were killed in separate incidents. The security leader for the Haga- dera camp was shot outside his home Dec. 29 by an unidentified gunman. On Jan. 1, an unidentified gunman killed the security leader for the Ifo camp. Leaders patrol day and night to ensure safety in the world’s largest refugee complex, home to just under half a million people, said LWF rep- resentative Lennart Hernander. LWF camp-based staff (reduced last fall by 60 percent to 55 workers) were relo- cated to the main Dadaab compound after the shootings.
Pastor sues over communion Jiro Kitamura is suing the United Church of Christ in Japan over his 2010 dismissal as a pastor for giving communion to unbaptized worship- ers. Kitamura, who was ordered to stop the practice in 2007, says he was “discarded without discussion.” The church’s moderator, Hideo Ishibashi, said Kitamura must repent and for- mally request permission to return to ministry. Kitamura is suing for $130,000 and reinstatement as a pastor.
Attacks in Nigeria Christians in northern Nigeria vowed to defend themselves after Muslim militants bombed a church in Mad- ella, just outside the capital, Abuja, on Christmas Day. Thirty-nine peo- ple were killed and hundreds injured when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive as worshipers left mass at St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church. National Council of Churches presi- dent Kathryn Lohre, an ELCA mem- ber, condemned such violence as “contrary to the common understand- ing of God’s love as it is expressed among Christians, Muslims and per- sons of all the major faith traditions.”
Norway: Catholics doubled Norway’s Roman Catholic popula- tion nearly doubled from 2005 to
2011, according to a Statistics Nor- way report. The growth from 43,000 to 83,000 can be attributed to immi- gration—mostly of artisans from Poland. To help, Roman Catholic leaders enlisted 21 Polish priests and are publishing a Polish magazine. The (Lutheran) Church of Norway still claims 3.8 million of the coun- try’s 4.9 million inhabitants as mem- bers. Another 106,700 Norwegians are Muslim.
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Advent of hope Youth from Christ and Trinity Lutheran churches, Sedalia, Mo., took a one-day
SIDNEY BRINK/SEDALIA DEMOCRAT
work trip last summer to Joplin to assist following a May tornado. After going door-to-door with supplies all day, they stopped at Peace Lutheran Church. There they found the signs of hope they had been looking for—glass shards stuck in a window frame and in the debris of the destroyed church. “I wanted to do some- thing with it,” Hannah Satnan said. With the help of art instructor Mike Shukers (left), Satnan, Mitchell Morenz, Alex Eppenauer, Caitlyn Craig and Emily Greble made a 6-by-3-foot cross that they returned to Peace the first Sunday in Advent.
February 2012 11
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