Thanksgivings and Prayers Requests

Thank you all for your fantastic prayers in the last few weeks. So much has happened that I have not had time to give you an update. So now here goes.

We have so much to rejoice about - we have received nearly everything we have asked for. Thanks be to God. He delivers much more faithfully than I do when I am sent out shopping! Well done. Now I have a new list for you!

Building Works

Give thanks for all the building work that has been completed and is on the way to being completed. We thank God that the new dormitory, the wash and toilet block, the hall and kitchen are all completed and in use. (You can follow some of the story on our blog and picture page).

Give thanks that, although it took a very long time, we now have electricity and water from the mains so student life is now much more comfortable.

Give thanks that the flow of money from Salisbury has been established and we have now received most of what was given. Give thanks that one of the two staff houses will be finished before the end of this month. The main structure has already been completed, and the electrician and plumber are at work.

We praise God that the fence is in place and the goat sellers are out, and the gambling establishment and their clients that has set up under a big tree on their way, although they are more resistant.

Give thanks that the house we have had for up for rent has now been let long term at a good return. Pray for good tenants for two other houses that are coming up for rent at the moment. We pray that there will be a minimum of delay here.

The only problem that remains regarding the reclaiming of the site concerns the containers that are still parked here. Please pray that the owner will see that he must move them quickly. We have been asking him to move them since March 2009. Pray that we do not have to go to law on this one.

We thank God for the interest in the land available for investment, possibly for a Conference Centre. Pray for the negotiations with these people, that a good deal may be made in the best interests of the college and the Church. This has the potential of moving fast. Pray that we may do so safely and accurately.

Praise God for the interest in the idea of a multipurpose chapel from different places. There is nothing solid yet, and all the money still to be found. We need lots of prayer as we move into Phase Two of the development.

We have application for grants for the moving of the library and the building of a second staff house. Pray that these will bear fruit.

Staff and Students

Praise God that we now have all the staff at the college! Joseph Taban joined us at the beginning of October. Mark Mayool came, at last, last week. This delay has put them under great pressure. Pray for them as they struggle to catch up in this their first semester.

Please pray for Simon Lual and his family. Simon is experiencing a lot of problems with one of his sons who is in danger on the slippery slopes of bad company. This is a huge worry to his parents. Please pray for him.

Thank God that the students are all working very hard and getting used to college life. Pray for them and the staff as we work out the ways in which we want to live as a community in a new college setting. Pray for Joseph Taban who is setting this up.

Pray for improved health for both students and staff. Thank God for Dr Katie who has given her time free to lecture and tend. Pray that God may help all the students to live by the hygiene rules she has ordered - not something that most of them are used to.

Pray for the health of our teachers who are regularly under the weather with something. There is much malaria, some typhoid and other things going around. Give thanks that Trevor and Tina, despite all the hard work, remain in excellent health!

Pray for Andy Wheeler who did not make it to Juba because he had to have a multiple coronary bypass op. Give thanks that he us now on the mend.

Pray for all the students as we approach the exams at the end of this month. This is something new for most of us, including the staff.

The Political Situation in the Sudan

The point of the referendum due on 9th January is to ask about dividing a country into two. This is not something that happens everyday! There is a lot of uncertainty. No-one is sure how it is going to work out. However, we are all carrying on knowing that whatever happens there will be still be a church and people needing ministry. South Sudan is undergoing a huge development. Much is being invested, hope is high.

Our biggest concerns are for those in the border areas, and the ethnic southerners in the North. Also the Christians there of any tribe. If there is trouble this is where it is going to be centred. Large numbers of ethnic southerners are already coming south - often with nothing. The Nile transport captains are cashing in and charging much inflated fairs. These people are often urbanised and have lost touch with the traditional way of life in their ethnic homelands.

So please:

Pray for a referendum that is fair and acceptable to both sides that will take place on the appointed day.

Pray for those living in the north and in the borders areas who are most at risk.

Pray for those coming south that they might be re-absorbed into the south without too much hardship or rejection.

Pray for soldiers on both sides that they will remain disciplined and under the control of their political masters.

