Sudanese refugees in the United States are changing The Episcopal Church, according to the Rev. Richard Jones, professor of mission and world religions at Virginia Theological Seminary and president of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (AFRECS). Prof. Jones offered his remarks at the start of the third annual AFRECS conference April 13-15 at Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis, Mo.

“The Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan had no provision for parochial missions until the Sudanese came and formed one at Grace Church in Grand Rapids, Mich.," Prof. Jones said. "The deep, sustaining faith and expectation of these Christian refugees has called out from American Episcopalians some of our best hospitality.”

The conference brought together AFRECS supporters and representatives from the Episcopal Church of Sudan, one of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. AFRECS is an organization of U.S. churches, non-governmental organizations, and individuals who care deeply about the struggles of the Sudanese people, according to Prof. Jones.

“You are important to this effort,” he said. “You Sudanese who are making your home in the U.S.A. or Canada can help North Americans to care about the struggle for peace and justice in Sudan.”

After several years of discernment, the Diocese of Missouri and the Diocese of Lui in Sudan began a formal companion relationship about a year ago. The relationship holds great promise, according to Bishop George Wayne Smith of Missouri, who told conference participants his diocese could benefit from learning how the deep faith of the Sudanese people has sustained them through decades of civil war. The Rt. Rev. Bullen Dolli, Bishop of Lui, attended the conference and preached at the Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday. He said the companion relationship has already been a blessing to his diocese.

The civil war, which began in 1956, is the third time Sudanese Christians have been persecuted to the point of extinction, according to Prof. Jones.

“First, the ancient Nubian Church and, second, the Roman Catholic mission, which was wiped out in the 1890s by war,” he said. “Is this church going to die out again? In the worst of circumstances – war, starvation – more people are finding God in Christ than have found him before. That is what brings me to care about the church in Sudan. We see God raising people to life in the face of death.”

“The Sudanese people have hope, that Easter hope,” said Canon Margaret Larom, director of Anglican and Global Relations for The Episcopal Church. “It’s up to us who are safe, well fed, who have every resource we need, who can travel without any difficulty, who have freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and freedom of assembly, to go the extra mile, both in the Sudan and in the diaspora.”

There may never be an exact count of lives lost, but the United Nations estimates that more than 2 million people were killed and 7 million people displaced since the civil war between the Muslim-dominated Sudanese government in the northern part of the country and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, based primarily in the south. Former U.S. Senator John Danforth (R-Mo), an Episcopal priest resident in the Diocese of Missouri, was appointed by President George W. Bush as a special envoy to Sudan. Sen. Danforth negotiated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ostensibly ended the civil war in 2005.

Lucian L. Niemeyer, a photojournalist who wrote Africa, the Holocausts of Rwanda and Sudan (2006, University of New Mexico Press) spoke at the AFRECS conference. Mr. Niemeyer said he believes the peace will hold, but many obstacles remain. Since the CPA was signed, violence against Christians has lessened, but recently government-backed Muslim militia in the Darfur region have created a new humanitarian crisis.

Deborah Zacher

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