BGC Prayer Partners Update

Dear BGC Prayer Partners

Nothing stands still in South Sudan. There are daily developments on the political scene, yet the college continues on as we approach the end of the semester and the academic year.

The presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church (in the USA, etc.) has issued a special call for prayer to which we can all heed wherever we are in the world. http://publicaffairs.cmail3.com/t/ViewEmail/r/06957364C8DF2BAA2540EF23F30FEDED/6DB46F76DA8470C884E5AAD5A6C37FC6

Thank you all for your devoted service.

Blessings,

Trevor

The Politics and Hostilities

• Please pray for the leaders of the nation and those who have power. We give thanks for the signing of a treaty to cease hostilities and to set up an interim government (attached). There is much to resolve in the detail. Please pray that this will hold on the ground.
• We pray for the people of South Kordofan – in particular the patients and staff of the RC mission hospital there has been bombed by the SAF.

The Church

• We give thanks that the Sudan Council of Churches – especially Archbishop Daniel and his Roman Catholic colleague – are working effectively in the peace process.
• We pray for the bishops and the their diocese throughout South Sudan – especially those in Malakal, Renk, Twic East and Bor.

The College

• We pray for God's blessing on the students as they come up to their exams. Some to their finals.
• We give thanks for the ten new computers recently delivered to the new library and the equipping of that library with the shelving and furniture required for a final transfer.
• We pray for the prospect of a short course in reconciliation studies during the vacation.
• We pray for the process of new applicants for the new semester in September.

Joseph Taban

Joseph Taban Lasuba - died 20th May 2013

It is with real sadness that we have to let Joseph go.  He has been such a blessing to us all, and is so important to his family.

Sarah Goldsmith recalls his funeral at All Saint's Cathedral on 24th May:

The burial service for Joseph Taban took place on Friday 24th May at 9am at all Saints Cathedral Juba.  Hundreds of mourners gathered to pay their respects - many people had to stand outside the church for lack of space.
Dean Jackson led the service and Bishop Enock Tombe gave the sermon.Joseph's body was laid to rest at BGC afterwards - the procession of mourners was so large that it closed the roads and needed an escort to clear the way.  It was clear from the range of ages and people present that Joseph had touched many many people's lives in a very direct way.  Young and old from all walks of life wept for his loss. 
Bishop Enock gave a very thought provoking address, speaking about the deaths of three people.  He spoke about the deaths of Lazarus, Jesus and finally Joseph Taban.  He described how all of these deaths glorified God,even though they were incomprehensible to those affected by them.  Jesus stayed where he was for two days before going back to Judea - something that must have completely frustrated those around him.  Bishop Enock reminded us that in the same way, many people prayed for Joseph including the many people overseas who support the college in prayer and receive email prayer letters.   Bishop Enock reminded us that despite the fact that Joseph's death is completely incomprehensible to us now, that we must trust that it will glorify God, even though we do not understand how currently.  For that reason we can be thankful and celebrate all that Joseph contributed by serving God so faithfully in his lifetime.
Two years ago, in one of the BGC prayer letters, Trevor Stubbs made the following comment on a challenge the college was facing (which in fact Joseph was later instrumental in solving).  "In this new country, we have to be prepared for the unexpected with a huge amount of patience without anger or despair, because they, too, are weapons of evil. A lot of things will happen in South Sudan which may be incomprehensible. We keep loving and being faithful and never give up - just as Jesus didn't and God still doesn't". 

Esparanza

Although Joseph's parents were Kakwa from Yei, he was born in Juba, spent fifteen years
working for the church in Khartoum and, since 2010, has been an integral part of the inter-tribal Bishop Gwynne College community. So he is claimed as their own by all four places. As such he was able to bring people together better than most. He spoke Bari, English and Arabic (he did his first degree in Beirut). But in his heart he belonged first and foremost to God.


Joseph was a man with a mission. He lived what he taught and preached. He was the Lord's
servant.  Servant-hood was central to his vision. When people spoke of him training leaders for the future, he claimed he did not teach how to lead but how to serve, and when they replied with expressions like 'ah yes, servant leaders', his response was, 'no, just servants'.  He loved the students, but he did not put up with any arrogance that they may have come with. He contested the culture of distinction and superiority which exalts 'big men' and makes women possessions. His wife was his companion – they loved each other deeply. They missed each other very much when they had to be apart, which sadly, was too often over the past few years.  It is good that
at least they have been together all the time of the few months of Joseph's illness.

Joseph's faults centred on too things. He would not plan time off, and he would not say 'no'. When anyone is as gifted as he was, everyone wants a part of them. He was no good at getting a proper work- life balance.  He had taken no holiday in decades, and although through encouragement and cajoling he had at last agreed to go to Uganda to visit family, he
never made it. The day before he was due to leave he was in Juba hospital and then instead of Kampala, he was on a plane to a hospital in Nairobi where, apart from a few weeks back home in Juba, he died.

Joseph's contribution to the work of Khartoum cathedral and his teaching at Bishop Shokai
Theological College was enormous. After his many years of service there he went to Duke University in North Carolina to do a Master in Theology advanced degree. The people in Durham, both the university and St Lukes's, the church he attended, remember him with great
affection. They were moved by his humility, resilience in poverty (because as a Sudanese he received no money from home towards his keep) and his enormous capacity for hard work.   

