Following this event, on July 28th, will be the 60th Jubilee Anniversary of the ELCK and the opening of Luther Plaza - the new church headquarters and property  at Uhuru Hiway, Nairobi. Pray for Rev. Dean Apel and Mike Koski as they plan to represent WMPL at these events.  They also plan to meet some days with the WMPL team in Kenya and make other mission contacts. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer!

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From the article:

War rhetoric is growing in the final countdown to Santa Cruz’s unilateral autonomy referendum, which is expected to be approved by a huge margin, the first of four in the regions that make up the better off and ethnically European eastern half of the country.

And Raul Prada, congressman from the ruling MAS party reported:

“I don’t think the government will fall, but we’re in a very dangerous situation: Evo [Morales — Bolivia’s President] wants to avoid bloodshed, but social movements are pushing him over the edge.”

Please join us in prayer for the nation of Bolivia during these trying days.

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We thank the Lord for the breakthrough in diplomacy in Kenya! An agreement was signed between the two principal parties on February 28th. Discussions continue but former UN General Sec. Koffi Annan has already left Kenya after a very difficult two months of negotiating.

I include below an “insiders” view of the situation in Kenya today. Our friends have been missionaries in Nairobi for a number of years and are involved in a vital ministry to the city. Please read and rejoice in what they say. Please keep praying for WMPL ministry in Kenya in partnerhsip with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.

Mike

“Well it has finally happened. After much prayer, intense bargaining, skilled mediation and significant but largely unspecified international pressure, President Mwai Kibaki and Hon. Raila Odinga finally signed the elusive agreement which marked the culmination of that part of the mediation process focussing on solving the disputed presidential electoral. The signing of this peace deal is a massive step forward. It still has to be ratified by parliament next week but to overturn would effectively be against the public wishes of both leaders. It represents the real hope and possibility that people can to begin rebuilding lives without the uncertainty that future chaos and pain of unknown depths might still be round the corner. I confess that with many others there have been many times when I have found it hard to believe that this moment would arrive.

The signing ceremony was a very dignified event with very positive and generous speeches by both the mediators and the two political leaders. The night before the TV news played exuberant scenes from 2002 of the swearing in of Mwai Kibaki at Uhuru Park before tens of thousands of people with himself and Raila Odinga sharing the same platform. The film then moved to the 30 December 2007 and the hasty swearing in of the same President in a virtually private ceremony at the Statehouse which lacked any sense of joy or genuine celebration. The contrast of the two news clips left you with a bewildering sense of what seems to have been lost. Kenya has enjoyed excellent economic growth but also, it appears, deepening fragmentation of society. Last night Kibaki and Raila were back on one platform and back again into one government. It would be naïve to think that the deep animosity of the past two montsh has evaporated but there was generosity of spirit, and laughter from Mwai Kibaki, things that have been conspicuously absent in the political arena over the past two months.

The deal offers a real possibility of redistributing power by creating an executive prime minister, who will almost certainly be Raila Odinga, and securing that post within a National Accord and Reconciliation Act which will form part of the constitution. Similarly arrangements have been made for the sharing of government posts with some security that the present opposition cannot be re –shuffled out of government.

… On the way into work there were a few armed riot police at the roundabout but their presence seemed entirely unnecessary. There has been some public rejoicing, but quite muted. Not much dancing in the street. The overwhelming feeling seems to be more relief than rejoicing. All are aware that the signing of a paper and an act of Parliament will not restore relatives to the bereaved, homes, fields and business to the displaced or resurrect relationships, built over years and torn apart in hours. There is a huge amount still to be done but the great news of this deal is that it now seems possible to seriously begin the task of rebuilding, restoring, and healing. At the college the conversation has already turned to when we can begin teaching in Kibera and moving our residential students back there.

Today’s editorial in the Daily Nation Newspaper perhaps best captured the task “Now that the deal is done let the hard work begin” Rift Valley in particular and the general position of those displaced, who fear ever returning to their homes, represents a huge challenge along with the wider process of national reconciliation. The encouragement from Koffi Annan is that the process does not end here and the mediation team was due to be back today to look at longer term issues of land reform, wealth and resource distribution and the search for a more just and equitable society. If real progress is made in those areas then all that has been so tragically lost in the past two months may not have been entirely in vain.

