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Few in Liberia have been spared from suffering in its long-simmering civil war, but Christians there who have themselves been subject to misery are seeking to heal their land through Christ’s love and holistic outreach.

The visible toll in Monrovia, the capital, and in rebel-held areas is in the growing population of amputees. According to World Relief, more than 5,000 young Liberians have lost limbs in the war. They’re subject to public ridicule, and often their only means of livelihood is begging. Many amputees live in Logan Town, one of Liberia’s most sordid ghettos, notorious for its crime, drugs and violence. In July it was a battleground as guerrillas of LURD, or Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, moved toward Monrovia.

Enter J. Jomah Kollie, pastor of Logan Town Wesleyan Church, located in the heart of the ghetto. He lost his arm to a gunshot in 1990 when rebels accused him and five friends of being part of the president’s army. His burden for those who have lost limbs has led him to launch the Amputee Rescue Ministry. It seeks to provide amputees with food, clothing and job training for those who have lost the ability to work, and even school tuition for amputee families. The ministry receives help from World Hope International via the Wesleyan Church of Liberia.

World Hope also helps the Logan Town church provide drugs for its health clinic where four physician assistants, five nurses, three nurse aids and a pharmacist treat some 300 patients a week for diarrhea and malnutrition. They also care for pregnant women, all free of charge.

Kollie knows that everyone needs a good song, especially those whose lives have been ripped apart by violence. He set up a street ministry in which the youth of his church hit the mean avenues of Logan Town singing hymns and preaching the word. Fifteen people comprise the church’s team that goes “caroling” in communities around Monrovia. The songs draw a crowd, and then one of three team preachers delivers a sermon. Listeners are invited back to the church where church members disciple and minister to them.

“Many of the people here are traumatized from the war. Music and the word are the best way to de-traumatize a person,” Kollie said as his cell phone rang to the tune of “Amazing Grace.”

The results of the caroling effort: on September 14, Kollie’s church baptized 43 new believers.

The Logan Town church has seen God move amid despair. As fighting persisted in July, more than 2,500 people fled to the church where Kollie and his family also sought refuge.

During prolonged fire-fights, refugees gathered in the sanctuary. Kollie sat with them, encouraged them to pray and reminded them that God was near. He never doubted God’s protection.

“One evening the fighting got really bad. We prayed for the blood of Christ to cover the church and not to let a single bullet touch us,” Kollie said. That evening, nothing hit the church.

The following morning, however, Kollie was sitting in his office when a bullet zipped through the window.

“I felt as if that bullet was God telling me ‘good morning,’” Kollie said with a chuckle.

Kollie’s rude awakening had a purpose. LURD soldiers came to the church that morning.

“LURD rebels accused a boy in my church of being a soldier, grabbed him and decided they were going to cut off eight of his fingers,” Kollie said. “God helped me to intervene, however, and the LURD soldiers left without harming anyone.”

Weeks later when the fighting ceased and LURD pulled out, a giant wound lay open in the community. Kollie knew that Christ was the healing power that the people of Logan Town and Liberia needed. From that was born the church’s outreach.

“I tell my congregation that we, God’s church, though some of us may be hurt, are the healers,” Kollie said.

Matthew Pugh is a communications associate with World Relief.