Anglican Alliance’s Philippines Appeal ; Kenyan faith leaders urge calm after Mombasa riots; Local Anglican agency in Ghana delivers aid after heavy rains and flooding; Canadian church pledges post-Isaac help for Haiti; WCC statement invokes new understanding of mission
Anglican Alliance’s Philippines Appeal
ACNS – Continuous heavy rains caused by the Southwest Monsoon and aggravated by Typhoons Saola and Haikui have left more than 2.4 million people affected.
The areas of Luzon and Visayas have been severely affected. According to the latest reports 67 people have died, 362,300 people have evacuated to 729 evacuation centres and an additional 284,200 people are staying with relatives and friends. You can read more information about the situation in The OCHA Humanitarian Report.
The Iglesia Filipina Independiente reports that people were trapped in the deluge. The transport system was paralyzed, leaving thousands stranded in the streets, as major routes became impassable for vehicles. Families lost their homes and many were forced to find temporary shelter. 8 parishes are functioning as evacuation centres to refuge mainly women, children and infants. Relief goods were also distributed to families who decided to remain
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/8/29/ACNS5176
Kenyan faith leaders urge calm after Mombasa riots
ENI/ACNS-Kenyan Christian and Muslim leaders are calling for calm in the coastal city of Mombasa after two days of violence over the killing of a militant Muslim cleric.
Churches were torched, vandalized and looted by Muslim youths who were protesting the 27 August killing of Sheikh Aboud Rogo, a cleric the American government has accused of aiding the al-Shabab militants of Somalia, allegedly linked to al-Quaeda. More than eight Protestant and evangelical churches were targeted.
A grenade was hurled at police officers who were trying to save a Presbyterian church. Three officers and a civilian were killed and 14 others injured.
With uneasy calm returning to the city, the Rev. Peter Karanja, National Council of Churches of Kenya general secretary, said he thanked Christians for showing restraint.
“We seek peaceful and legal means to resolve our grievances,” he told a news conference 29 August in Nairobi.
The council’s offices in the coastal region were also attacked. “The council through the national committee and the regional office is engaged and is seeking to get to the bottom of issues to restore peace,” Karanja told ENInews.
Local Anglican agency in Ghana delivers aid after heavy rains and flooding
ACNS – A local Anglican Agency in Tamale, Ghana has been providing emergency relief to hundreds of people hit by a severe storm.
In June, a heavy rainstorm affected poor communities in the Metropolitan Tamale District in the Northern region of Ghana. One person died, houses already fragile were flooded and their roofs blown up by the strong winds. Communities lost their properties and had to rebuild their homes. Local schools were also affected and required major reparations.
The Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organisation (ADDRO), the arm of the Diocese of Tamale of the Province of West Africa provided emergency help to the affected communities. Dozens of sacks of maize were distributed to the four most affected communities in August during the visit to Ghana of the Anglican Alliance Relief and Programmes Manager, Tania Veronica Nino Arevalo. This aid reached out 1300 people including women and children and will help them to meet basic needs while recovering from this emergency.
Canadian church pledges post-Isaac help for Haiti
Anglican Journal – The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) has pledged $25,000 for relief efforts in Haiti, where at least 24 people have died after tropical storm Isaac hit the Caribbean country on Aug. 24.
PWRDF, the relief and development arm of the Anglican Church of Canada, is working with the Lutheran World Federation and other members of the Action by Churches
Together (ACT) Alliance, to provide help for thousands who have lost homes, crops and other means of livelihood due to extensive flooding. The World Health Organization has also reported new outbreaks of cholera in the in the aftermath of the storm.
Flood victims will be provided with hygiene kits, cholera medicine and prevention, as well as livelihood support.
Areas affected by the storm include those that are still recovering from the 2010 earthquake, said an ACT Alliance report. “Livelihoods in highly vulnerable rural areas have been lost, and the affected communities have limited capacity to recover without external support,” it added.
WCC statement invokes new understanding of mission
ENI – The World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Central Committee on 30 August received the first ecumenical affirmation of mission since 1982, invoking a new understanding of mission and evangelism in a changing world and ecclesial landscape.
The statement draws on insights from Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox and Roman Catholic mission theologies, and will be presented at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, South Korea in 2013, according to a WCC news release.
”The significance of the statement lies in its concept of ‘mission from the margins’, which emphasizes the universality of working for all God’s people, as well as the creation, despite divisions and divides,” said Dr. Agnes Abuom, WCC Executive Committee member from Kenya.
The statement, titled “Together towards life: Mission and Evangelism in changing landscapes”, was prepared by the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).
The WCC Central Committee is a governing body representing the organization’s 349 member churches. It is meeting from 28 August to 5 September at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Greece.
http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=5903