Greetings Holston Conference in the name of our risen Lord and Savior! May God’s grace come before you, walk with you, and linger behind you each day. 
 
I received an email today from Rev. Faustino Duku of South Sudan that I wanted to share with all of you. You may recall hearing Rev. Duku praying for us all during Annual Conference this year at Lake Junaluska. The South Sudan/Uganda Annual Conference is in session October 28-31 in Jinja, Uganda. It will be the first Annual Conference with Rev. Duku as the South Sudan District Superintendent. He sent me a copy of the report he will be giving at their Annual Conference gathering. It is such a hope-filled report detailing the many ways God is at work in and through the South Sudan churches, whether in South Sudan or in the refugee camps of Northern Uganda. I wanted you to be able to read his report because you have been an integral part of the ministries taking place there through your continued support. God is good, all the time. And as they say in South Sudan, All the time, I am a witness! Thank you for all you are doing for the Kingdom in your community and around the world.
 
Blessings,
 
Rev. Michael G. Sluder
Director of Connectional Ministries
Holston Conference


 

SOUTH SUDAN DISTRICT REPORT TO THE SOUTH SUDAN/UGANDA ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF 2022

Church Report

• South Sudan District has 21 churches with 18 local pastors and 21 associate pastors.
• We have 3 ordained elders, 8 to be ordained as elders, 4 to be ordained as provisional elders and 6 to be commissioned during this annual conference.
• Our total number of Christians is 1516 members of which 333 are men, 408 women and 775 children. Many families have decided to go back to South Sudan; this has greatly affected the number of Christians in the South Sudan district.
• South Sudan district has finally been able to get a South Sudanese DS, Rev. Faustino Duku. We want to invite all of you here to join us in celebrating this milestone next year March in Imvepi refugee camp. Thank you Bishop for your leadership and enabling this to happen.
• We are so grateful for the support we received from the leadership of Rev. Dr. Fred Dearing, we continue to lobby for his support and that of Holston in empowering South Sudan.
• We also want to take this opportunity to thank our advisory team from Holston Conference led by Danny Howe who have put us so dear at heart and have continued to lobby for support for South Sudan. May you all be blessed. 
• Holston repaired the wall fence at Captains house that collapsed due to poor drainage system.
• South Sudan district has divided its district to 4 regions, Yei region, Imvepi region, Rhino Camp and Bidibidi region, this division in regions has eased our leadership and management of our local churches.
• All our departments including Pastors leadership, Youth office and the women department are all represented at the regional levels and this has eased the work of the DS.
• We are embracing independence as South Sudan, we have started supporting local church programs.
• We conduct weekly radio preaching in Yei South Sudan through spirit FM, we thank John Kenyi and his team that have continued to share the word with many people of South Sudan and Congo who have lost hope due to the current war happening in South Sudan.
• We have baptized over 50 children this year.

 
Theology School

• 3 pastors are attending a degree in Theology from the United Methodist Theological College, 6 for Diploma in Theology and 4 in certificate program. We Thank the leadership of the school that has helped empower our South Sudan pastors, thank you for being patient with us. 
• We graduated 8 students in March of 2022 in a Diploma in Theology.
• We hope to empower all of our leaders of the local churches so that they can carry forward the mission of the United Methodist Church (Making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world). 

 
Education

• We are currently educating 35 orphans with support from Holston Conference under the leadership of Mama Libby Dearing. 13 of the kids are in secondary school, 1 in tailoring school and 21 in primary school in Arua. These are children of Grace home whose care has been integrated into the church. Grace home has been closed due to complications from the government authorities, so the church has taken full control for the orphans now.
• We have 10 orphans being educated in South Sudan. 
• Pastors children are being provided education in secondary school.
• Through the support of TMS Global (The Mission Society), 12 students are enrolled for health courses ranging from Clinical Medicine, Laboratory studies, Midwiferey and Nursing. 

Trauma Healing

• We received training in Bible Based Trauma healing in July from the Doctors Lynn and Sharon Fogleman. 25 People were trained out of which 3 were our pastors. This program has helped many people recover from the trauma that has affected many of our people.

 
Marriage counseling and HIV / Aids Training

• We have successfully carried out Marriage counseling and HIV/Aids program in all of our UMC churches, the refugee community and the Muslim community. This training has helped to restore peace in their families.
• We have so far reached at least 1300 people. 
• This training has restored many marriages and helped people to forgive themselves, it has as well helped the young who are yet thinking of marriage to make the right choice and go into it with the right intention.
• Through this training, we have rescued 45 suicidal cases. 
• We thank our staff member Ruba Robert and the team of pastors who have worked together to touch these lives.
• We also Thank Dr. Sharon Fogleman who worked hard in getting us this grant (The Lightner Grant). We wish to ask for more support in this program as the program is very much desired by the community. 

 
Many blessings
 
Presented by Rev. Faustino Duku
District Superintendent
South Sudan District
AC 2022