In the 19th century, East Africa was largely colonized by European forces: the Germans in Tanganyika, Rwanda, and Burundi and the British in Uganda and Kenya.
[3] A branch of the Church Missionary Society, the Ruanda Mission, evangelized in Ruanda-Urundi, which became a Belgian territory under a League of Nations mandate following the First World War.
[1][4] The initial fervor that led to the spread of Christianity in the region reached a lull as time progressed and corruption within the Church emerged.
[2][3] Many argue that the relationship between Joe Church, the pioneer of the Ruanda Mission, and Nsibambi in 1929 in Gahini was the official spark of the revival movement.
[1][6] Dr Church worked at the Gahini Hospital and the revival started with staff at there;[7] It was largely grassroots, spread through the formation of small groups of people and through personal relationships.
[3][4] The movement, spearheaded in part by the Ruanda Mission, was able to cross borders into multiple countries because the church in the Kigezi district in southwest Uganda was placed under its jurisdiction.
[3] The continuation of the East African Revival was heavily dependent on the movements of individual people revitalizing the enthusiasm for the Anglican Church that had already been established in these former colonies.