RECONCILE workshop participants prepare to process with the cross to
which they had attached descriptions of situations where they
need to grant or seek forgiveness.
Southern Sudan has been torn apart by civil war for nearly 25 years. Two million people have died, and there have been many humanitarian abuses.
The New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) was instrumental in promoting people-to-people peace processes that made significant progress among various tribal conflicts in South Sudan. The churches of Sudan were also leaders in the peace process that resulted in the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Sudan’s government in the north and rebels in the south that was signed on January 9, 2005.
The Church has seen every bomb fall and each village burned, as pastors fled alongside mothers carrying children on their backs. It is this ministry of presence that gives the church a keen insight on such wounds of war and gives it the legitimacy to play a part in facing these wounds as communities and individuals. They realize that much needs to be done to sustain this peace.
The Resource Centre for Civil Leadership (RECONCILE) was established in March 2004 as a sister agency of the NSCC to help Christian and other community leaders develop the skills they need to promote reconciliation, restoration and rebuilding and to establish democracy and good governance in their communities. |
