Mission visit to southern Sudan receives a warm welcome.

A visit to southern Sudan to explore opportunities for Brethren mission work there has received a warm welcome from church leaders and others, reported Bradley Bohrer, who began in September as director of the Sudan mission.

The delegation that returned Oct. 4 from the four-day trip included Bohrer; Louise Baldwin Rieman, a former mission worker in Sudan; and Merv Keeney, the board's executive director for Global Mission Partnerships. The group spent time in Nairobi, Kenya, and Rumbek, southern Sudan, visiting with officials of the New Sudan Council of Churches, various churches, local government offices, and assistance organizations. The Brethren met with possible partners for the mission--an initiative approved by the General Board one year ago--and identified locations that may be options for placing mission workers.

Bohrer described the mission in southern Sudan as two-fold--seeking to help rebuild and heal the community after years of war, and also to form churches. He highlighted the great amount of work needed just to rebuild the infrastructure of southern Sudan, an area he described as almost as large as the area of the southern states in the US. It has been virtually destroyed by the country's civil war, he said. There are few schools, few wells, few paved roads, and no real health care for most people. The delegation saw signs of war everywhere, including shot-up churches, destroyed buildings, bomb shelters--now being used for other purposes since last year's peace accord--and areas that cannot be farmed because of land mines.

On the other hand, Bohrer said, the south of Sudan is a land of potential, with resources in abundance and the people desiring to live in peace as they rebuild. "The people spoke of hope and of future, even in the midst of disrupted lives."

The southern Sudanese and their church leaders are welcoming the Church of the Brethren mission, Bohrer said. "It's important to remember that we've been in Sudan since 1980," he said. At least 16 Brethren mission workers have served in Sudan since 1980, and the board has also supported three staff of the New Sudan Council of Churches.

"We need to enter this work to walk alongside, not to lord over, because we will find the answers alongside the Sudanese," Bohrer said. "We are not starting the work of Jesus Christ in Sudan," he added. "The gospel work is happening there. We are going to go into the setting to find our place there."

This trip enabled the Brethren to reconnect with church partners, Bohrer said, and will help staff decide where to place mission workers. A rough timeline outlined to the board includes the hiring and placement of the first mission workers by next spring. An initial team of two couples or families will continue to be in conversation with Sudanese partners to help develop the mission. An Advisory Council also will be created to help with communication and development of the mission.

Bohrer noted that timing is an important consideration related to the peace process in Sudan. The Comprehensive Peace Accord includes a provision that in 2011 the South hold a referendum to determine if it will become an independent country, or stay as part of one country with the North. This may affect the Brethren mission effort.

Mission workers to Sudan will help raise their own financial support. Bohrer called it a "new/old" model, offering congregations and others the opportunity to directly support a mission worker and family, while continuing to include the mission and its staff in the structure and organization of the General Board. Congregations and church members will be called on to support mission workers both financially and in less tangible ways by means of prayer and regular communication such as letters, care packages, and notes. Prayer cards will be sent to congregations and members as reminders to keep mission workers in prayer.

Bohrer acknowledged that the Brethren will be able to tackle only a small portion of the work needed in southern Sudan. "The work in Sudan is enormous," and is more than any one denomination can do, but recalling Jesus' parable of the effects of yeast on bread, he added, "we're potentially going to have a strong impact on part of it."

The church in the US also needs to be prepared to be changed through this mission, Bohrer said. He called on the church to make itself ready for the journey with Sudan, "no matter how long and how hard this journey becomes, because it has the potential to be more difficult... We're going to learn what it means to be faithful in a place of violence and uncertainty."

For an online report of the trip go to www.brethren.org/genbd/global_mission/Sudan/index.htm.

Source: 11/3/2006 Newsline