We give thanks for the good ethnic diversity at NBGC. Pray for their families and home dioceses in this time away over this challenging period. The college will be in session on 9th January.

Pray with for the Sudan Council of Churches (the ECS and the Christian Church of all denominations) and the many Muslims across both South and North seeking to unite the people in love and peace. May their prayers resound around the whole of the Sudan so that the belligerent minorities will be overcome with love.

Ma Salaam!

Peace be with you

Trevor and Tina

Settling into the New Site

So much has been happening in so many directions, it is difficult to know quite where to begin! First, we have now largely moved onto the new site - although not completely. We still need the old building for one of the classes and six resident students. Our offices are still located here too. The library is due to move to the new site as soon as we can get the new shelving built. We are not quite sure when that will be. This is not ideal as the two sites are about three quarters of a mile from each other and traipsing between the two is hard for some, and you never quite know where a particular student is if they are not in the place they should be! And not just the students. Staff are frequently getting lost. However, as the timetable settles in, the problems should ease. Moving the kitchen from one site to the other was quite a palaver.

Pictures on the picasaweb site when we get round to uploading them.
Secondly, we can now report that, at last, we have every expected member of staff present and working. One should not assume that just because a person is agreed and signed up, that they will actually turn up! But, after two months we have got everybody, which is a tremendous relief. At one point in September with sickness and other things, Tina and Trevor were the only teaching staff on duty with fifty enthusiastic, but often homesick, students! Not good. Thanks for your prayers on this one. Now, having got over the initial settling in period with the new students, we are beginning to gel into a community. Joseph Taban, our newest full-time member of staff, has taken on working with the students to form a proper community with an agreed way of life.
This is not easy as we still have to share the site with all sorts of people. The workshops are still operating in the middle of it, for instance, but we will not ask them to move until we have the money to clear all the buildings properly. Nature abhors a vacuum. If the buildings are empty we would be inviting who knows who, or what. There are, of course, a variety of fauna including human that would delight in empty buildings!
So we need to get on with the second phase of the development - the multipurpose chapel - before we can be really comfortable. But this is where the usual patience comes in. We couldn't have done anymore than we have done in the time; there just aren't enough hours in the day. But now the question arises of where we are going to raise the money for the next stages. We have some exciting developments here.
The roadside area of our site that is earmarked for leasing to an investor is already drawing interest from people. I have had a meeting with an interested agent. Other ideas are out there. After the planned referendum, if all goes well, we anticipate quite an investment spree in Juba and we are on land that is very central. So we need to see what transpires on the political scene - but not for long because the referendum is due to take place in January. But if a lease were agreed this would result in more rent money - quite a lot in the long term.
Then there is the possibility of a visit to the USA in June next year to tour some of the parishes and groups that might be interested in supporting us from there.
But more immediately we have applications in to two charities in the UK for money to help us build the second house. We have also applied for a grant to enable us to move the library to the new site. Lots to pray for!
People are asking about the political scene and all that goes with it. From everything we hear all is still on track for a referendum in the South on 9th January 2011. The question to be put is whether or not Southern Sudan should be independent of the North. Most people in Juba are assuming a vote in favour of separation. But, of course, no one knows for certain how things are going to turn out, so we are inevitably in a time of uncertainty mixed with excitement and a lot of hope. For those of you who are not familiar with the geography of Sudan, it is the largest country in Africa. The northern two thirds is mainly desert type land. This includes Darfur which has had an issue with being ruled by Khartoum/Omdurman for centuries. The southern third is green and fertile with many great rivers, and now oil has been discovered in it. Juba is many, many miles from the border - two or three days by road - and has long looked south to Uganda and Kenya for its trade, so whatever happens we here will not find as much day to day change as those along the border or in the north. Our plan is that the students all register to vote here in Juba. This means we will be open again in time for 9th January so term will start early - 5th January 2011- which means we will be in the UK for the whole of December until just after the New Year. Then we shall all be safely in Juba when the hoped for referendum takes place.

