Remembering Bishop Alpha

Click here to listen to Bishop Minns' Sermon

from Bishop Alpha's memorial service

Brief visit with Bishop Alpha and family

Submitted by Adabelle Ashley-Foster

On my trip to Tanzania and Kenya, June 1990, Arusha was a stopover. Hotel staff contacted Bishop Alpha for me. Late evening, Bishop Alpha and a deacon came to the hotel to greet me. They said a beautiful prayer for me and arranged for my visit to his home the following day. I met his wife, staff and toured the site for the "orphan partner mission." I had met Bishop Alpha at Grace Church on his mission visits. (I left a photo of my visit with the bulletin board committee at Grace Church) Bishop Minn's memorial to Bishop Alpha is a beautiful ode to his memory.

Birthday Party

Submitted by Betty Bauers

The Friday bulletin crew has a tradition of celebrating birthdays after we’re done with our work. Friday, June 25, 2004 was Maria Yates’66th birthday and I brought a carrot cake. All the clergy and staff were invited including Bishop Alpha. Maria said she’d never before had a Bishop at one of her birthday parties. Bishop Alpha and his family became part of our parish and involved all of us in their Tanzanian ministry as Partners in Mission. The outreach ministries, building of churches, a school and a hospital took on new meaning as we listened to him talk about them in small group sessions. Most recently our parish has begun to sponsor Manyoni orphans and to help build a Vocational Training Center as well as Mostrust Offices. Bishop Alpha’s faith enabled him to make possible the impossible. May he rest in peace.

Recollections of Bishop Alpha's Sabbatical Year

Submitted by Richard and Maria Yates

Our first memory of Bishop Alpha is of him and his family arriving for church on an unseasonably chilly Sunday morning. Little Marion led the way – a smiling, beautiful child dressed in a pink organza pinafore and sandals. As is often true of young children, she seemed unaware of the cold. Bishop Alpha and his wife, Marion were accompanied by other family members (perhaps their grown children) who, as we recall, weren’t in the Springs for more than a few weeks. Not too long after their arrival, Richard and I were working at the Thrift House when a couple of women from the parish brought Marion in so she could find warm clothes for herself and little Marion. Marion had very clear ideas about appropriate attire and would not even consider slacks. I think they finally selected winter coats, hats, and gloves. One of the parish women with them suggested buying warm fabric and volunteered to make long skirts but, if she ever did we never saw them worn. Through Bishop Alpha we learned a lot about his mission in Tanzania. The work he did transformed the lives of so many and, in turn opened up a world to us that provided our parish with ways we could help. He brought peace and healing that carried us all through difficult times. The evening for the farewell dinner for Bishop Alpha and Marion was held July 23, 2004. In the after noon it began to rain and by the time we headed to Lee and Irene Trovas’ home the streets and drainage ditches between here and there we flooded and overflowing! We needed rowboats to get there but everyone came and it was a very special evening. Having Bishop Alpha in our midst for an entire year was an honor and a blessing.

Seeing the Lord's Face

Submitted by Tim Chambers

I did not know Bp. Alpha personally, but I met him in 1994 at the Anglican Conference in Colorado Springs. I took notes. Here's what I said about him: "I regret that I was unable to take notes during Rt. Rev. Alpha Mohammed's lecture. It was a moving, spiritual testimony of God's work in Tanzania, and I was concentrating so hard on what he was saying that I never turned on my palmtop[1]. I had the opportunity to meet him the next day, and I can sincerely say that I saw our Lord's face when I looked into his eyes." The world has lost a great and Godly man, but Heaven must be rejoicing with the saints welcoming him with open arms. [1] Yes, palmtop. Not a laptop. This was 17 years ago! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX

My Transparent and Honest Niece

Submitted by Monica H. Ashery

That is what my uncle used to call me. I was fortunate to be part of his family and I will always be grateful for this God given privilege because he took me under his wing from 1980 until his passing. He was my spiritual mentor, my encourager, motivator, father figure for me and my eight sisters after the passing of our father in 2007 and more importantly the person who taught me to TRUST Jesus Christ alone who doesn’t change with time or circumstances. He taught me the significance of the cross and to be a prayerful person always saying, “If you lack words to pray, say the Lord’s Prayer again and again.” His gift to me, among others, which I have cherished over the years, has been Psalms 37:5. As a close family member who is unable to physically attend his funeral, I’m bombarded with memories that flash back and forth in my mind, and some strongly stand out: In 1981, while he was an Assistant Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika, where I also worked at the time, he told me, “God created only one Monica, We have only one Monica in our family and there is no duplicate of you anywhere else in the world; you are very precious and special. When coming to America in 1988 for studies, he said to me that I needed to be a Godly and prayerful woman to survive adding that “never forget the book of Esther”! I did not understand what he meant then and when I understood, it was too late; I had watched my people perish and I had burned almost to my bones. Nevertheless, I am grateful to him for instilling strong Christian Faith in me which is the only source of my strength. When I suffered postpartum depression following my son’s birth and his father deliberately sent us back to Manyoni where we stayed for over five years while unable to work, I received full support and unconditional love from my uncle until I was able to return to school again. I recall the day when I walked in his office at about 2:00pm and told him “I would not leave your office until you give me some money that I need for my project so I can support my child.” He gave me a gentle lecture for being so naïve then pulled an envelope from a stack of mail which had just arrived from overseas and handed me a hundred dollar bill and said, “ Jesus is the answer to all your problems; trust Him! Jesus Christ was everything to my uncle: The Diocesan Truck while he was the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro was christened “YESU KRISTO NI WA AJABU” Swahili for JESUS CHRIST IS AMAZING and the Diocesan Truck while he was the Bishop of the Diocese of the Ri ft Valley was christened “YESU KRISTO PEKEE.” Swahili for “JESUS CHRIST ALONE.” When, one day, I walked to his house after I had disappeared from our home town for a while, he asked me where I had been and my response was, “I had gone to some far away cities to look for traditional healers who would heal me because I felt possessed with some evil spirits.” He looked direct onto my eyes and said, “YOU WILL GO TO HELL.” “You belong to Jesus not to the Devil! You need prayers and I will send a team of prayers to your father’s house.” It worked in the name of Jesus and not in the name of traditional healers. My uncle was very bold when it came to defending the name of Jesus Christ and His sovereign; it gives me comfort to know that he is gazing on His face right now. Home at last! When I visited him and Auntie Marian in Colorado Spring during his Sabbatical leave in August of 2004 (the last time I saw him alive) I recall of the warm welcome from the time I was picked up from the airport, the private family moments and countless hugs, worship at Grace and St. Stephen’s, lunch at the Chinese restaurant, dinner at Fr. Don’s house and more humbling than anything else in this materialistic world was my uncle and auntie moving from their master bedroom and giving up their personal space for me and my cousin Judy! That was the highest honor and unexpected display of humility from the perspective of our Cigogo culture, yet not surprising at all from because Bishop Alpha washed feet all his life and was a shepherd first in everything that he did, a down to earth person who would apologize for mistakes he did not commit and say thank you numerous times for the smallest things that many of us take for granted. Awesome first trip to Colorado Spring and I am glad I made the trip! on signing the book he had given me “Sala Ndogo Ndogo compiled by Anne Sandall and translated into Swahili by my uncle and auntie Marian, he simply said, “Monica, Sala Ndiyo lugha ya watoto wa Mungu, Tafadhali tumia sala tu kwa safari yako meaning” Prayer is the only language of God’s children, Please use prayers alone for your journey.” Then he signed his name and that of my auntie. When I think of Bishop Alpha day or night I think of prayers, that was his identity. During his last visit to the United States, I asked for his opinion why it takes decades for some churches to resolve crisis that he himself, as a Bishop, took less than a day if not half an hour to resolve them. He jokingly said something like this - Theology was created in Germany, corrupted in America, corrected in England, and consumed in the Southern Hemisphere and insisted “do not get caught into this.” Then he switched the topic and read John 15:5 to me on the phone, I echoed the verse in our vernacular (the original Cigogo translation of King James soothed his soul) “ANE NENE MUNTOGONI WE MBEKA….” What followed was his unique gentle laughter then he said “Let us pray.” I will definitely miss my uncle’s hugs and kisses, laughers, wisdom, prayer moments on the phone, his many thank you notes that I can never put price tags because they are too valuable, his unselfishness, his vulnerability and his faulty kindness (too kind that he was taken for granted) I will also miss his tears because he was the weeping Bishop who shed tears many times for lost souls. On same last mission to the US, he left me with a gift of 3Ts: 1. TRUSTING (Him – Jesus Christ) 2. TRANSPARENCY (to Him – Jesus Christ) 3. TEAMING (with Him – Jesus Christ). Though I was shocked to hear his bold proclamation that he had come to love Jesus more and more with each new day, his departure has now solved the puzzle. On the passing of my father, he asked me to read the whole chapter of Revelation 21. Please read along with me (if you can) as I explore again and again The New Jerusalem that my father went four years ago and now my uncle. I miss you very much uncle, I will not only remember Esther, but I will strive to be like her. I will definitely see you on the last day! Promise promise. Hugs and kisses again and again as always. Your transparent niece - Monica

