Kenya: Church Struggling After Islamists Destroy Building

Church Still Meeting In Open AirSix months after attack, Muslim assailants still at large; weary congregation faces heat, rain.
 
GARISSA, Kenya, March 5 (Compass Direct News) – Six months after a gang of Muslim youths ruined a church building in this town in northern Kenya, Christians still worshipping in the sweltering heat of the open air say they feel disillusioned that officials have done nothing to punish the culprits or restore their structure.

On a sunny afternoon last Sept. 14, when angry Muslim youths threw more than 400 members of the Redeemed Gospel Church out of their church building, the Christians hoped they would be able to return to the ruins of their former structure. That hope is quickly giving way to anger, hopelessness and despair.

“After six months in the open, the church feels tired and cheated,” said pastor David Matolo. “We are fed up with the empty promises from the government administration.”

He said the church, which began worshipping in Garissa in early 2001 with only a dozen members, is fast shrinking. (more…)

Continue ReadingKenya: Church Struggling After Islamists Destroy Building

JESUS Film Frees Villages From Witchcraft

Villagers Watch The Jesus FilmCentral African Republic (MNN) – A JESUS film team responded to an epidemic of witchcraft in the Central African Republic by “soaking” villages in the region of Bossangoa with the Gospel.  They walked from village to village and showed the JESUS film every night. Eighteen new churches have been planted as a result. 

Area witches reportedly have the power to kill and cause tremendous physical suffering, besides terrorizing the community. The government routinely imprisons accused witches, but prison walls cannot contain their power.  (more…)

Continue ReadingJESUS Film Frees Villages From Witchcraft

Amazing Scene As 200 Kenyan Children, On Their Own Initiative, Pray For Their Country And Get Miraculous Results

By Michael Ireland : Feb 1, 2008 

Ever since the children started praying together, the pastor says there have been no deaths, houses burned or even violence in their section of this slum. Adults recite this fact in amazement. The children, however, don’t even mention it because it’s exactly what they expected to happen. “Pastor told us that there is power in prayer. He said we can change the country through prayer,” says 12-year-old. “So that is what we are doing, changing the country.”

Praying Kenyan kids(Kenya)—In the latest edition of Missions Catalyst, Sue Sprenkle, an overseas correspondent for the International Mission Board, who has been reporting from Africa for 10 years describes a scene inside the small, tin shack of a Baptist church filled with children. “After three weeks of post-election violence, it’s good to hear the sounds of children laughing and playing—especially in the hard-hit slums of Nairobi,” she says.
“My heart overflows with emotion as I hear a sound even more precious than laughter—a child’s sweet, innocent prayer.”

“Father, our country is in trouble. We pray for peace to come,” an 11-year-old boy prays. “Protect us, Father. Teach people to love one another and not to fight anymore.” (more…)

Continue ReadingAmazing Scene As 200 Kenyan Children, On Their Own Initiative, Pray For Their Country And Get Miraculous Results

Kenyan Missionaries Share Salvation Testimonies

Muslim hears GodBy Teresa Neumann : Jan 20, 2008 : Neil and Jennifer Lawrence – FaithNews

Muslim man hears God’s voice saying, “Go back to that altar and give your heart to Me.”

(Kenya)—Church of God missionaries Neil and Jennifer Lawrence have reported that 80 people have been saved recently in their area of Kenya.

Below, the Lawrences list some of their experiences including a demon-possessed woman being delivered and a suicidal woman giving her heart to Jesus. (more…)

Continue ReadingKenyan Missionaries Share Salvation Testimonies

Carnage in Kenya: 50 burned to death in church as tribal mobs bring terror after poll

By Daily Mail 

First published on 1st January 2008

A screaming mob set fire to a Kenyan church and killed up to 50 villagers cowering inside, including women and children, as the death toll from ethnic riots soared towards 300 last night.

Anger triggered by President Mwai Kibaki’s disputed reelection at the weekend has seen simmering tribal tensions explode into open warfare.

Protesters in Nairobi brandish pangas, broad-bladed machetes, in anger at the poll they say was riggedThe church massacre in the west Kenyan town of Eldoret brought back traumatic memories of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, in which tens of thousands were slaughtered in churches burned to the ground.

Protesters in Nairobi brandish pangas, broad-bladed machetes, in anger at the poll they say was rigged

(more…)

Continue ReadingCarnage in Kenya: 50 burned to death in church as tribal mobs bring terror after poll

African Anglicans Say Gay Bishops Affirmation ‘Shatters Hopes of Reconciliation’

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter – January 10, 2013

Anglican leaders in Africa have expressed their outrage over the Church of England’s decision to approve gay bishops in its order, saying that the decision could put an end to hopes of healing broken relationships in the Communion.

Archbishop Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria, one of the world’s largest provinces of the Anglican Communion with 17 million members, said that the affirmation of gay bishops “could very well shatter whatever hopes we had for healing and reconciliation within our beloved Communion,” Reuters reported.

Okoh added that the Church of England has given into “the contemporary idols of secularism and moral expediency,” and that it is “one step removed from the moral precipice we have already witnessed in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in Canada.”

Last week, the House of Bishops of the Church of England announced that it had internally decided to allow gay clergy to serve as bishops if they promise a life of celibacy, even if they are in a same-sex civil partnership.

(more…)

Continue ReadingAfrican Anglicans Say Gay Bishops Affirmation ‘Shatters Hopes of Reconciliation’