Thanksgivings and Prayers Requests

Dear Prayer Partners,

Developments at NBGC have been wonderful even if fraught at times. However, the problems are small in relation to the blessings, so let us start with the latter. You might like to download the interim administrator's latest report for greater details.
Thanks. Trevor and Tina.

Give thanks for the building that has been completely renovated on the new site and is currently in use for teaching and as a temporary dormitory, and the the fact that the actual dormitory and toilets are almost completed.

Give thanks that we have 32 new students bringing our total to 50 (10 more than we had planned for!). Do pray for them.

Give thanks that we have so many generous sponsors for them. Thank God for the finances that have come our way and the promises made to us for the future.

Thank God for the very warm welcome we received at St Paul's University, Limuru and that we are now a fully affiliated university college offering a diploma in theology. We rejoice that we have 15 first year students embarking on this programme.

Give thanks for God's blessing us with excellent staff, both full and part-time, to ensure quality teaching.

Give thanks for yourselves, our prayer partners all over the world.

Pray for the smoothing out of the hiccups we have encountered.

Pray that the Revd Joseph Taban is soon enabled to come and teach at the college as planned. He is key to the progress of the new diploma students, and his delay is threatening to damage their prospects. Pray also that Mark Mayool will soon be able to join the staff part-time as hoped. Pray for the students in their frustration. Even though we are prepared to do long hours to try and cover, we cannot be in two places at the same time, and it is painful to see the students suffer.

Pray that the money being sent from England flows without problems. We have had to delay the work twice in the last month because of the banks raising difficulties. We trust they have at last been overcome.

Pray for the powerhouse here that they will come and connect up the electricity as promised. All they require has been paid them, but somehow we don't seem to be priority. This makes life very difficult for the students who are studying by torchlight. Our logistic officer has spent hours on this work when there is so much else to do.

Pray also for Andy Wheeler who was planning to be with us and teach in October with a team from Guildford. We were so much looking forward to his coming but he has been told he needs medical treatment which will prevent him from coming. Pray that he may soon be put right and be able to come before long.

Pray that we can let an empty house soon at a good rent so that we can guarantee our funding.

Our dreams ...

Pray that we can soon start building the new staff housing so that our staff can be comfortably accommodated on site. This has to be approved by a committee of persons in the province. Pray that it is not held up at this stage.

Pray that we can find someone prepared to invest in a major conference centre on the site, to both enhance the project and provide some investment income in the long term.

Pray that donors can be found for "stage two" of the project, a multi-purpose chapel. This will enable the new site to really come together and effective teaching to be done in one place (it is hard for both students and staff trailing about three quarters of a mile from one site to the other on foot). It will also enable us to expand the college further.

New Beginnings

Thanks for your patience in waiting for our latest from Juba. Things have been so busy it has been impossible to keep up with all the reporting etc. But all the busyness has been worthwhile. In the last month we have a new site to add to our old one, 30+ new students, four new members of staff, and a new affiliation to St Paul's University, Limuru, Kenya! The Salisbury Appeal by Bishop David did indeed bring in the £66,000 for which he asked. Brilliant. Add to this £10,000 from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the £4000 we got from Bridport when we left in January 2009, and we are well on the way to completely renovating two large buildings on our new site, originally built in the early 1990s through the foresight of the then principal, Canon Benaiah. Sadly he died before this site could be properly developed. Indeed the dormitory building was not even completed. It is now. We plan to move the students into this building at the end of next week. We have also constructed a new sanitary block with tiled flooring - which is more than many enjoy here. Check out our latest pictures from the picasaweb website (see links on the right-hand side of the page). This next thing is staff housing. It's a question of whether we can afford one or two houses. If we can build two that will release a house for rent in the neighbour and raise a possible $18,000 more dollars income next year.