Sala Ndogo Ndogo ("Small Graces")

Submitted by Anne Sandall

Memories of my friend +Alpha Where to begin – I guess I’ll start with the first time I brought him some of the prayers and art work for “Small Graces”, a collection of prayers for children and families that my daughter Diane and I were planning to publish. His reaction was so wonderful! “Could we translate it into Swahili for the children of Tanzania” he asked. “Why not,” I replied and we were off and running. +Alpha never missed an opportunity (and he saw them everywhere) to spread the Word and Love of God. Each time I came to see him – a warm embrace and prayer before anything else. We met in his “office” at Grace Church and as often as not, at his house where he, and Marion and I sat at a table discussing how we could get it all translated and produced as he would like it. Always praying. Smiling at how God works in this world where all things are possible with God. The translation was equally the work of Marion and +Alpha; she seeing the words that the children would understand and be touched by and he getting the sense right. They were the very best example of how people who live in God’s love should work together. As we came down to the wire, the retelling of the parables that are in the English version would take too long to translate. Since we shared a love of the Psalms, we agreed that we would each select some favorite Psalms and I could type them directly from his Swahili Bible thereby avoiding the time consuming translation process. It worked out very well. We put a picture of the Cathedral in Manyoni in the back of the book and +Alpha wanted a photograph of Diane (my daughter and artist for the book) and me in the back also. This was a “hard sell”; neither of us is comfortable being photographed. We settled for a candid shot of Diane and me and her dog Treva hiking up to the top of Skinners Butte in Eugene, Oregon overlooking the Willamette Valley. He was happy and so were we. The result of our work together was that 3000 paperback books were shipped to Manyoni for him to distribute as he chose. There is a copy of “Sala Ndogo Ndogo” in our church library in the west hall and a copy in the children’s library in the chapel room – reminders of the wonderful and inspiring influence of +Alpha in the lives of all whose paths he crossed.

Teaching a Bishop to drive

Submitted by Eric Zolner

I can still remember clearly the very first time I met Bishop Alpha.  I had only been at Grace Church a couple of months when he arrived for his sabbatical.  I remember processing in his first Sunday there and seeing him sitting in the front of the church.  It was 2003 and a crazy time in the Episcopal Church, but somehow I knew that with Alpha there things would be OK.

During his sabbatical year we provided a house, furniture (I currently have his old living room set) and Jeep Cherokee for him to use.  What little driving he had done in Tanzania had all been on dirt roads with little traffic.  Driving in the city was going to be a whole new experience for him.  As the new guy on the staff, Father Armstrong tagged me to teach him how to drive.  It was a bit of a harrowing experience.  I remember one particular incident very clearly.  We were on Uintah and coming up to Palmer Park.  I asked the Bishop to get into the left turn lane and make a left turn.  As he passed a car going straight he got a bit too close and hit their side view mirror with his side view mirror.  Sitting in the passenger seat I saw the entire thing very clearly.  It made a huge noise. 

