GREETINGS to you from our
EmpowerOne team and the churches in Yei, South Sudan. Here is a summary of my trip so please read
at your leisure and enjoy!
W H E R E ?
South
Sudan is in the middle of East Africa in the place where the landscape transitions from wide-open grass
land to lush forests as you head south toward the equator.
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| The Nile River, my personal favorite river, runs from Uganda through South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt into the Mediterranean |
The town of Yei is in Central Equatoria State in the southernmost part of the country, southwest of the capital Juba and almost equidistant from the borders of The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
As
you leave the town of Yei on the roads that lead to either neighboring country
the thick trees and grass conceal numerous small villages in what is commonly
referred to as “the bush”. We held our training in one such village
called Abua (like “agua” with a “b”) gathering leaders from 3 other
villages and 3 different churches in the town of Yei.
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| Abua Baptist Church |
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| Yei Green Valley Hotel was our home for 5 days. It's new. The county commissioner lived in the room next to mine |
Agricultural
and economic developments in Yei could help feed and stabilize the rest of the
country. The stability of the region
gives it potential for spiritual vibrancy that could also flow out into the
rest of South Sudan. Yei is one of the brighter lights in a very
dark place. While much of our time
in South Sudan is focused on deficits, Yei is important because it is a place
where we can build on the positives and develop native South Sudanese leaders
who can make a difference in parts of the country that have direr needs.
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| Mountains and misty mornings. Just like the Pacific Northwest? |
W H O ?
The
USA team on this trip was comprised of two fellow Dallasites and myself. Bart "White Dinka" Roberson was my co-leader on this trip
and was on our team my first trip in 2012. He might be
the funniest accountant you’ll ever meet and he has a great heart for ministry. Josh Smith is a fella I connected with
through an old friend and it was a joy to introduce him to South Sudan. He is bold in engaging with people and
tasting the local food.
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| Bart and I at a pit stop in Uganda. |
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| Josh and our driver Boscoe. |
On
the South Sudan side we were coordinating with Pastor David Taban. He is
the pastor of Rwonye Baptist Church in Yei town and oversees a network of
churches in Yei county and Central Equatoria state. He is
one of the most talented ministers I have ever met. He is gifted both pastorally and administratively,
which is a hard combination to find, and his passion for serving the people of
Yei is unmatched. Despite all his talent
he is a humble man of God.
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| I taught Pastor David how to take a "selfie" |
David gathered together a core group of 15 church leaders
and pastors from 7 different villages in the area surrounding the town of
Yei. A few of these men and women have some seminary education, others are
lay leaders, and some are still working out their theology but they all
love Jesus and want to see transformation in their communities.
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| Malice is the Pastor of Abua Baptist Church |
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| Leaders and members of Abua Baptist Church |
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| Fautino is an elder in the church. He's holding a Dungu |
W H A T ?
The
purpose of our trip was to strengthen the churches around Yei by developing the
leadership. Practically this meant two
main focuses: Teaching Bible Study Methods and Basic Church Planting Principles.
Teaching
Bible Study methods through a translator with a semi-educated group of people
is……..a lot of fun. We kept our method
simple asking them to answer three basic questions when reading scripture: What does the text say about God? What does
it say about Man? What does it say we should do? We did this in small discussion groups and
modeled teaching through facilitating discussion rather than rote lecture.
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| We were happy to have women attend the training too |
This
is a new method of teaching for most in South Sudan. By day 2 they had the basic idea. By day 3 they were beginning to lead the
discussions with some direction and feedback.
By day 4 I was able to sit back and watch them have lively discussions
relating scripture to the unique issues they face in their culture. I was not even having them translate for my
sake because it only slowed them down.
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| John |
Our Church Planting teaching
consisted of developing 4 main actions of the church: Prayer, Evangelism,
Discipleship, and Gathering Together.
Teaching
prayer was a learning experience for me as the typical “go around the circle
and each person pray as they feel led” method many of us are used to is not
something familiar to them. So after a
few awkward silences we adapted our methods
to a style of prayer they were more familiar with, instead of making them
pray the way our culture says you should.
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| Moses and Moses |
We
had everyone pray out loud at the same time and simply asked them to give thanks
to God and then ask God to meet their needs.
It was a simple format but David
shared with me that many of these church leaders are not used to praying out
loud or leading prayer groups so the foundation of simply giving thanks and
then making requests will give them something to build on. We continued to practice this throughout the
week.
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| Franco |
Our
teaching on sharing the gospel was the most memorable part of the trip. We taught each person how to share a personal
testimony; asking them to simply tell the story of their life before they knew
Jesus, how they came to know Jesus, and what their life was like after coming
to know Jesus.
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| Charity |
The
stories in my group consisted of everything
from wartime trauma, to abandonment, to hopelessness, to a lot of alcoholism, a
lot of anger, and ultimately a lot of grace.
It was a gift for me to sit with these men and women and hear their
stories of suffering and redemption.
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| Santino |
Our
discipleship training focused on the principle of mentoring others by simply
sharing life with them. We emphasized working and eating together
as much as praying and reading the Bible together. Spiritual life is cultivated not only in the
explicitly spiritual activities but in the daily living of life in
community.
W H Y ?
South
Sudan is the newest country on the planet and this baby nation is still
learning to crawl. Half a century of civil war with what is now Sudan has left generations
of people who only know how to live in crisis mode. People don’t plan for the future, politicians
are corrupt, alcohol is many people’s best coping skill, and education is
sparse. In the last two years the new
South Sudan has regressed again to civil war, now among the South Sudanese
themselves who were allies in fighting the north less than a decade before. The old pattern is being repeated.
But
if we believe that Jesus can save our souls for the next life and change our
character in this one then the Gospel is
truly good news for South Sudan.
More transformed hearts means more servant-leaders, more unified
communities, more courage for change and most of all more hope.
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| Peter holding a Bible translate into Bari, the local language |
On
our last day in Yei I told the church leaders that in the USA we have a word
pronounced “Yay”. I told them it’s a
word we say when something good happens.
It’s a word for celebration. I
told them this is especially true for me because when I hear “Yay” I think of
“Yei” and I celebrate the good things that God is doing in that place. Thank
you for supporting me and thank you for supporting the people of Yei. I hope as you read this you are also saying
“Yei” and celebrating.