We have been inundated with more students than we were looking for. But when bishops and archbishops and all the kingdom of heaven put pressure on you, what can you do? We've got them them in - somehow. So we now have two more classes to add to the existing ones. Tina has 7 in her full-time English group. There are 13 in the foundation year - this consists of students who have not got the qualifications to get into the diploma course. Then there are the two diploma years, one and three (the continuing students). Being affiliated to St Paul's means that we are now a university college offering a university diploma in theology. Trevor and Daniela went to Limuru at the end of August and were very warmly greeted and inducted into all that is necessary to run the course. It was well that the welcome was warm, because the weather was not. The temperate hovered around 12C - and, of course, none of the rooms are heated. It took four thick blankets to be warm enough at night. After three days the cold just soaks right in. Oh, how we were glad to be back in Juba at 30C! Here is a picture of the new library at St Paul's


All through this period our house has been full too. We have had a young woman from the MU called Sarah stay, as well as a doctor and her helper from Uganda. Queueing for the bathroom would not have been so back at times if we had abundant water. However, we only got to the point where we had to carry in from a distance once. We have got through a few candles too as the electricity seems to be feast of famine. We learned that the town powerhouse ran out of fuel. The political situation here is interesting. The CPA requires a referendum in January 2011 for the people of the south to decide on weather or not they want to succeed and become a separate nation. The general feeling is that that is what people want. However the process appears to be stalled with the registration for the referendum due next month and nothing yet having been announced. So people are concerned. However, we have timed our semesters to enable the students to vote in Juba so we will be back in session on Wednesday, 5th January. We will finish early, therefore, and be in England for all of December.

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

August 2010

Dear Prayer Partners,

First, may I welcome those who have just joined the Prayer Partners of the New Bishop Gwynne College, Juba, Sudan.

Your prayers have been so much needed at the very busy and crucial time in the history of the college. That is why we are issuing this special request.

1. NBGC Day of Prayer

We rejoice and give thanks today, 8th August, for a special NBGC Day throughout the province for prayer and giving. We are enriched by this day. (Some of the province is keeping next week instead =15th.)

2. Students

Pray for the students preparing to come to the college from 14th August for the beginning of the new semester. Pray especially for those living in areas where the risk to travellers from criminal gangs is high. Pray that they may travel safely.

We give thanks for the offers of sponsorships for our students from three countries, Germany, the UK and the USA. We have sponsors for all three of the students from Torit and others too. Pray that all our students who dioceses cannot pay will get sponsorships.

Pray for the new students that they will quickly settle in.

3. Staff

We give thanks that the Revd Joseph Taban and Mr Mark Mayool have joined the staff for the new semester. We also pray for Bishop Francis Loyo who will be teaching African Christian Theology.

Pray that we can soon find an agency to teach the basic facts of HIV/AIDS to tie in with our pastoral care topic.

Pray for all the members of staff at the college, both teaching and ancillary.

Pray for God's guidance in the use of two sites 15 mins walk apart, and the staff as they devise a workable time-table. Pray that we may the right number of staff to deliver the programme effectively and efficiently.

4. Library

Give thanks for hundreds of new books that have come and are still coming from Britain and the UK. Pray for Tina as spends many hours processing and shelving them. The library has had to be reorganised for a second time to accommodate them all.

4. New Site

Give thanks that work on the first building will be completed for the arrival of the students on Saturday, 14th. This large building will house a temporary dormitory and teaching room.

Pray for the Interim Board meeting on 11th August when the final decisions will be made regarding the awarding of contracts for the building of the fence, the renovation of the dormitory building, the erection of a new toilet and washing block, and staff housing. (We shall need all the money promised us from Salisbury, the Anglican Communion Fund and Bridport. As hoped for investment at the front of the college is still at the ideas stage, the archbishop has indicated that we should enclose a much larger portion of land from the outset, and this may limit what we can do elsewhere.)

5 Long-term Investment

We have land and sites that, if developed, will bring in all the money the college will need for the foreseeable future. The need for this is urgent if NBGC is to keep on track and maintain the growth in the student population.

Pray that investment in income generating enterprises may be forth-coming.

Pray for those already considering a large convention and knowledge centre with halls, libraries, restaurants, media and technology centres, and accommodation etc.

Pray for investors who will value the ethos, work and aspirations of the college.

