Imagine a place where sounds of war are met with songs of peace, where the chaos of conflict finds the church as a sanctuary of hope. In South Sudan, this is not just an idea, but a prevailing reality, forged by faith, fueled by passion, and sustained by faith leaders committed to working for unity.
Psalm 34:14 simply says, “Seek peace, and pursue it.”
The South Sudanese church is seeking to do just that. Here’s how.
Shelvis Smith-Mather originally made this presentation at Mission 2025, an RCA Global Mission celebration event. Watch the video or read the lightly edited content as follows.
War survivors to peacemakers: Margaret and Lucy’s story
*Trigger warning: The following content includes a reference to sexual abuse and recollections of physical violence and wartime.
In South Sudan, Christians are persevering through turmoil, being patient in tragedy, and boldly being used to transform the conflict around them. For example, meet Margaret and Lucy.
Margaret and Lucy often tell me stories of war. Some days the mood is somber, but most days, the tone is surprisingly upbeat, rich in laughter, and punctuated by high-fives. Their stories usually begin one of three ways: “During the war,” “When the bombing started,” or “Once in the refugee camp.” Today Margaret and Lucy begin their story with the latter.
I often sit quietly during these conversations, silenced by their ability to laugh at memories that were once so painful, wondering how they became so resilient—wondering how they harness such pain into purpose, trial into triumph.
“Once in the refugee camp,” Margaret began. “Rebel soldiers came by night in a raid. Two young boys had just been tortured and had ears cut off. My neighbor’s brother was taken, and he saw soldiers moving toward my home, so he shouted, ‘They got my brother! Margaret, run for your life! Run! Ruuuuuun!’
“I don’t know,” Margaret continued. “Maybe they would have cut off my ears. I don’t know. Maybe they would have raped me.”
Margaret sprinted into the night as fast as her feet would take her. From the other side of the refugee settlements, Lucy did the same. The raiding soldiers on her side berated those whom they captured as well, asking, “Do you want to laugh, or do you want to hear?” If the person chose to hear, the soldiers cut off their lips. If the person chose the ability to laugh, the soldier cut off their ears.
While terrifying then, Lucy now laughs as she recounts the memory. She pumps her arms emphatically, showing how she ran. The corners of her smile touch the tops of her cheeks. Margaret and Lucy’s laughter seems to grow as they remember the 25-year-old memory while sipping on tea during our tea break.
Lucy and Margaret worked together at a local faith-based organization called RECONCILE, created by the New Sudan Council of Churches, where they both received training in addressing communal conflict and trauma. Margaret, the chairperson of RECONCILE’s alumni chapter, continues to be a prominent advocate for human rights in her community and volunteers seasonally with RECONCILE. Lucy counselled survivors of war for years and has spoken extensively throughout the U.S., encouraging congregations challenged by conflict. Lucy now coordinates trauma healing initiatives for survivors of war. One of her main projects is funded by the Reformed Church in America, and it is called the Refugee Care Project. While Margaret and Lucy’s achievements are unique, their stories are not.
Where the rumbles of conflict are loudest, Lucy and Margaret’s resilient stories echo in the voices of other leaders. These are leaders seeking to do the vital work of conflict transformation and trauma healing in their communities. Local faith leaders often help their communities overcome challenges they previously endured.
Child soldier to peacemaker: James’s story
*Trigger warning: The following content includes graphic physical descriptions, wartime violence, and shooting.
Equipped with a clear understanding of the dynamic issues facing their communities, South Sudanese leaders often remark, “I was born in war, raised in war, married in war, bore children in war, but I don’t want to die in war.” More than memories of violence, these words reveal a resilience and commitment to peace worthy of our attention. For example, meet James.
The image of his brother’s slight frame heaving, whimpering, then tumbling to the soil still haunts James. Scalp burning, flesh-torn-back, and life spilling out, James sees his brother in his sleep.
He has nightmares, vivid nightmares of his brother’s final moments. He wakes at night, sweating, shouting, and disturbed because the reality he once knew is gone. His family, home, and community are all gone. His innocence and childhood—gone—given like ransom for his brother in one fatal moment, and it haunts him. He tries to forget but always remembers.
James was only seven when the soldiers’ bullets bowed his brother, uncle, and father before a firing squad.
Hours earlier, the entire family was concealed in brush, squatting in marsh-like waters as armed soldiers raided their village. The murky waters at their feet could hold their thirst, but their hunger grew unbearable as days passed. After some time, the rattle of gunfire and crackling burn of grass-thatch-roofs had quieted. Once pointing to the sky, mud homes sink now as brown clay pots busted with walls collapsed inward. Thick plumes of smoke, once black as night and obscuring the air, now grow grey, thin, and vanish.
