An African Journey

The Rev. Jim Leuenberger traveled to South Sudan to teach at two ministry training centers and spend time with our partners from April 27- May 13. Over the next two blogs, Jim will share about his experience with us.

Greetings Friends! It brings me great joy to finally share about my trip to South Sudan with you! At its most basic level, this joy finds its source in the fact that I finally did make this trip! More about this in the section, “When I Was There,” below.

Where I Went

First of all, it’s important that I clarify something that was a source of confusion and concern for many of you. I traveled to South Sudan (The Republic of South Sudan), not North Sudan (The Republic of Sudan). The two countries officially separated from each other in July of 2011 after many years of civil war. North Sudan is the country currently experiencing war. I was in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the entire time, so I was never in danger while I traveled.

When I Was There

As most of you know, I was due to travel to South Sudan in January of this year. Unfortunately, the night before I was due to travel I got hit with a very nasty stomach virus. I was also diagnosed with a fairly nasty respiratory infection when I went to the doctor the next day.

I rescheduled my trip for mid-February, but once again got hit with illness the day before my scheduled departure, this time testing positive for Covid. Although I was disappointed to be unable to travel both times, the delay allowed me to do some further work before I went that enhanced what I was able to bring while there.

What I Did

My first week in Sudan was spent teaching at the Jesus Impact School of Mission in Juba. This school is part of the Greater Reach Alliance (GRA), a ministry begun in 2011 by my friends, the Revs. Tut Kony and Thomas Tut. I taught three 1½ hour classes a day and also preached at the morning worship time, so my time at this school was fairly intense but also tremendously satisfying. My twenty students were all more recent converts from Islam who came to experience a 6-month in-residence program of discipleship and ministry training that will help them start Christian fellowships in their home regions in the north. Thomas and Tut and their team have also begun a Bible translation program that is currently translating 50 key Scripture passages into five of the tribal mother tongues spoken by the school’s students. Altogether, over sixty students, translators, and staff live on site where all this fruitful work takes place.

The second week of my trip involved teaching forty students for three days At Nile Theological College, a school that prepares people to carry out their callings as pastors and Christian Educators. While all my teaching at Thomas and Tut’s school involved using a translator, I was able to teach in English at NTC. I finished that week with two more days preaching and teaching at the Jesus Impact School of Mission. I also enjoyed worshipping and preaching at different churches both Sundays I was in Juba, and it was great to spend time with many old friends and to make new ones while I was there.