Back among his people, this time in Juba with Bishop Gwynne College, Joseph became quickly respected by the students. He had all the qualities needed to take the institution, stuttering out of one of the lowest points of it's history, to a position of financial stability and as the place of theological and spiritual formation it was founded to be. In the short time he was principal (just three active semesters) Joseph was responsible for building lives, ministries, teaching standards and expanding and securing the campus.  Joseph will be remembered as one of the greats in the history of BGC, it is astounding just how much he achieved in so little time.

The college continues in the safe hands of those who have learned from him and who continue
to implement his vision, but our hearts go out to his wife, Esparanza and his three children for whom there is no replacement. We pray that they and his mother and siblings will find a sound basis in which to continue to grow as he would want them to, and that they will be sustained in part by the knowledge that their son, husband, father, or brother has a place in God's heavenly home as well as the history of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, both in the Sudan and the new
nation of South Sudan.




It is an interesting aside that my father's funeral (Peter Stubbs) was on the same day as Joseph in a small but beautiful service in the UK. He was 92, over twice the age of Joseph. There was a sense of completeness about the occasion that we don't feel about Joseph. Our prayers are those of Bishop Enoch that somehow we may discover the way in which God will bless us in Joseph's death.  He will be remembered, as was his illustrious predecessor Canon Benaiah Poggo, as someone who died before his job was done.  But, just as the memory of Benaiah has inspired many in recent years, so will that of Joseph Taban.  I am confident that those currently leading BGC will continue the good work following his example.  Please pray for them.  But I am reminded of something Archbishop Henry Orombi told the ECS bishops in 2009. He said archbishops are replacable but husbands and fathers are not ... it is for Esparanza and the three children aged between 11 and less than 2 for which we chiefly pray.

Back in Juba

Getting behind with your blog is not one of those sins you come across specifically referred to in the Bible! But apologies to all those of you looking for news. One of the reasons for the delay is that I wanted to wait until I was back in Juba so that the news could be fresh and true. What a joy to get back here at last.

The students are happy and working well. The staff new and old are applyinng themselves with energy. The environment is slightly better. At least the water is flowing readily on the new site.

BGC is in good heart, but we still lack enough buildings. As new men and women are coming for interview and to sit the entrance exam this month we are acutely conscious of the need for more accommodation. Please pray about this. Buildings are not cheap, but thank God we have the land.

In coming back I have refused to work after evening meal. I have done so much evening work in the course of my ministry that now I rejoice in the time to use that period to reflect, write and study what I want to, basically just to have fun. Not that preparing for others and being with others cannot be fun. It often is, but clergy are under so much pressure. Deadlines, debates and constantly dealing with disgruntled folk can damage the quality of what is done – especially if it doesn't allow the Spirit to flow.

Rudyard Kipling urged us to work in the garden rather than spend out time sitting in the shade and singing 'Oh, how beautiful', but what's the point of 'doing' all the time without noticing the depths of the beauty that comes from meditating on it? We need a balance.

And it is very humbling also to find the place you worked in not only doing well but in better shape than you left it. Sometimes more can be done by leaving it to others more able than oneself, whilst continuing to offer the support and encouragement and doing little bits here and there to help. It has become clear that the most important job I can do is to keeping working on our brothers and sisters in the West to contribute and invest their funds, their prayer and their love.

Trevor writes from London

After a long absence, this blog was meant to come to you from Juba. However, we are in London. Last Monday, on the eve of our planned departure, we were blown backwards by a freak gust of wind down steps on London's Victoria Embankment. Tina fell to the bottom and fractured her ankle, collected a variety of other cuts and bruises and spent the night in hospital. There was no way we could travel. Our visit is therefore postponed to sometime yet to be fixed.

This is very frustrating as we are anxious to get to BGC to support Joseph and his team in the current semester. But it is just another time when we need patience. This is something we have had to learn many times over in the last three years.

We have also learned the importance of prayer. We are very grateful for those who are praying for us at this time. Tina is making the progress expected of her, and we appreciate all that people are doing for us. But we would ask that the main focus of prayer be for the college staff and students.

Principal Joseph Taban is under enormous pressure. He is quite capable of doing the job, but from experience we know that it is not an easy one. It means long hours in uncomfortable conditions with very basic facilities. We believe the water situation is a bit better than last semester. But in Juba this depends on fuel for power. We are told, owing to the shortage of fuel that traditionally came up the Nile from Khartoum and no longer does, the city has had no electricity for several weeks now. When it is a struggle to pay wages and buy food and water for the staff and students, teaching and learning become very hard.

Nevertheless, it is gratifying to note that all the first year second semester exams sat in June were passed. These are marked in Limuru, Kenya, so they have to be of a higher standard. We congratulate those young men. We pray for the new students in the first year.

As South Sudan gets established, conditions must improve, but it is not going to happen overnight.

The conflicts in the North all along the border are getting no better. Although the Khartoum government is denying it, report after report of civilians being attacked by Antanovs from the air and other atrocities keep coming out. No humanitarian aid is being allowed into South Kordofan or Blue Nile. People are displaced and starving and have access to little or no medical care. Reporting is not allowed either. Sadly this last is very effective because little is getting on the TV around the world. Please keep praying, and should occasion permit, give generously to relief aid.