge or difficulty for Africans who grew up in the warm tropical climate in Sub Saharan

Africa.

The cold, snowy weather is a metaphor for difficulty or challenge. Tough cold weather fills the tales of many Africans who live or have lived in Europe or North

America about the challenges of life as they went about working or studying in these environments. The picture effectively played on the popular imagination of many

Ugandans or Africans who have heard before the stories about the unforgiving cold weather in Western countries. Kiganda plays on the symbolism to address local Ugandan challenges and the effort, and the resilience needed to go through them.

Kiganda dedicated the book to “my friends and longest serving ministry partners,

Mr.& Mrs. Samuel and Milly Mukasa Biyinzika Farmers-Kampala, who saw the

152 potential in me, believed in me, and stood with me at the infant stage of my ministry before anyone could do so” (p. iii). The Biyinzika Farmers are a wealthy Kampala based commercial family business that deals in animal feedstuffs, grain storage, and production of vegetable cooking oil.

The book is written in an easy to read narrative style in which Kiganda combines personal stories and stories of other people who overcame challenges in life to persuasively illustrate his message. The stories are relatable and Ugandan audiences can easily “identify” with the characters and the experiences in the Burkean sense of identification and consubstantiality (Burke,1950 ) in matters of persuasion. The book is divided as shown below, into twelve chapters with sub-topics connected to the main theme of resilience under difficult situations:

Table 9 – Layout of chapters in Kiganda’s book

Chapter Title One Toughness is a choice -It is all in the mind -Point of no return -Do you want it? -Heroes are not born, they are made -Our strength lies within, not without Two The undeniable qualification to toughness -The question of location and style Three Tough people forgive - The gates of hell cannot prevail -The road back home -The power of reconciliation -An issue of grooming? - Rebellion begets rebellion -Forgiveness is for our benefit -Clear the air of suspicion Four Tough people have no enemies -Cheap endearments weaken the tough -The stones that build great castles 153

Table 9 (continued) Five No problems for the tough and strong -Pit to palace -Embrace the process Six Tough people know that God is aware of their challenges - Not our will but God’s - Divinely empowered to face anything -When God is challenged for the sake of the tough Seven Mastering the art of getting over loss -After the tears -Bury your dead out of sight -Tough people take responsibility for their lives -Fill your horn with oil, time to move on -God delights in progress - Leave bygones be bygones

Eight Boot camp: The road tough people must take -Empowered to succeed -Sing and prepare for war -The problem with ‘no challenges’ gospel

Nine Tough people are risk takers -No room for comparison -No retreat, no surrender! - If there is a will, there is a way - No place for doubt

Ten Tough people are loyal/Submissive -Check your motive -Toughness is not leadership

Eleven Tough people embrace the need for self-denial -Tough people see the future in the now

Twelve Prepare for tough times -The tough attract the tough

The desired goal of Kiganda for his readers is that they may “soar on eagles wings like an eagle as you fly higher and higher to your destiny. If you can perceive it, then you

154 can do it!”(p5). And he re-emphasizes the same desire in the conclusion of the book when he writes:

I want you to know that the only way to survive in this world is by living a tough life. At the end of it all, when we look back, we shall see that tough times did not really overtake tough people. Tough people withstood and contained them with God by their side. It is only great and remarkable people who are remembered and talked, sang and written about. Let us strive to live lives that speak loudly long after we are gone (p135).

Looking at the book and the earlier broadcast programs of Kiganda, we observe a common focus on material prosperity and an offer to his audience of tools for resilience amidst social-economic, and health challenges. Like Pastors Robert Kayanja and Joseph

Serwadda, Kiganda relies on the bible and portrays himself as a wise man with tools that can enable his audience to negotiate their everyday challenges. He offers faith in God, prayer, patience, and the donation of money to God through his ministry as important keys in helping audience members to open doors to their financial and material breakthrough; and triumph over their difficult challenges.

In the next sub-section, I examine the printed work of Apostle Dr Joseph

Serwadda. I offer an overview of all the different books or pamphlets he has written, before I make an in-depth dissection of the book Principles, power and purpose of prosperity which I consider Serwadda’s flagship text.

Serwadda’s Printed Material

Apostle Serwadda has authored several printed texts. The majority of the texts are in booklet form, with one given its number of pages and the development of themes really qualified to pass as a book. The texts cover different topics that range from prayer, to 155 how to manage a church congregation in a time of crisis. The titles include: The kind that

Jesus called great faith (1992), Pray therefore like this (2018b), If I be a man of God

(2018a), How to effectively clean the house without messing it up (2007), Victory and what it takes: When you thought all hope was gone (2005), and Principles, power and purpose of prosperity (2016). Below are the titles of the texts Serwadda has produced:

Table 10 - Books and pamphlets written by Serwadda

Number Title Year

1 The kind that Jesus called great faith 1992

2 Victory and what it takes! 2005

3 How to effectively clean the house without messing it up 2007

4 Principles, power and purpose of prosperity 2016

5 If I be a man of God 2018a

6 Pray therefore like this 2018b

A cursory observation above of the titles and the themes Serwadda has addressed over the years, shows a diversification of themes that are primarily spiritual and themes that directly address practical issues of everyday life such as how to profitably run a business. Serwadda has diversified his writing on faith, prayer and writing on prosperity, how to win and how become successful in life here on earth. In the next sub-section, I dwell in-depth on Serwadda’s book Principles, power and purpose of prosperity.

Analysis of Principles, power and purpose of prosperity

The analysis of Serwadda’s printed material in my study is focused on his book

Principles, power and purpose (2007). It is the biggest of all Serwadda’s printed material 156 in terms of number of pages and development of subtopics. The assumption is that

Serwadda gave the book a lot more time in writing, a pointer to the importance he attached to the message or discourse in it for the kind of audience he had in mind.

The full title of the book itself Principles, power and purpose or prosperity:

Journey on how to discover prosperity and ideas on how to attain power and affluence is not only catchy and cleverly crafted. The title taps into a lot of human desires such as power, purpose, and prosperity or affluence. In the book, Serwadda promises to unveil principles or ideas that can get readers to such a destination.

The color of the book cover is golden with graphics on the front page of bags of golden dollar coins. The cover background has faint graphics of dollar notes flying in the air. The back cover has a picture of Pastor Serwadda in a corporate business suit below whose picture a preview of the book says:

You have not known prosperity and power if you have not read this book. The author explores and exposes inside out the fundamental gateways to prosperity as he progressively points the reader to the mega ideas of attaining affluence and power (Serwadda, 2016, back cover).

Serwadda in the foreword highlights that he has “mentored thousands out of an exceedingly desperate state of poverty to greater prosperity. I personally came from such a background” Given the success in his life and that of his mentees over the years he adds that “I am much more than committed to deliver God’s people out of the deep poverty to the promised land”(p. viii).

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The book is divided into three major sections under the headlines of

Understanding prosperity, manifesting prosperity, and the purpose of prosperity. Each of the three major sections has four chapters within it, making a total of twelve chapters.

Table 11 – Lay out of chapters in Serwadda’s book

Chapter Title Understanding Prosperity One The foundation of prosperity Two The power of blessing Three The role of the priest in your blessing Four The power of the spoken word Manifesting Prosperity Five The definition and significance of work

Six Working with wisdom

Seven Wisdom in the marketplace Eight Understanding the tithe The purpose of prosperity Nine The value of purpose in prosperity Ten Commitment to Kingdom expansion and enhancement Eleven Commitment to the good of the family Twelve Being a channel of His testimony

In the major section on “understanding prosperity” he dwells on the themes of the meaning of prosperity, the role of the priest in one’s blessings, and the power of the spoken word. Each one of the sub-themes is based on some Biblical text or Biblical character. The definition of “prosperity” is based on the Biblical letter of John (3 John

1:2) in which John says: "Beloved I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in 158 health even as your soul prospers.” Serwadda’s interpretation is that God does not want his children to lack anything in life. The desire of God is for all his children to be prosperous in all areas of life. “Prosperity is wholeness. It is fulfillment and satisfaction in every area of one’s life. Being prosperous is having nothing lacking in spirit, soul and body; socially, economically, physically and materially. To be prosperous is to be whole”

(p.3), he writes.

He goes on to give examples of Biblical texts that speak about “prosperity” in health and strength (Psalm 103:2), peace and tranquility (Isaiah 54:10), family or marriage relationships (Psalm 107:41), friendships (Proverbs 18:24), self-esteem

(Genesis 1:27), wealth and riches (Psalm92:13-14;Pslm 91:16). He concludes that God’s plan was that people establish God’s Kingdom here on earth, and “without money our potential is limited, and our dreams constrained. We really cannot do much. Without money we will struggle” (p.29). He uses a personal testimony about his struggle in his early years of ministry with extreme poverty and how it inhibited the plans he had of serving God and others.

In the second and third chapters he explains the importance of faith and priests in one’s life and in the process of attaining one’s prosperity. One in pursuit of prosperity needs to listen and follow in obedience God’s word even when one does not have evidence that it will work. Serwadda cites the examples of Biblical characters such as

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who followed God’s commands out of obedience and they materially prospered. “It was beyond comprehension. But in following they manifested

159 amazing prosperity. They prospered by the word of the Lord. By His Word they possessed the land” (p. 39). To Serwadda “Faith is the currency of heaven. Prosperity is

‘purchased’ and maintained by faith. When one therefore nurtures faith for prosperity, they are already prosperous though they may not have seen it manifest yet”(p. 45).

About the role of the priest in one’s prosperity, the Pastor argues that God ordained the priesthood since the days of Melchizedek to be the conduit of people’s blessings. “If anybody is to experience the fullness of blessing of God, it is important they really get to understand the priestly order. God releases his blessings through chains of authority”(p. 65). He urges readers to find a priest whom they can honor, support, and make their mentor in life. To Serwadda, “That man or woman of God is not in your life to pass time”(p.65). The priest is a “divine mouthpiece”; “a voice of blessing”; “a prophet of prosperity”; who “carries a weapon of warfare” and is “God’s instrument of battle” in anyone’s battles while in pursuit of wealth (pp. 60-69). Serwadda further notes while in pursuit of prosperity one can face “attacks from the powers of darkness” but with a priest in one’s life “…God will always secure your blessing”(p. 71).

In the last chapter of section one, Serwadda highlights the power of positive confession in the pursuit of prosperity. He notes that in the Bible God simply spoke or commanded and things came to be. In the same way people need to understand that

“words have power” and therefore speak positively into their lives for prosperity to manifest in their lives. “Words set standards. Never limit yourself, always confess to what standard you want to rise in life. Sooner or later, it will become manifest reality.

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Whenever you speak, you are setting the standard” (p.89). He adds on that positive speech undoes a difficult past and re-orients one anew. “Learn the power of the spoken word about you and your prosperity. Cancel every evil word whether from you, relatives, false prophets, enemies, witches, never let somebody’s evil confession be the standard by which you live. Set the standard yourself. Make the choice yourself”(p. 90).

It can be observed from the arguments in these chapters that poverty is largely cause by the choices individuals make such as not believing God, failure to honor or support priests, or failure to positively speak prosperity into their lives. There is a total absence of acknowledgment of structural forces such as bad tax regimes in the causes of poverty, massive corruption, or poor education systems. To Serwadda the causes are spiritual and therefore need to be addressed as such. “Many businesses, ministries, families and corporate companies have collapsed contrary to the will of God and never got back on their feet because they had no one to speak the word of resurrection into them”(p. 84), Serwadda emphasizes the power of positive speech.

In the second major section of the book, Serwadda explains the importance of work, the need to work “smart” or with “wisdom”; and concludes with the role faithfulness to tithing plays in achieving prosperity. Taking the teachings from the

Biblical book of Genesis, the Pastor explains how God worked in creating the world thereby blessing all work; and how now God expects all people to work. He adds that it is through the work that people do that God blesses them. “When He created you, He commanded you to work. Teach yourself to delight yourself in work. Become a self-

161 motivator in working. God will bless the work of your hands. Without work God has nothing to bless” (p.102). Serwadda further notes that work is a way of partnering with

God in the effort of prospering the world and God expects people to work. “Prosperity is a stimulus to work more diligently. God will never encourage slothfulness, laziness and mediocrity. He expects man to work” (p. 128), Serwadda argues. Underlying this claim is an individualistic, pragmatic “do it yourself” worldview that sometimes pays limited attention to structural causes of people’s challenges such as poverty, and instead blames them for not working hard enough. This worldview in “new wave” Pentecostalism in

Africa points to the distant influences of the US American pragmatic view, and the notion Max Weber refers to as “the protestant work ethic” (1905/2002).

About working with wisdom Serwadda urges his readers to have a vision that drives their lives. To him a clear vision rallies finances and resources; and also, eventually leads one to one’s chosen destiny. “When your heart decides your future and you choose to obey the communications of your heart, your mind will devise the way to get to that future and your feet will surely walk to that future”(p.136), he notes.

Additionally, Serwadda notes that positive thinking is important in fueling one in the pursuit of their goals. “Keep believing that you are guaranteed your prosperity blessings even though your natural eyes may be telling you differently”(p.149) he concludes.

In chapter seven he speaks of using wisdom in the market through avenues such as advertisement, good customer care, teamwork, good negotiation skills, and wise financial management. He emphasizes creativity or innovation in one’s business in things

162 as basic as coming up with catchy slogans. “Whatever you set your heart to, if you want to prosper in it and continue to prosper for a very long time, it is important that you be”(p.184) he emphasizes.

