BGC PRAYER PARTNERS UPDATE

Dear Prayer Partners.

Thank you for your continued prayer for Bishop Gwynne College and South Sudan. There are a number of things to add to your prayer list.

Students

• Our principal Samuel Galuak has recently been to St Paul's University in Limuru to which we are affiliated. He attended the Board of Examiners' meeting and reports that our students have done well. There are some in the first year and one in the third year which will need to resit a subject, but otherwise the pass rate has been high. Give thanks for a successful semester: August – December 2013. (The exams were completed before the onset of hostilities 0n 15^th December.)
• We still do not have all the students on site. Please pray for those prevented from attending and pray that the way may be open for them to return.

Finances

• Finances this semester are not easy. There is a shortfall in local income. Please pray that suitable tenants can be found for the vacant BGC properties in Juba.
• We give thanks for the wonderful overseas response to the on-going needs of the college. Grants have been received from Britain, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, Canada and elsewhere.

Vacation Course

• The college is planning to bring thirty local pastors and evangelists together for a month course on Reconciliation and Peace-building in July this year. We are currently waiting on news from the USA that we have a grant to finance the initiative. Please pray that we are awarded the grant.

Administration

• Owing to our personal family situation we are unable to travel to Juba at present. However, the college has managed to send the relevant documents to me in the UK and I am now in the process of computerising the college bookkeeping and producing the 2013 accounts that will be published in due course. This is a lengthy task.
• Please pray for Esparanza Emil who is currently working hard to take on the full administration duties. We pray that when things improve in South Sudan she will have the opportunity to study for a professional qualification in administration.

National Issues

• The town of Malakal which had a population of 250,000 has now been completely abandoned by the local residents.

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/whole-diocese-in-south-sudan-abandoned

• Peace talks between the Government and rebels are due to resume on 20^th March

http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article50289

Blessings,

Trevor

Please Pray for Malakal and the Rest of South Sudan

Dear BGC Prayer Partners,
The situation in Malakal is horrific. The rebel White Army have again taken control and the rapes, murders, looting and destruction continue. They have taken no notice at all of the agreement to cease hostilities signed in Addis Ababa. We are told over and over again that they do not respect the church, aid workers or the UN. In fact churches have been targeted and women raped and murdered in them.

• Please keep praying for Malakal and the whole of the country. The tensions are high. Things are not improving, rather the reverse.
• Please pray for the over 700,000 displaced people and those seeking to help them.
• Please pray for Christians and Christian ministers of all denominations trying to care for people and teach the message of love.
• Please pray for the international community which, in seeking to try and remain neutral, earning the disapproval of both sides.
• Please pray for expatriates in the country working to help the humanitarian efforts who are put at risk by the negativity felt towards the international community.
• Please continue to pray for the staff and students at BGC struggling to keep the college alive despite the tensions and lack of sufficient resources.

• Give thanks for those who are hear about daily who care deeply and keep themselves informed, irrespective of insufficient reporting.
• Give thanks for those who have and are giving generously to BGC, and the support of the work of the churches with IDPs and in the area of reconciliation.
• Give thanks for the courage and dedication of the Christian leadership in South Sudan.
• Give thanks for the way God speaks to us so powerfully through the Scriptures and the example of Christ's people in the face of such suffering. God is with us. Never has Romans 8:31-39 felt so true.

Dear Prayer Partners, thank you!!
Trevor Stubbs

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2014/02/rebels-recapture-south-sudan-oil-town-2014227165614154656.html

https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/26/south-sudan-war-crimes-both-sides (This report contains a video clip).