The Anglican Diocese of Kondoa’s six-month Women’s Empowerment program teaches women and girls sewing and cooking skills. The program aims to help women secure employment. Photo: Diocese of East Tennessee

“Through this partnership, we encourage each other, we love each other and we pray for one another,” Gaula told ENS in a Dec. 9 interview. “It has been a transformative experience for both dioceses.”

Gaula first visited the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Knoxville, where Fels was rector, in 2014. A year later, Fels and a group of parishioners organized a pilgrimage to Kondoa. Then, in 2019, Kondoa and East Tennessee formally became companion dioceses. Gaula said he and East Tennessee Bishop Brian Cole regularly communicate.

East Tennessee Episcopalians last visited Kondoa earlier this year, and Gaula and his wife, the Rev. Lilian Gaula, an Anglican priest, visited the Knoxville-based diocese in 2024. East Tennessee Episcopalians have postponed their 2026 pilgrimage due to civil unrest in Tanzania. 

“This relationship fills my soul. …The experiences everyone’s had has broadened our horizons,” Elizabeth Colonna, a parishioner at Good Samaritan who has visited Kondoa with the Diocese of East Tennessee six times since 2015, told ENS.

In the meantime, East Tennessee Episcopalians are maintaining their diocesan partnership by raising money for the Diocese of Kondoa. Most of the money will support completing an almost-built secondary school in the Chemba District. It will be named St. Peter and St. Paul’s, the same name as the diocese’s preschool and primary school in Kondoa. Gaula expects classes to begin in January.

When East Tennessee Episcopalians travel to Kondoa, they visit St. Peter and St. Paul’s Preschool and Primary School, which enrolls about 300 students. East Tennessee sends money annually to help cover tuition – $400 per student a year.

“The opportunities that open for students at this particular school are a game changer,” Margaret Slattery, another parishioner at the Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan in Knoxville, told ENS.

Colonna and Slattery said they hope to bring a robotics kit next time they visit Kondoa.

While in Kondoa, the pilgrims typically spend a week meeting Anglicans in some of the diocese’s 43 parishes and 10 deaneries throughout the predominantly Muslim region. They also tour the Cathedral of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles and the Women’s Empowerment Center, where women and girls learn sewing and cooking skills. The six-month program aims to help women secure employment.

“When you empower women, you empower the community and you empower the country,” Gaula said.

The two dioceses also are working together and with ecumenical partners to increase potable water access for Kondoa residents. Many women spend most of their days fetching water for their family, and bathing is limited to conserve water. Kondoa, according to Gaula, is one of the poorest dioceses in the Anglican Church of Tanzania, and its members lack clean water and adequate food. 

The Rev. Ingrid J. Schalk, a retired Lutheran pastor who joined the East Tennessee Episcopalians on their most recent pilgrimage to Kondoa, is now working with the nonprofit Water to Thrive to build a well in the village of Wizjabe.

Gaula said he is “most grateful” that the Diocese of East Tennessee supports women’s empowerment in Kondoa year-round.

“In Tanzania, women are marginalized; they are second class. When supporters join them with compassion and treat them as the human beings that they are, they see that they are valued for all they do for their families,” Gaula said. “The support the Diocese of East Tennessee has for the women of Kondoa has become a bridge of building peace and harmony, love and friendship, and we appreciate their support.”  

The Rev. Daniel Karanja, The Episcopal Church’s Africa partnership officer, told ENS that relational partnerships within the Anglican Communion, like East Tennessee and Kondoa, are beneficial for everyone because, despite the cultural and economic differences, “they build a stronger faith rooted in Christ.”

“Just mutual engagement itself and sharing stories can foster kindness and build one another up,” Karanja said. “When people engage in fellowship and support each other in different ways, their faith flourishes and thrives.”

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.

London Bishop Sarah Mullally was announced Oct. 3 as the archbishop of Canterbury-designate. Photo: Anglican Communion News Service

[Episcopal News Service] The announcement last week that London Bishop Sarah Mullally would become the Church of England’s first female archbishop of Canterbury was cheered by many in The Episcopal Church and in provinces across the Anglican Communion, potentially signaling a new era for the global Anglican leadership role, which has centuries of history.

In sharp contrast, the reaction of some conservative Anglican leaders in Africa and other parts of the Global South has been decidedly negative.

“Grievous” was the adjective used by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches. It issued a statement calling Mullally’s selection “one further symptom of the crisis of faith and authority” in the Anglican Communion.

Another organization of conservative Anglicans, GAFCON, said it received the news with “sorrow” and restated its arguments that the archbishop of Canterbury “can no longer function as a credible leader of Anglicans, let alone a focus of unity.”

