POSITION OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF SOUTH SUDAN ON THE BLESSING OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE GENERAL SYNOD OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Anglican Church of South Sudan led by His Grace Most Rev. John Machar Thon Khok, Archbishop and Primate of all South Sudan has learned though not with surprise but with dismay as the hope for Anglican orthodoxy and tradition is threatened by the rise of liberal theology and such has led to the success of the first Episcopal Church attempt in the early 2000s to succeed in the Church of England, the highly respected center of the Anglican Communion. As it has baffled the world already, The Anglican Church of South Sudan would like to put its position forward and denounce the act to be unbiblical,  it is an apparent deviation from the faith and tradition of this great church and as such, the Church in South Sudan remains distanced from such acts and will never be a party to it.

As the Church of South Sudan, we believe in the biblical truth as referenced in the creation history, which the general synod of the church of England has decided to move away from, following what was started by the Episcopal Church in early 2000 that prompted us to separate ourselves and stand independent without being part of the communion. In the Bible God created one man and one woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. Since the creation according to the book of Genesis 1:27 -28, God created human being in his own image, he created male and female and blessed them and gave them this directive: to be fruitful, multiple and fill the earth. The issue of the blessing of the same-sex marriage is contrary to the bible and our cultures as South Sudanese, we bow to serve Christ in accordance with his (Bible) word and led by the Holy Spirit not by human conscience.

As you will read in our position paper, we stand in the biblical truth, knowing that the family is an institution God created and through marriage, a man and woman become the family through that sacred union, any belief contrary to that is sinful in nature and therefore a crime itself.

We (the Church of South Sudan) foresaw this coming as stated in the bible.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…for since of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen…so that people are without excuse. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather the creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Event their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men. Romans 1: 18 -27

And knowing and reading all these and the wrath of God against those who do such, instead of devoting to correcting them and bringing back to Christ as a church, some of us such as the Episcopal Church and now the Church of England have decided to go further to approve of such acts against the biblical teaching and truth of God. That is as was stated clearly by Paul the apostle. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, the not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” – Romans 1:32

Please read our full position paper here. Position on same-sex marriage