BGC Prayer Partners

At BGC and in South Sudan we are very grateful indeed for your continued prayers. Despite the many sadnesses associated with South Sudan, we still have much to give thanks for.

Monday, 9^th July 2012 is the first anniversary of the independence of South Sudan.  We pray for the government and people of this new country specially on this day. 
If you are in the area, you would be most welcome to come to our new house in the UK for a BBQ meal and celebration.  We live at 15, Cleeve Grove, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 2HF. (Keynsham is on the A4 half way between Bristol and Bath.  Ring us on +44 117 986 9664 for more details.)

May God continue to bless you as he has us.

Trevor Stubbs,  BGC International Consultant

The College

Our Students.

We have been enormously blessed by a group of able, well motivated and hard-working students at BGC coming from tribes across South Sudan.

We give thanks to God for their dedication and devotion to his work.

We pray for them as they now enjoy home leave with their families in their home parishes, dioceses and villages.

We pray that they will be able to use their time to plant and tend crops and find other ways to help provide for their families.

We pray for their health. With malaria and typhoid a frequent and debilitating occurrence, as well as other things that beset people living in basic conditions, we pray that they will be able to get the right medicines at an affordable price.

We give thanks for organisations that are working with the ECS to provide health care in all corners of the country. We pray that the transport, weather and political conditions will all come together to facilitate greater potential for good health.

We pray for those new students preparing to join a new first year in August.

Our Staff.

We give thanks for a good first year under our principal Joseph Taban, and we pray for him and his family as they seek teaching staff to cover the curriculum from August. This is especially challenging this year as we shall have students in all three years of the diploma course.

Please pray that the right staff can be found.

College Finances.

We praise God for the many people in Britain, America and Australia who have responded to the challenge of supporting BGC in different ways.

We thank God for those who have contributed to the 500*500 Appeal for the development of the college, those who have been raising money for a generator, those who have given towards the cost of employing staff, and those who have sponsored individual students.

We thank God that local income has kept up and that there has been such an increase in local giving. We pray that this will be sustained in the coming year.

We pray for a continued international interest in the college.

Sudan and South Sudan

North- South Conflict.

We rejoice that the temperature of the tensions and border encounters between Sudan and South Sudan have cooled and that full-scale war has been averted.

We thank God that both sides are now talking with each other again, and we pray that these Addis Ababa negotiations on the border demarcation, oil production and other areas of dispute will bear fruit.

Abyei

The Sudan Armed Forces have withdrawn from most of Abyei and the area is now policed by Ethiopians under the auspices of the UN. Many people have returned to both the countryside and Abyei Town.

We give thanks that people can return to their homes and now we pray that they can begin food production with the help of the UN and other agencies. In the meantime we pray that they can get the food and other aid they need to live stable healthy lives.

We pray that the children can soon start school again.

Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur.

The people in these regions of Sudan are in open rebellion to the Khartoum with many of them displaced to South Sudan, Ethiopia and elsewhere.

Please pray for the refugees in the refugee camps as well as those who remain in the areas of dispute.

We ask God's blessing on the churches and the NGOs working to bring them immediate relief.

Uprisings in Khartoum

In the city of Khartoum the government crack-down has been severe, but despite this the deteriorating economic situation has made life very difficult for ordinary people and many have taken to the streets in open protest of the Al-Bashir regime. This is resulting in multiple arrests and torture but the discontent is increasing.

Please pray that the ordinary people in the city, as well as the black and Christian minorities, will not suffer any more than they already do.

Economy of South Sudan

It has recently emerged that there has been a large amount of embezzlement of government funds by ministers and officials of the Republic of South Sudan. The size of the alleged thefts is more surprising than that it exists. The President has appealed to those involved to return the billions of dollars they have and no more will be said, but he has not moved to dismiss anyone. This is an indication of the delicate balance that has to be struck between powerful tribal influences, and just how fragile the South Sudanese inter-tribal coalition is.

Meanwhile the lack of oil revenue has meant that many government workers are not getting paid at all. Schools and even Juba University have closed for lack funding.

Please pray that those who have the power to act will seek to reduce the corruption.

Please pray that the people of all tribes in South Sudan will move to re-establish the self-giving Christian values that have succeeded in bringing genuine unity between different peoples.

Pray for all those suffering for the austerity measures, especially those who are no longer able to feed and care for their families in the towns and the city of South Sudan.

We give thanks for the continued foreign investment, but we pray that the wealth it generates will not all be exported abroad.

The ECS

Archbishop Daniel and the ECS as a whole is in the fore-front of negotiating peace to those inside South Sudan who have engaged in tribal conflict. They are also channelling relief supplies and facilitating many improvements on the ground.

We give thanks for the improved situation in Jonglei and ask God's blessing on the efforts being made to prevent the region from once again descending into conflict.

We thank God for the wonderful witness of hope and love that comes from much of the leadership of the ECS and other churches.

We pray for the bishops and clergy who work hard and often sacrificially for their individual dioceses and communities.