wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Impact of war in Liberia unknown

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	July 24, 2003 .................... LCMSNews -- No. 83

	Impact of renewed fighting
	on Liberian Lutherans unknown

	By Paula Schlueter Ross

	In Liberia, where hundreds of civilians caught in the crossfire
of a civil war are being killed and wounded, it is not yet known how big
a toll the war is taking on Lutherans there.

	The embattled West African country has nearly 350 Lutheran
congregations and preaching stations.

	A $1.3 million shipment of aid -- including health and newborn
kits, clothing, bedding and medicines -- from U.S. Lutherans has arrived
in Liberia, but aid workers are waiting until it is safe for them to
distribute the items.

	The aid, shipped by Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Baltimore,
arrived in Liberia on July 19 and is being held in LWR warehouses there.
LWR receives support from U.S. Lutherans through LCMS World Relief and
the World Hunger Program of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

	While on furlough in the United States, Rev. David Londenberg,
the Missouri Synod's only missionary serving Liberia and nearby Sierra
Leone, said he received an e-mail from a Monrovian church leader
reporting that the war had claimed the lives of several members of the
church leader's wife's family.

	The Liberian, who assists Londenberg in leadership training,
said he had moved his family to the edge of the city, away from
fighting. Londenberg said he has heard nothing from Lutheran leaders
outside Monrovia, where communication often is sporadic.

	Londenberg returns to West Africa this month. In a telephone
interview July 22, he said he planned to relocate from southeast
Liberia, near Ivory Coast, to the Bo-Kenema area of southeastern Sierra
Leone, near the Liberian border. There, he will be accessible to
Liberian church leaders, who have started 46 congregations and preaching
stations within the past year, he said.

	Londenberg said "God is using a powerful dynamic right now" in
Sierra Leone and Guinea, where the latter country's government and U.N.
representatives are closing refugee camps and encouraging the residents,
mostly Sierra Leonians, to return home.

	Many of those refugees were introduced to Christianity in the
camps, Londenberg said, and they are interested in learning more.

	According to U.N. projections, some 25,000 refugees are expected
to return to Sierra Leone within the next few months, and Londenberg
says he and West African church leaders "are going to try to reach all
of them," encouraging them to meet for study and worship.

	He predicts starting five to 10 new congregations as a result of
that effort, he said. At present, there are about 100 Lutheran
congregations and preaching stations in Sierra Leone.

	Londenberg urged U.S. Lutherans to continue to pray for peace,
healing and rebuilding in Liberia.

	****************************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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