Bishops discuss division of Episcopal Church of Sudan
November 28, 2013 (BOR) – Leaders from the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) began a six-day meeting in the Jonglei capital, Bor, on Wednesday to decide on whether the institution will separate as a consequence of South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011.
He described the Church’s possible split as “not separation as such but an arrangement within the Anglican communion where you devolve power from the mother provincial authority to the area of clusters of dioceses”.
Queues of church-goers lined the road from Bor town to the airport to welcome the bishops when they arrived on Wednesday. Bor was chosen as the venue for the meeting as it was the location of the first Christian mission to South Sudan in 1905.
“There were four dioceses before in Sudan [including southern Sudan], but there are more than 30 dioceses today”, Garang said.
“The Church of Sudan here can separate to [a] province in Sudan and [a] province in South Sudan. We are not separating but we are developing. The Church is one in the world, but it is a growing Church”, he added. .
The meeting to decide on the future of the ECS will conclude on 2 December.
(ST)