On Wednesday, December 17, 2003, Liberian journalist Soka Moses interviewed the Rt. Rev. Sumoward E. Harris, Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Liberia (LCL) about the current work and situation of the Lutheran Church in Liberia. The following is the report of that interview.

Bishop Harris stated that LCL, like other institutions, is beginning to plan reassessment of the damage done to its institutions and parishes.

Curran Lutheran Hospital at Zorzor, for example, was burned down in 1993. The hospital was rebuilt in 1998, but in 1999 and 2000 Curran Hospital was completely burned down for the second time by LURD fighters.

In a similar sequence of events, Phebe Hospital at Suakoko was forced to close down in April 2002 when LURD attacked Gbarnga. When government forces regained the town some weeks later, Phebe Hospital staff members returned and began rebuilding the badly damaged hospital. But in March of this year, LURD succeeded in capturing Gbarnga again, and then advanced on the hospital. The staff evacuated again, and rebels have held the compound since that time, completely looting and wrecking every one of the hospital's 50 buildings.

According to Bishop Harris, most of the institutions owned by the LCL have been damaged. These institutions include churches, parsonages, schools, hospitals, and clinics. "But because of the fragile security situation in most parts of the country," he said, "it is difficult to make a comprehensive assessment of the damage done to all the LCL institutions in Liberia."

In an effort to begin an assessment, an LCL delegation that included Bishop Harris traveled in October and November to Lofa, Bong, and Nimba Counties in order to see what destruction was incurred on LCL facilities in these areas. They visited the Phebe Hospital & School of Nursing and Phebe Lutheran High School in Suakoko, and St. Mark's Lutheran High School in Gbarnga. The assessment team found that both institutions had been heavily looted.

The roof of the Lutheran Church in Gbartala, in Bong County, was stolen, and the church in Ganta, Nimba County, was burned down. The parish church in Koilila, Bong County, suffered similar damage. Christ Lutheran Church and School in Bong Mines were burned down and destroyed. The Lutheran Church and school in Tubmanburg, Bomi County, were all burned down.

Although it has not been possible to visit other LCL institutions around the country because of security situation, all indications suggest that most of these have also incurred severe damage and destruction.

To continue the investigation, Bishop Harris explained that the LCL has agreed in principle to set up two assessment teams to begin comprehensive assessment of all LCL institutions in Liberia. He said "this internal assessment will reach LCL clinics, parsonages, churches, hospitals, and schools to determine whether these institutions still exist or not."

The bishop stated that the early assessments resulted in a figure of about $16 million for reconstruction of the institutions that have been visited. This estimate is certainly less than the total amount needed for reconstruction for all of the LCL institutions in the country, and the fact that looting and destruction continue daily even at those facilities that have been visited. Because of the lack of funds, Bishop Harris continued, the LCL will have to prioritize the reconstruction of only a few of its institutions.

Bishop Harris explained that at its Executive Council Meeting, the LCL voted to invite mission partners to sent experts in order to examine all of the facilities. This would lead to a realistic evaluation of the cost of reconstruction, and the preparation of a list of which institutions need immediate reconstruction and which can be delayed until adequate funds are available.

He said the need for such an assessment is very crucial, but obviously depends on complete disarmament of rebels and militias. This will ensure free movement in all parts of Liberia without harassment.

When asked to comment on the congregations of Lutheran parishes that were destroyed in the war, Bishop Harris explained that most of these people reside in displaced persons' camps in Totota, Salala, Monrovia and other parts of the country. He said that most of the displaced Lutherans residing in Monrovia currently worship with other Lutheran Churches in the city. He said that in some of the camps, where there are large numbers of Lutherans, chapels have been erected. Three such chapels have been erected in Totota, one in Salala, one in VOA camp at the old U.S. Omega Station Compound, and one at the University of Liberia's Fendell Campus near Monrovia.

Bishop Harris stated that the LCL has formed a relief committee. This relief committee has been providing the IDPs with food items not provided by WFP and UNHCR, such as rice, the staple food of Liberians. IDPs also receive clothing, and kitchen utensils to help them sustain themselves. He added that the general membership of the LCL benefited in cash, food and non-food items. However, he sadly explained that these materials are never enough for the large number of desperate Lutherans in the country. He then made an appeal to Mission partners, who have been assisting LCL to do more.

