We have just posted the second of our team leader reports from the latest Rooted in Jesus conferences. This time it comes from Revd Barry Blackford, who led a blended team on a challenging visit to three dioceses in South Sudan (circled on the map). The three conferences went very well.

The first was for the Diocese of Gogrial, the second for the Diocese of Tonj and the third for the Diocese of Nyamlel – all three within the Northern Bahr el Gazal Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan. 331 new leaders were trained and commissioned, and 27 existing leaders (in Nyamlel) refreshed and encouraged.

We were touched to receive these words from Bishop Peter Yuol of the Diocese of Tonj: “May I take this golden opportunity to thank Rooted in Jesus as a Christian organisation for reaching places which have never been reached in the world. No missionaries have ever come to this place, therefore people are thirsty for the gospel. The Bible says a sick person is the one who needs the doctor. Rooted in Jesus is the doctor!”

We have posted Barry’s report on the Rooted in Jesus blog here. If the spoken word is more your kind of thing, you can also listen to a radio interview with team member Revd David Wood here!

As ever, we are grateful to everyone who prayed for the team and the conferences, to the Provincial Office in Juba who printed the books, and to the Relay Trust who provided grants to enable each diocese to cover the costs of the conferences.