Serwadda concludes the second section by highlighting the significance of tithe in the process of achieving and maintaining prosperity. Taking the example of the Biblical character Jacob in Genesis 28:15-22 who promised to give a share of his wealth if God blessed him with wealth, Serwadda explains that tithe is acknowledging that God is the source of one’s wealth. The tithe he argues needs to be given through one’s local priest or church family so that God’s work can be carried on with ease. “The role of the giving ministry is to make the work of the service of the house of the Lord easier for the ministers that God has called to His service. The giving ministry is meant to help them concentrate. It is to help them devote all their time to service without any obstruction or divided attention”(p. 289) he notes. He concludes that faithfully tithing brings multiple benefits to an individual such as “deliverance from destruction”; “achievement of dreams”; “overflowing prosperity”; “warfare victory”; “influence”; and “fulfillment and satisfaction” (pp. 296-297).

In the third major section of the book Serwadda focuses on the purpose of prosperity. In the pastor’s argument, God blesses people with prosperity so that they may use it to advance the Kingdom of God. Citing the example of the people of Laodicea who were materially rich but gave less to God and his work, Serwadda notes that “You are not rich until you are rich towards God, no matter what you may have stored for yourself.

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This is what was in the Church of the Laodiceans. They thought they were rich but sad to say, they were not rich towards God. Their wealth was not beneficial to God’s Kingdom; they lacked a purpose for Kingdom wealth” (p. 306). To Serwadda, anyone who has been blessed with material wealth needs to make a commitment to “Kingdom expansion and enhancement” (p. 308), by giving to God through supporting “the vision He entrusted to the pastor/shepherd of the local Church”(p. 313). Serwadda rhetorically asks his readers:

“How faithful have you been in profiting your Church with your progress in material wealth so far?”(319). To illustrate his point, Serwadda cites examples of different prophets in the Bible such as Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah who needed resources to build or rebuild the Temple of God. By citing and identifying himself to Biblical prophets, Serwadda adopts a subject position of a prophet of God, and therefore deserving of attention and obedience.

Serwadda ends the book by reminding his readers that all believers are descendants of Abraham and by extension heirs to God’s promises through faith. God desires all his children to be prosperous, but prosperity has a purpose of serving God and serving neighbors. Serwadda reiterates the message God desires all His children to prosper materially so as to be a channel of His blessings to others. Serwadda teaches his readers to share their wealth with others by becoming “a people lifter”; “an encourager to others”; “a channel He can use to answer the prayers of others’; “a messenger He can channel money through to those around you”(p.327).

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In the next section I provide a synthesis of the work of the three rhetors from a rhetorical studies’ perspective.

Synthesis of the Work of the Three Pastors

The three pastors analyzed above share a lot in terms of message and style. In this section I take a bird’s eye view to examine how the pastors laid out the rhetorical landscape. My analysis focuses on the rhetorical elements of purpose, subject position, the cultivation of ethos, production of evidence, the role of technology, and the stylistic elements employed in their persuasive efforts. The aesthetic elements and the role they played as earlier mentioned, are were highlighted above “in the moment” for each of the rhetors.

Purpose in the rhetorical work of the three pastors

From the reading and a re-reading of the topics of the above described artefacts by the three rhetors, different but related themes can organically be deduced. A scoring of their prayers, their sermons or teachings, and an analysis of their work provides different emphases of the work of contemporary Ugandan Pentecostal rhetors. The themes identified and the scoring of the different themes can be categorized as follows:

Table 12 - Key themes in the rhetorical texts of the three pastors

Theme Percentage

Physical and Mental Health 9.5%

Deliverance from Witchcraft, Demons, Curses 8.2%

Financial and Material wealth 32.7%

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Table 12 (continued) Success in Relationships e. g marriage, family, etc. 2.7%

Hope, Resilience, or Positive thinking 14.3%

Faith in God 7.5%

Power of the Holy Spirit 1.4%

Tithe and Offerings 23.8%

Pastors present themselves as men who with a deep faith in God and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (“anointed”). Because of their faith and the Holy Spirit, the pastors are capable of helping their followers to tap into the power of God through them.

It is that power that brings physical and mental healing, deliverance from witchcraft, demons and curses; brings success in relationships such as marriage and family life; and even more importantly brings about breakthrough in one’s financial and material needs.

From the rhetoric of the three pastors, the key for all of the above outcomes to come to pass is that followers need to faithfully tithe (give a tenth of their incomes), and also “sow a seed of faith” or offer other forms of financial support to God through the work of the pastors. Additionally, the followers need to live with unquestioning faith and hope in God that God will take away their challenges. Resilience and positive thinking amidst their challenges creates an enabling environment in which God can perform

“miracles.”

Through the scoring of the emphases of their messages, we also get a glimpse into the type of audience that the rhetors have in mind. The pastors’ message is directed at an

166 audience that is socio-economically deprived, with poor health, with weak or broken social bonds, with challenging social mobility; and a worldview that strongly believes in the existence of spirits, demons, and curses. The purpose of the rhetors’ rhetorical efforts are directed at addressing the question of deprivation and hopelessness in the lives of

Ugandans.

The rhetors’ intention is to convince the Ugandan audience to understand that the root cause of their current their socio-economic deprivation, poor health, and the weakening or breakdown of social relationship, is the work of the devil or Satan. The invitation or call to action in the above religious rhetoric is for Ugandans to learn more about God, pray more, seek deliverance from God, offer tithe and offerings, work harder, and adopt a positive attitude. The pastor is the medium through whom all the desired change can happen.

Subject positions and the cultivation of ethos by the three pastors

There are four noticeable subject positions that the three rhetors strategically take in their discourse so as to increase their persuasive influence. These include the Wise

Man, The Medium, and The Healer. I explain how each of these rhetors builds each particular subject position.

In the persona of The Wise Man, the rhetors performed the role of individuals who have access to special or secret knowledge gained out of personal experience, or inspiration by the Holy Spirit. They invite the audience members to imbibe of their wisdom so as to negotiate the challenging experiences in life and eventually achieve

167 financial breakthrough, successfully run their commercial businesses, or gain physical and mental healing. Kayanja’s book The seed, the soil, and the season teaches people the

“principle” of “sowing the seed of faith” so as to gain God’s blessings. In his television program God is My Money he teaches his audience about the “Law of First Fruits” in which he persuades people about the importance of giving to God their “first fruits” such as one’s first paycheck so as to open ways for more of God’s blessings. He brings out several Biblical examples such as Abraham who gave God their “first fruits” and reaped big. Joseph Serwadda in his book too frames himself as a wise man out to share his wisdom with the audience. The title of Serwadda’s book Principles, power and purpose or prosperity has a sub-title that describes the book as a “Journey on how to discover prosperity and ideas on how to attain power and affluence.” In the foreword Serwadda frames himself as a great wise man and to his readers he says, “You have not known prosperity and power if you have not read this book”; further he highlights how he “has mentored thousands out of an exceedingly desperate state of poverty to greater prosperity” (Serwadda, 2016, p. viii). David Kiganda’s book and the titles of his audio- visual productions all frame him as a wise teacher with great practical wisdom to share about life. Kiganda describes his book Tough times: Tough people as focused on teaching people the “art” of resilience amidst challenges. The titles of his audio-visual productions such as Battle strategies of a Pentecostal, Dangers of peer pressure, How to sustain

God’s favor upon your life, or Giving brings blessings all frame him as a teacher with wisdom and knowledge to share with his audiences.

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In the persona of The Medium or “Man of God” the rhetors presented themselves as the medium through which God manifests His power and wisdom; and also extends

His blessings to the people. Audience members who desired to experience God’s power, wisdom, and the blessings, they had to allow the rhetor mediate that in their lives. Pastor

Robert Kayanja powerfully plays this role in his book when he adopts the style of the ancient Biblical Jewish prophets who had “dreams” when God was giving them a message meant for His people. The book opens with a dream Kayanja had and in the dream the Holy Spirit tapped him on the shoulder and asked him “What time is it?” After tapping him several times the Holy Spirit revealed to Kayanja that it was “seed time” (p.

24), a time for Kayanja to teach people the seed faith “principles.” In the book Kayanja plays the role of a medium through whom God sent his message to people. Kayanja frames himself the same way in the audio-visual productions The Hand of God where he acts as an instrument of God; and in The anointing of The Holy Spirit where he says those who listen to his message, also get infused with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Serwadda also frames himself too as a medium when he highlights in his book the important role a pastor plays as a conduit of God’s blessings in an individual’s life. Serwadda says “If anybody is to experience the fullness of the blessing of God, it is important they really get to understand the priestly order. God releases his blessings through chains of authority”(Serwadda, 2016, p.64). In framing a priest or pastor or man of God as a “chain of authority” Serwadda positions himself through which God’s blessings reach others.

Similarly, Kiganda through his prayers in Battle strategies of a Pentecostal declares

169 matter of fact assurance that those present at his program would receive miracles from

God. “I just want to assure you that you won’t leave this place the way you came! Your life will change, your business will change!” he assures his immediate and mediated audiences as if he is in direct contact with God.

In the third persona, the pastors perform the role of The Healer. They present themselves as “anointed” by the Holy Spirit with special knowledge and power to heal physical and mental illnesses. The pastors claim special authority over demons, physical sicknesses, mental illnesses, and curses that they cast out, break, or declare victory over

“in Jesus’s name!” Kayanja’s audio-visual productions such as Instant Healing and

Miracle Experiences all frame him as a faith healer who declares in Instant Healing that

“I believe in miracles.” Serwadda who goes by the title “Apostle” preached in “The apostles worked many signs and miracles” of how his miracle is followed by signs and wonders. He describes his ministry as where he “preaches with great power and conviction with signs and wonders following” (Serwadda, 1992, back cover). Kiganda equally declares that he “believes in miracles that are performed in the name of Jesus

Christ” and his “ministry is surrounded by undeniable evidence of miracles performed”

(Kiganda, 2008, p.138).

What is noticeable in the personae they adopt is the similarity with different revered traditional African societal roles in many parts of Africa. This choice of personae is a powerfully strategic move in building the ethos of each of the rhetors in the eyes of their audience.

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Table 13 - Subject positions taken by the three pastors

Pentecostal Pastor Personae African Traditional role

Wise Man Elder

The Medium Diviner

The Healer Medicine Man or Herbalist

The role of The Wise Man corresponds to the African traditional Elders who through experience in life had learnt a lot about history, morality, business, relationships, diseases and medicine, and played therefore played the role of counselor almost on everything. As Mbiti said, the death of an African Elder was equivalent to the burning down of a whole library.” The Elders told stories to the young ones especially around the fireplaces passing on the wisdom of old especially through story telling or performances.

The pastors appear to be playing a similar role by surrounding themselves with followers in their churches and through media.

The role of The Medium is equivalent to the African traditional Diviner who had access to the knowledge and powers of the different deities, and could communicate the needs of individuals to the deities, or the desires of the deities to the individuals. Through trances or spiritual possession, the diviner could communicate the mind of the deities to the people; and people could approach the diviner to consult the deities on their behalf about different personal and social challenges such as bareness in marriage, poverty, broken relationships, wars, drought, or famine.

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The persona of The Healer is equivalent to the traditional African society’s

Medicine Man or Herbalist. Almost every village in Africa had someone well versed in disease and herbal medicine. It is to the Herbalists that individuals ran for remedies when they had physical or mental illnesses that they could not heal in their families.

Whereas the three subject positions taken by the rhetors appeal to a Ugandan traditional worldview and powerfully help to increase their credibility in the eyes of their audiences, there are additional strategies the rhetors employ to further build their credibility. Brummett (1991) in explaining the strategies employed by apocalyptic rhetors observes that such rhetors identify a revered and authoritative text which they employ as their “grounding text.” Part of the purpose of the grounding text for the rhetors, is for the text to lend its authority to the rhetors. In strategically choosing a text revered by the audience, the rhetors speak with the borrowed authority of the text and by extension can make other claims that may not necessarily be from the revered text.

The Pentecostal pastors in Uganda use the Bible as their grounding text. Uganda is predominantly Christian, with 87% professing some version of Christianity. Preaching or teaching from the Bible gives the pastors great credibility as individuals and makes their messages also authoritative. The pastors have also borrowed Biblical titles such as

“Pastor” which is in reference to Jesus Christ who called himself “the Good Shepherd”

(John 10:11-18); “Apostle” is a title in reference to Jesus’s closest disciples in the Bible whom he sent out with authority on a special mission into the world of preaching the

172 gospel. The title “Bishop” or “Overseer” refers to those in the Bible who were entrusted with authority to supervise other churches (Acts 20:17, 28; Titus 1:5,7).

There are also other strategies used by the rhetors in building their credibility. For instance, the three pastors carefully choose their dress so as to portray a specific image of themselves. They wear corporate business suits to project an image of seriousness, expertise, success, or leadership. Other times they wear the West African flowing dress associated with authority, history, leadership, success, and dignity. Such personal presentation is an embodiment of a message they wish to portray and is directed at increasing their credibility in the eyes and the hearts of their audience.

The pastors also tout the wide number of churches under their leadership, the places or countries they have been to for ministry, the global televisions stations they have been on, and the famous preachers they have worked with. Kayanja creatively does that in associating himself with several American televangelists such as TL Osborn,

Joyce Meyer, and Creflo Dollar. This is a demonstration of social authentication and approval or “product endorsement,” that other audiences can rely on to accept the rhetors’ messages.

Additionally, the rhetors have also appropriated broadcast media technology which comes with its own authority. Mass media especially radio and television have history as a colonial mouthpiece. The British colonialists used national radio stations especially in most African British colonies to issue orders and other instructions. Most post post-independence African governments too used the radio and television to issue

173 government edicts. The capture of the national radio or television stations was always the signal of the fall of some post-independence governments. By this very fact, broadcast media has always been associated with authority or power in the mindset of many

African audiences. By strategically using the broadcast media technology, African religious rhetors such as the three under study acquire authority and credibility ipso facto.