Gbarnga School of Theology (GST)

When Bishop Harris was asked to comment on the status of the Gbarnga School of Theology, he explained that the seminary operated as a non-denominational institution, training pastors for the Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopal Churches in Liberia until two years ago. The institution was established as a joint venture of these three churches, but two years ago the LCL stopped contributing to GST and the three churches agreed to annex the seminary to the United Methodist University. LCL still trains its pastors at the school because the school's curriculum is suitable, and the seminary is "is cost effective, efficient and less expensive than what it would cost to train pastors in other African countries."

Presently, the Methodist Church has the highest number of students and teachers at GST. "Only one LCL teacher is currently teaching at the school," the Bishop said.

According to Bishop Harris, there have been plans for a Lutheran seminary in Liberia, owned by LCL, but because of the war it has not been possible to start such an institution. At the moment, he continued, the founding of a Lutheran seminary must be delayed.

"The point where our foreign partners will consent to support such a venture has not come," he said, "because the priority now is to reconstruct and rehabilitate demolished hospitals, clinics, churches, schools and parsonages."

Some of the essential LCL institutions are partially functioning, attempting to help the country meet the immediate postwar needs. Curran Hospital has a small mobile team. But Bishop Harris said that the mobile facility is too expensive to operate and too small. "Coupled with this," he said, "the displaced persons benefiting from the services provided do not have money to pay for the services."

Phebe Hospital has set up a small field hospital at Salala, but the funds provided through the European Union, ELCA, and other donors are not adequate to run the little field hospital. "Some employees are making barely $20 a month," the bishop reported, "which cannot possibly meet their needs." The government of Liberia had been the major donor providing funds to Phebe Hospital until 1990, when all such funding was stopped due to other priorities.

Among other Lutheran institutions that are functioning, at least partially, are 11 Lutheran high schools in and around Monrovia, and the Lutheran parishes in the same area.

In response to the special needs generated by the war, the Lutheran Church in Liberia has established several new programs.

One of these is a Trauma Healing Program, which the bishop explained is concerned with the psychosocial health of Liberians. He said this program is crucial to the country because it enables the LCL to address psychosocial problems that Liberians incurred as the result of the traumatic experience of the brutal civil war, which has ruined the country for the past 14 years. In addition, the Trauma Healing Program is also promoting reconciliation programs.

With the commencement of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Rehabilitation (DDRR) Program by the United Nations peacekeeping force, the LCL is also undertaking disarmament sensitization. This project is directed toward resolving the trauma experienced by fighters and victims during the war and recognizing the ways in which public attitudes will change as a result of the disarmament project. At the moment that project has been halted by the U.N. until January 20.

The LCL also has an active program of work with HIV/AIDS patients. Bishop Harris explained that the LCL is the only church institution in Liberia training counselors to work with HIV positive persons, in order to help them lead a positive life. The Danish Evangelical Mission has been the principal sponsor of this program. The HIV/AIDS program has testing and counseling centers at Phebe Hospital and in Monrovia, and there are plans to open more testing centers in other parts of Liberia.

In his summary, Bishop Harris noted that the LCL is faced with numerous problems, some of which are national in scope. He said that in addition to the destruction of property, which is often the most obvious and visible crisis, the LCL is also deeply concerned by the breaking down of relationships and the destruction of lives by the personal trauma of war.

Looking within the LCL, Bishop Harris said that a very serious financial difficulty is the current inability to pay pastors their rightful salaries. He said that "LCL has a setup wherein the parishes are responsible to pay their assigned pastors, but because about 90% of the parishes were destroyed and their congregations forced to reside in displaced camps, these parishes can no longer bear this financial burden of paying their pastors."

In conclusion, Bishop Harris thanked the LCL Mission Partners, including the Church of Sweden, the Danish Government via the Danish Evangelical Mission (DEM), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). These and other smaller groups provided much-appreciated assistance during the 14 years of war in Liberia. "It is through their help that the Church has continued to survive," Bishop Harris said. He then pleaded for their prayer and material support, and their advocacy on behalf of Liberia to their various country governments. He said such advocacy has had positive results, and has resulted in the present peace process in Liberia.

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