And Nigeria Archbishop Henry Ndukuba called Mullally’s selection “devastating.” Ndukuba’s province has boycotted most Anglican Communion gatherings for years in protest of the theological diversity of beliefs and practices represented by the 42 autonomous, interdependent Anglican provinces. He and the Anglican Communion’s most conservative leaders have insisted on theological uniformity, particularly regarding human sexuality and traditional gender roles.

“This election is a further confirmation that the global Anglican world could no longer accept the leadership of the Church of England and that of the Archbishop of Canterbury,” Ndukuba said in a written statement released Oct. 6.

Mullally, 63, was named the 106th archbishop of Canterbury on Oct. 3 after her nomination was approved by King Charles III through a process overseen by the Church of England. She is scheduled to take office in January after a final election and confirmation by church leaders.

The archbishop of Canterbury, as England’s most senior bishop, has long been seen as an “instrument of communion” among the provinces of Anglican Communion, which number 85 million members and all have historic ties with the Church of England. Mullally will become the “first among equals” alongside the primates of the other 41 Anglican provinces, with responsibility for convening the Primates’ Meeting and Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.

The archbishop of Canterbury’s global leadership role, however, was called into question under Mullally’s predecessor, former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, after the Church of England began in 2023 allowing same-sex couples to receive blessings in its churches. Some conservative bishops said they rejected the continuation of England’s historic leadership role in the Anglican Communion, and they also have said their provinces are in “impaired” communion with provinces like The Episcopal Church that are more progressive on issues of LGBTQ+ inclusion.

The Anglican Consultative Council, an Anglican Communion body with representation from all 42 provinces, is scheduled to discuss possible changes to the leadership structure, including the role of the archbishop of Canterbury, when it meets in June and July 2026. The conservatives’ reactions to Mullally’s selection cast new doubt over those ongoing efforts to mend global relations.

“This appointment abandons global Anglicans, as the Church of England has chosen a leader who will further divide an already split Communion,” Rwanda Archbishop Laurent Mbanda said in a statement on behalf of GAFCON, which he chairs.

GAFCON’s member archbishops include leaders from Anglican provinces, including Alexandria, Chile, Congo, Kenya, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and Uganda, as well as breakaway factions like the Anglican Church in North America that are not recognized as members of the Anglican Communion.

Mbanda’s statement, affirming the GAFCON teaching that homosexuality is sinful, cited a 2023 statement by Mullally in favor of blessing couples in same-sex relationships. When the Church of England authorized those blessings in February 2023, Mullally called it “a moment of hope for the church.” She chaired the group that developed the proposals.

“I know that what we have proposed as a way forward does not go nearly far enough for many but too far for others,” Mullally said then. “It is my prayer that what has been agreed today will represent a step forward for all of us within the Church – including LGBTQI+ people – as we remain committed to walking together.”

Mbanda countered in his GAFCON statement that “it is not lawful for the church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word,” yet Mullally “has repeatedly promoted unbiblical and revisionist teachings regarding marriage and sexual morality.”

“We pray that as she takes upon herself the weight of this historic office, she will repent, and earnestly work with the GAFCON leadership to mend the torn fabric of our Anglican Communion,” Mbanda said.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches includes some of the same members as GAFCON and some additional provinces in Africa, Asia and South America.  It struck a similar tone in its statement on Mullally’s selection, again admonishing the Church of England for its 2023 vote in favor of same-sex blessings.

“While we shall of course pray for Bishop Mullally as she assumes this historic position, we feel compelled to say that we feel this appointment is a missed opportunity to reunite and reform the Anglican Communion,” South Sudan Archbishop Justin Badi said in the statement, as chair of the Global South Fellowship.

Ndukuba, the Church of Nigeria archbishop, called Mullally’s selection a case of “double jeopardy,” because his and some other conservative provinces do not allow women to become bishops.

“First, in its insensitivity to the conviction of the majority of Anglicans who are unable to embrace female headship in the episcopate, and second, more disturbing that Bishop Sarah Mullally is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage,” he said. “It remains to be seen how the same person hopes to mend the already torn fabric of the Anglican.”

Even so, opposition to Mullally in provinces of the Global South is far from unanimous. Southern Africa Archbishop Thabo Makgoba issued a statement offering Mullally “warm congratulations.”

“The historic appointment of the first woman as archbishop of Canterbury is a thrilling development,” Makgoba said. “We heartily welcome the announcement and look forward to working with her as we all try to respond prophetically and pastorally to what God is up to in God’s world.”

Bishop Anthony Poggo, a South Sudanese bishop who serves as secretary general of the Anglican Communion, issued a statement celebrating the selection of Mullally and inviting Anglicans “to pray for her as she prepares to take up this important ministry.