Thank you so much to all who prayed so faithfully and been such an encouragement in emails and letters. Clearly there is still a long way to go but it is a journey in which tonight millions of Kenyans will thank God for a deeper sense of a future and hope than ever before in 2008.”

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Today is Ash Wednesday. Globally, followers of Jesus begin the season of Lent. Christians have five weeks of preparation for Holy Week that culminates in the death and resurrection of our Lord. It is a time of spiritual introspection – as individuals and as a body of believers. We consider God’s great love, mercy and grace for us all.

This day may not mean much to the 300,000 displaced people in Kenya. My guess is that this day will probably be as any other day – just surviving on the help of others….waiting and hoping for resolution to the problems their community and nation face…with many unknowns concerning tomorrow.

Today Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya leaders are in Nairobi for a leadership workshop. About 35 leaders (bishops, women leaders, youth leaders and diocesan secretaries) are learning about an approach to reconciliation in Kenya under the theme “Unity in Christ”.Most of these ELCK leaders were flown to Nairobi on MAF flights from western Kenya because road travel is still dangerous. The workshop began on February 3 and finishes February 9. Facilitators have come from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Norway and Kenya

From the 9th these participants will return back to Rift Valley and western Kenya. They will minister in the “front lines” in internally displaced camps, broken and scattered congregations, and fractured communities. They will be faced with scores of people who have desperate and immediate needs. Their own personal security will be an issue. They will rely on God and their new training to help them in reconciliation efforts.

Let us remember them in our prayers. May there truly be “Unity in Christ”. May Christian reconciliation be evidenced in these leaders’ witness and work. Let us thank the Lord for those who planned and sponsored this timely training. Please continue to pray for the physical needs of 300,000 displaced peoples, for the opportunity to return, safely, to their homes. Pray for the means to rebuild destroyed churches and other properties. I have been told that at least 10 destroyed ELCK churches. Pray that there might be means of employment once again. Pray for former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, as he leads in discussions to break the political impasse in Nairobi. Pray for a quick, comprehensive, and just resolution to the issues facing the country of Kenya.

Thank you for praying. I will update this news from Kenya when fresh information is received. I remind you that WMPL has set up a relief fund for Kenya if the Lord should so move you to participate in this way.

Together in prayer,

Mike Koski

Romans 8:35-39

Africa Program Coordinator
World Mission Prayer League

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It says in James 5:16b, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” If ever there was a time to pray for the nation of Kenya in East Africa, the time is now. As you know, Kenya has been in the news for the last month or so because of tragic unrest in the country following national elections. The problems are deep seated and complex. The whole region in East Africa is affected. The news media tell us that over 800 people around the country have been killed and over 250,000 men, women, and children have been forcibly displaced and are internal refugees. As of today the chaos continues.

At present we have four WMPL missionaries in the country and all are safe and well. Three are in a remote area in northern Kenya where they feel the effects of food and fuel shortages and high prices. One missionary is in Nairobi. Our partnering church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya, and partner mission agencies, minister throughout the country of Kenya.

We have heard that perhaps as many as 10 ELCK church buildings have been destroyed. I am trying to verify this. The most visible and reported church vandalism took place the ELCK property in Kibera, Nairobi where a church, parsonage and nursery school were gutted by fire. Praise the Lord that no one was hurt there on that day.

I am told that there is a need for food, clothing, medicine, blankets, mattresses, and mosquito nets at present. Later will begin building reconstruction. Please pray that the Lord would show mercy to the land of Kenya. Pray that there would be a political solution to the current impasse and true peace and justice would be restored. Pray that the leadership would seriously address the underlying reasons for this current situation. Pray that Jesus would be near to His faithful and that many more people would seek Him. Pray that immediate needs would be met in His powerful name. Pray for safety, strength, patience and perseverance for ELCK leadership as they address the needs of their flocks and their neighbors.

I will update this message as I receive further word from church leaders, mission partners, our missionaries, friends and family (I have a daughter and son-in-law serving in northern Kenya). Please keep praying – prayer is “powerful and effective”. Oh yes, we have set up a relief fund here at WMPL if the Lord should move you to respond in this way.

Thank you!
Mike

Africa Program Coordinator
World Mission Prayer League

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