It should also be noted that the appropriation of broadcast media technology is not only builds the rhetors’ credibility in the eyes of audiences, but also is used to reproduce evidence. The recording, selling, and replaying of the broadcast programs by the three rhetors particularly of the “miracles” God has performed through the rhetors ministry (see

Instant Miracles) is meant to produce and reproduce evidence to authentic the rhetors’ claims as “anointed” Men of God.

Production of evidence in the rhetorical work of three pastors

The three rhetors use different strategies to produce and reproduce evidence

(logos) to back up their claims. The most important source of evidence for the pastors is the Bible itself. Like most several other protestant Christian groups, the Bible is considered the literal “Word of God” and this sometimes is used to make a literal interpretation of the Bible. From the audio-visual and the books sampled, each has several Bible verses used as the foundation for the teachings, sermons, or other claims the pastors make. The underlying thinking is that if it is based on some part of the Bible, then it must be automatically true, believable, and directly applicable to contemporary

174 situations. The highly regarded Historical-Critical (Soulen & Soulen, 2001) approach to

Biblical exegesis has not taken strong root in the Uganda Pentecostal pastors.

One strategy in the interpretation of the Bible that was used by the three pastors was the use of Biblical typologies. According to Brummett (1991), typology refers to “a way of seeing the grounding text as being about the present and the future” (p.105). In this technique, the rhetor takes a part of the grounding text and links it to the present circumstances or situations. For instance, Serwadda uses the text about Jesus declaring himself as filled with the Holy Spirit and therefore sent to proclaim liberty to all captives, as a text about Serwaddda being filled with the Holy Spirit and therefore called to declare freedom to all under the captivity of sickness or poverty (see The Spirit of the Lord is

Upon me). Kiganda uses the story of Gideon (see When God wants to bring hope in a hopeless situation) who through faith was able to defeat Israel’s enemies even when the enemies far outnumbered the Israelites. To Kiganda faith creates an enabling environment for God to perform miracles such as getting employment or buying a car.

Kayanja in The offering you ought to give highlights the faith of the Biblical character who Abraham who through faith offered God different offerings and was blessed with a lot of wealth. To Kayanja, Abraham’s faith is the type that all need to practice if they are to receive material, financial, and health blessings in their lives.

A different technique used by the three rhetors is the technique of Transfer.

According to Brummett (1991), transfer is where,

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A paragraph, passage, chapter or longer discourse will begin by discussing the

grounding text, aligning the rhetor with the text’s ideas, arguments, author, main

characters, and so forth. Then the rhetor will introduce an idea, another author, a

fact, or an example that is very similar to and consistent with the grounding text yet

also has a strategic difference. This process continues until the rhetor has by degrees

transferred the prestige and rhetorical power of the grounding text to other claims,

authorities, texts, and arguments entirely (p.109).

It is evident from the three rhetors that their explanation of their teachings such as the tithe and offerings, or “seed faith” starts off from the Bible, then at some point they introduce in the element tithe and offering as precondition for one to receive financial, material, or health blessings from God. Kayanja’s and Serwadda’s books analyzed for instance, make the “sowing of the seed” the primary gateway to receiving wealth, financial, and health blessings from God. While the Bible encourages people to donate to the work of God or the Church, making it a precondition to receiving God’s blessing appears a stretch of the Biblical texts used. The stretching frames God’s blessings as if up for a commercial transaction.

The three rhetors also employ the use of testimony in their persuasion. The use of auto-biographical narratives or biographical narratives to appeal to audiences is powerful.

The style is strong because in many ways resembles and functions in similar ways to the

African oral narratives that have been used for ages on the continent. For instance,

Kayanja tells the story of his daughter who fell sick and how God helped to restore her

176 health through prayer and offerings; Kiganda and Serwadda narrate their personal struggle with poverty and how God helped them overcome their poverty. These auto- biographical narratives serve the varied purposes of appealing to the emotions of the audiences, persuade audiences to identify with the experiences of the rhetors, and also predispose audiences to other messages of the rhetors. There are other testimonies in audio-visuals such as Instant Miracles by individuals who have received healings or

“blessings” that play a powerful persuasive role of convincing other audience members of the authenticity of the rhetors’ message and performances.

There are several language stylistic elements worth noting that are employed by the three rhetors in their persuasive efforts. In terms of language use the three rhetors employ a simple and down to earth language style. They use the low style or what St

Augustine (426/1995) promoted as the sermo humilis “in which the most sublime matters could be treated in the most matter of fact manner with the humblest prose and through the lowest of characters.” The pastors’ message not couched any technical jargon, rather it is straight forward in terms of how God and life works. They appear to provide simple, easy to digest principles or explanations to audience members on what they need to do for life to work for them. For instance, they explain how giving tithe and other offerings transfer the wealth of non-believers in God into the hands of the believers.

Unlike Kayanja who uses English with a local language interpreter, both

Serwadda and Kiganda use the local Luganda language. The version of the local Luganda used is the informal style largely used on the streets of Kampala. This language choice

177 and style projects the rhetors as connected to the audience, and in many ways understand their world and challenges. It is a strategic identification with the audience that according to Burke (1978) is powerfully persuasive.

In the next chapter I make a contextual analysis of Uganda, highlighting the socio-economic, political, and cultural context under which the pastors have created their rhetoric. Contextual analysis is similar to audience analysis that rhetors have to

“read” carefully so as to create messages that are strategic and respond to the audience’ interests and needs.

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CHAPTER FIVE: Contextual Analysis

Overview of the Chapter

In this section I describe the Ugandan context in which the analyzed religious discourse has been produced and continues to be reproduced and circulated via media. As

Kuypers & King (2016) note, rhetoric is a form of strategic, goal-oriented communication directed at a particular audience located in a particular “time, space, culture, and circumstance” (p.14). In understanding the context in which the above neo-Pentecostal rhetoric was created and operates, we can understand its effectiveness, and also evaluate its social impact.

Campbell and Burkholder (1997) make a similar argument about the importance of understanding the context in which rhetorical acts came into existence, and the context in which they work to influence the audience. They argue that rhetorical acts:

Are a product of, and function within a particular historical context. Rhetoric is

practical because rhetors are motivated to speak or by events and circumstances

that they encounter. Their rhetoric is intended to resolve some problem or gap

between personal or societal goals or values and existing structures, procedures,

or conditions. Rhetoric is also public because it is addressed to a particular

audience or audiences” (Campbell & Burkholder, 1997, p.46).

Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric that is rapidly growing in Uganda and other countries in the southern hemisphere is partly influenced by context factors elements within such settings.

Unlike the intrinsic analysis in Chapter Four which focused on the internal composition

179 of the pastors’ discourse, this chapter focuses on elements outside the discourse which influenced its construction, growth, and effectiveness. It should not be a surprise that sources relied on in this chapter lay largely outside the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric, yet demonstration is made to illustrate the connections between the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric analyzed and the external elements connected to it.

Campbell and Burkholder (1997) further note that context needs to be interpreted broadly to include the cultural milieu, opinions and beliefs in which the rhetorical act was created. Such factors that develop over a long time “can exert a powerful influence over both the rhetor’s motivation for engaging in rhetorical action and how members of the audience receive the rhetorical act” (Campbell & Burkholder, 1997, p.51).

A contextual analysis in many ways is similar to an audience analysis.

Chatelle, Winslow, and Harrison (2018) define audience analysis as the process of gathering and examining information about the individuals who will listen to one’s presentation. This information helps rhetors when creating a presentation in everything from selecting a topic to choosing supporting evidence to verbal and nonverbal delivery ”

(p.143). In other words, audience analysis and contextual analysis is a form of doing one’s “homework” about the nature of audience which the rhetor intends to persuade. The more thorough such an analysis is, the easier it becomes for the rhetor to strategically create and deliver an effective message. Chatelle, et al (2018) note that to make assessment of the audience, the rhetor needs to create a “demographic profile” and a

“psychographic profile” of the audience. The demographic profile captures elements of

180 the audience’s background such as the socioeconomic level, religion, culture, and ethnic backgrounds. The psychographic profile captures the audience’s attitudes, values, and beliefs. It is a reading of the audience’s demographic and psychographic profiles alongside Maslow’s “hierarchy of needs” that include physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization needs, that a rhetor can create rhetoric that is relevant and persuasive (Chatelle, et al, 2018).

The contextual analysis of Uganda includes Ugandan traditional culture and beliefs, Uganda’s violent political history, the impact of unfavorable international and local economic policies; and the challenge of endemic corruption in Uganda. Each of these contextual experiences have affected the Ugandan public in some way and the way they approach. Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric has been strategically crafted to respond to the

Ugandan experience. While there are other religious groups that operate in Uganda, the neo-Pentecostal approach is unique and has taken strategic advantage of elements within the Ugandan context.

As earlier noted in Chapter One, the term “Pentecostal” is broad and encompasses different groups and movements that include Classical Pentecostals, African independent

Churches, and Older Church Charismatics. The characteristics common to them all are mentioned in Chapter One. The category that is the focus of this study is the “Neo-

Pentecostal” or “New Wave” Pentecostal group. According to Anderson (2015) “these are probably the largest of the new churches in Africa. They include mega churches in

African cities, and consist of the ‘Word of Faith’ churches and similar churches all

181 formed since 1975, where the emphasis is on physical health and material prosperity by faith” (p.69). In the African context, the Neo-Pentecostal churches and movements combine an entrepreneurial spirit, a deeper understanding of the African cultural context, and an ability to tap into powerful global innovations such as the use of media technology like radio, television, the print, billboards, and digital platforms. In many ways the neo-

Pentecostal Ugandan groups as also seen in other parts of Africa, copy US American prosperity preachers in both the message and media appropriation strategies.

There are several elements of neo-Pentecostalism and its prosperity message, that are especially suited for a Ugandan context. Such groups or churches are ordinarily founder-led institutions that depend on the charisma, or psychology of the founder. Pastor

Robert Kayanja, Apostle Joseph Serwadda, and Bishop David Kiganda illustrate how such groups and individuals ordinarily operate. The three figures analyzed in this study

“own” the churches and the auxiliary ministries such as the Bible schools, radio and television stations, and the media products they put out for sale. The three figures also exercise a level of control over the spin off ministries such as the satellite churches run by other pastors. The model used is in some ways similar to that of large private corporate organizations with the Chief Executive Officer at the pinnacle, with others fitting in the vision of the founder/CEO. This model also in some ways mirrors the traditional African societies with the chiefs and other monarchs at the top with a sense of “ownership” of the monarchical institution. This model is different from most major “Older” religious organizations in Ugandan such as the Roman Catholic, the Anglican Church, and the

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Islamic. In the “Older” religious organizations, individuals run institutions in trust, or on behalf of the larger faith organization. The “Older” faith organizations have councils, assemblies, ummah, ulama, or boards that help with the management and direction of the organization. An individualistic approach by neo-Pentecostals is one of the core differences in how the rhetorical appeal of neo-Pentecostals connects to context in a way older faith groups do not.

As already seen in the analysis of the three pastors, neo-Pentecostal pastors and groups disseminate individualistic, self-improvement, progressive religious beliefs. The neo-Pentecostal prosperity gospel that is spreading rapidly in the global south in countries such as Uganda, is a combination of three different strands of beliefs and practices that include “Pentecostalism, New Thought, and ‘an American gospel of pragmatism, individualism, and upward mobility” (Bowler, 2013, pp.31-32). Pentecostalism as seen in

Chapter One is defined by Asamoah-Gyadu (2015) as types of faith groups,

Which emphasize salvation in Christ as a transformative experience wrought by the

Holy Spirit and in which pneumatic phenomena including ‘speaking in tongues,’

prophecies, visions, healing and miracles in general, are perceived to be standing

in historic continuity with the experience of the early church found in the Acts of

the Apostles (p.12).

These foundational elements of Pentecostalism of a belief in the transforming power of the

Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as prophecy, vision, healing and miracle still permeate neo-Pentecostalism alongside “New Thought” beliefs”

183 and the US American belief in pragmatic, individualistic upward mobility. As compared to other faith groups like Catholicism, there is less emphasis on the dramatic changes in a person’s life, or an emphasis on upward social mobility. In older faiths like Catholicism, pain, suffering, poverty, and simplicity can be given spiritual meanings, and therefore conferred with spiritual benefits.

Bowler (2013) notes that the “New Thought” movement which grew up in the

1880s popularized belief in the use of the power of one’s mind to achieve any form of desired success. While initially focused on achievement of physical and mental health, the movement evolved to focus on the achievement of material success. New Thought ideas became popular in the 20th century especially in self-help literature and popular psychology.

New Thought or “mind-power” ideas according to Bowler (2013), found their way into Pentecostalism by way of E.W. Kenyon a Baptist minister who was connected to famous early Pentecostal leaders. Kenyon wrote about supernatural revelation and positive declarations in which he taught that Christ’s substitutionary atonement achieved for believers a right to divine healing. Through positive speech and declarations upon oneself, believers could harness the power of God to create the kind of world that the believer desired. Through faith in God as a covenant, according to Kenyon prayer then became a binding “covenant” between God and the believer that gave the believer a right to “demand” anything from God. It is a combination of tenets of classical Pentecostalism such as a belief in faith healing, the power of the Holy Spirit, visions, prophecies et cetra,

184 and the “mind-power” ideas from the New Thought movement that became popularized by teachers and faith healers like Oral Roberts and A.A.Allen in the US American post- war period and coalesced into the “prosperity gospel” or an “overcoming faith”

(Coleman, 2000; Robins, 2010).

