Born on September 12, 1887, in Nkamba, near Thysville, Congo, Simon Kimbangu was a Congolese religious leader who founded the Kimbanguist Church and preached a form of Christianity independent of European missionaries. His African-led ministry directly challenged colonial control over religion, and for this, he was arrested and sentenced to death.
Kimbangu’s story is part of a longer history of African resistance to European religious control. Two centuries before his birth, Kimpa Vita, a visionary in the Kingdom of Kongo, dared to preach an African-centered Christianity.
She taught that Africans could interpret the Bible for themselves and claim God as their own, challenging the authority of European missionaries. For her defiance, she was burned alive in 1706, becoming a powerful symbol of spiritual resistance.
Kimbanguists remember Kimpa Vita as a spiritual predecessor, a prophet who foretold the coming of a leader who would continue her mission of African-led faith. Her legacy set the stage for Kimbangu’s emergence as a religious leader.
Kimbangu grew up under Belgian colonial rule, where African faith was tightly controlled by European missionaries. In 1915, he was baptized as a Baptist and worked as a catechist teaching Christian doctrine. Yet he felt a deeper calling, one that could not be contained by the missionary church. By 1921, he began preaching independently, convinced that God had sent him to awaken his people to a true, African-led Christianity.
His message spread with extraordinary speed. Large crowds gathered wherever he appeared. According to his followers, he healed the sick, revealed hidden truths from the Bible, and made prophecies about Africa’s future. He also spoke of African liberation, not in political terms, but as a spiritual destiny.
But under colonial rule, Africans could follow Christianity only within the limits set by Europeans. They could pray, sing, dance and attend church, but leadership, interpretation of Scripture, and spiritual authority were tightly controlled. The moment faith became African-led and independent, it was no longer seen as devotion, it was seen as dangerous.
A preacher guiding his own community, interpreting the Bible for his people, and claiming divine authority was a threat not just to the church hierarchy, but to the entire social order.
Kimbangu’s sudden popularity alarmed both Belgian authorities and European missionaries. Protestant and Catholic leaders feared losing control over the colony’s spiritual life.
According to historian David van Reybrouck, a meeting was held in Thysville between colonial officials and missionaries. The Catholics pushed for harsh action, while Protestants initially urged caution. In the end, the catholics won, setting the stage for Kimbangu’s arrest.
On 6 June 1921, Kimbangu and several of his followers were arrested. He managed to escape into the bush with some disciples and his son, and continued preaching in secret. But by September, he surrendered voluntarily, believing his arrest would prevent violence against his followers.
Kimbangu was brought before a military court, without a lawyer, and accused of undermining public security. During the trial, Belgian religious figures brought multiple accusations against him. When asked to define his religious claims, Kimbangu stated that he was not merely a prophet, but the special envoy of Jesus Christ, the Muanda Velela (Holy Spirit), promised in the Gospel of John.
On October 3, 1921, the court sentenced him to death. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment by King Albert I of Belgium, and Kimbangu was sent to a high-security prison in Élisabethville (now Lubumbashi). He remained there for 30 years, separated from his followers, until his death on October 12, 1951.
When Simon Kimbangu was imprisoned, the colonial authorities moved quickly to suppress his movement and punish his followers. Thousands of his disciples were exiled to different parts of the Belgian Congo, separated from one another, and many were forced into labor camps under harsh conditions, where illness, starvation, and mistreatment claimed numerous live. The authorities also outlawed Kimbanguism, forbidding public gatherings, preaching, or any religious activity tied to him.
Despite this repression, the faith survived underground, spreading secretly from village to village. Over time, even in exile and under strict surveillance, Kimbangu’s teachings continued to reach new followers, laying the foundation for the Kimbanguist Church to grow after his death.
In 1959, just before Congolese independence, the Belgian government finally recognized the Kimbanguist Church. A year later, Kimbangu’s body was exhumed and reburied in Nkamba with full military honors. The village became a sacred city for millions of believers.
Today, April 6 is a national holiday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, officially dedicated to “the fight of Simon Kimbangu and African consciousness.”
After his death, leadership of the church passed to his son Joseph Diangienda, who organized the modern structure of Kimbanguism. The church remains one of the largest African-founded Christian movements in the world, with its spiritual headquarters still in Nkamba.
Millions of people across Central Africa regard Kimbangu as one of the most important religious figures in African history. To his followers, he was not merely a preacher but the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, sent to restore forgotten truths and proclaim the spiritual liberation of Black people.
Sources:
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/african-peoples-prophet
https://dacb.org/stories/democratic-republic-of-congo/kimbangu6-simon/
https://www.officeholidays.com/holidays/dr-congo/kimbangu-day
