On June 28 in Louisville, Kentucky, before closing the 81st General Convention of The Episcopal Church, the deputies and bishops authorized our Washington office to advocate for US government efforts to persuade countries supporting the combatants in Sudan to cease supplying arms, equipment, and funds. They called also for high-level diplomacy to mobilize from many countries the funds and equipment needed to relieve the impending famine, restore medical care, and reconstruct Sudan.
Resolution: Response to the crisis in Sudan and support for the Episcopal Church of Sudan
AFRECS Board members, testifying before the joint legislative committee on World Mission, offered first-hand testimony from His Grace Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, recorded during a BBC interview in April 2023 while he hid with a dozen Sudanese Christians as the Khartoum Cathedral was being overrun. Kondo’s closing words, as flying bullets could be heard in the background, were inspiring: “Nobody knows how and when this situation will come to an end. There is so much fear among the Sudanese people…. I thought about the boat, the disciples and Jesus. The disciples cried out ‘Don’t you care that we are about to die?’ And Jesus wakes up and commanded the wind to be quiet and be still. And it was. I believe God is able to do and does things. And this is the whole hope that we have. That [for] this sinking boat the waves and the wind will die out.”
The Presiding Bishop was asked to encourage donations to Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) and the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans (AFRECS) to aid in this effort.
The resolution submitted by former AFRECS Board member Russell V. Randle, current Board member Susan E. Bentley, and Diocese of Virginia lay Deputy Cindi Bartol requested the Presiding Bishop to designate a season of prayer for Sudan later this year by our dioceses, congregations, clergy, and people.
The Right Reverend Sean Rowe, elected Presiding Bishop at the convention in Louisville, will take office on November 2, succeeding the Right Reverend Michael Bruce Curry.