Oral Roberts is particularly credited with systematizing prosperity theology through his teachings (Coleman, 2000; Robins 2010). Building on the ideas of Kenyon,

Oral Roberts propounded the “seed faith” doctrine by teaching that faith in God is similar to making a “blessing pact” with God and anyone who “sowed a seed of faith” or financially donated to God would in return receive “seven-fold” the money they donated from unexpected sources (Coleman, 2000). Oral Roberts further explained that whatever financial “seed of faith” that a believer sowed would grow and be returned to the donor in some way (Coleman, 2000; Robbins, 2010). It is a combination of the “seed faith” doctrine and a belief in miraculous healing that settled into the “wealth and health gospel” that became popularized by several US American mass media evangelists

(Harell,1975; Robins, 2010).

Prosperity theology in its current form has come to mean the entitlement of believers in God to physical and economic well-being (Hunt, 2000). Through following the law of “faith in God” and the law of “divine reciprocity” through donating and tithing, God will deliver His promises of security and prosperity to the believer

(Robins, 2010; Asamoah, 2013). And through visualization and positive statements or

185 confessions upon one’s life, individuals can miraculously change aspects of their lives

(Wilson, 2007; Brown, 2011).

As demonstrated in Chapter Four, it is these “principles” or “laws” on how to achieve prosperity in health and wealth that have found their way in the global south in countries such as Uganda. Neo-Pentecostal preachers such as pastor Robert Kayanja,

Apostle Joseph Serwadda, and Bishop David Kiganda are spreading the prosperity rhetoric especially through their mass media. Older faith groups such as the Catholics and

Anglicans present fewer straight forward formulae, or “laws” or “principles” that influence God to perform physical and economic miracles in the lives of their followers.

In faith groups such as the Anglican and the Catholics, the religious rhetoric mentions how “God’s ways are difficult to know” because God through grace, can operate outside any formula or “laws” or “principles” like those presented by neo-Pentecostals such as tithing or “seed money” donations.

Neo-Pentecostal preachers or rhetors also tend to frame poverty and illness as curses that require to be broken through faith, atonement, and positive speech (Coleman,

2000; Hunt, 2000; Jenkins, 2006). Older faith groups such as Catholics, Anglicans,

Muslims on the other hand tolerate pain, suffering, and poverty as meaningful and sometimes a way for God to purify people or invite them to embrace higher values beyond good health and wealth.

Overall, in matters of health and wealth, neo-Pentecostal prosperity proponents tend to promote the view of individual empowerment (Coleman, 2000), while Older faith

186 groups tend to focus on community empowerment. For instance, while older faith groups are concentrated on building healthcare systems and social services projects such as schools and boreholes for whole communities, neo-Pentecostal groups focus on how an individual can make money personal money to build a nice house or buy personal car.

Such differences in emphasis also mark the differences between rhetoric which is close and relatable (neo-Pentecostal), and rhetoric which is distant (Older faith groups).

Some experts have questioned parts of the belief system or approach of neo-

Pentecostalism that are vigorously promoted via media. For instance, Ro (1998) observed that the beliefs and approach of neo-Pentecostalism in places such as Asia reflect

“shamanistic influence.” This is attributed to the parallels between the traditions of paying shamans for healing and prosperity, and prosperity theology’s teaching about a

“contractual” relationship through faith between believers and God, about giving and receiving blessings through the mediumship of the pastors. The approach is no different from shamanism in various traditional cultures around the world. Other experts such as

Spadaro and Figueroa (2018) have examined the origins of the prosperity theology in the

USA and concluded it is as a reductive form of the “American Dream” built around material wealth, and good health. Similar questions can be raised about neo-

Pentecostalism and the growing embrace of its mediated rhetoric in contexts such as

Uganda.

In the following three sub sections I make a contextual analysis of Uganda focused on different experiences of Uganda. At the end of each sub section, I demonstrate

187 the connection between context and the rhetorical strategy employed by the three neo-

Pentecostal pastors.

Uganda’s Traditional Culture and Beliefs

Uganda is an ethnically diverse country with different cultures and linguistic groups. The southern, eastern and western parts are occupied by the Bantu speakers such as the Baganda, Banyoro, Banyankore, Batoro and Basoga; while the northern, north western and north eastern regions are occupied by the Nilotic and central peoples such as the Iteso, Karimojong, Jie Langi Acholi, Alur, Madi and Lugbara. In addition, there are several smaller ethnic communities with their languages throughout the country (Nyeko,

1996). Families and clans form the foundational elements in the organization flow charts of most ethnic communities in Uganda with elders, clan heads, chiefs, paramount chiefs, or kings at the apex. The table below shows Uganda’s major ethnic groups in terms of population.

Table 14 - Major ethnic groups of Uganda

Group % Group % Baganda 16.2 Bagisu 5.1 Iteso 8.1 Acholi 4.4 Basoga 7.7 Lugbara 3.6 Banyankore 8.0 Banyoro 2.9 Banyaruanda 5.8 Batoro 3.2 Bakiga 7.1 Karamojong 2.0 Lango 5.6 Others (est.) 20.3

Source: Kurian, G.T. (1992)

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Figure 1- Map of Uganda showing linguistic and cultural composition

Source: Dingemanse, M. (2005).

The different independent ethnic communities with chiefs and kings at the apex who “own” and control whole tribes or ethnic communities, in some ways mirror the way neo-Pentecostalism is structured and functions. Neo-Pentecostal groups and operators tend to operate independently of each other just like the different traditional monarchical institutions. Neo-Pentecostal leaders or the pastors, Men of God, Apostles, or Prophets function like traditional Ugandan chiefs through positioning themselves at the apex of their Churches or movements as Founders or CEOs. Their authority is rarely challenged or questioned. The neo-Pentecostal model of strong, independent, charismatic individuals at the apex taps into Ugandan traditional social arrangements which give authority and

189 credibility to the rhetors and their rhetoric by the mere virtue of being at the top. Older faith groups on the other hand tend to emphasize the authority and the credibility of the institution to which they belong. For instance, Catholics speak of what “Mother Church” says, and the Anglicans speak of what the “Church of Uganda” teaches. The authority and credibility is borrowed from the community.

Like people everywhere, Sub Saharan Africans like Ugandans “ask existential questions about the origins of life, the ethnic communities, and the earth. Questions such as: How and by whom was the earth created? What is man’s place in creation? Is there life after death? What are the causes of evil? And how should one cope with misfortunes and exigencies of life?” (Hammond-Tooke, 1974, p.318; Thabede, 2008). Traditional religious beliefs have always provided “emotional support in times of distress, and explanatory theories about the origin of nature and the fate of the cosmos and human life”

(Hammond-Tooke, 1974, p.318). The rise of neo-Pentecostalism in Africa especially in countries such as Uganda, takes advantage of pre-existing belief in religion. Neo-

Pentecostalism comes with a simple, straight forward, but aggressive rhetoric that provides answers to existential questions, and contemporary questions such as extreme poverty and suffering that a lot of people in contemporary Uganda struggle with. While other older religious groups have such answers for their audience, the simplicity, straight forwardness, and unusual aggressiveness with which the rhetoric is spread via media is placing the neo-Pentecostal version of an already relevant message, ahead of other versions from other groups that tend to be abstract, complex, and less passionate. 190

Turaki (2000) observes that there are four foundational religious beliefs in the

African Traditional Religions (ATRs) in Sub Saharan Africa. These include: “(1) the belief in impersonal (mystical) power(s); (2) the belief in spirit beings; (3) the belief in divinities/gods and (4) the belief in the Supreme Being.” Mbiti (1969) highlights the fact that “the spirit world of the African people is very densely populated with spirit beings, spirits and the living-dead or the spirits of the ancestors”(p.75). The spirit world is the most pervasive worldview and contained within it according to Ikenga-Metuh (1987) are the spirits, the ancestors and the Supreme Being or God. It is in this realm that the supernatural or extra-sensory operate, and it is the realm in which witchcraft, magic, sorcery, and other mystical powers operate.

Turaki (2000) further explains that the spirit world is a battleground of spirits and powers that use their mystical powers to influence the course of human life. The spiritual entities Turaki adds can be designated as positive or negative, good or evil in the sense of bringing blessings or curses. In a world view dominated by good and evil spirits, one needs the guidance and protection of spirits. The human quest to control or influence the spirit beings and powers has produced is what has produced a variety of specialists such as medicine-men, rainmakers, mediums, diviners, sorcerers, magicians and witches. The

Ugandan audience shares the same African Traditional Religious worldview as other Sub

Saharan Africans (Otiso), a worldview filled with spiritual beings, and a view where the physical and the spiritual are connected in a continuum (Otiso, 2006).

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Neo-Pentecostalism is strategic in its reading of the Ugandan worldview, and the needs that come with such a worldview. With a concern for Ugandan audiences about witchcraft, demons, and curses, the pastors are careful in focusing their discourse on themes or topics such as deliverance from witchcraft, demons and curses through faith in

God, and the power of the Holy Spirit (see Table 9). These strategically chosen themes or emphases in neo-Pentecostal rhetoric are relatable to their audience, and address real-life concerns for a Ugandan audience. Through proposing answers to such concerns where a powerful God or the Holy Spirit protects people from harm, delivers them from oppression by evil spirits, breaks them out of curses or spells, neo-Pentecostal rhetors provide answers and address real fears and needs of a Ugandan audience.

On the other hand, Older religious groups such as the Catholic Church and the

Anglican churches tend to place less emphasis on the African spirit world and the fears that African audience members in countries such as Uganda have to deal with. For instance, within the Catholic church evils spirts are rarely talked about in regular church discourse; or when talked about they are talked about in metaphorical terms. In the

Catholic church too, exorcisms are rarely performed, and they are done after a long and windy process that many times involves medical doctors or psychiatrists. Such an approach by the Older faith groups in addressing everyday concerns of a Ugandan audience, make the strategic emphasis in rhetoric by neo-Pentecostals relevant and close to the needs of a Ugandan audience.

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In a different study of Pentecostalism in Africa particularly in West Africa,

Ihejirika (2006a, p. 112) noted several similarities between the African Traditional

Religious worldview and the Pentecostal views that are communicated via media.

Table 15-Similarities between African Traditional beliefs and Pentecostalism

African Traditional Beliefs Pentecostal theology and practices Expectation of power to emanate from religious Belief in a more powerful God. Emphasis on forms miraculous intervention Religious power for providing children, health, Preaching of “Prosperity theology.” Emphasis and wealth (use charms, ritual sacrifices, etc.) on miraculous interventions in people’s lives. Attribution of misfortunes to evil forces/persons Emphasis on the power of the devil and evil (resort to traditional medicine men) spirits to harm human beings. Ritual deliverance as remedy from evil attacks Causality explained by appeal to gods and forces Emphasis on the power of the devil and evil rather than to empirical factors spirits to harm human beings. Strong emphasis on the miraculous intervention in people’s lives. The above noted congruency between a traditional African worldview and

Pentecostalism in its belief in curses, spirits and spirit possession, witchcraft, the attribution of misfortunes to evil forces is a world view that is still held even among some practicing Christians. Pentecostal mediated rhetoric with its emphasis on breaking curses, evil spells, protection from witchcraft and misfortunes, prophecies and healing, address real-life concerns in much of Africa and in countries such as Uganda (Asamoah-Gyadu

(2005b; Jenga, 2017). Pentecostal rhetors via media cultivate strong “identification”

(Burke, 1973) with their Ugandan audience making their message powerfully compelling.

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Older faith groups like Catholicism or Anglicism while they have a long history in

Uganda, they also have a long history of being dismissive of traditional Ugandan religious beliefs, fears, and needs ( (Ela, 1988; Gort, 2008; Shorter, 1988). The dismissiveness of the traditional Ugandan makes Older faith groups less competent in addressing the needs and fears of their Ugandan audiences. While the “inculturation” movement is growing in older faith groups such as the Catholic Church where some elements from traditional cultures are incorporated within the older churches, the neo-Pentecostal have been up-front in affirming the existence of evil spirits or demons, and evil spirits, while declaring the greater power of God and the Holy Spirit.

The subject positions taken by neo-Pentecostal pastors through their mediatized rhetoric are also strategically aligned with the traditional Ugandan cultural and religious roles (Jenga, 2017). As noted in Chapter Four, the three rhetors took the subject positions of The Wise Man, The Medium, and the Healer. In constructing themselves through discourse as “pastor” or “apostle” “prophet” or “anointed Man of God” who share with audiences “words of wisdom” or “prophecy” or words of “knowledge” and pray for miraculous healing of their audience, the rhetors present themselves as Christian versions of indigenous elders, diviners, spirit mediums, and herbalists.

The creation and occupation by neo-Pentecostal rhetors of subject positions similar to those of traditional leaders elevates and confers power and authority upon the pastors in the eyes of local Ugandan audiences. The dismissiveness and disassociation by

Older faith religious leaders such as priests and Imams from such subject positions makes

194 them out of tune from the worldview of their audiences, and makes them appear less competent to address needs of their audiences.

Uganda’ Unstable and Violent Political History

In this sub section I explain Uganda’s traumatic political history and its socio- economic and psycho-social impact on the lives of Ugandans. A history of violence has exacerbated poverty, weakened social ties, and in some ways left emotional effects.

Mediated neo-Pentecostal rhetoric responds to such contextual factors that characterize the lives of Ugandans. In the first part of this sub section I give an elaborate explanation of Uganda’s complex and violent political history; and in the second part I explain how neo-Pentecostal pastors have created a mediatized rhetoric that addresses the effects of

Uganda’s turbulent political history on the Ugandan audience.

