During the Christmas season in South Sudan, many congregations celebrate baptisms. It seems a fitting connection, that as we remember God leaving his glory to be born as a human and suffer with us, we also celebrate people declaring that they repent of their sin and join Christ in his invitation to new life in Him. This weekend, we were invited to worship with one of these congregations celebrating baptisms, and it was truly a joyful celebration.
More than 15 children were baptized, along with around 10 teenagers and adults. What struck me as remarkable is that this is a new congregation, less than 1 year old. This is the first time they have celebrated baptism in the congregation, and the number of people is a sign of the strong growth they have experienced.
The lead pastor of the congregation, Rev. Samuel Jock, began the church as an Arabic-speaking congregation several years ago. They have moved around to various locations and in 2022 finally built their own building next to the offices for SSPEC. They discovered that in the neighborhood around their new building there are many Nuer people. The congregation worshipped in the classical Arabic from Khartoum, which many of their neighbors did not understand. So they started a second service in the Nuer language and assigned one of the Nuer members to lead the service. As a practical service in the community, they started offering classes in the evenings, teaching people to read and write in the Nuer language, because many were not able to go to school, and children today only learn to read Arabic or English. The Nuer service has grown dramatically, and now has an active youth choir and a children's choir. Pastor Samuel assigned a young man, Moses, to be the primary one leading the activities of this Nuer congregation. Another young man, Lony, has taken the responsibilty of leading worship and directing the choirs, including teaching some of the members to play the keyboard! As Pastor Samuel recounted this progression to me, he rejoiced at how God has opened this door and that the congregation is obviously meeting a need.
