The Rev. Sharon Stewart of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Rev. Dr. Melodie Jones Pointon, senior pastor and head of staff at Eastridge Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, recently served as co-conveners of one of the first virtual mission network meetings.
When soldiers are seeking to reclaim lost territory they have little regard for the peace agreements signed by their national leaders. That’s why the grassroots work of the Rev. Peter Tibi and PC(USA) partner RECONCILE is a critical component of South Sudan’s fragile peace process.
I sometimes think about and long for all of those things that were lost to looting during the continuing battles and insecurity in Malakal.
Then I remember that my colleagues, new friends and the entire population of that town also lost everything, and more: documents, livelihoods, land, crops, sense of well-being and identity, and even their lives or the lives of many of their family members.