Uganda attained her independence from Britain on the 9th October 1962. Since independence Uganda has never had a peaceful change of government. The country has been marked by violent overthrows or coups and counter coups by one military or political group against another. The first post-independence president Sir Edward Mutesa

II was overthrown by his Prime Minister Dr Apollo Milton Obote, who was overthrown by his Army Commander General Idi Amin Dada in 1971.

General Idi Amin suspended several provisions of the Ugandan Constitution and imposed military rule over the country. Idi Amin placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, he appointed soldiers to top government posts and parastatal agencies

(Hansen, 1977; Mbabaali, 2005). Amin ruled by decree, and over the course of his rule he

195 issued approximately 30 decrees (Byrnes, 1990). Amin used the army to entrench his rule in Uganda through quashing any form of dissent. He used the military police, the Public

Safety Unit (PSU), and the notorious State Research Bureau (SRB) to torture and execute opponents in the eight years he was in power (Mugabe, 2019).

The exact number of Ugandans who died during Amin’s time is not known but an estimate compiled by Ugandan exile organizations with the help of Amnesty

International put the number killed at 500,000, and more than 20,000 Ugandans fled the country and lived as exiles in the neighboring countries and Europe (Keatley, 2003). The high level of violence in the country during Amin’s time created a climate of fear and insecurity in the populace, a situation that awakened many Ugandans to the temporariness of life, and cultivated in some ways an openness to the reassuring rhetoric of Pentecostalism of security and stability both in this life, and in the life to come. A violent political climate has characterized Uganda for a long time creating fear, massive loss of lives, loss of property, and increasing poverty in the country over the years.

Emotional scars and extreme poverty among the Ugandan population have been important in the rise of the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric that emphasizes healing and wealth for all as will be demonstrated in this study.

Amin’s bellicose approach to internal and regional politics led to the expulsion of

Asians from Uganda (Luganda, 2003; BBC, 2005; Bagchi, 2007) who were the backbone of Uganda’s economy, leading to the collapse of industries, agricultural supply chains, loss of employment for a lot of Ugandans (Mbabaali, 2005). The various human rights

196 violations, the tight economic sanctions upon the country, and the military attack by Idi

Amin of neighboring Tanzania, led to the defeat of Idi Amin by a combined force of

Ugandan exiles and Tanzanian forces.

Several studies (Byrnes, 1990; Karugire, 2003; Golooba-Mutebi, 2008; Kasozi,

1994; Mutibwa, 1992) note that the “liberation” forces from Tanzania formed an interim

UNLF government with two powerful arms that consisted of the National Consultative

Council as a sort of a parliament; and a Military Commission. Professor Yusuf Lule was appointed interim president of Uganda but was deposed by the Military Commission only after 68 days in office! Lule was replaced by Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa who was also deposed in May of 1980 because of decisions and appointments he made. The Military

Commission took over the interim political management of Uganda after the overthrow of Binaisa. In a period of less than two years (1979-1980), Uganda was ruled by three different presidents! This type of instability in the lives of Ugandans over the years has in some ways made them live in fear, long for stability, and a confident rhetoric that promises hope, order, and stability in the mold of the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric has been attractive and compelling to a lot of people.

The ”liberation forces” from Tanzania that overthrew Amin organized national elections in 1980 whose outcomes were contested by different groups that took up arms to fight Dr Obote who was declared the winner of the presidency. Several disgruntled armed rebel groups operated in Uganda much of the 1980s in opposition to Obote and these included: the National Resistance Movement, the Uganda Freedom Movement

197

(UFM), Federal Democratic Movement (FEDEMO), the Uganda National Rescue Front

(UNRF), the West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), and the Former Uganda National Army

(FUNA), (Karugire, 2003; Golooba-Mutebi, 2008).

The brutal counter-insurgency measures by Obote’s government in different areas of Uganda led to the overthrow of Obote by Acholi military generals in the names of

Bazilio Olara-Okello and Tito Okello Lutwa who tried to sign peace treaty with the insurgents led by Yoweri Museveni in Nairobi Kenya. The Nairobi Peace Treaty however lasted only months and Museveni overran the government of the Okellos on January 29th

1986. The death toll for the 1981-85 period which includes Museveni’s rebellion, the conflict in West Nile and the internecine UNLF ethnic purges and fighting ranges between 300, 000 people (Mutibwa, 1992) and as high as 500,000 (Kasozi, 1994).

The 1981-1986 cycle of violence, fear and the instability affected many Ugandans socio-economically, and also emotionally. The neo-Pentecostal rhetoric that started in the mid-1980s and the early 1990s promised healing, stability, restoration, and wealth. These were real-life needs and continue to be needs of most Ugandans rooted in real-life long experiences of violence and political instability. Other Older faith groups like the

Catholics on the other hand, focused their rhetoric and restoration efforts on a combination of spiritual practices and complex processes of “integral development” through rebuilding hospitals, schools and orphanages for communities that had been negatively impacted by the wars. The complex community-based rhetoric of older faith

198 groups didn’t not have quick answers to the immediate needs of individuals who were and continue dealing with the trauma of war and violence.

In 1986 Yoweri Museveni overthrew Dr Obote and the short term Tito Okello military regimes. Museveni has since 1986 and has been in power up to the present (year

2020). Amaza (1998) and Golooba-Mutebi (2008) observe that different armed rebel groups merged almost immediately to oppose Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s rule. The armed groups over the years have included: the Uganda People’s Democratic Army

(UPDA), the Uganda People’s Army-Ninth October Movement (UPA-NOM), the Holy

Spirit Movement (HSM), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the National Rescue Front

(UNRF), the National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (NALU), Force Obote Back

(FOBA), the West Nile Bank Front (WNBF), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Golooba-Mutebi (2008) notes that each rebel group emerged primarily in pursuit of some regional, religious, or ethnic interests of some sort.

Some of these insurgencies left their operation areas severely devastated in terms of loss of lives, property, wealth, and social cohesion. For instance, the war caused by the

Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Kony turned much of Northern Uganda into a violent war theater. For the almost twenty-five years, thousands of people were herded into internally displaced refugee camps. Practically no economic and social service activities were possible during the counter-insurgency operations. People in northern

Uganda exhausted by war over the years refused to provide support to the LRA, and the

LRA responded violently through massacres of whole villages, mutilation, torture, rape,

199 and abduction of civilians especially children who were trained as “child soldiers.” It is estimated that 30,000 youth were abducted by LRA during this period to be turned into child-soldiers, and up to 90% of the population of Acholi land (one million people) was driven into internally displaced refugee camps (Ssenyonjo, 2005; Baines, 2007). A study on Northern Uganda by Amone-P’Olak & Ovuga (2017) clustered the war experiences of people in the categories of physical injuries, witnessing violence, physical threat to self, deaths, harm to loved ones, material loss, threat to loved ones, separation, displacement, involvement in hostilities, and sexual abuse. For a people whose sense of community or bonds of relationship have been weakened over the years, mass media has a way of cultivating a sense of community, a sense of connection to other people, making individuals who felt alone and separated part of a community with shared needs and possible answers.

The many years of violent political instability in Uganda have not only created economic instability but also emotional instability in terms of emotional trauma, fear, and mental illness. Neo-Pentecostal rhetors have been strategic in constructing rhetoric that attends to such needs, offering the population coping mechanisms or “equipment for living” (Burke, 1973). For instance, the themes or topics chosen by the rhetors in their mediatized rhetoric include physical and mental health, financial and material wealth, hope amidst difficulty, faith in a powerful God; and a powerful Holy Spirit who liberally performs different kinds of miracles. These themes or topics are relatable and directly

200 address the multiple effects of an unstable and violent political history that has impacted the lives of many Ugandans.

Mediatized neo-Pentecostal rhetoric pushes self-empowerment through positive thinking and overcoming challenges in life through faith in God. To a people who have suffered psycho-social and economic disempowerment over the years due to war, neo-

Pentecostal rhetoric disseminates messages about how overcoming adversity or challenges and “winning” or “prospering” in different areas of life. As seen in Chapter

Four, the three rhetors analyzed employ different strategies to convince their audiences as seen below.

The neo-Pentecostal pastors take the subject positions in their rhetoric of the Wise

Man, Medium, and Healer for an audience that has watched their country over the years in political free fall, and some of the audience members have physical and emotional scars to show for it. As the Wise Man the rhetors offer answers to the disorientation caused by war and bad politics. As the Wise Man the rhetors also help their audience to re-imagine a stable and better society. And as Medium and Healer, the rhetors respond to the need for both physical and emotional healing through the use of the powers of a powerful God.

The pastors employ auto-biographical and biographical narratives or

“testimonies” to persuade their audience about their message of prosperity or victory in life. Kayanja, Serwadda, and Kiganda use several auto-biographical and biographical narratives of how they overcame great adversity in their personal lives, or how other 201 people overcame adversity in their lives and now live successful lives. Not only do such stories help to build the credibility of the pastors, but also help in lighting hope in the lives of their Ugandan audience that has suffered challenge, and continues suffering challenge and hopelessness due to the long term effects of violence and a traumatic political history.

The pastors also strategically employ the technique of Biblical typology

(Brummett, 1991) in addressing their audience. Typology presents stories and experiences from revered ancient texts as if directly speaking about contemporary situations. Through typology, Biblical stories presented by the neo-Pentecostal rhetors analyzed in this study are interpreted as if they speak about current situations in Ugandan.

In relying on Biblical stories or experiences, the pastors not only borrow the authority or credibility of the Bible, but make the Bible address concerns of their audience such as the need for healing, financial break-through, protection, and improved social relationship that have been negatively impacted over the years due to violence and bad politics. Older faith groups on the other hand tend to “spiritualize” the Biblical stories and experiences as allegorical, and therefore not necessarily about concrete, earthly, everyday experiences and situations that Ugandan audiences struggle with.

Whereas the guns have been silent in much of Uganda in the last ten years, the endemic insecurity in Uganda over the years, the violence, the displacement into internal and external refugee camps, the breakdown of the strong social networks, the extreme poverty and the lack of access to social services for so many years affected a large section 202 of Ugandans. There are generations of Ugandans who have never known peace and stability in their lives. There are several Ugandans who suffer with Post Traumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD) due to the many violent conflicts they have witnessed or been victims of.

In a country whose mental health care services are weak or almost non-existent, effects on the people can be immense. Through the use of media, the religious broadcasts of the pastors are a form of “mass counselling” about different issues that a lot of people are dealing with such as poverty, hopelessness, exclusion, and broken social connections.

The mediatized religious rhetoric of the pastors gives hope, promises miracles in the material, spiritual, and health lives of the people; and also help the Ugandan audience re- imagine a different and better society. To a people already beaten by Uganda’s historical political circumstances, the rhetoric is functionally powerful, and relevant to the audience. Older faith groups are long term-oriented in their approach and rhetoric to when it comes to the everyday needs of their Ugandan audiences. The neo-Pentecostal rhetoric liberally disseminated via media promises immediate answers about wealth and health, making it attractive to a lot of people in Uganda.

The Effects of Neo-liberal Reforms and Corruption on Uganda

In this sub section I explore the negative impact of the 1980s World Bank and the

International Monetary Fund neo-liberal economic reforms known as the Structural

Adjustment Programs (SAPs) on increasing poverty and the breakdown of social services in many African countries such as Uganda. Combined with massive corruption in countries

203 such as Uganda, the SAPs increased poverty and limited access to social services as private entrepreneurs took over the provision of social services. Trapped in poverty with a weak social services delivery system, the Ugandan audience has been susceptible to neo-

Pentecostal religious rhetoric that promises “miraculous” wealth and health for all.

Heidhues and Obare (2011) argue that in the 1960s when most African countries got independence, the majority of African leaders believed that the private sector was too back-ward and that government had to play the dominant role. As a consequence, almost all aspects of economic development were primarily government driven. This approach was aligned with the communitarian African traditional approach to life. With this mindset and with donor support, early post-independence governments across Africa drew up comprehensive five-year plans, invested in large state-run basic industries, and enacted comprehensive regulations to control prices, restrict trade, and allocate credit and foreign exchange (Owusu, 2003; Heidhues & Obare, 2011). In several African countries

Heidhues and Obare (2011) observe that the “number of trained people increased substantially, major investments were made in infrastructure (roads, ports, telecommunications, and power generation), and health and education improved significantly.” Indeed, “annual economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa averaged 3.4% between 1961 and 1980 while agriculture grew by about 3% per year over the same period” (Heidhues & Obare, 2011).

At independence and throughout the 1960s, a report produced by for the World

Bank by Warnock and Conway (1999) notes that Uganda had one of the most vigorous

204 and promising economies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country relied overwhelmingly on agriculture, which accounted for 90 percent of exports in 1960 and two-thirds of the country’s GDP. Uganda had a large subsistence sector – the non-monetized sector comprised almost one-third of the country’s economic activity, and much of the population remained outside the formal economy, The report further indicates that

Uganda’s economy did relatively well in the 1960s, as GDP growth averaged 4.8 percent per year from 1965 to 1970.

However, in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, Heidhues and Obare (2011) note, the growth engine in African countries began to slow down partly due to the post- independence civil wars, coups and counter coups. By the mid-1970s, African countries like Uganda that at independence had been at the same development level with

Singapore, lagged behind in economic performance. Heidhues, Atsain, Nyangito, Padilla,

Ghersi, and Vallee (2004) note that these developments led to high budget and balance of payments deficits and significant public debt By 1980, output was actually declining, and by the end of the 1980s, Sub-Saharan African countries were facing fundamental problems: high rates of population growth, low levels of investment and saving, inefficient use of resources, weak institutions and human capacity, and a general decline in income and living standards (Heidhues & Obare, 2011).

