South Sudan Update

What's been happening?

          As you may know there has been in internal conflict in South Sudan since December when fighting broke out between soldiers who wanted to oust the current president and those who are loyal to him.  The conflict has been mainly along tribal lines with the Dinka tribe being loyal to the President, Salva Kiir, opposing the Nuer tribe, led by former vice president Riek Machar, making up most of the rebel faction.  Given the tribal nature of the conflict most of the fighting has occurred in territories comprised of these tribes and in the towns of Bor, Bentiu, and Malakal with some initial skirmishes in the capital, Juba.  Talks between the two sides have been on going but no measurable progress toward peace has been made.  Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes. 

Here is a fairly recent story http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27291154
And another helpful resource http://sudanreeves.org/

How is this affecting Empower Sudan?

         In the midst of the conflict we have turned our attentions to refugee relief in regions where we had people serving that were affected by the conflict.  

         Pastor John Monychol is our regional leader in the Upper Nile State, where the town of Malakal is located and where there has been a lot of fighting.  His home was destroyed and his congregation has spread to different parts of the country as people flee the fighting.  We have been partnering with him to provide food that He and his church are distributing among refugees in Upper Nile State.  

          The town of Nimule on the border with Uganda is far from the fighting but is on the way to refugee camps in Uganda.  As a result Pastor Tolbert, another local pastor we support, and his church have been assisting refugees on their way to Uganda.  We continue to try to provide food and what shelter we can.

          In all of this our vision and mission to Empower local church leaders remains the same.  People in South Sudan need hope right now and Jesus is that hope.  While we are focusing a great deal of our resources on the areas affected we continue to plant churches and minister to pastors in areas that we operate that have remained conflict free.

more on what Empower Sudan is doing here http://empowersudan.org/home/blog/
 

What about little Torit where I like to go?

          Thankfully the conflict has not reached Torit.  The majority of the fighting is in the North and Torit is in Eastern Equatoria State in the East.   There are very few Dinka and Nuer in Eastern Equatoria and since this is a tribal conflict they have very little interest in this region.  Eastern Equatoria remains under the control of the central government but there is no strategic incentive for rebel groups to go there, especially with their limited resources.  While Pastor Dominic and his church are heavily grieved by the conflict they report that things are normal on a day to day basis.   

What's Next?  Torit 2014 - Happy Birthday Me

          As I mentioned we are continuing to support pastors and church planters in the areas unaffected by the conflict so I'll be going back to Torit this September, just in time for my 32nd birthday.  This trip was scheduled for this month but we postponed it to see if it would be safe to go.  We have assessed the situation there and while there is always risk in traveling abroad we feel it is safe to travel to Torit.  I would not be going if I didn't think it was safe.

Think About Joining Us

           As always I'm looking for a team to join me.  We will be doing some Theology training with the local church leaders and Bible teaching with people in the village.  If you're interested then let's talk more about it.  I love sharing this place with people. As always I'll be raising support to fund the trip and there will be more to come in that department.  Until then MUCH LOVE!
   

Somewhat Unrelated Update

It has been some time since I posted anything on the goings on in South Sudan and what Empower Sudan is up to.  I've been a little busy with our new baby boy Paul Kelly Garrett.  He was born January 11, 2014 and He is the greatest thing in the world!  I could tell you all about him until we ran out of internet but I'll just post a few pictures.  Enjoy!

I'M OFFICIALLY ON STAFF WITH EMPOWER SUDAN

 Mong, Mong, Mong (Hello, Hello, Hello)          

            I’ve recently taken a part time staff position with Empower Sudan.  I’m in the process of raising monthly support for this position and wanted to give you an idea of what Empower Sudan does, how I fit into all of that, and what my funding will look like.

THE GOAL

            Empower Sudan’s (empowersudan.org) goal is to reach the 20 million people in South Sudan and Sudan who have never heard the good news of Jesus.  We do this by providing support to South Sudanese nationals to plant churches, disciple others, and create positive change in their communities. The reason we are called “Empower” Sudan is because our goal is to provide knowledge and resources to South Sudanese pastors so that they can do evangelism and discipleship in their communities. 

This map shows Sudan and South Sudan

Can you find Torit on this map of South Sudan?  That's where I go every year.

THE METHOD

             Our organization is made up equally of Americans who provide support and South Sudanese who live and minister in their local villages and towns.  We do not have any Americans on staff who live full time in South Sudan.  The reason for this is that we do not want to the South Sudanese to be dependent on us for leadership.  We empower them to lead and then we step out of the way and let them do so. 

