Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan Archives

Consecration and installation of Bishops for Sudan/South Sudan

by Mathew Block | May 7, 2024

*LCN Archbishop Christian Ekong presents the newly installed ELCSS/S Presiding Bishop Peter Anibati Abia (centre).*

SOUTH SUDAN – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan (ELCSS/S) held the consecration and installation of its first Presiding Bishop and four diocesan bishops on May 5, 2024, at St. Paul Cathedral in Yambio, South Sudan.

Installed as Presiding Bishop is Rev. Peter Anibati Abia, who was first elected to lead the ELCSS/S as Bishop in December 2016. He was subsequently elected to serve as Presiding Bishop at the ELCSS/S’ General Convention in December 2023.

The change in title from “Bishop” to “Presiding Bishop” reflects developments in the structure of the ELCSS/S, with the church establishing the office of diocesan bishops at its 2023 General Convention. Presiding Bishop Abia serves the Western Equatoria diocese; elected to serve the four other dioceses as bishop are Rev. Ogiki Benjamin (Central and Eastern Equatoria), Rev. Peter Chuol (Jonglei), Rev. Simon Gatluak (Upper Nile), and Rev. Musa Alabina (Sudan). All four diocesan bishops were consecrated and installed into office alongside Presiding Bishop Abia at the May 2024 service. Other officers installed during the service included the church’s General Secretary and the Assistant to the Bishop for the Western Equatoria diocese.

*The ELCSS/S’ diocesan bishops are consecrated and installed.*

International guests present for the consecration and installation service were Archbishop Christian Ekong of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria (LCN); Archbishop Joseph Ochola Omolo of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya (ELCK); Bishop David Tswaedi of the Confessional Lutheran Church of South Africa; Bishop Charles Bameka of the Lutheran Church of Uganda (LCU); and Bishop Yohana Nzelu of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania’s South East of Lake Victoria Diocese (ELCT-SELVD).

*The procession to the consecration and installation service.*

The ELCSS/S was founded in 1993 and has approximately 150,000 members. In 2022, the church was accepted as an observer member in the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran churches.

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ILC urges prayer for Sudan

by Mathew Block | Apr 26, 2023

SUDAN – The International Lutheran Council (ILC) is urging prayer for Sudan after armed conflict broke out in the country earlier this month. As of this publication, the World Health Organization reports more than 450 dead with more than 4,000 injured (with the actual number likely to be higher).

“Our hearts grieve for those caught in the midst of this terrible crisis,” said ILC General Secretary Timothy Quill. “We encourage our member churches around the world to name the Sudanese people in prayer, beseeching God for the reestablishment of peace and safety.”

In addition to the threat of violence, the turmoil has also led to critical shortages of necessities like food, water, fuel, and medicine. Even before the current conflict began, the people of Sudan faced serious hardship, with more than a third of the population considered to be in need of aid. The country was also home to more than one million refugees.

The International Lutheran Council has two observer member churches with ties to the nation of Sudan: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan (ELCSS/S) which has congregations in Sudan, and the South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church (SSELC).

“Although our headquarters is in Yambio, South Sudan, we also have churches within Khartoum, Sudan where there is serious fighting at the moment,” explained ELCSS/S Bishop Peter Anibati Abia. “Many people have been displaced or wounded, and others killed. Many are also stuck in their houses with no food, water, or electricity, and are in need of humanitarian support.”

“Please commend these suffering brothers and sisters into the Lord’s care as they endure the pains of this senseless war,” the bishop continued. “Pray for peace to prevail in Sudan. Pray for the bereaved, the homeless, the wounded, and the hungry. And pray also for the ELCSS/S as she ministers to these people.”

The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies dedicated to the authority of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

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Finnish theologian and missionary enters into glory

by Mathew Block | Jul 17, 2020

Rev. Dr. Anssi Simojoki

FINLAND – Rev. Dr. Anssi Simojoki, a major figure in Finnish Lutheranism and African missions, passed away on July 6, 2020 at his home in Uusikaupunki. He was 75 years old.

Dr. Simojoki left a deep spiritual impact on Finland and more broadly on missions. He was known as a powerful preacher of the Gospel, a versatile theologian, a courageous ecclesiastical debater, and a prolific writer and wordsmith.

Dr. Simojoki was ordained by Archbishop Martti Simojoki at Turku Cathedral in 1972. He served the parishes of Kodisjoki and Pori before being elected pastor of Lappi in southwest Finland. During this time, he became acquainted with the spiritual heritage of the so-called Prayer Revival of Western Finland. He served as the longtime editor of the movement’s magazine Länsi-Suomen Herännäislehti.

Dr. Simojoki was a founding member and longtime General Secretary of the St. Paul’s Synod in 1975, a forum and think tank for the confessional Lutheran defence of the office of the ministry in public discussions—including in the theological debate on woman’s priesthood, a debate which led to deep divisions in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

In 1989, Dr. Simojoki was invited to serve as a missionary of the Lutheran Evangelical Association of Finland to Kenya, where he served as a teacher at the Matongo Lutheran Theological Seminary and as pastor to a congregation in Nairobi. While serving in the field, he completed his doctoral thesis on the reception of the Book of Revelation in Finnish theology, which he defended at Åbo Akademi University in 1997.

In 1996, with the support of the Association of the Western Finland Prayer Movement, he joined the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, pioneering their work in Africa. In that role, he led numerous translation projects of Lutheran literature into dozens of African languages. He taught in many countries across the continent, including in Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Together with Rev. Dr. Robert Rahn and Rev. Andrew Mbugo, he helped found the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan. He also helped lead Gospel ministry efforts in hostile places like Somalia, Afghanistan, and Turkey. Before retiring in 2010, Dr. Simojoki completed a translation of the Lutheran Confessions into Swahili.

Dr. Simojoki helped to establish the Finnish Luther Foundation in 1999, and was subsequently also involved in the founding of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF). He served as chairman of the church’s Lutheran Hymns committee, producing a number of new hymns through original writing and translation.

His membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese led the Turku Archdiocese to defrock him from ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland in 2014. He spent his remaining years helping to build the Mission Diocese. In 2014, the Mission Diocese published a Festschrift in honour of his 70^th birthday, the title of which summed up Simojoki’s spiritual heritage: It is True as it is Written.

In retirement, Dr. Simojoki continued to serve as pastor to the Laitila congregation of the Mission Diocese. His ministry there bore witness to the focal point of his teaching and ministry: that God works through His Holy Word. From week to week, he focused on teaching and preaching. The gifts of Christ were to be distributed as they were instituted, so that even the weakest may possess the grace of Christ. The day before his death, he preached his final sermon at the congregation’s summer festival in Pyhäranta.

Dr. Simojoki is survived by his wife Marja, their six children, and twenty-four grandchildren.

Rev. Dr. Simojoki’s motto was Ps. 118:17, a fitting memorial to the faith of the great theologian and churchman: “Non moriar sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini – I shall not die but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord.”

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From a report by the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, with information also from a report by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

The ELMDF is a member of the International Lutheran Council, a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies.

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