As a result of changes and challenges in the global economy, African countries were encouraged and manipulated into borrowing huge sums of money from western banks. However, the money borrowed by African banks ended up in the pockets of

205 corrupt government officials, unnecessary white elephant projects, or on luxuries by leaders; and very little was invested to attain sustainable economic growth (Toussaint &

Comanne, 1995). By the early 1980s according to Kashambuzi (2012a), many African and other developing countries had accumulated huge debts beyond their economic capacity. Private lenders withdrew their support and demanded repayment of loans. As a consequence, inflation and interest rates grew, making it even more difficult for countries to borrow from international lending agents or countries, and a consequence inability to offer social services to their populations.

The increased economic downfall also compelled low income countries to, borrow from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to service their loans. The IMF and the Bank provided assistance with conditions aimed at addressing designed to address domestic economic imbalances that were considered the cause of local of the countries’ economic challenges (Kashambuzi, 2012a). The conditions that were designed and advocated for by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other Western donors were the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) for all developing countries around the world, especially Sub Saharan Africa that would

‘benefit’ from the loans and grants. The SAPs required macroeconomic stabilization, privatization, and free market development (Heidhues & Obare 2011).

According to the World Bank (2006), the SAPs were implemented in over forty countries in Africa including Uganda for two decades (1980 to 2000). The conditions attached to the neoliberal economic reforms according to Kashambuzi (2012a) included: 206

(1) Rolling back inefficient state from intervention in the economy; (2) Elimination of state planning and introduction of self-regulating and market forces; (3) Privatization, deregulation, liberalization of economies and devaluing the local currency; (4)

Implementation of fiscal austerity through retrenchment of public servants, reduction or elimination of subsidies, raising taxes and freezing wages and/or monetary policy by raising interest rates; (5) Promotion and diversification of exports according to comparative advantage to earn foreign exchange and repay external debts; (6) Promotion of labor flexibility to increase employment and productivity and freezing of trade unions; and (6) Reliance on foreign economic experts to guide development and so as to ensure efficient program/project selection.

Jauch (1999) highlights that due to SAPs most countries in Africa cut their budgets in education and health services, eliminated food subsidies, and abandoned the poor to unaffordable private service providers. The SAPs overall resulted in increased external debt burdens, wide income gaps, massive brain drain, higher capital flight, weakened balance of payments, deteriorating infrastructure, higher unemployment, poor agricultural productivity, and a rise in political and civil conflicts (Jauch, 1999). The economic downturn in the economies of many African countries due to SAPs happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s when several countries such in Africa saw an explosion of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the continent. Uganda was one of the countries that were worst hit by the HIV/AIDS crisis (Atuhaire, 2003). The combination of a weak economy, an underfunded healthcare system amidst a huge public health crisis increased created

207 misery and hopelessness for a lot of people in countries such as Uganda. A combination of these different negative changes radically changed the socio-economic lives of many people and prepped them for the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric that promises financial miracles, and miraculous healings through faith in God.

Although the National Resistance Movement government of Uganda formally dropped the SAPs neoliberal reforms in 2009, it continued implementing some versions of the reforms. Kashambuzi (2012b) notes that a continued implementation of versions of the reforms partly explains why a significant segment of the Ugandan population still struggles with poverty, unemployment, hunger, illiteracy and disease.

In Uganda the neoliberal reforms created more problems for ordinary Ugandans than solutions. Ugandans who relied on the government for provision of key social services found themselves on their own with no government-provided social services system. For instance, several key government agencies such as Coffee Marketing Board,

Lint Marketing Board, Foods and Beverages that supported rural farmers to market their agricultural produce were phased out. Banks such as Uganda Commercial Bank and

Uganda Cooperative Bank were sold to private entrepreneurs leaving ordinary Ugandans with limited access to low cost loans for their businesses, and no access to government- run commercial distribution chains. Uganda’s state-subsidized transport network was also affected through the privatization of Uganda Railways, Uganda Transport Company, and

People’s Bus Company leaving ordinary Ugandans at the mercy of private entrepreneurs.

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While the World Bank and IMF viewed the retrenchment of public servants and reducing the number in the military as great ‘successes,’ some studies (Hansen &

Twaddle, 1989; Langseth & Mugaju, 1996; Zuckerman,1989) note that the retrenched public servants became jobless, their families and dependents were affected. Most of the laid off public servants were no longer able to afford school fees for their children, as well as healthcare for their families. With no employment in the cities to support their lives, most public servants moved to their ancestral rural areas where many died poor.

The SAPs left many ordinary Ugandans exposed and vulnerable with no government provided economic and social services system to depend on. The disempowerment was later to be exploited by neo-Pentecostal groups and individuals with their rhetoric of self- empowerment as will explained later in this section.

Motta and Moreira (2004), Parker and Kirkpatrick (2005) reveal that the privatization process was tainted with high levels of corruption and cronyism. Several enterprises privatized went to prominent politicians, their relatives or to those who paid bribes to the politicians in exchange of the enterprises at a pittance. In countries like

Uganda and other African countries with weak governance systems, bureaucrats and politicians suspected to have been involved in those scandals went unpunished (Tangri &

Mwenda, 2001). The consequence was the enrichment of a small group of people and the impoverishment of a large section of the population, creating a strong desire in the economically marginalized for economic upward mobility.

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Whereas the macro neoliberal reforms were touted as successes especially by the

Bretton-Woods Institutions, they left Uganda in a worse economic situation than where it was in the period following independence. The reforms widened economic disparities in the country with politically connected individuals enriching themselves with privatized government enterprises leaving the majority of Ugandans with limited access to social services such as healthcare and education; and poor markets for their farm produce. The liberalization reforms economically exposed Ugandans to predatory economic entrepreneurs who became extremely wealthy through exploitation of the poor. A large population of the Ugandan population trapped in poverty with limited access to needed social services has been predisposed to neo-Pentecostal rhetoric that promises

“miraculous” health and economic prosperity through faith in God.

Due to increasing poverty over the years, the Uganda government has come up with several well intended economic development programs, which in the end benefitted corrupt government functionaries and their cronies. According to the Office of the Prime

Minister (2017), Uganda’s national development strategy has run programs such as the

(1) Ten-Point Program, (2) Plan for Modernization of Agriculture, (3) Poverty

Eradication Action Plan, (4) National Development Plan I, (5) National Development

Plan II, and the incoming (6) National Development Plan III (as parts of the broader

Vision 2040). Alongside these phased national development plans, Uganda has implemented other programs designed at the national and international levels to promote social economic and political development. Some notable programs implemented in this

210 period at the national level include; National Agriculture Advisory Services, Entandikwa,

Prosperity for All, NUSAF I&II, Youth Livelihood Fund, and Operation Wealth

Creation. While these programs have been well intended, the programs have been riddled with massive corruption with minimal impact in the efforts to break the unending cycle of poverty.

The United Nations Development Program (2019) ranks Uganda 159 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index. This means Uganda is among the world’s poorest countries with half the country living under the poverty line. The low incomes, low literacy levels, low healthcare services and access to other social services have resulted into a low quality of life for a big section of Ugandans. With Uganda in the middle of a fight to remove the systemic bottlenecks to her development and break the cycle of poverty, a Pentecostal rhetoric via media that promises quick economic

“miracles” through divine intervention has become persuasive for an audience that is looking for a way out of a challenging socio-economic situation. Pentecostal rhetoric is re-imagining a different world for the Ugandan audience eager for economic breakthrough, access to better social services, and possibility for social mobility.

Part of the cause for the socio-economic challenges in Uganda as earlier noted has been corruption. Whereas one of the key promises of the current National Resistance

Movement government of President Museveni who has been in power since 1986 was the promise to root out corruption from the public sector, several recent studies (Tangri &

Mwenda, 2001; Amundsen, 2006; Burnett, 2013; Tangri & Mwenda, 2013) show limited

211 progress in such effort. The Ugandan government itself acknowledges the existence of massive corruption in the public sector primarily demonstrated in forms that include bribery, extortion, illegal use of public assets for private gain, over-invoicing and under- invoicing, payment of salaries to non-existent “ghost” workers, and direct embezzlement of national funds (Republic of Uganda, 2003).

Transparency International through its Corruption Perceptions Index

(https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi#) that ranks countries and territories on how corrupt their public sector is, has for years ranked Uganda among the most corrupt countries and territories in the world as shown below:

Table 16-Uganda Corruption Perception Index

Year Global Rank Score

2019 137/198 28/100

2018 149/198 26/100

2017 151/198 26/100

2016 151/198 25/100

2015 139/198 26/100

2014 142/198 26/100

2013 140/198 26/100

2012 130/198 29/100

2011 130/198 29/100

2010 134/198

Source: Transparency International-“Uganda-Corruption Perception Index” 212

Massive corruption in the public service sector over the years has negatively affected the quality of government-provided social services that many poor people rely on as resources meant for the services are stolen. Corruption has also made it difficult for some people to do business because government systems are not transparent and function in ways that benefit particular politicians and government bureaucrats while excluding the majority of people in Uganda.

Unfavorable global and local economic policies coupled with corruption over the years, have made the socio-economic situation of many Ugandans difficult. Many

Ugandans are disempowered and live on the socio-economic fringes. Mediatized neo-

Pentecostal rhetoric promises to change the situation through the miraculous intervention of God. Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric is strategically framed in ways that acknowledge the socio-economic challenges that many Ugandans face, and at the same time offers simple answers to such challenges.

Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric as part of the wider Christianity employs some forms of apocalyptic discourse. To a people struggling with disorder or chaos and are in a state of confusion and distressed about a world that appears to be falling apart in a lot of ways,

Brummett (1991) argues that apocalyptic discourse offers such an audience a new hyper- ordered vision of the world that can help the audience to manage the disorder or chaos being experienced. Such discourse “reveals” to the audience an underlying pattern or structure or plan in history that is headed toward perfection or a better world. Brummett

(1991) notes that such rhetoric, 213

Counsels an audience to accept their troubles as under control, although not under

their control. It urges patience and short-term thinking, for some sort of important

development in history’s progress is at hand. It tells the audience that matters will

shortly come to a head and be resolved (p.38).

Such assurances of new order and restoration serve as important tools that help audiences to cope with their contextual challenges or disorder.

Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric is in some ways similar to what Brummett (1991) refers to as “postmillennial apocalyptic rhetoric.” Different from “premillennial” apocalyptic rhetoric that is communal and approaches life’s troubles as signs of an impending radical change, postmillennial rhetoric is individual and approaches life’s “troubles as an individual failure to know and to become aligned with history’s general upward progress toward perfection” (Brummett, 1991, 84). Through learning particular “principles” or

“laws” that already exist, postmillennial apocalyptic rhetoric argues that anyone faced with troubles can align one’s life with history’s progress toward perfection and therefore toward a good life.

The growing neo-Pentecostal rhetoric unfolding in African countries like Uganda is an offshoot of Western Protestantism. It shares at its foundation some postmillennial apocalyptic beliefs. Amidst the socio-economic challenges that have been experienced for a number of years, neo-Pentecostal rhetoric in Uganda as illustrated through the work of Kayanja, Serwadda and Kiganda, acknowledges the socio-economic troubles that many Ugandans currently experience but offers its audience a new worldview that frames

214 the world as under a grand plan by God, and individuals who align themselves with such a grand plan can manage and overcome their current troubles. In the face of extreme poverty and broken down social services in Uganda, the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric of rhetors like Kayanja, Serwadda, and Kiganda proposes that through learning some “laws” and “principles”; and through changing one’s mindset and approaching life differently an individual can change one’s economic fortunes. All the three Ugandan pastors analyzed in this study teach how following the principles of “seed faith” donations to God, faithful tithing, giving God different offerings, and honoring the pastor can help an individual

‘unlock’ or ‘tap’ into the powers of God and release miraculous financial blessings. The mediatized neo-Pentecostal rhetoric “reveals” to its audience a grand plan to which individual audience members can align themselves so as to overcome, win, progress, or prosper under the circumstances.

The neo-Pentecostal pastors analyzed employ different strategies to push their world view through discourse. For instance, the three pastors are strategic in centering wealth and health in their rhetoric. The themes identified in their work give 32% to

“financial and material wealth”; 14% to “hope and resilience”; 9.5% to “physical and mental health”; and 8.9% to “faith in God & the power of the Holy Spirit” (see Table 9).

This strategic choice of messaging is empowering, offers hope, and is persuasive to an audience in search of socio-economic advancement that has eluded many over the years because of unfavorable policies and corruption.

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The pastors are also strategic in positioning themselves as Wise Men who carry special “knowledge” and “wisdom” revealed to them through inspiration of the Holy

Spirit for socio-economic breakthrough. For instance, Kayanja preaches and writes about the “secret” of tithing and offering in opening one to financial blessings from God.

Kiganda offers several principles on “how” to win the “war on poverty.” The pastors also frame themselves through discursive practices as “Medium” of God’s blessings and healing to audience members. Serwadda specifically teaches that financial and material wealth can only come through “honoring” one’s spiritual leaders through ways such as donations. Kayanja repeatedly mentions how “anointed” he is by God to bring about wealth and health benefits to audience members. This strategic framing of one’s self as a source of answers to the socio-economic challenges faced by many in Uganda is powerful because it plays on traditional Ugandan social roles of Elder, Diviner, and

Medicine Man.

The three rhetors also employ Biblical narratives specifically about socio- economic and health struggles as a way to produce evidence for the effectiveness of their rhetoric. Biblical stories about individuals that were miraculously blessed by God with wealth or healed by Jesus are centralized in their mediatized discourses. Chapter Four showed several stories such as the story about Abraham who was obedient to God and was blessed with immense wealth; story of the widow of Zarephath who was low on food but honored and treated well Prophet Elijah with all the food she had, and God blessed her more food than she needed. The pastors also use their own and other people’s stories

216 or “testimonies” to speak about the miraculous power of God to change individuals’ challenging socio-economic and health statuses. Such a creative presentation of Biblical stories about poverty and health struggles miraculously changed by God are compelling for an audience that is hard pressed.

