EXTRAORDINARY, surreal, humbling and hopeful.
These are just a few words that sum up my Pilgrimage of Peace to South Sudan with Pope Francis and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It was a historic moment – three Christian denominations standing shoulder to shoulder for the first time and wrapped in the unity of the Holy Spirit.
It was a moment more than 500 years in the making and we went as servants in Christ with humility, unity and love, to encourage changes in hearts and minds.
It was a privilege and a liberation of the spirit of God and the rapturous reception of the tens of thousands of people who lined the streets and filled the venues was astounding.
But the joy and happiness etched on their faces hid a crushing reality, for the brave and resilient people that we stood alongside are desperately tired of suffering profoundly from continued armed conflict, violence, corruption, floods and famine.
We heard their cries of anguish and their hopes and dreams loud and clear.
The world’s youngest country has great potential and the call for peace, forgiveness, reconciliation, stability, prosperity and justice is deafening and we truly hope that those in power are really listening.
This is no stronger than among young people who are the future and they are the ones who will write this nation’s next chapter.
Between 60-70% of the country’s 11 million population identify as Christian and the churches – Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian – work closely together to try and make a difference.
It was an honour to represent the Church of Scotland due to its partnership with the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.
Since 2015, the Kirk has helped South Sudanese church leaders work at both a grassroots level and political level to try and bring unnecessary conflict to an end and build lasting peace.
We took that mission a step further by drawing the light of the world’s press on South Sudan and speaking truth to power.
Uneasy allies since the country became independent in 2011, President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and his First Vice-president, Riek Machar, both indicated a willingness to encourage people to move forward in the spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation.
I believe that it is within their reach to extend justice and compassion to all and the door is now open to signing a peace agreement that stalled in 2018.
Inaction is unconscionable because more than 400,000 people are said to have lost their lives through civil war, 9.4 million people need humanitarian aid and an estimated two million are living in makeshift camps whilst others have fled abroad.
An estimated eight million people are expected to experience food insecurity in 2023 and women and girls are extremely vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence.
My brothers in Christ and I will continue to hold the people of South Sudan in our prayers and highlight their plight but it is now up to those in power to turn warm words into meaningful action for the world is watching.
The Rt Rev Dr Iain Greenshields is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Chutch of Scotland
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here