Our reconciliation team conducted a Healing Hearts, Transforming Nations workshop last week in the town of Renk. Renk is in the far north corner of South Sudan, close to the border with Sudan and not far from Khartoum. Since the war erupted in Sudan in April 2023, people have been streaming across the border, and a camp of displaced people sprang up overnight. One friend who works in Renk estimates that there are still 5,000 people per day entering South Sudan near Renk, fleeing the ongoing conflict. There is now growing tension between the residents of Renk and these new refugees, as residents resent the relief that is being given to refugees when residents are also struggling.
After giving over our pain to God, the papers are burned
Pastor Peter Nyang serves as the senior pastor for the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Renk. He invited people from several different churches to the workshop, including that people from different tribes in South Sudan and Sudan. There were several pastors who attended the full workshop, and some of them affirmed that this workshop was exactly what they need. The facilitators said that one of the biggest challenges was accommodating the additional people who came to join the workshop the second and third day. We had planned for 50 participants, but by the third day more than 120 people attended.
During the time of giving over our pain to Jesus on the cross, we invite people who have lost a loved one in war or were not able to be present for the funeral to commemorate that person. Participants are invited to lay a flower on the ashes of the papers that we have burned of our pain, and to take a moment to remember and honor that person. This opportunity was meaningful for those who had come from Sudan with their lives and families uprooted by war.
The time of standing in the gap and
confession was also emotional and meaningful. Several people came to
confess the harm that their group had done against others in the
conflicts that have plagued this region for decades. One Sudanese
pastor confessed humbly and specifically the discrimination that the
Sudanese people have shown towards South Sudanese people, along with
targeted killings. Many of the South Sudanese participants were
visibly moved as they heard his confession and then came forward to
express their forgiveness. Particularly in this time when tensions
are high and localized conflicts between groups happen frequently,
seeing this spirit of confession and forgiveness was a beautiful
display of how God can break down walls and bring forgiveness.
At the end of the workshop, multiple pastors requested that our team return to train some of their people as facilitators of the Healing Hearts Transforming Nations workshop so that they can conduct workshops on their own. There are thousands of people who are temporary residents of Renk and are trying to cope with the emotional and physical challenges of their homes and livelihoods being destroyed. Training new facilitators is not a simple task, so please pray that God would guide our team and provide the human and financial resources for this need if it is the right thing to do.