The woman he hit was quite rattled, but not Bishop Alpha.  We made the turn and pulled off the road, followed by the woman we had hit.  I had Bishop Alpha stay in the car while I got out and explained what had happened.  There was no damage to the woman’s car, so I gave her my card and told her to call me if she discovered anything we had missed.  We never heard from her again.

I then decided that maybe we should do something that did not involve driving, so we headed to the gas station.  I coached Bishop Alpha through the procedure of filling up the gas tank, but forgot to tell him not to pull the lever until the nozzle was inside the gas tank.  Gas went everywhere!  We finally got the tank filled up and after that simply practiced driving from his house to the church.  During that year Bishop Alpha never had to fill the tank up again.  He simply drove from his house to the church.  Anytime he needed to go someplace else he would walk or get a ride from someone else. 

Unlike most Americans, Bishop Alpha did not need all of the trappings of civilization.  He simply could not be corrupted by the things of this world.  Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  This was Alpha Mohamed to the core.

Tuesday morning prayer

Submitted by Sandy Foerster

I will never forget when he attended our prayer group on a Tuesday morning. The peace and love that I felt coming through him. The respect he had for others like we are all God's cherished children. The gentleness and kindness. And his complete trust in God. He was truly a man of prayer. He was a great example of what Christ would want us all to be like as Christians that love one another. He was also very wise and gave me advice that pertained to my own life. I always looked forward to the next time he would come here. I will miss the quiet and peaceful presence he brought to our church during our difficult times. Now he has gone home to the Lord. It is a blessing to have met him. My prayers and blessings to his family.

In Memoriam

Submitted by The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns
(from the CANA website)

Bishop Alpha changed my life! He was and will remain one of my heroes of the faith. I had the privilege of attending seminary with him and I will never forget the quiet, holy way in which he lived his faith in the Triune God — witnessing to students and faculty alike.

After graduation, Angela and I spent a month with him and his wife in Tanzania. It was our very first visit to East Africa — and we have never been the same, having learned what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ in extreme poverty but with an abundance of joy.

One of the greatest blessings was visiting the village where Alpha had grown up. As you may guess by his surname, he was born into a Muslim family and followed Islamic dictates scrupulously. As a teenager he converted through reading the New Testament, and specifically Revelation 3.14–20 was the turning point for Alpha with its message to the lukewarm church in Laodicea and the invitation of Jesus who was knocking at the door. His parents were not exactly thrilled by his newfound faith; in fact he was banished from the family! Thanks be to God for an elderly man who lived on the edge of the village and who generously took young Alpha into his home. Eventually, Alpha was able to lead his family to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Alpha continued to evangelize for the rest of his life. He planted churches, served as a bishop, and planted dioceses. Under his leadership, the Diocese of the Rift Valley — a very challenging part of the world where many western bishops wouldn’t last a single day — became a place where countless people discovered the gift of God’s love and radical inclusion, where the profound transformation of life in Christ was lived out, and where the Holy Spirit empowered the church for inspired service to others.

Thanks be to God for the life of Alpha Mohammed!

Bishop Alpha's final visit to Colorado Springs

Submitted by Keith Stampher

With Father Armstrong at the Denver Airport awaiting Bishop's arrival:
"Don, how're we going to recognize the Bishop with all of these people?"
"Keith; he's black...very black."
"Oh yeah."

At home after a few days at my house:
"Keith!  There is the most perfect place to pray upstairs in the room:  a carpet I can kneel on and the perfect place for my prayer book and Bible on the stool in the bathroom!  It is most comfortable."
"Bishop,  most Americans would consider that praying to the porcelain throne."

And, after ANY kindness, deference, or address to his person:  
"Thankyou.....thankyou." 

This man knew all about you before he met you.  He could see through you to whatever your soul had hidden from your own consciousness, and he had intimate knowledge about who you are and what trials or troubles were on your mind or in your heart by just looking at you.  

