Those who follow interAnglican strife will no doubt recall that during the Lambeth Conference, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bull, primate of the Church of Sudan called on Bishop Gene Robinson to resign for the sake of the Anglican Communion. This statement was portrayed in numerous media reports as furhter evidence that relations within the Communion were deteriorating and that the Episcopal Church was losing friends, etc. We did our best at the time to suggest that this interpretation was incorrect, and that the relationship between the two churches would continue.
It is gratifying then, to read the lede of this press release from the Diocese of Virginia. To read the entire release, click Read more.
The Episcopal Church of Sudan has 24 dioceses in an area roughly the size of the United States east of the Mississippi. Four dioceses are located in the northern part of the country, while the other 20 are clustered in the southern portion. Of these 20 dioceses, only six have relationships with U.S. dioceses in the Episcopal Church. This February, a mission team from the Episcopal Church, including members of the Diocese of Virginia, will travel to South Sudan for a month to develop relationships with many of the remaining 14 dioceses.
The Episcopal Church of Sudan has 24 dioceses in an area roughly the size of the United States east of the Mississippi. Four dioceses are located in the northern part of the country, while the other 20 are clustered in the southern portion. Of these 20 dioceses, only six have relationships with U.S. dioceses in the Episcopal Church. This February, a mission team from the Episcopal Church, including members of the Diocese of Virginia, will travel to South Sudan for a month to develop relationships with many of the remaining 14 dioceses.
In a country torn apart by years of civil war and the resulting aftermath, the Episcopal Church of Sudan places high priorities on peacekeeping, education and growing their Church. The Diocese of Virginia has enjoyed a long-time mission relationship with the Episcopal Church of Sudan and its archbishop, the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul.
The itinerary for the February trip will consist of several parts: Buck Blanchard, world mission coordinator for the Diocese of Virginia, will join Phil Darrow of the Diocese of Chicago and missionary Robin Denney of the Diocese of El Camino Real in a tour of eight different dioceses. “We thought it was time that we went over and spent some time going from diocese to diocese, making sure we had made those connections on behalf of the Episcopal Church,” said Mr. Blanchard. “We want to reach out to these often overlooked places and let them know that we have not forgotten them, that we support the work that they do and that we are praying for them.”
The team will travel about 265 miles to the furthest diocese—a trip that will take three uninterrupted days of travel on the unpaved roads of southern Sudan. To facilitate that travel, team members will raise funds to purchase a vehicle that will take them from diocese to diocese. At the completion of their trip, they will leave that vehicle with the Church of Sudan, which struggles with transportation needs for its bishops.
“We hope to use these visits as the background needed to find long-term relationships for these dioceses with friends here in the Episcopal Church,” noted Mr. Blanchard. Currently, six dioceses in southern Sudan are involved in such partnerships, which typically involve prayer, friendship, discussion and financial support. These relationships are crucial to the Sudanese dioceses that minister in difficult circumstances to a desperately poor populace with little outside support. To alert the U.S. church to the needs present, the team members will build Web sites for each of the dioceses that they visit. They will post pictures and a bit of the story of each locale on a central site, along with contact information.
Mr. Blanchard and Ms. Denney will continue their trip at a bishops’ retreat in Yei, where they will be joined by the Rt. Rev. Francis C. Gray, former assistant bishop of Virginia and newly appointed commissary to the Church of Sudan, and the Rt. Rev. David C. Jones, bishop suffragan of Virginia. The retreat will be a rare chance for the bishops of the Church of Sudan to join together for fellowship and exploration of their common mission in Christ with retreat leaders Lord George Carey, former archbishop of Canterbury, and the Most Rev. Henry Orombi, archbishop of Uganda.
In his role as commissary—or representative of the Episcopal Church—Bishop Gray will help in conducting part of the retreat through a series of meditations on the human soul. “I’m very honored and excited to be not only the commissary but to be going back to Sudan,” Bishop Gray said of what will be his fifth trip.
This will be Bishop Jones’ first visit to Sudan, but he will be spending time with fellow bishops with whom he has already built close relationships. “I have known the archbishop since he was a student at Virginia Theological Seminary,” said Bishop Jones. “I very much look forward to being among friends.”
It is such friendship-building, explains Mr. Blanchard, that is a crucial part of mission work: “To me, this is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the Church in the United States to demonstrate its interest and commitment to the Church of Sudan by doing one of the most important things you can do in mission work: being a presence in someone else’s life.”
Visit www.thediocese.net for future updates on the February trip.