LWF General Secretary offers prayers following massacre of civilians, most of whom were members of Lutheran church
(LWI) - The General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt, has sent “sincerest condolences” to the church and people of the Central African Republic, following the massacre of eighteen civilians by armed rebels near the town of Bohong in the north-west of the country.
In a message to the president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic, Bishop Joseph Ngoe, the Lutheran leader said it is “with a heavy heart” that she had learnt of the killings which took place on 2 April. She noted that the massacre came just two days after the bishop had celebrated Easter with worshippers gathered at a missionary center in Bohong.
We can imagine how difficult are the conditions in which you work and the risks that you take in carrying out your ministry.
– LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Anne Burghardt
“We can imagine how difficult are the conditions in which you work and the risks that you take in carrying out your ministry,” Burghardt said. She noted that this latest attack “adds to the long list of massacres” which have targeted civilians over recent years, adding that the brutality of the killings demonstrates that for the perpetrators “human life has absolutely no value.”
Burghardt affirmed that, as a global communion of churches, the LWF will continue to pray for the people of the Central African Republic, in particular for “the families who are directly affected" by this tragedy.
“We also pray for the reconciliation initiative in which the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic is engaged,” she concluded, “in the knowledge that it will contribute in a significant way to bringing peace” and restoring hope to all those suffering the effects of the conflict.