And he reflected the love of Jesus Christ as well as if he were taught as one of those who walked 2000 years ago at the very feet of our Lord.  If ever there was an apostle of the living Christ, Bishop Alpha Mohamed was such a one.  Kind and accepting of infirmity, but expectant of our rising to our duty and demanding a real commitment to using what we are given to God's glory, however little or great those talents and gifts are.  He was always praying.

Do something.

Submitted by Ken Emery

During his sabbatical Laurie and I invited Bishop Alpha and Marion(s) to our house for supper, and I agreed to pick them up and bring them to our home, rather than have them get lost trying to find it at night. At the time I did not know him very well, I just knew he was someone special. On the way to our house, I attempted some conversation in which I told him about my day in that I had attempted to do a number of things, but simply didn't have the time to complete all the tasks and I apologized for that. As I was driving south on Nevada, he said from the back seat very slowly: "You cannot do everything." and, I replied - "But you can do something." and he added "Yes". These words have echoed through my life ever since. Clearly we can't serve God unless we are doing "something" and small somethings can really add up - as the Manyoni orphans can testify! Small thing or big thing, I know from Bishop Alpha to "do something."

A man of prayer

Submitted by Beth Jewell

What I appreciated most about Alpha was that he was a man of prayer and full of the Holy Spirit. One time he grabbed my hand and said "Mary, let me pray for you and your ministry." It has been the only time so far a patient or family member has prayed for me in my office. Another time, he approached my daughter and took her hand and started praying for her. He did not "know" she was going through a hard time but I know the Holy Spirit spoke to him. Now he sees His Savior face to face!

Calm in the Storm of Living

Submitted by Karl H. Weiskopf

Being around Bishop Alpha, as well as email correspondence, were explicit or implicit teaching moments from him. Seated around the table in McWilliams House on November 22, in 2008 were a collection of people involved with MOSTRUST including persons from the dissident Grace Church, Father Don and Bishop Alpha. The meeting had just begun when discussion was interupted by the sound of stomping feet on the front steps and striding across the wooden porch, a barging through the front door of CSPD storm troopers and a cocky officer serving a warrant. Without missing a beat, Bishop Alpha was on his feet joining hands with the persons nearest and saying, "Let us pray. Our Father..." The prayer was unrushed in the cadence and pace of Africa. At the "Amen" +Alpha said "Again, and began, Our Father..." The officer in the room shuffled his feet. At the conclusion, +Alpha said, "Again." The officer shifted again, probably appropriately from his left to his right side with impatience. At the conclusion, Bishop Alpha commented to us that he never thought he would see such behavior in America! +Alpha and I left, having to walk around and through the cadre of invaders, as I accompanied him to a doctor's appointment. On the way I told +Alpha that it was all I could do to keep from saying, especially for the benefit of the dissidents who experienced this horror with us, "This event is brought to you courtesy of Rob O'Neill!" Bishop Alpha made it clear to me that this should not have been said and he was glad it was not articulated. My mother used to tell me to, "Remember Whose you are." Often in sermons and in conversation +Alpha admonished, "Don't sully the witness." Mother and Bishop Alpha seemed to be on the same page. Bishop Alpha's final sermon to us in August, 2005 at the conclusion of his sabbatical was based on the text from Hebrews 12:14, "Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Think of +Alpha and reflect on this, "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace."(--Psalm 37:37) That is +Alpha!

Bishop Alpha at Anglican Institute in Paris

Submitted by Lucia Montgomery 

Several years ago, at the Anglican Institute conference held in Paris, France, Bishop Alpha was the chaplain for the conference and so was able to preach the sermon at Sunday eucharist. This was not long after Bishop Spong had given his "articles of disbelief", as I will call them, at Lambeth Conference. In telling us about the conference, Bishop Alpha mentioned the fact that Bishop Spong had berated third world bishops as being not worthy of their title; not sufficiently educated, not sufficiently godly and most certainly "second class" bishops. In his quiet, soft spoken demeanor, Bishop Alpha explained that his conversion to Christianity had cost him dearly in that many of his family and friends would no longer accept him, and mentioned the many threats that had been made against him. But, what made a real impact on me was when he said how confusing it could be for third world country Christians to try to explain how white man could years ago try to bring Christianity to a non-Christian country and now they were trying to tell people that the religion they brought was wrong, according to Bishop Spong that is. 

