First PWP prayer meeting held at St Dunstan's
On Monday 8th April 2024, following our policy of rotating our monthly prayer meetings around different churches in the Poole and North Bournemouth Deanery, we held our first such meeting at St Dunstan's Church, Upton, and it attracted nine supporters. We are most grateful for the kind hospitality of deanery churches which host these meetings. Our next Prayer Meeting will be on Monday 13th May at 1230 at St George's Church, Oakdale, but we are in need of a venue for the meeting on Monday 3rd June. Final stage of construction of new building at St John’s College is well-advanced In a wonderful answer to prayer, work on the final stages of construction of the new building at the college is proceeding rapidly (see photograph above), following the transfer of £15,000 from the Poole-Wau Partnership in November 2023. “We used the funding,” writes Principal Philip Abiel, “to purchase windows and doors; installation of electricity; and plastering and slabbing.” The additional grant of £5,000 kindly provided to PWP by the Slavanka Trust in February 2024 will be sufficient to complete the ceilings. Only painting and the construction of a verandah in front of the building will remain to be done to complete the Poole-Wau Partnership Building at St John’s College, Wau. More details about the completion of our fundraising of more than £40,000 for this vital building project may be found on the Appeal page of this website https://www.poolewaupartnership.com/appeal.html or in Newsletter 64 and 65: https://www.poolewaupartnership.com/newsletter.html Our grateful thanks go to all our supporters and churches in Poole & North Bournemouth Deanery who have contributed generously towards bringing this project to fruition, as well as to the Slavanka and Charis Trusts. Conflict in Sudan A year on, violence continues and refugees suffer [Last update: 16/04/24] It is now a year since the civil war in Sudan started. The conflict and its consequences for South Sudan have faded from UK media as troubles in other parts of the world, notably the terrible conflict in Gaza, make headlines. The anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict on 15th April and an international humanitarian conference on Sudan, co-organised by France, Germany and the EU, promoted some thoughtful coverage in The Guardian, notably this moving though pessimistic article from Guardian columnist Nesrine Malik, who was born in Sudan... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/15/sudan-conflict-war ... and this collection of photographs illustrating the refugee crisis in South Sudan: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2024/apr/15/inside-south-sudans-worsening-refugee-crisis-in-pictures The Salisbury-Sudans Link has been in frequent touch with Archbishop Ezekiel, Primate of the Episcopal Church in Sudan, since the civil war broke out in April 2023, and has sent him £30,000 for emergency food aid, with a further £16,000 budgeted for more food aid in 2024. Canon Ian Woodward, from the Link has written this update on the first anniversary of the start of the conflict: https://www.salisbury.anglican.org/whoweare/news/news-and-media-6543.php These sources, which are frequently updated have more details about the crisis in Sudan and its effects on South Sudan: https://www.theguardian.com/world/sudan https://unmiss.unmissions.org/ https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Africa/South+Sudan |
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Bishop Joseph seeks more clergy Bishop Joseph of Wanyjok has published an appeal for volunteer clergy to minister to the huge congregations in his diocese. Bishop Joseph is a longstanding friend of the Poole-Wau Partnership, having visited Poole on more than one occasion, most recently with other bishops from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal province in August 2022. He writes, "We have a huge congregation with limited numbers of trained pastors and many of our parishes are being run by untrained Lay-readers and evangelists," so there is an acute need for more clergy to come forward. Here is the full text of his appeal on Facebook: Are you an Anglican theologically trained clergy looking for a young growing missionary Diocese to Volunteer in? Are you called and passionate about mission in less developed towns? Are you called and love to serve in a challenging environment where ministry demands is high? Are you a ministry-minded clergy? The Episcopal Diocese of Wanyjok is the Diocese of your choice. Please don't hesitate to contact us either here [on Facebook] or privately. We have a huge congregation with limited numbers of trained pastors and many of our parishes are being run by untrained Lay-readers and evangelists due to limited human resources. Having experience in education would be an added advantage to us because we also have 7 primary schools and one secondary school. May our good Lord lead and direct you as you plan accordingly. "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. ... So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more." Matthew 9:38 Below is a photograph of Wanyjok cathedral and its congregation. CLIP conference brings eight ethnic groups together
Archbishop Moses Deng Bol reports that a very successful multiethnic dialogue took place in late November 2023 at Good Shepherd Cathedral, Wau, with the theme 'We are stronger together'. The three-day dialogue brought together 50 representatives of eight ethnic groups (Bongo, Bai, Balenda, Sere, Ndongo, Luo, Dinka and Golo) including Chiefs, women and youth leaders from Wau and Jur river counties. The conference was organized by Church Leaders Initiative for Peace (CLIP) with support from USAID-funded Sheja Salam.The dialogue was preceded by a two-day trauma awareness facilitated by Trauma Awareness and Healing Alliance (TAHA). Links to find out more about South Sudan News Organisations: Sudan Tribune: https://sudantribune.com Radio Tamazuj: https://radiotamazuj.org/en Eye Radio: https://eyeradio.org Associated Press: https://apnews.com/hub/south-sudan The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/south-sudan BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=South+Sudan Radio Miraya: https://audioboom.com/channel/radiomiraya News Now: https://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/World+News/Africa/South+Sudan Regular publications: Diocese of Salisbury Sudans Link, including quarterly Salisbury-Sudans Link Bulletin: https://www.salisbury.anglican.org/mission/the-sudan-link Renewal Magazine: https://anglican.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=bc17f2b699f53a98ce265ecab&id=69d5549620 The Church Association for Sudan and South Sudan, including twice-yearly Sudan Church Review: https://www.casss.org.uk AFRECS (American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans), including fortnightly E-Blast: https://afrecs.org Church organisations in South Sudan: St John’s College Wau: https://stjohnscollegewau.org South Sudan Council of Churches: https://sscchurches.org The Epicopal Church of South Sudan: https://southsudan.anglican.org ECSS Northern Bahr El Ghazal province: https://www.facebook.com/northerbahrelghazal/ International organisations and charities working in South Sudan: Anglican International Development: www.anglicaninternationaldevelopment.org CRESS UK (Christian Relief and Education for South Sudan): https://cressuk.org/blog/ ECSSSUP (UK-based charity supporting The Episcopal University of South Sudan, of which St John's College Wau is a constituent institution): https://www.ecsssup.org/copy-of-home Health Initiative South Sudan: https://health-initiative-south-sudan.org/homepage TEAR Fund: https://www.tearfund.org/about-us/our-impact/where-we-work/south-sudan UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan): https://unmiss.unmissions.org World Food Programme: https://www.wfp.org/stories/south-sudans-road-out-hunger ECSSSUP: https://www.ecsssup.org/copy-of-home |