March 18, 2022 — A consultative meeting of the leaders of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan(PCoSS), which was held on March 15-16, has elected a new leadership to lead its General Assembly.
This comes nearly one and half year after the Presbyterian Church leadership conference to elect a new moderator on December 5, 2020 in the capital, Juba, shattered the church behind the candidates that contested that year.
In an exclusive interview with Nyamilepedia, the moderator elect, Rev, James Kuong Ninrew, who also contested in December 2020 election, confirmed that he has been elected as the Moderator of the General Assembly alongside Rev. John Yor Nyiker, vice moderator of the General Assembly and Rev. Joseph Maker Gordon, Secretary General of the General Assembly.
“The consultation turned in to PCoSS General Assemby and ended up electing new office for the church: 1/ Rev. James Ninrew Dong, moderator of the General Assembly. 2/ Rev. John Yor Nyiker, vice moderator of the General Assembly. 3/ Rev. Joseph Maker Gordon, Secretary General of the General Assembly” Rev. James Kuong Ninrew said.
Speaking to our editorial team in the capital, Juba, Rev. Ninrew highlighted how the church has contributed in search for peace, healing and reconciliation in the country and continues to do so. Below is the full interview:
Q: Congratulations Moderator, Rev. James Kuong Ninrew, on your election as the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan(PCoSS). Could you please tell us briefly what your election means to you and the church?
A: “Well I was elected to this office by the members of Presbyterian Church of South Sudan and the reason is that, since South Sudan become an independent Nation, the South Sudanese Churches also become independent churches. We have struggled a lot because there are some elements saying there should be Presbyterian Church of Sudan and South Sudan and they don’t identify themselves fully with Sudan and they don’t identify themselves fully with South Sudan but the majority said no since we gained our independence as nation we have only Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.”
Q: Dear moderator, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, and of course other churches and faith-based groups, have played vital roles in search for peace in South Sudan and Sudan since the church’s earliest days of establishment but of recent days, the Presbyterian Church seems to be in need of peace for its internal healing process more than ever before: What went wrong and how can it be fixed?
A: “Well what went wrong of course is that when there is a chaos in the country the church is also affected. Whatever war or any situation whether politics it affects the church because whoever in the church is a human being but of course we rely on God and the words of God.”
Q: How does your leadership plan to reconcile the church and heal the wounds of divisions that the Presbyterian Church has witnessed in the last two decades?
A: “You know the Bible says a nation without vision is lost, actually a nation without vision perished so I think we need to come back to the vision and the vision of the Presbyterian Church is to spread the word of God and to evangelize. Once we return to God everything will fall on its rightful place and we start with the leadership itself to develop Cadres and leaders that will take the church further and therefore we will be able to sound responsible in the eye of our congregation and they will believe us and automatically when we come for reconciliation and peace they will listen to us. So what we need to end first is the internal trouble once we become one united front, not only Presbyterian Church but also with other churches in the country, then we will be able to fix the problem and that will be our contribution.”
Q: Given the internal differences and also because of other external factors, the Presbyterian church seems to have lost faith-based support and loyalty from its members and sympathizers, how does your leadership plan to deal with this and resuscitate active evangelism for Presbyterian church to take up its place among other faith-based groups in the country?
A: “We are already doing that if you talk on individual basis, that’s my area, but also if you talk of the churches, that’s priority number one and it’s first principle for the Church. As a result we are in frontline to reconcile our people and if we are going back to the history, we have been always in frontline even in those areas which are not accessible you will find the church there reconciling the people.”
Q: If any, what would be your take on peace and stability in the country? That is, how can the church help in peace building in the country?
A: “As church we are very proud of the role that the Church has played and the opportunity that the God has given us to reconcile the South Sudanese and to play a part possible and now time has come for those achievements to be implemented now in developing South Sudan and also playing a vital role in coexistence. so that’s one topic. Number two is that the church also needs to participate in the developmental issues because Church can build society spiritually and also physically. So we need to participate and join with the government and other developmental agencies in ensuring services such as Schools, health care centers and agriculture are provided.”
Q: Â Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers and faith-based community out there?
A: “Well what I would say is that anything that we can share is, join us in prayer for peace among ourselves and join us in prayer so that nation also reconciled. Prayers play vital role in bringing people together.”