Blessed

Submitted by Carolyn Bassett

When Bishop Alpha was at Grace Church, they also were selling the beautiful jewelry from Africa.  I purchased a lovely blue colored stone cross and found Bishop Alpha to bless my cross.  It is a treasured possession.  I also had the pleasure several times of serving as an altar guild member during a regular Thursday healing service that Bishop Alpha officiated at.  Now our friend is in the loving arms of God.  I am now living with special memories.  

Again...

Submitted by Eric Zolner

I have many fond memories of Bishop Alpha from his Sabbatical year at Grace Church.  One day during a staff meeting, the discussion became a bit heated.  Bishop Alpha made us stop the meeting, hold hands, and say the Lord’s Prayer.  When we finished we all dropped hands and were about to get back into it again when we heard him say, “Again.”  So we prayed again.  When we finished this time, he repeated, “Again.”  We stood there praying the Lord’s Prayer again and again until we are all calm and refocused.  What a wonderful example of a prayerful life.

Pilgrims

Submitted by Emily Kline

I don't have a story, simply a recollection of my first impression of Bishop Alpha. The figure of the pilgrim has been meaningful to me for as long as I can remember and so it seemed particularly striking to me when the Bishop opened what was probably one of his first sermons, if not the very first at Grace, with the words "I am a pilgrim...we are all pilgrims." I can still hear it in my mind, in his soft but strong voice with the African accent, through all these years, and it is what I remember first when I think of Bishop Alpha Mohamed.

A year with Bishop Alpha

Submitted by Sue Spears

Bp Alpha and his family spent a year with us several years ago and it was truly a highlight for everyone on the staff. There are so many wonderful stories from that year, so here are just a few. I was asked to sit in on a meeting with all the clergy, Frs. Armstrong,Walker, Zolner and Bp Alpha. At the beginning of the meeting, Bp Alpha said, "Let us pray,,,, Sue." I was panic stricken,,, they were all priests, why was he asking ME to pray? I said my simple prayer, but that wasn't the last time he asked me to pray. During that year he never missed an opportunity to have me pray and I got used to coming up with a quick prayer whenever he said, "Let us pray,,, Sue." During a staff meeting that was getting a little heated, Bp Alpha quietly grabbed the hands of the people seated next to him and said, "Let us pray the Our Father." We followed his lead and grabbed the hands next to us and began to pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven,,,,," After the Amen, we quickly dropped hands and looked up and Bp Alpha said, "And again." We grabbed hands and began to pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven,,,,," We did this maybe four or five times. The most amazing things happened; the staff was calm and happy and by saying the prayer over and over, we started focusing on different parts of the prayer, not saying it by rote, but understanding and appreciating this beautiful prayer. Try it sometime. Bp Alpha had a computer, but didn't like to use it, so I would type all his notes and e-mails for him in Swahili. I even got familiar with several words and the difficult spellings. The thing that always struck me about Bp Alpha was his quiet, calm demeanor and his ability to pray or say something so profound that it always left a deep impression. He and Mariam prayed EVERY DAY for a huge list of people in their lives,,, the orphans, his friends, his church, etc. He spent his days in continuous praise and prayer to his God. Bp Alpha called me "Momma" because he said I was the one that took care of everyone else. What a wonderful man and compliment to me. I will never forget that year and the amazing experiences I had being around him and how he taught me the power of prayer. It has served me well the last few years and for that I will be forever grateful. I love you, Bp Alpha.

A Praying Bishop

Submitted by Andrew Kercher

I'll never forget the time this man took to pray for me and my family during one of his visits to us here in Colorado Springs. It touched my heart that this man who endures so much--poverty, disease, and other afflictions associated with living in Africa--was concerned about a brother with different troubles here in our wealthy culture. Thanks be to God for a man who showed us what it is like to be surrendered to God's will.