Southern Sudan Needs Prayers

Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), is asking members of the Christian Reformed Church to pray for south Sudan as it moves toward independence, set for July 9, from north Sudan. 

Nyomi has also asked the other 229 churches that are members of the WCRC to engage in prayer thanking God for “progress in efforts to reduce violent confrontation between opposing forces in Sudan.”

The Presbyterian Church of the Sudan and the Africa Inland Church Sudan are among the 66 WCRC member churches in Africa. 

“We are heartened by news of positive developments,” said Nyomi in a statement issued this week from WCRC’s office in Geneva, Switzerland. “It is urgent that terms for sustainable peace be found.”

Media reports say that the African Union is seeking to defuse tension in the period leading up to the declaration of independence of Southern Sudan by creating a demilitarized buffer zone between north and south Sudan.

In recent weeks, violence in the South Kordofan and the Blue Nile border states has led to civilian deaths and destruction of property.

“Earlier this month, we heard that the very homes, schools and churches that should have been places of refuge have been burned and destroyed,” said Nyomi.

“We are outraged by this and will continue to lift up our voices against such evil.  We pray that in this period leading up to the Independence Day and in the months after independence, such violence will cease, giving way to peace.”

But as oil-rich South Sudan gears up for its independence, “formidable challenges lay ahead…,” say news reports.

In an election earlier this year, Southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly for independence from the north.

Nyomi also encourages advocacy for Sudan leading up to July 9. 

“We call on all WCRC member churches and area councils to pray for the people of Sudan between Sunday July 3, and Sunday, July 10,” Nyomi writes.

“We ask especially that worship services on Sunday, July 3 and Sunday, July 10 include times of prayer for a peaceful transition into nationhood for Southern Sudan and peace for all the people in both Southern Sudan and Northern Sudan.”

Noting that prayers need to be accompanied by action, Nyomi is urging church leaders to use whatever leverage they have to influence the peace process. In some cases, Nyomi says, this may mean contacting government officials and asking them to “expose the forces of death and destruction and to support all efforts that bring life, peace and justice.”

WCRC was created in June 2010 at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., through a merger of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC). Its 230 member churches representing 80 million Christians are active worldwide in initiatives supporting economic, climate and gender justice, mission, and cooperation among Christians of different traditions. For more information, visit:  www.wcrc.ch