United Methodists offer hope in South Sudan turmoil

The Rev. Fred and Libby Dearing have postponed their planned departure Jan. 9 to return to South Sudan.

“We’re here (in the U.S.) because our presence here would be more helpful than our presence there,” said Rev. Dearing, who is Yei district superintendent for the United Methodist Church in South Sudan.

He said he is in regular telephone contact with church staff and is arranging support for such necessities as food, salaries and transportation.

United Methodists in South Sudan continue to work hard for peace and “are very happy that people are praying with them,” he added.

As continuing violence has increased tensions across South Sudan, United Methodist congregations there are providing both haven and hope.

An email from Sebit Issaac, the assistant district superintendent for Yei, to the denomination’s Holston Annual (regional) Conference in the United States, noted that five people had been baptized on New Year’s Day. Issaac’s email said the church has remained strong during three weeks of violence in other parts of the fledgling nation, which has resulted in at least 1,000 people dead and displaced some 200,000.

The message, said Danny Howe, Holston missions secretary, in a Jan. 6 interview, is that in middle of their darkest hour “the church is still persevering and bringing life and Christ to people in South Sudan.”

Reuters reported that the first face-to-face session of peace talks between the South Sudanese government and rebels was Tuesday in Ethiopia after a delay of several days. The conflict that has sprouted between government forces of President Salva Kiir and rebels loyal to former vice president Riek Machar touches on long-time ethnic tensions.

Peace still exists in the regions where Holston helped to establish United Methodist churches in the southwestern part of the young nation near the borders of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Howe and the Rev. Fred Dearing, a missionary who serves as the Yei district superintendent. There are now 20 churches, 15 of which sponsor schools.

An outbreak of violence in Yei Jan. 4 at the army barracks prompted about 1,500 nearby residents to seek refuge in Giru United Methodist Church, constructed recently through funding from Holston Conference’s Kingsport District.

Since the violence at the barracks has subsided, those seeking shelter are starting to move back to their homes, Dearing reported. In addition, some 20,000 to 30,000 people have come to Yei to flee the turbulence of the north. Dearing was unsure whether more would arrive when the road between Juba and Yei re-opened.

The situation now, he noted, is an example of South Sudan’s most divisive issue: tribalism. “We just need to be there as a church and stand with them,” Dearing said.

That’s why he and his wife, Libby — who have lived and worked in South Sudan since 2011, have been in the U.S. for a holiday visit — still plan to return later this week. The Dearings expect to fly to Entebbe, Uganda, on Jan. 9 and then catch a local flight on Eagle Air, arriving in Yei on Jan. 11.

Howe said he is considering whether to take a conference team to South Sudan at the end of January, as originally scheduled.  “We will be back as soon as we can be safely back,” he added. “The opportunity for the United Methodist Church to be strong at their (South Sudan’s) weakest hour is important.”

A similar assessment will be made for other missionaries on leave who are scheduled to return to South Sudan at the end of the month.

United Methodists in South Sudan are praying for peace. “For many of them, they see this as fighting an unnecessary fight…a fight that will have no winner,” Dearing explained. “They’re just tired of violence, they’re tired of war. They want peace.”

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service multimedia reporter based in New York. Follow her at http://twitter.com/umcscribe.or contact her at (646) 369-3759 or[email protected]. Annette Spence, editor of “The Call,” the Holston Conference newspaper, contributed to this report.

Read more about the UMC presence/work in South Sudan:

Mission leaders still plan to return to South Sudan

Holston Conference: South Sudan ministries

Grants help prevent malaria in South Sudan

Emerging South Sudan now faces malaria battle

United Methodists Cheer Southern Sudan vote

UMCOR in South Sudan

Read more on the current situation in South Sudan:

Backgrounder from the Washington Post

South Sudan government, rebels begin ceasefire talks

UN warns its supplies running low in Bor

U.S. is facing hard choices in South Sudan