The family assumes the soldiers are gone.
After days of waiting, hiding, and pausing with statuesque stillness, James’ father leaves. He ventures out to gather food and confirm that the soldiers have left. James, his brother, and mother remain still, hidden, and concealed until his father is spotted. Soldiers seize him and force the family out of the brush.
His father, uncle, and brother are escorted to the commanding officer and shot one by one by one. As the last male in the family, James is next because the soldiers fear he will seek revenge. So the boy is brought forward. The gun misfires, but the barrels’ recoil knocks him to the ground. Three times the gun misfires, and three times he falls. After the third time, the commanding officer states, “Leave this boy; this is not his time.” James’ mother detangles herself from the other soldiers sprawling across her son, unwilling to allow them the fourth attempt. If an officer’s command and a mother’s plea were not enough reason for the shooter to stop, an advancing military faction began lobbing shells at the soldiers to force their retreat.
Years later, James joins the Sudan People’s Liberation Army to avenge his family’s loss. He is only fourteen but wants to fight. Like others whose lives have been upended by war, he leans into the violence believing he has no choice.
However, South Sudan’s faith-based organizations (FBOs) believe “ordinary” people like James, Margaret, and Lucy can contribute to peace in extraordinary ways. In particular, they realize those enduring war often approach peacebuilding with a nuanced understanding of the context and a deep investment in the conflict’s resolve. Individuals like James and Lucy and Margaret, who have been confronted by war’s harsh realities, have insight that others cannot imagine. Therefore their input is vital to developing pathways to peace.
James recalls his days as a child soldier, confessing, “I remained in the army for a long time,” but “it did nothing for me.” Eventually, he left the military unwilling to be controlled any longer by “anger and unforgiveness.”
“I was deep in trauma,” he remembers. James, however, dealt with this trauma by attending a gathering for former child soldiers hosted by the South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC).
Recognizing James’ commitment to serving his community, the SSCC secured funding for him to participate in a three-month training at the RECONCILE’s Peace Institute. At RECONCILE, James lived with peacemakers of different tribes, genders, and faith traditions from every state of South Sudan and the surrounding refugee camps. There he learned philosophies of non-violence and techniques to incorporate the communities’ unique customs and traditions.
Wars and peace partnerships
RECONCILE has trained thousands of leaders like James, Margaret, and Lucy. RECONCILE is not the first faith-based organization engaged in this work; fortunately, they are one of many local Christians organizations doing this important work. Their efforts, however, are noteworthy. So are the efforts of institutions such as Bishop Allison Theological College, which specifically train pastors with skills to address trauma in their communities. Historically, faith leaders throughout South Sudan have assisted in brokering peace by offering counseling services, civic education, peace training, mediation, and interfaith dialogues. Even more, they have provided shelter and food for those fleeing from violence.
For example, the church reconciled violent divides during the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement and during the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which led to independence for South Sudan. And the church is again at work in the midst of current peace dialogues.
Civil wars and their aftermath
In 1972, the First Sudanese Civil War ended after almost two decades of war between the northern government and the southern people. The World Council of Churches helped to broker peace between the two sides.
Without question, the first civil war left Sudan battered economically, structurally, and administratively. The damage was felt disproportionately more by southerners who were, in large part, poorer and had less access to clean water, formal education, medical care, and developed infrastructure. While the agreement officially ended the conflict, northern forces continued to dominate those in the south, and the church provided counseling, schools, and humanitarian assistance in places abandoned by international organizations. Some places were not abandoned, but international staff were evacuated out because of safety concerns. In each of these places, the church remained.
Relative peace lasted for ten years, but the Second Civil War raged from 1983-2005. Tension existed between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army’s (SPLA) highest officials, John Garang and Riek Machar. Over time, tension intensified into a bitter divide because of ethnic rifts and differing visions for southern Sudan’s future. The two parted ways in 1991 when Machar’s Nuer soldiers realigned with Khartoum’s government causing the SPLA to lose most of the areas it previously controlled. Even more, tens of thousands of civilians were targeted and killed in this bitter internal feud.
Garang and the SPLA brought together people from all over southern Sudan for the Chukudum Convention in 1994. This event indicated a renewed SPLA commitment to address human rights, create a political wing (the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement), and establish civil administration in the “liberated areas” controlled by the movement. With access to “liberated areas,” church leaders, such as Anglican Bishop Nathaniel Garang and Catholic Bishop Paride Taban, thought it necessary to engage vulnerable people in areas liberated by SPLA.
The South Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) mostly attended areas under the Sudanese Armed Forces’ control, while the North Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC) served areas in places administered by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The NSCC operated missions in these areas but strategized in more stable spaces like Nairobi, Kenya, or Kampala, Uganda. In July 1997, the SPLA/M called upon the church to provide chaplains for the armed forces and lead peace and reconciliation efforts in liberated areas.