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

July - August 2010

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

Dear Prayer Partners,

Returning from the Sudan after spending more than six weeks in the UK some of you must have thought we had disappeared. Others we have met - we managed to get to the north of England (East Yorks, Teesside and Cumbria), Bristol and the South West as well as the Diocese of Salisbury. We have learned just how much people do indeed keep us in their prayers and how much this little plea is used.

Thank you,

Trevor and Tina

1. NBGC and the New Site

Give thanks for the huge cheque we received from the Diocese of Salisbury from Bishop David's leaving appeal. The cheque was for £61,500 - but we understand now that there is more to add. This an enormous boost to us. We are so grateful for the love with which it all comes.

Please pray for us as we now get to grips with actually putting everything into place on the new site. Pray for the builders that they may work well, speedily and safely. Pray for us who have the responsibility of getting the college up and running on the new site.

Pray for the enrolment of the new students. This is proving very complicated with so many new dioceses, poor communications, worries about getting the fees and with people enquiring so late. Pray that we can make proper decisions about which course to start people on, and that we will have sufficient space to accommodate all who need it.

Give thanks for the Revd Joseph Taban and Mr Mark Malook who are joining the teaching staff. Pray that they will settle quickly.

Pray for Tina and Mark as they establish an expanding English department as they put together a foundation year at the college

2. The Schools

Give thanks for the schools we managed to visit in the UK in July and the others with links in the Sudan. We thank God for the huge interest of staff and children and the very wise understanding and sensible questions we were asked.

Pray for all the schools here in the Sudan as they seek proper leadership, proper training and pay for teachers, and decent buildings. Pray for the children and their families so much at risk of malnutrition and disease, even in a city like Juba.

3. The ECS

Give thanks for the many wonderful people of the ECS here who have made us enormously welcome and really make us at home in Juba. We give thanks for their huge commitment to making New Bishop Gwynne College, the ECS and the whole of Sudan work to the glory of God.

Give thanks and pray for the four new bishops recently elected and consecrated in the Sudan and the dioceses they will serve Cueibet and Yirol have new bishops. Aweil and Wed Medani are new dioceses in the border areas of south and north Sudan. These will be very challenging places to serve as we approach the referendum due for January 2011.

Pray for Larry Duffee who has joined the Provincial Office from the USA to help them instigate financial strategies.

Pray for the Theological Education Commission's annual meeting to be held at NBGC beginning on 27th July followed by in-service training of theological teachers.

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

May - June 2010

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

Dear Prayer Partners,

We have had a lively month. We concluded the semester last week and now we turn our attention to the new semester due to open on 14th August. Our current students will be returning for a new and third year. We also hope to have a fresh cohort to begin a first year. We will require the new site to be all ready for us and for this we will need your prayers...

Thank you,

Trevor and Tina

1. Theological Education

Give thanks for the success of the first semester of New Bishop Gwynne College. It went remarkable well without mishap.

Give thanks for the very successful visit from Trinity College Bristol,and pray for God's guidance for the future of this link. Pray for the student in Berkley Divinity School at Yale who is preparing to come and live and work in the college in September.

Pray for the right new students to come and form a new first year in August.

Give thanks that, despite some difficult moments, we always managed to pay everyone on time and pay another slice off the remaining debt. Pray that we can continue to do in the future.

When we return in August there will be an extra demand as we will have have a larger wage bill and more hungry mouths to feed. Pray that every single student will pay their full fee and come equipped with the money to get them back at the end of term.

We praise God for the extra house that has come available to us. Pray for God's guidance as we try and find the resources to restore it, or indeed demolish and rebuild if that is required. We pray we can let this house for added future income. Pray that the Bishop of Salisbury's appeal, or giving elsewhere, is sufficient to enable us to build a new house on the new site.

Pray that we can find the right new Sudanese lecturer for our our new term.

2. New Site

Give thanks that things are coming together to get onto the new site in the next few weeks.

Pray that those who seem to have moved into the building uninvited and are squatting there will be successfully moved on. Pray for the provincial and diocesan staff responsible for this will be given strength and guidance to carry through this uncomfortable task.