Old faith groups like the Anglican and Catholic churches do not provide straight forward formulae or “principles” or “laws” that one can apply when faced with socio- economic challenges or troubles. Such faith groups provide complex or layered answers to the socio-economic challenges faced by people in countries such as Uganda. For instance, the Catholic, Islamic and Anglican faiths in Uganda combine the religious rhetoric about the power of prayer with a focus on building schools, healthcare systems, and other social services programs to attend to the material and healthcare needs of people struggling with extreme poverty and healthcare needs.

Media has played an important role as a “tool” for the mobilization and dissemination of the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric. While the early Pentecostalism especially the revivals used large tents to carry out their mass rallies, media especially radio, television, and easy to read printed material has become the contemporary version of the old time “big tents” of Pentecostalism especially for neo-Pentecostalism. Neo-

Pentecostalism with its is simple and straight forward beliefs and practices, is much more designed for mass media than the older faith groups’ rhetoric that tends to be abstract and layered in many ways. The neo-Pentecostal eye-catching, sound-bite, or jingoistic presentation of messages is more suited for mass media especially the electronic media.

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Studies done in the past examined the attitude of different faith groups to media.

While some faith groups informed by the “secular media hypothesis” criticized media as too secular, biased, and therefore dilute the religious message (Schultze, 1991; Fore,

1987; Jensen, 1990; Boorstin, 1972; MacDonald, 1962; Mander, 1978; Postman, 1985;

Melchert, 1994; Olasky,1988; Thomas, 1993), other faith groups see media as “neutral tools” that can be utilized by religious institutions in advancing the work of faith

(Armstrong, 1979; Benson, 1988; Clark & Hoover, 1992). While older faith groups have traditionally been suspicious of media, neo-Pentecostal and other related groups look at media as useful “tools” and argue that religious values need to enter the world of media as a counterpoint to the negative values proposed by the wider culture.

Several studies done in the past have demonstrated the influence of media on society, and the neo-Pentecostals employ media with an awareness of the power media avails them in influencing society. There are studies about how media “primes” audiences (Domke, Shah, & Wackman, 1998; Goidel, Shields, & Peffley, 1997) towards particular forms of rhetoric; and there are studies that argue the power of media to “set the agenda” (Kosicki, 1993; Huckins, 1999; Scheufel & Shanhan, 2002) for audiences about what is important and not; or what is true and what is false. There are studies that speak about the power of media to “frame” (Goffman, 1974; Fairhurst & Sarr, 1996;

Scheufel, 1999) issues or a worldview for audiences; while other studies argued compellingly about the power and advantages that come with “media ownership” (Baker,

2007; McChesney, 1997; Noam, 2009). The extensive use and involvement of neo-

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Pentecostal groups and individuals like Kayanja, Serwadda, and Kiganda in media is directed at taking advantage of the various benefits of media.

Through a continuous production, circulation and re-circulation via media by pastors of a new world view based on an existing but barely known “grand plan” by

God, the pastors have been able to persuade many distressed Ugandans to embrace neo-

Pentecostalism. The three sub sections of the Ugandan context above illustrate how a combination of neo-Pentecostal rhetoric, a good reading of the Ugandan context, and a creative exploitation of media has uniquely positioned and advantaged neo-

Pentecostalism compared to other faith groups.

In the next concluding chapter, I evaluate the benefits and long term social repercussions of neo-Pentecostal rhetoric in Uganda. I evaluate the advantages of neo-

Pentecostal rhetoric in Uganda to individuals and society; and I also evaluate the social challenges that are being bred by such religious rhetoric. In the same chapter, I also highlight the limitations of my study, and I propose areas of possible future research.

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CHAPTER SIX: Evaluation and General Conclusion

Evaluation of neo-Pentecostal Rhetoric in Uganda

Several studies in recent years (Walls, 1996; Jenkins, 2007; Fyfe & Walls, 1996) have noted a gradual shift of the growth of Pentecostalism from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere particularly Africa and Latin America. A report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2006) indicated that besides the rapid growth of

Pentecostalism around the world, Pentecostalism was also one of the most influential movements in the 20th century that was further set to have even greater influence in the

21st century in the social, economic, and political spheres. This study explored the construction and effectiveness of such a growing religious rhetoric especially in Uganda; and social repercussions of such rhetoric.

As noted in Chapter One, “Pentecostalism” is a broad concept that has different sub- categories that include Classical Pentecostalism, African Independent Churches,

Older Church Charismatics, and Neo-Pentecostal or “New Wave” Pentecostals

(Anderson, 2015). I am a practicing Roman Catholic priest who has been involved in what Anderson (2015) describes as “Older Church Charismatics.” I have involved with the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement since high school, largely attracted to it due to its openness to African forms of self-expression such as clapping, dancing, spontaneity in prayer, and expression of emotions. Anderson (2015) notes that members of this sub- category: “remain in established older churches, are widespread in Africa, and often approach the subject of Spirit baptism and spiritual gifts from a sacramental

220 perspective”(pp.68-69). With a lot shared in terms of religious beliefs and practices in the

Pentecostal/Charismatic world, I have an “insider’s view” and personal sympathies to parts of Pentecostalism.

My study however, particularly explored the discourse and practices of the rapidly growing neo-Pentecostal category. in Africa, Anderson (2015) identifies the neo-

Pentecostal category as the most influential and fastest growing of all. To Henderson neo-

Pentecostals are “probably the largest of the new churches in Africa. They include mega churches in African cities “where the emphasis is on physical health and material prosperity by faith”(p.69). Examples of such that Henderson gives include the Nigerian founded “Winners Chapel” of David Oyedepo in Nigeria or the Redeemed Christian

Church of God in Nigeria all now spread in other parts of Africa and the African diaspora. In the Uganda context, these include the main churches run by the three rhetors analyzed in Ndeeba, Rubaga, and Kisenyi in Kampala.

Different scholars (Marshal-Fratani, 1998; Ihejirika, 2005, 2006a; Ukah, 2008a,

2008b; Kalu, 2008) identify the Neo-Pentecostal or “New Wave” churches and

“ministries” as the fastest growing segment of African Pentecostalism. They combine an entrepreneurial spirit, a deeper understanding of the African cultural context, and an ability to tap into powerful global currents such as the use of media technology like radio, television, the print, billboards, and digital platforms meant for public consummation. My evaluation of Pentecostal rhetoric is focused on Neo-Pentecostal or “New Wave”

Pentecostal groups. Given the religious beliefs and practices of Pastor Rober Kayanja,

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Bishop David Kiganda, and Apostle Joseph Serwadda, the three can be categorized under

Neo-Pentecostals or “New Wave” Pentecostals.

As a Ugandan born in the mid-1970s during Idi Amin’s regime and grew up through the turbulent 1980s and the 1990s, I can identify some functional benefits and also disadvantages of the neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric in Uganda over the years. I open with the sociological functional advantages of religion in general articulated by

Emile Durkheim (1915), Max Weber (1905/2002), and William James (1902;1907/1981)

; and then I examine the problematics of such rhetoric through the thinking of Althusser

(1969; 1971) and Gramsci (1971/2012).

Foundational social theorists like Durkheim (1915) and Weber (1905/2002) long argued that religion and religious beliefs are found in almost every human social group in the world. Different groups throughout history have used religious narratives, symbols and traditions to provide answers to the purpose of life and explain a complex universe.

Durkheim (1915) particularly noted that religion has societal value in terms of binding people together (social cohesion), promoting consistent social behavior (social control), and in offering coping tools for people through difficult life transitions and tragedies

(meaning and purpose). To Durkheim, these values of religion and religious beliefs are important for maintaining social stability and for providing stability to individuals in society. As earlier noted in my analysis of the rhetoric of neo-Pentecostal rhetors analyzed, their religious rhetoric plays an important role for the Ugandan audiences that have had much to process in terms of political instability and violence; and in terms of

222 massive poverty over the years. Neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric has offered hope throughout all these difficult situations.

Weber (1905/2002) in The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism argued that religion especially Protestantism comes with the advantage of inspiring people to work harder and socially economically to change their societies. The

“Protestant work ethic” opened doors for the pursuit of material wealth which motivated believers to work harder since it framed material wealth as a blessing from God. The

“Ethic” influenced the development of capitalism in the world at whose foundation is an individualistic self-focused tendency. Mediatized Pentecostal rhetoric as seen through the analysis of the artifacts continues framing the pursuit of material wealth as God-ordained.

The advantage is that this perspective is making believers who get access to work, to work harder so as to improve their socio-economic lives. The religiously inspired motivation is advantageous for the progress of the individual and by extension society.

William James, one of the main thinkers of pragmatism similarly justifies the usefulness of religion and religious beliefs. James (1902) in The Varieties of Religious

Experience noted that belief in a higher being does not necessarily have to be a belief in a god but simply a belief in something larger than ourselves, an unseen order to which we

“harmoniously adjust ourselves” (p. 28) for functional purposes. James (1902) pointed out that religious or spiritual rhetoric needs to be evaluated on the criteria of: immediate luminousness, philosophical reasonableness, and moral helpfulness. Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric as earlier seen through the use of scripture and an understanding of traditional

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African cultural beliefs is being used to help audiences make meaning of their social situations and also propose ways to handle their challenges.

James (1902) argued that a human search for happiness is at the core of most human pursuits. He notes that the impulse that drives people is “how to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they will endure” (p.77). The core message or rhetoric of neo-

Pentecostalism in Uganda and other parts of Africa is really concerned with gaining, keeping, and recovering happiness through better health, deliverance from mental confusion, protection from harm and dangers, and giving a new plan or ethic that promises more happiness. To James if such beliefs give people a sense of security, peace, clarity in life, and a good ethic to live by, then such beliefs are true because they are functional or useful. “On pragmatic principles, if the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is true” (James, 1907/1981, p.192) he posited.

The neo-Pentecostal rhetoric propounded through media in much of Uganda and other parts of Africa is serving a practical purpose of helping people faced with different challenges in an African context negotiate through them. The emphasis in the rhetoric on healing, deliverance, success, restoration, and a new ethic of life responds to practical concerns about issues such as poverty, sickness, spirit possession, failure in jobs and businesses, and disintegration of relationships. The Jamesian argument that a state of faith could transform a life utterly, even when what is believed strictly speaking may not

224 exist, seems to make sense in the context of Uganda where for instance people who had been hooked to alcohol listen to the neo-Pentecostal message to adopt a new thinking, drop the bottle, take on sobriety, in the process improving one’s health, work ethic, and family life. In the next sub-section, I evaluate elements I consider negative social repercussions of the growing neo-Pentecostal mediatized religious rhetoric.

An earlier study I did (Jenga, 2017) demonstrated that 80% of Kampala city’s

Christian radio and television stations were affiliated with Pentecostal faith groups or individuals, making Pentecostalism the dominant faith group in Uganda’s religious broadcasting. I noted in the study that such a large control media space had the danger of homogenizing broadcast content and by extension homogenizing public opinion.

Studies done elsewhere (Tomaselli, 1995; Tomaselli & Shepperson,1997) had raised concerns of Pentecostals becoming the religious ruling class, dominating the socio- cultural and political sphere in Africa. Birgit Meyer (2004) particularly pointed out that the massive presence of the Pentecostal churches in the mass media has impacted so much on the socio-cultural structure leading to the creation of what De Witte calls the

‘Pentecostalisation of the public sphere’ (De Witte, 2005, p.24). As these scholars and others point out, a big anticipated consequence of massive ownership and presence of

“New Wave Pentecostalism” in media will be the ‘…the attempt by the movement to colonize the national public space and re-conceptualize the structure and normative basis of the nation through the production and dissemination of a multitude of discourses via the media’ (Marshall-Fratani, 1998, p.281). Other scholars such as McChesney & 225

Herman (1997) have noted in other studies that, media confers power on individuals and movements, and the concentration of too much power in the hands of a few individuals, corporations or in our case a religious group, comes with its own challenges especially for democracy, diversity, and the balance of power in society. Among the three pastors analyzed in this study is a sizable ownership of broadcast media houses and presses. As earlier noted Impact FM, Alpha FM and Dream TV are owned by Apostle Joseph

Serwadda; Kingdom Radio and Kingdom TV owned by Bishop David Kiganda; and

Miracle TV is owned by Pastor Robert Kayanja. Concerns about religious diversity in

Africa are founded, and so are concerns about political influence due to wide interlocked media ownership.

Mediatized neo-Pentecostal rhetoric as I noted elsewhere (Jenga, 2017) and in this study focuses a lot on the promotion of the profile of the pastor or rhetor. Through use of highly emotional advertising techniques, there is an aggressive marketing of the ‘anointed men of God’ and their ‘miracle packed’ or ‘power-filled’ religious events of programs.

This extraordinary use of media by religious groups or individuals has never been seen before in Uganda and commoditizes or commercializes religion. In appropriating techniques borrowed from the commercial world is turning faith or religion into a commercial product. Baudrillard (1983) observed that ideologies, propaganda, and even religion operating under market logics are forced to package everything to suit market conditions. This type of commodification of religion as observed about Ugandan neo-

Pentecostal figures impacts the nature of the religious beliefs and practices that are

226 circulated in the public. Religious rhetoric under such circumstances is determined and influenced by media complicating the understanding of media as tools, and media as ends in themselves with agency to create their own religious beliefs and practices.

