Africa Inland Mission Mourns Slain Missionary Couple
by Allie Martin
March 24, 2004
(AgapePress) - Coworkers, friends, and relatives of two missionaries killed last week in Uganda are relying on prayer, God's strength, and His grace to see them through a tragic time.Last Thursday Warren and Donna Pett, both age 49, were shot to death along with a Ugandan student when seven armed men raided the college where the missionaries taught in Kampala. The American couple's bodies have been flown back to the U.S. for burial, and a funeral service is scheduled for Saturday at Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
The Petts served with Africa Inland Mission (AIM) and, according to Associated Press, had lived and taught at the Esther Evangelical School of Technology for the past year. Ugandan police picked up a suspect in the shooting last Saturday, but another half dozen suspects remain at large. Although a clear motive for the shooting has not been determined, the police noted that there was local opposition to Christian schools in the predominantly Muslim region.
Mission representative Paul Gazan says the Petts had worked with AIM since 1997, and he at one time served on the mission field with them. "We had served together in Nairobi for about four years, until our family came back to the states. They were very good servants of the Lord, great folks, who loved the Lord and loved people," he says.
Gazan says those who knew the couple are comforted by God's promises. "I know that the Petts are with the Lord Jesus right now, and that is a comfort to us," he says, "and we know that we have a hope in the resurrection of Christ, so we hang on to that -- and that helps us through. God's grace truly is sufficient."
Africa Inland Mission's spokesman says the Petts had effective ministries during the time he worked with them in Nairobi, and he has no doubt they would have continued to have a positive impact in Uganda, as they had for the past year.
Before entering the mission field seven years ago, the Petts were dairy farmers in Wisconsin, where their three children and two grandchildren still live. The family has asked that any memorials in honor of the couple be designated for Africa Inland Mission, or for Elmbrook Church.