Pray that the buildings will be able to be renovated without too much expensive despite the terrible exterior appearance they currently have.

Give thanks for the money coming to us from the Diocese of Salisbury, the Parish of Bridport and the Anglican Communion Fund and pray that even more funds will be made available to us. The more we have, the faster we can proceed with the programme of developing the new site.

We are still hoping to hear from some people who have encouraged us to look for investment in the form of a new convention centre on the new site. This will be a huge enhancement to the area and provide income in the future. Pray that these people might find the right people to invest in us.

3. The Schools

There has been a major set back for church primary schools here in Juba because the government has redeployed many of those they paid themselves into state schools. This happened with just three weeks to go before the beginning of term without warning. The diocese found itself with many schools without head teachers and some with less than half the staff.

Pray that the necessary income can be found to employ the teachers they need, and pray that they can find teachers of the right quality.

We thank God for the letters, prayers and contributions of schools in the Diocese of Salisbury that have now found their way to all the linked schools in Juba. We rejoice in the encouragement this gives to people who educational expectations are very different. We thank God for friends.

4. The ECS

We rejoice in the continuing enthusiasm of the people for worship, the wonderful celebrations of Easter with even greater numbers than usual and the hard work of the new bishops and the new dioceses.

We pray for our archbishop who has been delayed in Adelaide following a desire by an optician for him to visit an eye hospital. We pray that that goes well and that he is soon here among us.

We pray for the diocese of Twic East and bishop elect Ezekiel whose enthronement has had to be further delayed. We pray that ECS initiative to bring peace and stability to that area will be a success.

Pray for Larry, who has just arrived from the Diocese of Virginia, to begin to help sort a way forward for the provincial office to deal with similar albatrosses to those BGC that suffered from until this year.

5. The Nation

Give thanks for the elections that, despite a number of accusations of rigging and some dissatisfaction with the result in some areas, went off remarkably peacefully. Give thanks that people through themselves into the exercise with enthusiasm.

Pray for the elected government as they now work towards the promised referendum of independence for the south due in January 2011.

End of Term!

Last week we came to the end of our first full semester. It went remarkably well with some memorable high points.
The low points were all about getting in enough money to pay wages at the end of each month, and when we did get some money, seeing it claimed by those who are still owed from the past. Yes, we had to find around 500,000 SDG (Sudanese pounds = around $200,000) to pay off the debts. We have now just 20,000 SDG to go but this is still a lot when you consider our monthly food bill for all the students seven days a week is budgeted at 3,600 SDG, and our total wage bill is restricted to 5,500 SDG. Nevertheless the albatross is getting lighter month by month.
The main high point was the arrival of the students that had left the previous year disappointed and down because the college had had to be closed. That was a hard time for them. They probably felt that the college was not going to recover despite all the talk of reopening the following year. How absolutely delighted they were to be coming back to a new Bishop Gwynne College under new management. The opening was a memorable day.
The other special days were when we received our visitors - Bishop David and Ian Woodward from Salisbury, Prof. Joseph Britton from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and, just after Easter during the election period, a party of students and staff from Trinity College, Bristol. This perhaps was the time when the students enjoyed themselves the most - especially as we all had a bit more time as lectures were suspended for the elections as so many were away.
On one occasion, Daniela Rapisarda, a volunteer lecturer, invited us all into her home to watch a film on her TV. She also gave us food and cold drinks from her fridge which was a real treat! On the last week-end of term, she invited again us to a leaving party there. We watched another film, A Little Princes. Then after that we each did a party piece. The students threw themselves into some wonderful Christian songs in local languages with dances to go with them. Neha (a local friend of Indian descent) tried Chinese whispers, but the concept was so completely new that the message was nothing like what it started out to be! We'll have to try it again sometime. There are some pictures of this event on our picasa picture site, but here is one of the whole group.



