As militants step up attacks on Kenyan Christians, churches grapple with security and call for help with trauma counselling. A bishop urges youth to restrain from reprisals, while a widowed pastor's wife shows the way by forgiving her husband's killers.

Release International

Churches in Kenya are stepping up security measures and calling for help from skilled trauma counsellors following the growing number of attacks by Muslim militants.

On December 2, Al Shabaab Islamists killed 36 Christians and non-Muslims in an attack on quarry labourers in Northern Kenya. They separated out the Muslim workers and executed the others, shooting most of them and beheading two.

Ten days earlier, Islamists killed 28 in a similar attack, dragging passengers off a bus bound for Nairobi and killing those who could not recite the Muslim statement of faith. Most of the murdered passengers were Christians. The militants also carried out attacks on churches and Christians in Kenya in March, June, July and October.

The onslaught by the al-Qaeda-linked terror group is also rocking the government. Kenya's Security Minister was sacked on December 2 and the country's police chief resigned.

Al Shabaab claims the attacks are in reprisal against strikes on their bases in Somalia and the closing down of mosques in Kenya, where radical militants are actively recruiting. The group admitted responsibility for attacking the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, killing 67, and has also targeted bars and restaurants in Uganda.

As the attacks gather momentum in Kenya, a recent fact-finding trip by UK-based religious liberty organisation, Release International, found churches in the country struggling to respond.

A bishop in Mombasa, scene of riots where militants murdered a pastor, said churches were 'soft targets' for the extremists.

The bishop, who asked to be named only as Elisha, told Release: 'These are Muslim youths who have been radicalised. Al Shabaab are recruiting and training many in Somalia.'

And not only in Somalia. The Bishop said the militants were seeking out local youth in Kenya, who knew their way around and could select easy targets. 'They are recruiting from these neighbourhoods,' he said.

The church is struggling to respond. 'We need wisdom to deal with our young people,' he added. 'There is usually the urge to counter attack - but as Christians we are not supposed to attack our enemies.

'We also need workers who are trained in trauma counselling.' Bishop Elisha said churches in Kenya were calling for practical help to deal with the shock and longer-term distress from the growing onslaught.

Release spoke to a young widow who lost her husband during an attack in March. Islamists walked into her church in Likoni, near Mombasa, and opened fire, killing her husband, Philip, the assistant pastor, and five members of the congregation.

'When the terrorists had finished spraying the bullets,' she said, 'they knelt down and started praying. Then they took their AK47s and marched away.'

The gunmen had shot her husband from behind. The bullet passed through his chest and hit a child he was trying to help. Pastor Philip later died from his injuries, and Sarah was also wounded in the attack.

Despite everything, Sarah is able to forgive: 'I really forgive them from my heart because they are just human beings. I always pray that the living God will change their hearts and they will serve him.'

She added: 'Life is hard, but I thank God, because not a day goes by when we are angry.'
Sarah and others tell their stories in the latest edition of Release magazine, which is available from the Release International website.

Release International helps persecuted Christians around the world. Release associates responded to the attack by providing food and other materials for families forced out of their homes.

'What these growing number of attacks reveal is the extent to which the threat of Islamist terrorism has now spread to Kenya,' said Release International Chief Executive, Paul Robinson.

'Once again it is Christians who are bearing the brunt of the violence. We urge Muslim leaders in Kenya to take urgent steps to counter the radicalisation of their youth. We urge the Kenyan government to do all it can to step up security. And we encourage Christians everywhere to join with us in providing practical support to those displaced by terror and violence.'