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
Once the two factions and leaders reunited, feuding between the groups lessened, and the SPLA solidified its ranks against the north. The warring factions of southern and northern Sudan signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the war in January 2005. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)—an eight-country trade bloc in Africa, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda—negotiated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the military and political leaders. During this same time, the Sudan Ecumenical Forum “shadowed” these efforts and held three meetings in Entebbe, Uganda. These meetings brought together prominent political and military leaders, as well as others from northern and southern Sudan, and helped influence the IGAD process “from the sidelines”.
More violence and the fastest growing refugee crisis
For more than five decades southern Sudanese people have endured civil war. Initially the conflict loomed predominately between the north and the southern regions. Southern Sudan, however, gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but less than two years after its birth, the ruling political leaders turned against each other. From 2016-2018, this civil war caused the world’s fastest growing refugee crisis. The violence—or the threat of violence—has led two-thirds of South Sudan’s citizens to flee from their homes. In addition, aid workers trying to help them have been killed at such a high number their death toll eclipses the death toll of aid workers in any other country in the world. In fact, the death toll of aid workers in South Sudan over the last decade is more than the next nine most dangerous countries combined.
The situation is not good. The reconciliation and peacebuilding work that’s being done is in places where there is conflict. But the South Sudanese Christians are doing such amazing, awe-inspiring work that I need to share their story today.
The church’s role in peacebuilding in South Sudan
The church in South Sudan plays an active role in peacebuilding. You can’t tell the story of South Sudan’s history without telling the story of the church and how they have pursued peace in the midst of conflict. The church often bridges the divide between local communities and international humanitarian organizations. Think about it: local faith leaders are fluent in indigenous languages, possess a nuanced understanding of communal issues, and are well respected in their communities. Furthermore, their understanding of peacebuilding, advocacy for those on the margins, and their neutral engagement with military factions offers them a unique perspective. They live in the embattled communities, while working side by side with outside organizations, hoping to offer aid or help add communities. Their “in-between” existence equips them with novel insights into the root causes of the ongoing war and long-lasting solutions for peace.
In the 1990s, the NSCC initiated what is arguably the church’s most famous peace initiative: the People to People Peace Process. This process ensures that groups that are often marginalized and not consulted when generals and political leaders make peace deals are included. It allows them to be proud and part of the peace. It draws in civilians, including women and elderly and youth, and always draws from local cultures and traditions so that it feels familiar to those who it affects. The People to People Peace Process has been used by several faith-based organizations and is recognized widely as a model for peacemaking.
While international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often attempt to replicate this process, they have had limited success, mostly due to their lack of credibility and community authority. Additionally, international NGOs often evacuate staff and abandon their offices during times of significant turmoil. To be fair, many international NGOs continue to advocate and raise financial support for their target communities even if they are not “on the ground.” However, one cannot underestimate how much their staff’s physical absence lessens the credibility within their host community, especially in comparison to faith-based organizations that remain. Time and again, faith-based organizations and church leaders remain close to their communities, even in difficult times.
We have the opportunity to partner in more sustainable and holistic ways. RECONCILE does this by continuing to draw from, connect with, and recruit as many resources, conversation partners, and good faith actors as possible to work toward sustained peace. We are finding ways to pair South Sudanese church leaders embedded in communities of conflict with scholars from the University of Cambridge and Oxford to research strategies for developing vibrant peace partnerships. In addition, these groups hope to create a peacebuilding curriculum that combines peacebuilding theory and contextual knowledge, which can be used throughout South Sudan and possibly in other contexts of conflict.
By collaborating together we hope that we might not just attain but sustain the peace that we all desire.
Guide us, Lord.
We are here.
Guide us, Lord.
We are here.
Guide us, Lord.
We are here. We are here for you.
Use us, Lord.
We are here.
Use us, Lord.
We are here.
Use us, Lord.
We are here. We are here for you.
Support peacebuilding efforts in South Sudan
Through RECONCILE Peace Institute, Shelvis and his family, supported by the Reformed Church in America, are on the forefront of an innovative partnership for peace in South Sudan. You are invited to be a part of what God is doing with prayer and/or financial support.
This content was originally presented at Mission 2025, an RCA Global Mission celebration event. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rev. Shelvis Smith-Mather
Rev. Shelvis Smith-Mather serves as Principal of the RECONCILE Peace Institute, implementing initiatives to help communities reflect on tragedy, reconcile broken relationships, work together to transform conflict, and heal. In addition, he researches and designs comprehensive peace practices for South Sudan through Oxford University. He and his family serve as RCA Global Mission missionaries; read more about their ministry here.