Ukah (2008) in his work Roadside Pentecostalism: Religious Advertising in Nigeria and the Marketing of Charisma argues that neo-Pentecostal advertising in Nigeria is;

A form of public communication, a subset of the genre of promotional culture

aimed at creating positive notions, ideas, images of ‘jet-setting ‘religious’

entrepreneurs.’ It constructs a public profile for the pastors whose images literally

adorn every corner of every street. Self-promotion is clearly important, especially

for prosperity Pentecostalism (p.115).

One problem with this type of mediatized religious commercial branding of religious figures is that it centers the Pastor or “Man of God” or “Prophet” or “Bishop” or

“Apostle”; and decenters the community. Through such centering and decentering, God primarily speaks and acts only through the “anointed Man of God” and minimally through the community. The social dangers of such power relations facilitated via media is that it disempowers the community and empowers the “Man of God.” The created power relations leave little room for the community to hold the “Man of God” accountable to the community over which he or she superintends. Such a set up exposes the community to possible exploitation by unscrupulous “Men of God.” Such a subject positions created through rhetoric, forecloses any calls for accountability creating an enabling environment for forms of abuse of power or finances.

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As neo-Pentecostalism and its mediatized rhetoric grows and dominates African media in countries such as Uganda, it is appropriate to evaluate it as a type of ideology.

One of the key elements of Cultural Studies is a concern with power relations in society and advocacy for marginalized or subordinated social groups. As noted in Chapter One,

Sardar and Van Loon (1994) define Cultural Studies as an interdisciplinary approach that theorizes how meaning is generated, disseminated, and produced from the social, political, and economic spheres within a given culture. Bennett (1998) notes that

“Cultural studies is concerned with all those practices, institutions and systems of classification through which there are inculcated in a population particular values, beliefs, competencies, routines of life and habitual forms of conduct” (p.28).

The above definitions highlight show how the production of cultural knowledge is not neutral but a political practice where one set of people subordinates another set of people. Neo-Pentecostal rhetoric as a form knowledge is generating meaning for the

Ugandan audience explaining the Ugandan social context. Such meaning is being disseminated to audiences via media, and through such production, reproduction, and dissemination particular values, beliefs, competencies and routines are being inculcated in the public. This process of knowledge production is not neutral but a political practice, and qualifies as a form of ideological indoctrination of the public.

Gramsci (1971/2012) perceived ideology as a system of ideas, meanings and practices which pass off as universal truths, yet are created as maps of meaning or frameworks through which subordinate social groups can interpret their social

228 experiences in ways that maintain powerful social groups in power. Gramsci

(1971/2012) notes that ideology everyday practical conduct and moral behavior of individuals and therefore can be equated “to a religion understood in the secular sense of a unity of faith between a conception of the world and a corresponding norm of conduct”

(p.349).

Mediatized “New Wave” Pentecostal rhetoric as earlier seen in this study is providing frameworks or maps of meanings for Ugandan audiences to understand their socio-economic challenges such as poverty, breakdown of social services, a high disease burden, corruption, and poor political governance. The “New Wave” Pentecostal rhetoric is framing socio-economic challenges in Uganda and Africa in general in terms of personal failure through laziness, poor individual attitudes, or failure to work smart.

Other socio-economic challenges are being framed in terms that are spiritual with causes being demons, curses, witchcraft, failure to pray, and failure to donate to God through the

Pastor.

The above neo-Pentecostal rhetoric shifts the gaze away from systemic causes of socio-economic challenges like dysfunctional political practice, massive corruption, and the influence of unfavorable global economic systems and policies. In focusing audiences on individual inadequacies, the Pentecostal mediatized religious rhetoric is disengaging

African audiences from their civic duties of interrogating how society is organized and run. A consequence of such rhetoric is the growing inability by sections of Ugandan and

African audiences that consume the New Wave Pentecostal rhetoric to question the

229 quality and style of political leadership in their countries. Dysfunctional political leadership is being ignored and tolerated through framing socio-economic challenges in narrow spiritual terms, something that makes a demand for better leadership difficult.

Both Gramsci (1971/2012) and Althusser (1969) explain how ideology works in ways that apply to the Ugandan socio-economic context and the role Pentecostal religious rhetoric is playing as a form of ideology. Althusser (1969) argued that through discourse, ideology uses language to define, construct, include and exclude perceptions of social reality that are provide a partial view of reality that makes sense or meaning to audiences yet reproduce a social order that maintains the interests of powerful social groups.

Through the process interpellation situated discourse, ideology too assigns identities or subject positions to the different individuals or social groups from which they understand themselves, and operate in the constructed social order. Althusser notes that ideology operates like a double edged sword through accurately articulating the real living conditions of people, but misrecognizing and misrepresenting the power and social group relations in a social context.

In the Uganda situation we see Pentecostalism and its rhetoric accurately articulating the challenging socio-economic conditions of Uganda through thick descriptions of poverty, the breakdown of social services, and poor health conditions; yet misrecognizes the causes of such conditions by attributing the causes to elements that are spiritual. Through misrecognizing and misrepresenting power and social group relations, the country’s political leadership is being absolved of responsibility for the country’s

230 socio-economic conditions that Ugandans live in. The accurate articulation of living social conditions and the inaccurate representation of power and social relations has set the public up for continued domination and exploitation by the current political class.

Althusser (1971/2012) notes too that the ideology of dominant groups operates through different institutions such as schools, Church, media, and family that he refers to as ‘ideological state apparatuses’(ISAs). The ISAs are used in the reproduction of power and social relations in ways that maintain the power of the dominant group. An observation of the Ugandan situation shows New Wave Pentecostalism and their media institutions as a combination of two ISAs in the form of church and media. New Wave

Pentecostal religious personalities are involved in the production of a perception of socio- economic realities and power relations that are then disseminated in ways that maintain the power of the dominant Ugandan political elites. In this way, New Wave

Pentecostalism, her rhetoric, and her media has been co-opted by Uganda’s political ruling class to justify poor governance and perpetuate a worldview that that does not hold the political leadership accountable for the challenging socio-economic conditions of poor ordinary Ugandans.

Gramsci (1971/2012) argues that dominant social groups are able to maintain their power over subordinate groups through the process of cultural hegemony. Gramsci

(1971/2012) noted that “the normal exercise of hegemony on the classical terrain of the parliamentary regime is characterized by the combination of force and consent, which balance each other reciprocally without force predominating excessively over consent.

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Indeed, the attempt is always to ensure that forces that appear to be based on the consent of the majority expressed by the so-called organs of public opinion-newspapers and associations” (p. 80). Thus, hegemony is built through the use of force and creatively getting the consent of the subordinate group.

To Gramsci (1971/2012), consent of subordinate groups is cultivated by dominant groups through popular culture that circulates representations of domination as “common sense” or normal, or taken for granted. On popular culture and consent Gramsci notes:

Every philosophical current leaves behind it a sediment of “common sense”; this is

document of its historical effectiveness. Common sense is not rigid and immobile

but is continually transforming itself, enriching itself with scientific ideas and with

philosophical opinions which have entered ordinary life. Common sense creates the

folklore of the future, that is as a relatively rigid phase of popular knowledge as a

given place and time (Gramsci 1971/2012, p. 362).

In accepting such representations, members of subordinate groups then order their lives around the “common sense” or the normal that guides actions of their lives in the everyday world.

New Wave Pentecostal rhetoric is as earlier seen in this study a growing form of popular culture in Uganda and in several African countries. It has its own themes or topics, styles, and celebrities. The ideas being circulated through this form of religious popular culture are influential and privilege some world views or meaning making over others. As seen through this study New Wave Pentecostal rhetoric circulated through

232 media in explaining socio-economic disparities or challenges, shifts the gaze away from poor political leadership, unfair economic systems that benefit only a few, to spiritual causes. The production and reproduction, circulation and recirculation of this form of popular culture is used by the political elite in conjunction with Pentecostal rhetors to cultivate the consent of subordinate groups through making normal or common sense unfair socio-economic arrangements that benefit only a few.

Limitations of the Study and Areas of Possible Future Studies

This study being one of first at the intersection of communication and religion in

Uganda, there are a number of limitations to it that can be used as a base for other future studies. This study focuses entirely on Pentecostalism in Uganda. Even among

Pentecostalism in Uganda, the study focuses on the single category of “neo-

Pentecostalism” or “New Wave” Pentecostalism. There are several other religious groups in Uganda that employ media in their work that need studying. Pentecostalism also being a broadly defined category, other larger comparative studies need to be done on the rhetoric of the different subcategories of Pentecostalism in Uganda.

This study was also urban-based yet the majority of Ugandans live in rural areas.

As Pentecostalism grows in Uganda and spreads it’s rhetoric via media beyond the urban places, reception studies may need to be done to examine the impact of such mediatized religious rhetoric in rural areas. Contexts impact the way messages are received, and the difference between rural and urban Uganda may have affect the way how such rhetoric operates.

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This study too, does not exhaustively address questions of media ownership by religious groups in Uganda. As religious groups and individuals such as neo-Pentecostal pastors increase in their ownership and use of media, bigger questions will have to be asked about the impulses that drive such ownership, and what such media ownership and involvement means for the wider Ugandan society. Perspectives situated in political economy might be useful in doing such larger studies.

General Conclusion

In this section I make a recapitulation of the key points of my study that include my research questions, the justification of the study, my approach to the study, the findings, and the evaluation of the findings. I also identify the limitations of my study and

I point out possible directions for future studies.

This Africa-focused study was situated in the small but growing scholarly sub field of communication and religion. Interdisciplinary in nature, I used the interdisciplinary theoretical framework of Cultural Studies to explore the growing rhetoric of neo-Pentecostalism in Uganda’s media. As religious rhetoric becomes increasingly powerful in influencing world affairs, it is important to understand the construction of such religious rhetoric, it’s effectiveness, and the social repercussions of such rhetoric.

This study approached rhetoric as a form of goal-oriented strategic communication in media such as broadcast or print. Using methods drawn from the field of rhetoric, I analyzed the mediatized rhetoric of three Ugandan neo-Pentecostal pastors

234 who extensively use media in their work. The internal analysis of the three pastors’ broadcast and print cultural material revealed how the pastors borrow the authority of sacred scripture particularly the Bible, to speak with authority and credibility to Ugandan audiences about “prosperity” in matters economic, health, relationships, and social mobility. The messages are delivered with simplicity or in the low style (sermo humilis) through use of narratives and typologies that are directly connected to everyday challenges faced by Ugandan audiences in cities such as Kampala.

While the interpretations of the Bible appear to be literal with limited wholistic

Biblical exegesis, the mere fact that the messages have accompanying Biblical texts, makes the rhetors arguments credible in the eyes of the audiences. The pastors are re- imagining a different world for their audiences that is helping audiences make sense of the diverse socio-economic challenges in the Ugandan context. By employing media as a vehicle, the pastors are giving themselves and their message additional authority and power in the eyes of audiences.

The external analysis of the Ugandan context where the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric is being produced, reproduced, circulated and recirculated reveals a country that has suffered over the years immense socio-economic challenges due to political instability and violence, massive corruption, breakdown of social services, and unfavorable and predatory global and local economic policies. While mediatized neo-Pentecostal rhetoric correctly diagnoses the challenges many Ugandans face, it assigns the causes for such challenges to causes spiritual such as evil spirits, not praying enough, or not paying tithe

235 to God through the pastors. The disconnect between the neo-Pentecostal rhetoric and systemic causes of socio-economic challenges in Uganda and Africa, is problematic.

The continuous production and circulation of neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric via media is distracting the Ugandan public from interrogating the way society is organized and run. A primary insistence through such rhetoric on working hard, praying more, and donating more to God cannot in itself change the challenging socio-economic lives of Ugandans. Few countries in the world have danced or prayed themselves out of poverty and bad governance without employing the creative genius God has given humanity through the gift of human intelligence.

While I am a practicing Christian who believes that God has the ability to defy the laws of nature and break into the natural work to solve everyday challenges, I also think the regularity with which God does that is minimal. I believe God has blessed humanity with intelligence to think and solve a lot society’s challenges. The mediatized rhetoric of neo-Pentecostalism focused on divine “miracles” with the “Man of God” or “Woman of

God” at the center of the production verges on manipulation and sets the public up for exploitation. I also think it promotes superstitious thinking.

One other concern that I can point about the growing mediatized neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric is it’s adversarial attitude towards almost all traditional African cultural beliefs and practices. As seen through this study, most Ugandan and African socio- economic challenges are framed as caused by African traditional beliefs and practices.

While I think that not all African traditional beliefs and practices are sensible and useful,

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I disagree with a wholesale adversarial attitude via media toward all that is traditional

African as demonstrated in this study. A wholesale condemnation of the traditional

African worldview is colonialist and throws away beautiful and usable beliefs and practices. This type of rhetoric dishonors and erodes a cultural heritage, setting up

African societies for cultural colonization and oppression.

Overall, we can conclude that the mediatized neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric in

Uganda and in other countries in the global south is growing and has potential for continued growth. It’s persuasive power lies in its in-depth understanding of the socio- economic contextual landscape of Uganda and other developing countries; and in turn using such knowledge to strategically construct a rhetoric that responds to challenges in such a context. However, examined as ideology, neo-Pentecostal religious rhetoric fails to identify and address systemic causes of such socio-economic challenges, thereby setting up ordinary

Ugandans for possible exploitation by Ugandan neo-Pentecostal religious leaders and the

Ugandan political class.

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Appendix

ELECTRONIC CONTENT OBSERVATION FORM Name of Rhetor Title of Program/Book Notes

Packaging details/Aesthetics

Setting/Location/Space

Intro/Signature/Prefaces

Sequencing/Chapter layout

Key Message

Stylistics/Supports used

Format/Genre

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