Closing Remarks of the Primate
On the Meeting of the Anglican Episcopal Synod and Standing Committee of the General Synod – January 27th – February 5th, 2023
Grace and peace be upon you the congregation and people of the Republic of South Sudan in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Allow me at this juncture on behalf of The Anglican Church of South Sudan and on my behalf as the Archbishop and Primate of this church to send my heartfelt gratitude and thanksgiving for the tremendous effort and graceful work done by the church for two decades now through his chosen servants the Archbishops, Bishops, pastors, and laities as well as the congregations in all the urban and rural areas. It was not easy at the start, for Satan is always against anything good coming from the Lord, but he will never prevail, for Jesus is the only way, the truth, and the life.
We must remember that, during the reformation time to the Anglican Church as the mother church today, it was never an easy path, both on the spiritual and practical ground, but Jesus stood with us, and today, The Anglican Church of South Sudan is fully covering the country with its special missions to refugees in diaspora, the establishment of the church in new locations as well as establishing a relationship with other churches to proclaim the unchanging Gospel of Christ to all.
Dear brothers in Christ, I must therefore remind all of us that, our mission remains the one to proclaim the unchanging Gospel of Christ to transform our societies and bring salvation to all. We are charged to do the will of Christ by preaching the good news of salvation, preaching peace and reconciliation, and uniting our people as one community, a community that loves and care for themselves and also brings development and support to the needy. The example set by myself, Archbishops, and Bishops should be followed by all. We have agricultural development projects coming up in Western Province (Bahr el Gazel Region) and others in Central Province as well as Northern Province.
It is this task that is set ahead of us that I call upon all the Archbishops in all the provinces, the bishops, and their dioceses, and all pastors and laities leading the congregations to prioritize the Gospel of Christ as the tool to reconcile the people to themselves and to Christ and to also transform the societies into God fearing and loving communities where there shall be no more conflict and fighting here and there and where peace could reign.
By doing so, we shall indeed become the children of God as Christ taught us to be peacemakers and gave us a great commission to preach the good news of salvation to all, teaching all his commandments to enrich his church and build up God-fearing Christian community. We shall therefore abide by the following:
Peace and Unity of Purpose
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”~Psalms 133:1
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you would remember well that, under the theme of unity, we celebrated the first House of Bishops Meeting in 2015 with a joyful welcoming of our brothers from the Dioceses of Kongor and Wernyol and other respective brothers and sisters who joined us during that meeting for our unity is not that of leaving anyone behind but to prosper together and fight the good Christian fight against the principalities of this world,
“For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then with the belts of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in peace, and with your feed fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” ~ Ephesians 6:12-15
Therefore, if we must win as Christians, we must unite as one and preach the Gospel without hate or jealousy for we have a common enemy as stated above, the enemy is Satan and his movement. We must therefore welcome our brothers and sisters who wish and are ready to join the cause to come and join our hands together to spread the Gospel and peace messages to our people, let us contribute to peace and reconciliation in support of our government and people to have a lasting peace and prosperity.
I, therefore, call upon our brothers in the Anglican Churches (bearing the name Anglican Church of South Sudan headed by different groups in South Sudan) to come back so we could unite the church as one and work together as one entity (The Anglican Church of South Sudan) to enhance our effort under one umbrella and to fulfill the great commission together. I also call upon the Christian churches across the country to work together despite different administrations as Christian principles unite us to preach the Gospel of Christ and transform societies as churches. We cannot be seen struggling amongst ourselves as church leaders over leadership and power when our service is that of servants of Christ, not position. We should therefore learn from Christ himself, whoever wants to be a leader must humble himself and be a servant.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: …he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death‑even death on a cross!” ~Philippians 2:3-5, 7-8
It is always good to be led by the truth, a true Christian leader must imitate and be guided by Christ Jesus without which one cannot claim to be a true leader but a person of selfish desires and ambition for power. Most of you should be learned from my example as one who does not depend on church resources but rather struggles to ensure we serve our people well and where God gives us strength as leaders, we provide for the needy, setting examples to the rest.
I, therefore, repeat my call for unity of purpose for the church system, all Christian churches to work in harmony and in good relations setting examples to the rest of the world and also helping our government in taking peace messages and reconciliation mission to our people in the rural and urban areas of the country. I therefore by message task the reconciliation and peace commission of The Anglican to spearhead this process and to start with bringing together the splinter Anglican Churches in South Sudan as well as contributing to the overall mission of peace and reconciliation in the country. I call upon the dioceses to enhance the counseling and healing ministry in their churches to provide counseling, healing, and reconciliatory activities at the grassroots.
Building the foundation of faith
For the past few days, as the Anglican Church, we have discussed crucial issues pertaining to the edification of Christians building on the foundation laid by Christ himself. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I must assure you that God willing, we will work hard to bring development and add to the effort of our government by whatever means possible as we continue to pray for God to bless this country abundantly. I call upon all the Archbishops and Bishops to ensure the resolutions that came out of this crucial meeting be put into action and evangelism ministry strengthened in every diocese to ensure we preach the Gospel in all the areas God has opened for us. We must also strengthen our discipleship and spiritual building of the Christians in our churches to allow the transformation of Christ through the Holy Spirit takes over the communities.
Let us keep our country leaders beginning with our President and all his government in prayers so that God continue to guide them and give them his unceasing wisdom to lead this country to its prosperity.
Grace and peace be upon you all and may the love of Christ and his peace guide you all in your provinces, dioceses, and churches.
Stay bless,
Most Rev. John Machar Thon Khok
Metropolitan Archbishop and The Primate of The Anglican Church of South Sudan
and Bishop of the Diocese of Juba