Thanks to Dave Lewis we now feature on You Tube too. Find the link from our website on the right.
The next stage is to get onto the new site with a new first year. We need you prayers for that. Pray that the site will soon be vacated and we can get on with getting quotations to begin the renovations. We will be contacting our prayer partners within the next few days.
Our personal plans are to be in the UK in June and early July (ash clouds permitting of course). We will travelling from south to north visiting friends and churches, thanking people for their support and prayers. So watch the blog for news.

Prayer Answers, Thanksgivings and Petitions

Dear Prayer Partners,

Very many thanks for all your prayers. There is so much to thank God for, and therefore to thank you for because of the way things have been coming together for us. Life is not exactly problem free in the Sudan - but things have moved much better than they could have done. The elections begin on Sunday, 11th April and extend up to the Wednesday.

Keeping praying. We are being blessed!

Thank you

Trevor and Tina

1. Theological Education

Give thanks for the growing student body. We now have four full time and one part-time student on the English course led by Tina. We have all the 2nd year students except one (who has been made a bishop) now learning well and growing in all sorts of ways.

Praise God for the blessings brought to us by our enthusiastic visitors - Bishop David of Salisbury, Prof. Joseph Britton, Dean of Berkeley Divinity School, Yale, and assessors from Limuru University, Kenya. We thank God for looking after us so well in these people.

We pray for those on their way from Trinity College, Bristol sadly held up at Heathrow with the cancellation of their flight. We thank God for them and their deep interest in us.

We pray for those involved in the teaching at NBGC. Simon Lual, Daniela Rapisarda, Robin Denney, Trevor and Tina Stubbs. May God bless the students as they come to their exams at the end of the term, and bless the exam process.

We pray for those seeking employment at the college, including those made redundant last year. There are numbers of people who have been associated with teaching and feel themselves qualified that do not fit into the present vision of the NBGC in Juba.

Pray for the other provincial theological colleges of the ECS - Shokai in Khartoum, Renk Theological College, Ngalamu College in Mundri and Bishop Alison College moving back to Yei who are struggling to find committed qualified staff despite the surplus in Juba.

We pray for those preparing to teach in the Michaelmas Semester at NBGC. We include those coming to us on a visiting basis, Andy Wheeler and his Team from St Saviour's, Guildford, Bishop Francis Loyo, Canon Francis Paul and a team to teach us about HIV/AIDS.

Please pray for the students returning to their homes in order to vote. Pray for safe journeys for them.

NBGC New Site

We thank God for the giving that is taking place in Salisbury Diocese to help us fund the development.

Thank God for the interest of Anglican International Development who have undertaken to seek investors for an outrageously ambitious Conference Centre on the roadside of the new site.

We need urgent prayer for those who currently occupy the site to be prepared to move in the very near future so we can commence work to upgrade the buildings.

Pray for competitive tenders for the work of building the boundaries and the new staff houses.

New Students

Pray for the right kind of students to apply. We need able people who are ambitious for the Gospel and committed men and women. Pray that there will be as many women as men. We thank God for the enormous impact of women's ministry in the ECS and pray for more of them and for opportunities for them to take positions of responsibility.

Primary Schools

Please pray for the ECS primary schools in Juba. The government education department has removed many of the teachers in their own employ and reassigned them to government schools, with just three weeks notice of the beginning of the new term. This has left most of the church schools very short staffed. Some schools have even lost their headteachers. Church schools will now find it hard to make ends meet and maintain the higher standards with which they have been associated. If the policy is not reversed, some schools will inevitably close. For the Church education committees it means going back to the drawing board.

In one case the government have even claimed the land on which the school premises stand as well as half the teachers.

This is a sad affair because some of the best education has been offered by the ECS and other churches and the children will miss out in the short, if not the long term. It has often been the church ethos of the schools that have produced the comparative success.

Pray for the staff, schools and children involved.

Please pray for the provincial and diocesan staff, especially Emmanuel Lomoro, and successful negotiations with the government department.

The Nation

We thank God that we have got to the week before the election with relatively little trouble, despite the SPLM pull out in the northern constituencies by way of protest against suspected rigging. We ask God's blessings on the process - for free, fair and efficient polling and for accurate counting. Above all we pray for the peaceful acceptance of the outcome.