            As a result of this model most of our work from the American side is done through short-term trips.  Teams of three to six will go and do a myriad of different trainings in everything from theology to community development to education to evangelism.  We have knowledge and resources that the pastor’s there do not have but they are more equipped to minister to the people in their country than we will ever be.     

These pictures were take at our community development training in Torit last October.

        
              If you visit the invest section of the website (http://empowersudan.org/home/invest/) you can see that we do a lot of things on top of training church leaders.  We operate a Bible School that provides theological training.  We provide physical resources to help pastors like bicycles and motor-bikes.  We even have staff who focus on educator training for church leaders who have started schools in their communities. 

 

WHO IS EMPOWER SUDAN

            To help you understand a little bit more about how the organization works I’ll tell you about some of our key leadership.

Mike Congrove is the head of Empower Sudan from the American side.  He takes frequent training trips and oversees all operations and fundraising.

Pastor David Kaya is the head of Empower Sudan on the South Sudan side.  He’s been church planting in South Sudan for at least ten years.  He and Mike equally share all decision making for the organization.

David Kaya (left) and Mike Congrove (right)

Brian Bain is the Regional Strategy coordinator for the Eastern Equatoria State (There are ten states in South Sudan).  He takes four to five trips to South Sudan each year to train pastors and teach at the Bible School.

Dominic Africa is the South Sudanese pastor of the church in Torit where I have visited the last two years.  He partners with Brian in the planting of churches in the Eastern Equatoria state. 

Then there is Me.

Brian (left) Dominic (middle) Me (right)

MY ROLE

            I will work directly under Brian leading one trip a year to support Dominic and the churches he has planted.  Each year we have four to five specific trainings that we plan to do with each of our South Sudanese pastors.  These trainings are designed to give the church leaders a solid theological foundation, leadership skills, and vision for planting churches. 

            A typical trip will have three to six people visiting from Monday to Friday.  Each day our mornings and early afternoons we do training with church leaders.  In the late afternoons we usually invite all the church members and people in the community to larger bible teaching.  We have a lot of children attend these teachings.  The well being of the children in South Sudan will have a major impact on the future of the country so ministry to the younger generations is a key part of our what we do.  My next trip is scheduled for the end of May this year and I'm still looking for people to go with me so let me know if you're interested.

            In addition to leading one trip a year I also take part in strategy development with the American team here in Dallas.   

Nothing is cuter than kids in suits........... so read on

 

HOW MY FUNDING WORKS

            My goal is to raise $4,500 a year.  This is the average cost of the one trip I will be leading each year.  Supporters can give one time donations or now you can give monthly!  

While one-time donations are always welcome I’m currently looking for monthly supporters.  This would allow me to have a majority of my support raised before the months leading up to a trip so that I can put more time into planning and preparing instead of fundraising.

If I do not reach full support from monthly donations I will look for one-time donations to cover the remaining cost of a trip as trips are scheduled.  So if you are not able to give monthly you will have plenty more opportunities to give.   

YOU CAN SET UP RECURRING PAYMENTS OR GIVE ONE TIME DONATIONS HERE

https://secure.empowersudan.org/np/clients/empowersudan/donation.jsp?campaign=37&test=true

I want the people who invest in the work of Empower Sudan to be confident that their money is being used well. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions about our model or my role.  I love sharing about what God is doing in Sudan.  I feel that Empower Sudan is an excellent organization doing very important work in a place where not many people are willing to go.

Cows are a currency in South Sudan but unfortunately you can't donate them to Empower Sudan

SOUTH SUDAN IN THE NEWS

I want to talk a little about the current conflict in South Sudan.  If you haven’t read anything about it in the news there is fighting right now between two of the major tribes.  I won’t go into too much detail here because there is more to explain than I can in this space but if you want to learn more I would love to talk about it and clarify anything.  The BBC coverage has been good and this site has also been very informative http://sudanreeves.org/. 

We are still assessing how this will affect the work of Empower Sudan.  The mission of reaching the 20 million has not changed and will not change although our methods might.  Thankfully all of our pastors and church leaders were safe and accounted for the last time we spoke with them.  The town of Torit, where I go, has not seen any violence and is relatively safe. 

It is sad to see disunity among some of the people in South Sudan but it is evidence that the people there need the peace that only Jesus can give.  My next trip is scheduled for May of 2014 and as of now we are still planning on going (and are still looking for people to join us).  We will not take any unnecessary risks but we are hopeful for peace and want to be ready to go if we are able.