The Church at Kibera

Here is what I find to be the awe inspiring story of the church at Kibera. All of it is true and attested to by eye witnesses....

Kibera was a church that was worshipping about 60 on Sundays before the post-election violence. Also, a brand new, very nice (not just here in the slums nice, I saw the pictures it was really nice) FREE medical facility was attached to the church that was set up and run by Lutheran World Relief an agency of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod here in the US.

Kibera also had a school building and house for the pastor in the facility, both of which were burned, the house being completely destroyed.

Before the violence, the back end of the shops on the streets formed part of the fence for the church compound. During the violence, the shops were burned, leaving open passage to the church, the medical facilities and the rest of the compound. A large street gang broke in and started looting and burning everything. In the end almost everything was taken and the church as a whole was still standing as well as the walls (not the roof) of the school. Other than that, everything was destroyed. The pastors watched on live tv as the churches next to it were burned, then Pastor Winterle recieved the following phone call from a church leader:

``They have broken into the compound, they are taking and destroying everything,`` the caller said tearfully, watching from a distance, ``I hope they dont set fire to it`` Later he would call back in tears, ``they are burning it, they are burning everything.``

Here are a few notes however on how Gods hand was at work even in such a terrible tragedy.

-Some good samaritan as the church was burning on the roof, rushed in and brought out all the pews on the lawn to protect them from the fire. Amazingly, the pews were never taken, and when things such as sinks and bathtubs were being ripped out and stolen, as well as windows being ripped out, and the metal caging for the windows being ripped out and stolen, it is a miracle that the pews remained. Amazingly, despite the basement being burned, the roof partially burned, and the connecting medical center being burned, the church itself survived along with its pews.

-The church as a whole is still structurally sound enough to remain standing. This is also a miracle. Though parts of the building will need redone, it was still in enough shape to continue holding services in the time while they raise funds to rebuild the medical facility and everything else.

-Attendance as stated was at around 60 per Sunday before the violence. The Sunday after the violence ended (they had to cancel services during the riots) the church was open again and they are now averaging 130 people in attendance per Sunday!

-The leader of the gang, took the bottles of communion wine he found, and also the pastors robes and went out back as the church was burning and held a mock communion in mockery of the Lords Supper. Three day later this man was found dead. Upon medical examination, the cause of death was undeterminable, and ruled a ``mysterious death`` I will let the reader take that as you will...

-The principle at the school gave a great message. The leaders were all interviewed afterwards and pictures from the church made headlines across the world. When asked about the violence, the principle stated that none of them were mad at the people that did it, they just asked that God would forgive them because they did not know what they were doing and they forgave them. This was after her school had been ransacked, torn apart, roof burned off, bathrooms demolished, and all that was left standing was the walls and rooms. Enrollment at the school before the violence was 30. After the violence and with the aid of sponsor scholarships whose attention was grabbed by the headlines, enrollment was 120.

-The story behind the cross hanging in the front is a good one, although I will try to include that when I email my Dad the photos from that day. In short, the cross was completely burned, but the congregation after debate decided to keep it up.

-For the final story, and my favorite, I will share it and the end. Hearing this story and the others was very moving, the pastor and many of us almost to tears hearing him tell the stories of this church and congregation. Never did he complain, though saddened by the horrendous destruction, he continued to give thanks to God and with each story reminded us that at all times, these were reminders that God was working through even this terrible heartless disaster.

While cleaning up the altar area, someone came across the Bible that had been on the altar. The Bible was in miserable condition, having been burnt all the way through. Upon further examination, it was deemed that the Bible was so charred that none of the pages were visible, all except one that is. It was the one page that still had any part of it that was not touched by the fire. Some would say, as chance would have it, that this one page had only three visible verses. These verses came from Psalm chapter 124, with the only three verses able to be seen being verse 1, 2, and 3. They read:

``If the Lord had not been on our side -
let Israel say-
If the Lord hd not been on our side when men attacked us,
when their anger flared against us,
they would hve swallowed us alive``

They were not swallowed alive, not a single member parished in the violence. The church has gone on and is not only going on but is stronger. In the face of death, destruction, violence, they were not swallowed....