Do Not Be Overcome by Evil

LWF Urges Unity Following Nairobi Attack

GENEVA, 23 September 2013 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has expressed its pain and shock over the brutal extremist attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, communicating solidarity with the people and urging the Kenyan government to respond with wisdom and courage.

“We pray for all the people in Kenya, so that they are not derailed from their vocation to live together as different communities, yet with the fundamental conviction that difference is not to be combated,” said LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, in a 23 September letter to church leaders.

Junge wrote to Bishop Zachariah W. Kahuthu of the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church and Bishop Dr Walter E. Obare Omwanza of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya praying that the churches work for unity “so that a public opinion is forged towards togetherness of the people of Kenya in justice and peace.”

Reminding the Kenyan churches of Saint Paul’s exhortation to “not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21), Junge said the attack shows that extremism and violence lead to destruction.

“May the churches’ witness be carried by a voice towards moderation so that extremism doesn’t take away in one weekend what the people of Kenya have been building in committed efforts over the decades,” Junge concluded.