Explanation

Following 22 years of war between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan, a comprehensive peace agreement supported by the United States and other guarantor states led to the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011. This separated the geographically largest and potentially prosperous Nile Valley state of Sudan into two sovereign states: Sudan and South Sudan. Since the outbreak of war between rival South Sudan leaders in 2013 and the breakdown of social order and economic activity, the South Sudan Council of Churches, in which South Sudanese Anglicans are active, has offered constructive mediation between deadlocked factions and mutually fearful ethnic groups. Episcopal Relief and Development and Anglican Relief and Development in the United States continue to supply economic aid and training through provincial and diocesan channels. The Anglican presence in northern and southern Sudan was separated into two autonomous provinces in 2017, the two having previously been a single province since 1976. Anglicans in the Episcopal Church of Sudan are estimated at 1 million, and those in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan are estimated at 3.5 million. The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan and the strong membership growth and increase in dioceses in the Episcopal Church of South Sudan from 25 to 37 during the 10-year ministry of former Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul make renewal of missional links with local dioceses, theological schools, and grassroots development projects urgent.