Emmanuel Akatukunda is a Pastor, Theologian, Mentor and Blogger

He is the Lead Pastor of Pentecostal Evangelical Revival Ministries (PERM) in Banda near Kampala. He has been a pastor at PERM Banda since 1999.  PERM Banda is part of that crop of indigenously founded and led churches and church movements have emerged and grown over the last 20-30 years. PERM is located in Banda on the eastern edges of the Kampala City central business district. Banda is largely a slum that is home to low income and urban poor, some of them students from a nearby public university, Kyambogo University.

Over the years, PERM church, whose congregation is 60% university students, has grappled to respond to the Banda community with the love of Christ meaningfully. The guiding question has been “how can we live like Jesus Christ in our community?”

He also serves as Academic Dean at Kampala Evangelical School of Theology (KEST). He is committed to developing training programs that are theologically grounded and relevant to the contemporary African realties.  He also supervises KEST’s Community Engagement Centers (CECs). CECs were started to respond to the training needs for pastors who for different reasons find theological education inaccessible, unaffordable and irrelevant.  This responsive non-formal training model is designed to overcome these obstacles and make the pastoral ministry training accessible to the majority of pastors who need it most. At KEST, he lectures in areas of Christian Doctrine, Biblical and Marketplace studies.

He is currently a research associate in a research project by the Centre for Contextual Ministry in the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria. The title of the research is “Urban Africa 2050: Imagining Theological Education / Formation for Flourishing Cities.” His specific research focus is Kampala city—exploring how different stakeholders in Kampala city, namely, theological institutions, ministry practitioners, and urban authorities, can collaborate to promote a flourishing city.

He recently enrolled in a PhD program with the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His focus of research is on How Theological Education/Ministry Formation can be Re-imagined for effective Urban Ministry. Kampala is one the fastest growing cities in Africa. It has a population of 3 million people and is expected to rise to over 10 million in the next 20 years. His passion is to participate in conversations and initiatives that advocate for theological formation, curricula and models that lead to effective and transformative urban ministry in Uganda, and perhaps Africa.

Through PERM Banda Church he has mentoring program for children from the community, who for all sorts of reasons—orphans, absentee parents, abandonment—are without parental care or oversight.

Emmanuel runs blog where he shares weekly devotionals drawn from his sermons and theological reflections. You can read his posts at akatukunda.com. He also regularly contributes to the Living Life Magazine published by Duranno, Korea.

He and his wife Hellen are working towards establishing Shalom Spiritual Formation and Leadership Center. The Shalom Center will be a multipurpose center, integrating Biblical Spirituality, mentoring and work. It will be a space for prayer, meditation and training. It will also serve as a demonstration farm and hands-on training for college students and community.

He lives in Kampala with his wife Hellen. They are happily married with five (5) children. They also take care of two other children.