Last November the
partners broke ground on a Lutheran center and clinic in Juba, the nation’s capital. Te center is situ- ated near Juba’s Hai Referendum area, which lacks basic health and education services, making it dif- ficult for people who are displaced to improve their lives, said Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director for ELCA Global Mission. “It is precisely in that commu-
South Sudan
and bring healing to their
country. “Te church is calling for
the unity of the tribes in South
nity that we are planting a center to provide these opportunities,” he said. “Tis center will be a place of encounter for a community that has experienced the horrors of war; a place of hope for the next gen- eration of leaders; an instrument through which we will touch peo- ple’s lives; and where the good news of the gospel will be proclaimed.” Te center will offer courses,
including English language lessons and computer training. Tis will be the first formal education for many South Sudanese adults. “Most of them were in the war and couldn’t get an education,” said Mawien Ariik, an ELCA pastor who coordinates outreach for the new church. “Tis time is about catching up so they can learn, they can operate a computer and they will know how to write their names. Tis time is hope for them—we are giving them what they couldn’t get when they were young.”
A call for unity Joining Ariik at the church’s front- lines is Wal Reat, an ELCA pastor serving in refugee camps in South Sudan and its bordering countries. Both are South Sudanese natives who sought asylum in the U.S. during the war and eventually became ELCA pastors. What’s more, they come from feuding tribes. Together they hope to grow the Lutheran church
Sudan to be one in Christ, but it is tough for those who are really wounded to convince them to accept others,” Ariik said. “Te mes- sage that the church is conveying is that they are all children of God and we are supposed to remain as one. It is not bad to have different tribes, but to love others as one body of Christ—it is a big challenge for us to convey that.” While the new church is gaining
momentum, it has a long road ahead. Continued violence has delayed plans to build a second Lutheran center in a city near the Ethiopian border. Ariik and Reat cite tribalism as the church’s biggest challenge. “Te South Sudanese are happy
now that there is a church being built in Juba,” Reat said. “Juba is our center; all tribes are in Juba. We don’t have peace right now, but peace will come. Tis tribalism will go away. All of the people will come together.” Hope is a common thread con-
necting and motivating these lead- ers in South Sudan. Amid conflict, violence and poverty, they are grow- ing the Lutheran church, spreading the message of God’s love and bring- ing hope for a peaceful future. “[In the U.S.] there’s a season
when … the trees lose their leaves, but it doesn’t mean that they’re dead,” Ariik said. “For those who
Harbor of Hospitality
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Ariik shows Mark Jacobson (left), an ELCA missionary, and Atem the future site of the Lutheran center and clinic. The center is situated in an area that lacks basic health and education services.
believe our congregations are dying, they are not dying; they may come back to grow again, so there should be a hope for that. Like in Africa now—the Lutheran church is growing here.”
Harbor of Hospitality Seafarers
for
In the Ports of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Jersey New York & New England
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March 2016 39
ANDREW STEELE/ELCA
ANDREW STEELE/ELCA
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