Commissioning Service...

In a couple of weeks Joseph and I will travel to Sudan to explore how we might develop a working ministry partnership with the community in Aweil. The partnership will involve the United Sudanese Fellowship and Churches of Christ. It is endorsed by COC State Board and Global Mission Partners. So on Sunday Joseph and I were commissioned in a service hosted by USF and GMP and involving both Sudanese and COC representatives. As John Gilmore (Director, GMP) led the commissioning segment we had the sense of being surrounded and supported by the various communities we would be representing on our travels. I felt overwhelmed by the way our churches have joined with the Sudanese - not just in welcoming them to Australia, but now in working together for the benefit of their friends and relatives in a region totally devastated by decades of civil war. Equally overwhelming was the singing and hospitality of the Sudanese. I am told this was a sample of the welcome we will receive in Aweil.

United Sudanese Fellowship - July 2007

From the beginning...

In mid 2004 I was approached by some of the leaders of the Sudanese Community in Adelaide asking if Magill Church of Christ would sponsor a refugee family and help them to settle in Adelaide. The church Elders and Board quickly agreed and the congregation got right behind us. In just ten weeks we raised the money, arranged air-fares, rental, schooling etc and welcomed Thiik, Amath (Suzie), Deng, Amath (Nikki) and Adhel Lual into our church family. It was a day I will never forget and marked the beginninng of our relationship with the Sudanese community. In a short time we had several Sudanese families attending as well as linking other families with supportive churches around Adelaide.

A couple of years later Rev Joseph Mawien asked if I would help them establish a Sudanese church. The Salvation Army in Pirie Street were overwhelmingly supportive and generously offered a hall for their use and we met for the first time in July 2006. The United Sudanese Fellowship is an ecumencial congregation - people come from Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal, Seventh Day Adventist and Church of Christ backgrounds, Joseph is an ordained Anglican Priest, they meet in a Salvation Army hall, and are supported by Churches of Christ.

Before long Joseph and his Elders came to me with another request: "Will Churches of Christ help us support the development of our communities back home in Awiel?" I said yes -and then started the journey of discovering what that would mean.