“May God grant her wisdom and discernment, as she seeks to listen to member churches, encourage mutual support, and foster unity.”

In Nigeria, too, not all Anglicans agree with Ndukuba’s criticisms of Mullally.

“I think it’s a very wonderful thing,” Mary Okolie, a Nigerian missionary, told the French news program “Eye on Africa” in an interview about the first woman chosen as archbishop of Canterbury. “It’s also a way that God will prove to our generation that what he has been using men to do he can also use women to do it.”

And in Kenya, the Rt. Rev. Emily Onyango, who became the province’s first female bishop in 2021, told Religion News Service she was “very excited” for Mullally to become archbishop of Canterbury. “It means a lot for the church. Being the first woman archbishop of Canterbury, we believe things will be done differently,” Onyango said. “We know there will be justice in the church, and we know she will work for peace and unity — something we need both in the church and in the world.”

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

Despite ongoing reconciliation dialogues being encouraged by international bodies, a sustainable and peaceful remedy has not yet been reached in South Sudan. At this time of “political deadlock,” the South Sudan Council of Churches, an ecumenical group of South Sudanese church leaders, including Catholic, Episcopal, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Presbyterian and Reformed churches, has released a statement advocating for dialogue in pursuit of peace.

Representatives from the 10 member churches of the SSCC met Sept. 9-13 in Kenya to discuss the ongoing situation in the country. A statement was then shared as a result of those discussions, signed by representatives of several South Sudanese Christian traditions, including the Most Rev. Justin Badi Arama, archbishop and primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and bishop of Juba.

Statement on the situation in South Sudan and the proposed way forward

Quoting Isaiah 1:18, the statement begins: “Let us dialogue and live in Peace!”

“We, the Heads of Churches, come to you with a message of hope, encouragement and peace. As a body committed to the spiritual and moral guidance of our nation, we remain steadfast in our support for a peaceful and prosperous South Sudan.

“Cognizant that South Sudan continues to grapple with a profound political and humanitarian crisis, persistent delays in the implementation of R-ARCSS, ongoing sub-national violence, severe economic hardships and deep erosion of public trust. All these have left the peace process fragile and the population in a state of enduring suffering.”

The statement goes on to acknowledge the “need for a critical and timely intervention aimed at breaking the political deadlock that threatens the fragile peace in South Sudan” and highlight the need for “safe spaces for country-wide genuine dialogue and … a tangible pathway to lasting peace for conflict-fatigued South Sudanese.”

The statement notes “that the nation stands at a perilous crossroads where stagnation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement risks undoing sustained efforts towards cultivating peace in South Sudan” and goes on to say that after reflection and prayer and inspired by the church’s calling and prophetic ministry of peace and reconciliation, the Council agrees to the following:

1. The church shall assert its divine mandate to minister peace and reconciliation as urged by the South Sudanese people.
2. Articulate the voice of the suffering South Sudanese people and serve as the independent conscience of the nation.
3. Act as a trusted, neutral bridge between conflicting South Sudanese parties and as an instrument of transformation/reconstruction of South Sudan.
4. Establish a mechanism for dialogue through a Church Initiative for National Healing and Reconciliation (CINHR).
5. Urge political leaders to move from mere rhetoric to actionable commitments for peace and dialogue.
6. Call for general amnesty and national forgiveness, including those in detention, and those who have taken up arms against the state.
7. Exert considerable moral and spiritual influence over South Sudanese leaders to encourage compliance and good-faith negotiation.
8. Commit to advocating against proxy interferences and present a coherent, unified regional stance on South Sudan.
9. Champion the Church Initiative for National Healing and Reconciliation (CINHR) process at the local and national level. Urge regional and international forums,  like the All Africa Conference of Churches, World Council of Churches, East African Community, African Union, Peace and Security Council, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the United Nations to support the church-led initiative.
10. Encourage respective allies within South Sudan to engage constructively with the Church-led process.

See the full statement from the South Sudan Council of Churches here.

“Creation care and ecological conversion need fast actions but also require long-term patience in transforming the prevailing anthropocentric system and in repairing the existing ecological destructions. We need to work in solidarity, diversity, and in a common ecumenical spirit of creation stewardship,” declared Louk Andrianos, WCC consultant for Care for Creation, Sustainability, and Climate Justice.

Read the entire article here.

The incident took place on shared borders near the village of Bori Boma in Kangapo II Payam, which is part of Kajo-Keji County. News reports state that the violence claimed the lives of at least eight soldiers, between Uganda People’s Defense Force and South Sudan People’s Defence Force.

In his statement, Lule expressed “deep astonishment” about the incident, which has also displaced people in the region. An assessment by the diocese estimates that the increasing number of internally displaced persons include 2,364 households, 7,915 individuals, 2,350 children and 830 elderly.

The church has been providing support, including searching for families, identifying lost or separated children, providing humanitarian assistance and spiritual comfort to those affected. Churches across Kajo-Keji have also been holding special solidarity prayers for peace, as well as de-escalation and/or demilitarisation to allow freedom of movement and communities.

Lule ’s statement says, “…the displaced are camped under trees, in schools, churches and health facilities without access to any source of food, clothing, cooking utensils and other basic needs. The displaced population is living in fear due to widespread rumors, misinformation and a negative propaganda of war (between the two forces) circulating uncontrollably.”

In a report by the New York Times, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Aba Nicanor of the Episcopal Diocese of Liwolo also drew attention to the issue of displaced people saying, “Children went unattended as they got separated from their parents, the elderly remained scattered as they began to get out of the bushes to look for their unaccompanied kids, and the sick and injured had no medicine to be given.”

Lule’s statement has appealed “… for humanitarian intervention, for peaceful resolution of conflicts by the warring forces, for protection of the civil population from any sort of violence, and for the warring parties to abide by humanitarian and international laws to spare the civil population.”

Referring to Psalm 23:1-6, the statement continues, “We pray that the civil population remains resilient and recover from the traumatic experience. For God is the ultimate sustainer of humanity… We call upon all warring parties to demonstrate love for the people of the two sisterly nations. Any war must always be for a just cause of the common good of humanity. What do we gain from killing each other and destroying our long relationship?”

For many years, the Diocese of Kajo Keji has been working to rebuild community life and support internally displaced people and refugees impacted by civil war. They are now living in a context of rising tension in South Sudan, a country where fragile peace is collapsing and where millions are facing hunger and displacement.

News reporting on the reasons for the clash on July 28 vary, with some suggesting that competing claims over the poorly defined boundary “often flare into small-scale fighting.” Other news reports describe this as a “rare clash” between the “longtime security partners” of South Sudan and Uganda.

A report by Lule suggests that the contested area between the two countries (encompassing Nyaingamuda and Gobor) has been “disputed for decades, but past confrontations have been limited and brief in terms of the consequences.”

The report also notes that the church is “fully aware that border disputes, although presented as mere territorial issues, are often exploited for political purposes. These tensions may be manipulated to stoke nationalist sentiments, distract the population from domestic issues and serve the interests of specific political actors. This places short-term political opportunism above the well-being of the population and hinders a peaceful, sustainable long-term resolution.”

The report adds, “We must resist divisive ideologies of violence or military solution, and instead foster a culture of solidarity and genuine fraternity.” It affirms that the Diocese of Kajo-Keji “maintains active and deeply fraternal ties with the sisterly Church of Uganda in Moyo and the overall West Nile region.”

Around the world, Anglicans often work to provide comfort and support for widows and their families. Mothers’ Union plays a very active role in this ministry. Mothers’ Union is a charity and global network that’s been supporting families worldwide for nearly 150 years. It exists to end poverty, inequality and injustice. Members around the world, many of them women,  work in their communities to bring hope and practical support to millions of people through parenting, literacy and community development programs.

To mark the global awareness day known as International Widows’ Day, Anglican News spoke to the Rt. Rev. Rose Okeno, bishop of Butere in Kenya; Margareth Ndonde Massawa, provincial coordinator of Mothers’ Union for Tanzania; and the Rev. Yohana Juma Muhammed, project manager for Mothers’ Union and part-time pastor at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, Tanzania.

Why is International Widows’ Day significant for Christians?

Okeno shares her passion for ministry for widows in her community in Kenya. “I have served with the community for quite a long time, over 20 years as clergy and now as a bishop, and I understand the challenges that women and particularly widows go through. Jesus’ ministry was able to overturn the world in only three years. Why? How did he do it? Because he did ministry that touched people’s lives. You know, he was healing people. He was teaching, proclaiming and causing social transformation. He fed people, he raised the dead and he was compassionate. So, the Bible is full of compassion, particularly for the vulnerable, like widows.”

Muhammed reflects, “As you are preparing for International Widows’ Day, I wish to say that it is very important because for us Christians, we are called. James 1:27 tells us it’s a call. It is a religion that supports the widows and the orphans. It’s a spiritual mandate. If we don’t do it, who is going to do it? It’s the day that reminds us that we are standing in solidarity with, and that we advocate for, the widows.”

Massawa explains that Mothers’ Union hold their conference in June because they wish to tell widows “the importance of their life, that they are special to God” by marking Widows Week.

Where does your passion for widows come from?

Okeno shares her memories of living in poverty as a child with her siblings being raised by her mother, who was widowed. “I experienced widowhood challenges as a child because of how my mother was struggling to raise us single-handedly, paying out for school fees and feeding us. So, I really understand and I personally have been widowed for now 11 years. I really understand the challenges that come with that, like raising children and so on.

“It is important for individuals and communities to care for widows because that’s what I have learned over time from experience and having served as a Women’s Ministry Coordinator in the diocese for eight years and I know for sure that widows struggle.”

What challenges do widows face in your community?

Muhammed says, “There are many issues that widows face. According to the African traditions, when you are married and your husband dies, the relatives of your husband come and take everything. Things that you have obtained with your husband are taken, and many widows face those challenges, but they don’t know how to oppose it and uphold their rights.”

Okeno finds the very same problems in Kenya. “Cultural expectations push them [widows] to so much poverty. For example, when they are widowed, in-laws come to take what would have been their inheritance, so they have nothing. They go through all these challenges and do they even understand the law? Do they really know who to turn to?”

The Diocese of Butere did extensive research and found that most people believed that religious leaders, such as their pastors, have solutions to their problems, but in fact, they don’t have legal training or an idea of how to help these widows in a practical sense. Okeno says, “They will pray and tell them ‘go in peace,’ but they’re not going in peace because they are going back to a violent environment. So, they are not finding help.”

What ministries are you seeing in your area to support widows?

In Butere, Kenya, an initiative is being launched called Unboxing the Law, which aims to educate ministers and other community support stakeholders about basic legal principles so they can help others.

“We are now drawing programs, sensitization programs, with the communities. We are looking forward to bringing together many stakeholders, including the judiciary, provincial administrators, women leaders and religious leaders, including our own Anglican church pastors. We want everybody to come on board and be able to interact with this document so that we are now beginning to sensitize the entire community, including the victims of violence, and the widows. We are even praying moving forward that we, in the center we have here in Butere, called African Institute for Contemporary Mission and Research, that in this institute we will be able to begin our center for pastors to study law. Just basic law, because it’s not taught.”

Okeno also describes the diocesan programs of economic empowerment for young widows and emotional support. “We have 170 congregations in 51 parishes, [and in each place] there is a group of widows that meet on a monthly basis, just to be able to pray together, to share experiences, for fellowship, but also for the young widows. We have started an economic empowerment program where we are giving them chicks to begin poultry rearing. On this International Widows’ Day, we will be giving close to 500 widows at least three chicks or so to support them economically.”

In the week preceding International Widows’ Day, Mothers’ Union in Tanzania held their third National Conference in Dodoma City, which gathered 150 people together from Tanzania and also some from Kenya. Muhammed says that the conference “created an opportunity to share discussions, speaking their heart” as well as offering “pastoral care and counseling” and to hear from “different speakers.” These include those with legal training who can educate attendees about how to help widows retain their property after their husbands’ deaths and principles of safeguarding vulnerable people, such as widows, in the community. She said that the in-person meeting gives people the chance to speak about the challenges they face and to know that “You are not alone.”

There have also been opportunities for widowers to come and take comfort in the teachings and activities of the conference. Muhammed says, “Men are not forgotten. Whatever we do, let’s not only do for the women. There are men also facing some issues and there are times they need to talk to somebody. Men also need support.”

One widower who attended the conference in Tanzania, along with seven widows, was the Rev. Jacob from The Anglican Church of Kenya. He expressed the challenges that widowers face when faced with the loss of their partners. “The biggest problem a widower will face immediately is loneliness.” He reflects on other problems a widower can face after the loss of his wife. “These days, ladies are working hard, getting into executive roles, they climb the ladder. When the woman is earning more than you, her absence becomes a big problem.”

What inspires you in your ministry with widows?

Okeno reflects, “James 1:27 says, ‘Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,’ meaning caring for the vulnerable and maintaining moral purity, which is the key role of the church. It highlights the importance of practical acts of service.

“This connects the outward acts of love and service with an inward commitment to holiness, presenting them as inseparable components of true, God-pleasing religion. And that is why I think this International Widows’ Day is crucial for faith actors, because it is the key responsibility that we are called for.”

Rev. Jacob from The Anglican Church of Kenya said the conference in Tanzania offered him a place to be counseled and share ideas with people who understand his experiences. He observes, “The Bible tells us, ‘let us reason together.’ How I pray that we [widowers] will come together and reason together just as the women do.”

How can the global Anglican Communion pray for your ministry?

Okeno asks the communion to “pray that God will continue to give us, as the women’s ministry leadership and myself, the wisdom, the energy, the courage and good health to continue journeying with widows and these vulnerable groups in our community, including them in the church to experiencing the love of God; pray that God will give us the courage, because it’s not an easy thing given the context in which we are serving. The other thing I will pray for is for the necessary resources to be able to continue empowering young widows through these poultry and tailoring projects, which we are currently undertaking. And of course as well, pray that our dream for a center for law training will begin.”

Massawa sought prayers for Mothers’ Union in Tanzania, saying, “We are looking forward to having the biggest conference next year. We invited many to come but they didn’t as we needed them to, because of the challenges of their funds. So, we ask God to open next year’s conference to welcome other people from different countries, men and women together.”

Diseko, who is leading the process of welcoming the Diocese of Botswana back as a member of the Province of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, was accompanied at the May  4 service by Lesotho Bishop Vicentia Kgabe, as well as the retired bishop of Namibia, the Rt. Rev. Luke Pato, and his wife, Essie Pato, who represented the United Society Partners in the Gospel.

The Church of the Province of Central Africa resolved at its last Provincial Synod to split into three new provinces, comprising dioceses in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe respectively. The Anglican Church of Southern Africa resolved at its last Provincial Synod to negotiate the admission of Botswana.

The Diocese of Newcastle, Botswana’s link diocese in the Church of England, was well represented, and Newcastle Bishop Helen-Ann Hartley delivered the sermon at the service.

Upon taking office in January, President Donald Trump had suspended the United States’ 45-year-old refugee resettlement program, but he later reversed himself to make a narrow exception for white South Africans, known as Afrikaners, whom he said were “escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.”

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba is primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which includes South Africa. Photo: Anglican Communion News Service

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe announced May 12 that the church’s Episcopal Migration Ministries, would end its federal contract to provide refugee resettlement services rather than participate in the Trump administration’s plan to let “one group of refugees, selected in a highly unusual manner, receive preferential treatment over many others who have been waiting in refugee camps or dangerous conditions for years.”

Rowe made the decision a day after consulting by phone with Makgoba, the bishop of Cape Town and primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. In his letter, Makgoba thanked Rowe for the call and expressed “our gratitude for the stand you have taken.”

“What the [Trump] administration refers to as anti-white racial discrimination is nothing of the kind,” Makgoba said. “Our government implements affirmative action on the lines of that in the United States, designed not to discriminate against whites but to overcome the historic disadvantages black South Africans have suffered.”

Afrikaners, who number about 3 million people in a country of 63 million, formerly were part of the governing white minority under South Africa’s extreme racial segregation of apartheid, until its end in 1994 allowed newfound enfranchisement of the country’s Black majority. Even more than 30 years later, however, Black South Africans still struggle under the weight of their country’s historical disparities, Makgoba said.

“By every measure of economic and social privilege, white South Africans as a whole remain the beneficiaries of apartheid,” Makgoba said. By some measures, “we are the most unequal society in the world, with the majority of the poor black, and the majority of the wealthy white.”

Trump’s Feb. 7 executive order on South Africa pledged “humanitarian relief” to Afrikaners and criticized a South African law allowing the seizure of property without compensation in certain circumstances.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has rejected what he calls the “completely false narrative” about the law, which was intended to address the lingering disparities that Makgoba wrote of in his letter to Rowe. For example, white South Africans, who make up about 7% of the country’s population, control an estimated 72% of the country’s farmland.

Rowe’s May 12 announcement also lamented the harms that Trump’s executive order restricting refugee resettlement have caused for many of the millions of other people around the world fleeing war, persecution and other hardships in their home countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there are more than 32 million refugees worldwide, and tens of millions more have been displaced within their home countries.

EMM has resettled nearly 110,000 such refugees over nearly 40 years, following of the Gospel call to “welcome the stranger.” Until this year, it was eager to continue that work as one of the 10 agencies with contracts to facilitate refugee resettlement on behalf of the federal government, a program that has long had bipartisan support.

Trump, in halting the refugee resettlement program, claimed without evidence that refugees had become a costly burden on American communities, yet his administration expedited the resettlement of an initial group of 59 Afrikaners, who arrived in the United States on May 12.

After The Episcopal Church declined to participate in the resettlement of Afrikaners, the White House responded by questioning The Episcopal Church’s “commitment to humanitarian aid.”

“Any religious group should support the plight of Afrikaners, who have been terrorized, brutalized, and persecuted by the South African government,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a May 13 statement. “The Afrikaners have faced unspeakable horrors and are no less deserving of refugee resettlement than the hundreds of thousands of others who were allowed into the United States during the past administration.”

Makgoba pushed back against such depictions of the Afrikaners as refugees.

“We cannot agree that South Africans who have lost the privileges they enjoyed under apartheid should qualify for refugee status ahead of people fleeing war and persecution from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Afghanistan,” he said.

– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.

The Rev. Mtipe Koggani (left) offers a prayer at Grace Africa Christian Connection during a Sunday afternoon service in January. GACC is a start-up of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri centered on African and Afro Caribbean immigrants in the St. Louis area. Photo: Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] Grace Africa Christian Connection in St. Louis, Missouri, is only two and a half years old, but already it has an average Sunday attendance of about 40, with another 80 people involved in community life. Its mission is to serve African and Afro Caribbean immigrants living in the United States, and today people from at least 15 countries call it their church home.

GACC, as it is known, is a church plant of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri that came about through a chance meeting in early March 2020 of then-Bishop-elect Deon K. Johnson and seminary student Mtipe Koggani. That morning Johnson attended Emmanuel Episcopal Church near his home and struck up a conversation with Koggani, a lifelong Anglican from Tanzania who had come to the U.S. to study at Eden Theological Seminary, just across the street from the church. He asked Koggani if he knew of other Africans living in the area, and Koggani said he could name at least 50 people.

Sensing a mission opportunity, Johnson told Episcopal News Service, “I said, ‘Let’s get you into the ordination process and ordain you.’” Koggani, who had been an active lay pastor at his home church and had planned to return to Tanzania after he graduated, told ENS the reason he was going to seminary was to serve the church. Johnson’s offer, he said, “was an opportunity to serve my African brothers and sisters.” So he said “yes.”

Even though COVID-19 restrictions were announced the next week, plans for Koggani’s ministry progressed. He graduated from Eden, served a year in the Episcopal Service Corps at the DuBois Center in Illinois, and then graduated in 2022 with a diploma in Anglican Studies from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Johnson noted that while Koggani was in Virginia, he created a group chat for Africans back in St. Louis so he could stay connected to them. He also worked with a team of eight people who spent that year listening to what people wanted in a new church community. “We didn’t want to go with the colonial method of us going to them and saying, ‘We are bringing you this,’” Koggani said. “We wanted to have mutual ministry.”

Once he was back in the St. Louis, Koggani found space at Grace United Methodist Church where GACC could worship on Sunday afternoons. And they started offering free piano, drums and guitar lessons to kids in the community as a way to potentially get them involved in the church. “They now are the ones who are part of our band during worship,” he said. “They started when they were 10, 11 years old, and they’re 13 or 14 now.”

They are so good that other churches have invited them to play, he said. And they are so dedicated that they never miss church “unless they are out of town or very, very sick.” Family members who have seen how happy the kids in the band are now attend church.

Grace Methodist also has given them space to set up a recording studio, where the band can record practice sessions and where Koggani hopes to create videos, podcasts and other multimedia evangelism opportunities that can be shared on social media platforms.

“It also is a way of supporting African immigrants in the area who have talents in music, in video production and things like that, but who cannot afford studio sessions somewhere else,” he said. GACC doesn’t charge for using the space, asking only for a donation.

Music plays a big role in worship at Grace Africa Christian Connection. Band members include children who took music lessons at the church and then went on to play during the Sunday afternoon service. Photo: Facebook

Worship services follow the Book of Common Prayer, relying on Rite 3 of the Holy Eucharist, since it allows for the flexibility to incorporate elements of African style worship. “It’s different and similar to a typical Episcopal service,” Koggani said.

He and others in the church also have a ministry to international students coming to St. Louis, often reaching out to them even before they leave their home country. For Lynne Mumbe, now finishing her master’s degree in marketing at Webster University, that included finding her a place to live after she arrived from her home in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2023.

She was days away from leaving and still had nowhere to stay, so she searched social media to find anyone in St. Louis who might help. “I was connected with Reverend Mtipe,” she told ENS, who offered to provide short-term housing for her. He also stayed in touch while she was traveling, and a church member picked her up at the airport and took her shopping for essentials. She ended up renting the place where the church had hosted her initially.

Now, she and others helped by GACC feel called to do the same, she said. “We decided to transfer that [help] to other people, being that now we are members.”

Like Mumbe, the Rev. Kenneth Chimwaga first learned of the church when he still was in Tanzania – he and Koggani both come from the capital city, Dodoma – before heading to St. Louis to study at Eden Seminary. Once in Missouri, he reached out to Koggani and has been attending GACC ever since.

A priest in the Anglican Church in Tanzania in his first year at the seminary, Chimwaga told ENS he enjoys making connections with people from across Africa. He also really likes the style of worship there, especially the singing and dancing and the use of piano, guitars and other instruments. “We feel like we are at home,” he said.

Johnson noted that when people attend GACC, they don’t just worship and then go home. “They come to build community,” he said. “There’s always food, there’s always fellowship – they usually have to kick people out and say, ‘go home.’”

Chimwaga praised those responsible for helping to create GACC. “Father Mtipe is doing a very, very good job,” he said. “And Bishop Deon, who allowed this ministry to be established – congratulations to them both.”

When asked if he planned to stay in the U.S., Koggani noted that he now is married and isn’t certain what comes next. But he added, “As someone said, if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans, right?”

The diocese provides financial support for the church, Johnson said, which includes $200 in monthly rent for worship and office space at Grace Methodist. And even with uncertainties over finances caused by stock market fluctuations and proposed cuts to federal government jobs in the area, he said, “I’m going to try my best to figure out how we can keep funding this.”

Johnson acknowledged that the church is only two years old, “and most new church plants close within their first five years.” The Diocese of Missouri also is supporting two other church start-ups – Faith Church of India in Ballwin, and Journey Church in Fulton.

He believes The Episcopal Church needs to devote more resources to planting churches. “We spend more money supporting congregations that are struggling than looking at congregations that we could be planting,” Johnson said. “I’m not suggesting in any way that we abandon the congregations that we already have, but we’re going to have to put our financial resources in alignment with what we actually need to build the future.”

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.

Speaking on April 1, days after the Sudanese Armed Forces, the national army, had recaptured the city from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, Ezekiel Kondo, archbishop of the Province of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Sudan, told Religion News Service he had received information about the state of the cathedral and the damage it had sustained.

“The damage is huge. Archbishop’s residence, dean’s house, and offices are all destroyed and looted. Praise God the building is not bombed,” Kondo, 68, told RNS from Port Sudan, in eastern Sudan, where he had been forced to flee two years earlier. “It will cost millions of dollars to repair the church.”

According to the archbishop, Christians are yet to return to the cathedral because the army has not declared the area safe.

“There may be land mines left behind by the paramilitary. Basic services such as water and electricity have not been restored,” said Kondo.

On March 26, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, announced that his forces had taken the city back from Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and the Rapid Support Forces, raising hopes that the bloody civil war between the two factions of the military government might move on from the area.

However, a month earlier, in Nairobi, Kenya, the Rapid Support Forces and allies had announced plans to form a parallel government. The Sudanese Armed Forces now controls the north and the east, while the Rapid Support Forces controls the south and the expansive Darfur region in the West, creating an impression of a split in Africa’s third largest country. Dagalo is a former leader of the Janjaweed, a group of Arab militias widely accused of committing mass atrocities in the Darfur region, recognized by the United Nations as genocide in 2004.

Like other churches and some mosques, All Saints has been caught in the fight for control of Khartoum and northeastern Sudan.

On April 15, 2023, Kondo, along with other church leaders and their families, had been in the cathedral preparing for the Sunday service when the paramilitary seized the church building and turned it into a military base. This past September, the archbishop told RNS the paramilitary had turned the cathedral compound into a graveyard, chopping pews for use as firewood.

In Sudan, an estimated 5% of the 50 million population are Christians. The rest, 95%, are Sunni Muslims.

While the war has forced the shutting of an estimated 165 churches, some mosques have also been targets. On March 24, the paramilitary allegedly shelled a mosque in Khartoum, killing at least five people and injuring dozens of others.

According to reports, the militaries have also arrested numerous Muslim clerics who have advocated for peace. At least 12 mosques in Khartoum, El Fasher and El Geneina have been affected.

“The religious sites and the clerics are being caught in the crossfire in a war between two generals who are Muslims. It is not a religious war,” said Sheikh Abdullah Kheir, an imam and a senior university lecturer in various Kenyan universities. “When you look at what is happening, it is not only Christians who are suffering, but Muslims too. I have seen Muslim women being bombed as they try to flee.”

Church sources indicate that St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Khartoum has also been badly damaged, with the interior and exterior affected. However, the structure is still standing. The 1908 cathedral, near the El Mek Nimir Bridge, is the seat of Archbishop Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria of Khartoum. Mangoria is also living in Port Sudan after having been forced out by the war.

“The building is intact, but there are no benches in the sitting area. Instead, there is rubbish,” said the Rev. John Gbemboyo Joseph Mbikoyezu, the coordinator of the South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Despite persistent calls by church leaders for peace, there is no ceasefire agreement in sight, and the two generals are promising to fight on.

The exact death toll in the Sudan conflict is still unknown, but organizations have put the figure between 61,000 and 150,000 people. The conflict has displaced an estimated 12 million people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the U.N.