church and leadership at the SIC General Assembly in April 2008, the first joint assembly in 25 years. Ramadan Chan, general secretary of both the SIC and the

Sudan Council of Churches, described euphoric scenes in the country as citizens celebrated the country’s independence in July. “Cars are hooting their horns, people are dancing in their flats and their houses. The general mood is jubilation,” he said. Chan indicated that Christians have a crucial peace-building

role to play in South Sudan. Churches, he said, are focused on a major program of reconciliation in an attempt to help heal scars caused by the civil war. “People have been at war a long time. There is the issue of trauma, and the need for cohesion,” Chan said. “We know it’s going to be a long process and we don’t know when it will end, but that is what the churches want to do and they are committed to it.” The SIC runs a relief and rehabilitation agency that addresses needs of communities and persons affected by war. In the days leading up to the referendum in January, the BWA

issued a call to its member organizations around the world to pray for Sudan so that the government of Sudan would respect the will of the people in the referendum, and that there would be a “broader and more robust implementation of peace and development.” On July 9, the same day the country gained its independence,

the BWA General Council, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, passed a resolution giving official recognition to South Sudan, and shared the country’s “joy of achieving independence.” The BWA pledged to pray “for a peaceful transition,” and promised to “partner with Baptist bodies in the country in strengthening Christian witness in South Sudan.” Also on July 9, the BWA accepted the Baptist Convention of

Sudan (BCOS) as a new member body. BCOS started in refugee camps in Kakuma, Kenya, by persons displaced by the Second Sudanese

Civil War. The BCOS has more than 13,500 members in 18 churches and 32 missions. Of concern to Christian churches, including Baptists, is the

status of Christians in what is now Sudan, the northern section of the country before the south seceded. Sudan is predominantly Muslim. The Sudan Council of Churches issued a statement after the referendum in January expressing “sincere gratitude to God for the overwhelming success of the South Sudan referendum.” But the umbrella church group also “affirm[s] our unity as the Church of Jesus Christ, both in the North and in the South. Being one body of Christ, we are one people and we are indivisible. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Our divine mandate exceeds geographical and political boundaries.” The statement also calls for freedom of worship, movement,

expression and residence in the two states and requests that the government of South Sudan ensure the security and the protection of the civil population caught in the crossfire between militias and government forces. “We recommit ourselves to the ministry of justice, peace

and reconciliation in our country,” the Council of Churches said. “As we engage in this noble task, we call upon our political leaders in the North and in the South to refrain from making provocative statements and instead preach peace, harmony and good neighborliness among all our people.” BW

A girl sings the South Sudan national anthem during a rehearsal of the Independence Day ceremony in Juba, July 5, 2011. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic, courtesy www.alertnet.org)

16 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE