The Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan / Sudan 

Who are we?

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan (ELCSS/S) is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church worldwide, which has its beginning in 1517 when Dr. Martin Luther publicly called for the correction of the errors followed in the Roman Catholic Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church follows the shared heritage of the Old Churches, including the Bible as the One True source of Christian Doctrine and Guidance, and the Three Ecumenical Creeds, namely, The Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan was started by Andrew Mbungo Local South Sudanese in November 23/ 1993, in the place called Juba when Andrew Mbugo Elisa who later become the first pastor and the first Bishop of the ELCSS/S.

Rev. Andrew Mbugo Elisa was born in 1963 in Western Equatoria State Yambio, where he started his basic Education that ended up later in Concordian Theological Seminary.

In June 1993 when Andrew Mbugo returns from France, where he had gone for a two-week meeting of the world Council of Churches. But the question that kept disturbing his mind was why should a church be church in a name only and not in practice? At that time there were problems in the Episcopal Church of Sudan, of which he was a member.

These problems had caused divisions among the clergy and the laity, and Andrew plus other people were not happy with all the practices that had engulfed the ECS at that time, Andrew decided to look for another church that could truthfully teach the Gospel to all Sudanese people and he had been connected with the Lutheran Heritage Foundation and Rev. Dr. Robert Rahn, who sent him five copies of Luther’s Small catechism and a book of Concord.

The AIM of establishing the church in Sudan was:

1. To meet the spiritual needs of the Sudanese people through the right teaching of the Holy Scriptures and in the Confessions of the Lutheran Church.
2. To evangelize all people in Sudan regardless of their color and creed.
3. To meet the social demands of the people by creating services such as Education, Health and social care for the needy.
4. To edify the believers of Lutheran communion

After sharing the idea with his friends and some senior government officials in Juba they supported the idea that a Lutheran Church be established in Sudan. After several meetings Andrew declared publicly that he was establishing the Lutheran Church in Sudan, and this was launched on November 23/1993 in Juba.

Because of the growing insecurity in Juba at that time, Andrew moved to Khartoum where the members of the newly created faith started prayers at his home, therefore prayers were held in different homes of the members.

The meeting between Andrew and Dr. Simojoki included meetings with several delegates coming for the conference, including Rev. Dr. Robert Preus, then chairman of Lutheran Heritage Foundation, the meeting with Dr. Preus established a link between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan and the Lutheran Heritage Foundation, in which Andrew requested to supply the ELCS with confessional Lutheran Materials.

In the year 29/august 1999 the church received her first bishop Rt, Rev. Andrew Mbungo who was consecrated by the Vice President of Africa Rev. Dr. Anssi Simojoki And was assisted by Dr. Rev. Robert Rahn, Dr. Rev. Timothy Quill and Dr. Rev. David Adam In a worship service held in Khartoum in 1999.

Bishop Andrew Mbogo served the ELCSS/S for 15 years from 1993-2008, then God called him to heaven and the church elected members to the transitional period and called the General Convection   in 2011 in which the first ELCSS/S Constitution of the church was passed. 

And Rev. Wilson Noah was elected bishop of the church. Rev. Wilson was born in 1961 in Bahr Naam (Maridi) Western Equatoria State. To the family of late Noah Rule and late Martha Nadi the father of late Bishop Hails from the Avokaya clan, Madi pave and his mother from Baka clan Mujere.

Rev. Wilson Noah started his elementary school at Maridi in 1968- 1974 and in 1975-1977 he joined Sadaka Intermediate School and in 1978-1981 he was at Rumbek Secondary School.

Before joining the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He worked in the Ministry of Agriculture as Directorate of Animal Resources in Juba. He also worked as a Police Force (Warrant Officer in External Security Foreign Affair).

In 1997 he joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Khartoum and in 1998-2002 Bishop Andrew Mbogo sent him to Theological collage in Tanzania and in 2003 Rev. Wilson Noah was Ordained and installed as pastor in- charge of Maridi by late Bishop Andrew Mbogo. And Rev. Wilson Noah served in Maridi from 2003-2005 and from 2007-2011 he got promotion and served as a Dean of Central and Eastern Deanery and at the end of 2011 God called him to lead ELCSS/S as a bishop.

Bishop. Wilson Noah was married to Mama Lilian and had two children (a boy and a girl) he also served the ELCSS/S church from 2011-2020 almost ten years then passed away, he had a diabetes and blood pressure plus back pain whereby he was admitted at the Freedom Hospital on 1^st /January/ 2020 for the period of three weeks and discharge after some improvement and he was brought home.

After sometime he was not feeling well, then some consultation with doctors he was referred to Khartoum for more treatment and there the treatment went on well up to the time he had a surgery which was done also successful. But afterward he got Malaria which was the cause of his death in 21^st/5/2020. His body was brought to Juba where he laid to rest in the church premise.

STATEMENT OF FAITH

The Evangelical Lutheran church in South Sudan and Sudan and every communicant church members upholds, adheres and accepts without any reservation the basic tenets of the Christians faith as stated here under.

• The unity of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit ( one triune God) the Holy Trinity
• The sovereignty of God in creation, revelation, redemption and final judgment of mankind.
• The divine inspiration and entire trust worthiness of the Holy Scriptures as originally given by God himself and its supreme authority in all matters of faith, practice and conduct.
• The universal sinfulness and guilty of humanity since the fall of Adam and Eve rendering them subject to God’s wrath and condemnation without respect of persons and without discrimination on account of age, gender, race, nation, color, social position or otherwise
•  The unity of all believers in Christ without respect of persons and without discrimination on account.
• The bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and his glorious ascension to the right hand of God the Father.
• The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration
• The expectation of the personal return of the risen Lord Jesus Christ to judge the living and the dead.
• All the symbolical books of the Lutheran church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the word of God, namely the three ecumenical creeds, unaltered Augsburg confession, apology for the Augsburg confession, smalcald articles, large catechism and small catechism of Luther, and the formula of concord.

OBJECTIVES

• Train, Equip, Commission, Ordain and consecrate church members, teachers, Evangelists, Missionaries, ministers, pastors and Bishop for works of services in the church.
• Participate, contribute and enhance the fulfilment of the great commission of our lord Jesus Christ as commanded in Mathew 28:16-20.
• Establish, support and promote the establishment of bible study centers, preaching stations and Lutheran congregations in South Sudan and Sudan and other parts of the world, where ever the need arises.
• Establish, build and develop Lutheran theological seminaries, primary and secondary school, university, colleges and other institution for Christian’s instructions and promotion of formal Education.
• Take a holistic approach to Christian ministry by establishing, supporting and promoting projects and programs which the social, physical and general development needs of ELCSS/S as means of fighting and eradicating illiteracy, poverty and diseases in our communities.
• Accept, hold administer and if deemed advisable, dispose of legacies, donations, commercial papers and legal documents of every description in the interest of the work of the church.
• Seek and obtain loans in monies and in materials things throughout and outside ELCSS/S as needed to realize the goals and objectives of the church.
• Guarantee Loans where possible to member local churches and church workers in monies or material things throughout ELCSS/S to realize the aims and objectives as stated in these articles.
• Act for any purpose which is necessary or expedient for the proper exercise of the function of the church, to acquire and hold any moveable or immoveable property, to sell, lease, mortgage or dispose of any property and to enter into any transaction, provided such transactions do not conflict with the word of God, the laws of the country or objectives of the church as outlined in these articles.

CORE VALUES

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Sudan and Sudan cherishes the following.

• Honor God in life and deeds
• Believes in the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures of sixty six (66) book of the Old and New Testament.
• Believes in the salvation of mankind by grace alone through faith, in Jesus Christ alone and scriptures alone.
• Believes in and support justice, integrity, accountability, transparency and stewardship.
• Stand for unconditional love for mankind through compassion and charitable works.
• Upholds and cherishes Lutheran values regarding the Word of God and Holy sacraments, as expressed in the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran church.

VISION STATEMENT

• Christ centered and growing of Evangelical Lutheran church body
• Committed to fulfilling the great commission of our lord Jesus Christ ( Mathew 20:18-20)

MISSION STATEMENT

• Growing in Jesus Christ and making him known to all mankind by living, preaching and teaching the word of God and celebrating the sacrament.
• Holistically nurturing believers, raising leaders and resources for church and community outreach.

MOTTO

• The just shall live by faith ( Romans 1:17)