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Inauguration of Province in 1976

After working in Jerusalem and Amman in the 1950’s, Archbishop McInnes asked me to go to the Sudan to train for ordination those ordinands and candidates for full-time lay ministry who could not manage the courses in English provided by Bishop Gwynne College in Mundri. My brief was to work myself out of a job by eventually handing over to Sudanese; when that happened I had no expectation that I would return to the Sudan.

However, in 1976 it was decided that the Sudan should become a Province in its own right, being inaugurated at Juba cathedral in the autumn by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Coggan. I represented the Sudan Church Association committee at the inauguration and acted as the Archbishop’s Arabic translator.

My wife and I set off for the Sudan, together with our ten year old son. We found that much had changed. All Saints’ Cathedral in Khartoum and the CMS hospital in Omdurman had been taken over for ‘security’ reasons, but we were able to stay with John and Deborah Barff and their children in River House, which had housed CMS staff for a great many years.

Archbishop and Mrs Coggan arrived, together with John Kirkham the Archbishop’s chaplain and later Bishop of Sherborne and Bishop to the Forces. They enjoyed visits to the churches of Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman, spending much time with the clergy and giving them a good deal of pastoral support. The Archbishop was shocked by the clergy’s poor living conditions. He wished many Church of England priests could walk around the compounds. Mrs Coggan spent much time with the clergy wives and members of the Mothers’ Union.

Visit threatened by disease

Their visit was almost restricted to the north, for a very severe contagious disease broke out over the whole country, and the government banned all travel. The Archbishop was determined to go to Juba for the inauguration and he had to use all his diplomatic skills with the President himself. In the end President Nimeiri provided his own personal flight for the Archbishop, with lots of fumigation and for one day only. The delegation was restricted to a few people: the Archbishop and Mrs Coggan, John Kirkham, Bishop Butrus Tia Shukai of Khartoum, myself and a few government ministers. We were the only people travelling in the whole of Sudan that day.

We followed the Nile south and were taken to Wau. There we were met by hundreds of Christians singing hymns, the clergy of that region, Mothers’ Union members in their blue sashes, children waving and cheering. We were given a rapid tour of the church facilities in Wau and simply entertained by the governor before we were whisked back to the airstrip and set off for Juba.

Moving way of colour in Juba

As we came in to land we could see a great moving wave of colour. This resolved itself into a reception party of thousands of southern Sudanese Christians, cheering, and singing hymns so rousingly that the sound penetrated the hull of the aeroplane even as it taxied on the runway. My abiding memory is of vivid colours - clothes and banners set against the white and purple cassocks of the clergy and their bishops - and of joyful noise. The Archbishop and Mrs Coggan were visibly moved and it was remarkable that so many had been able to get to the airport at such a time of severe epidemic.

We were taken to the home of the governor for lunch, speeches and the exchange of gifts. Soon we were soon on our way to the cathedral, forming a great procession that seemed to stretch to the horizon. Bishop Elinana Ngalamu was the host bishop, and the welcome the Archbishop and his party received from the bishops, clergy, Mothers’ Union and thousands of lay Christians was an unforgettable and intensely moving experience.

In the cathedral government ministers and the local governor and his officials took their front seats and the service began in the time-honoured African way of organised chaos. The hymn singing was deafening and the witness of many thousands of Sudanese Christians inside and outside the cathedral must have impressed the good number of Muslims present.

A grand day out

On this occasion, as in his preaching earlier, the Archbishop spoke simply and to the heart, encouraging the poor and oppressed, and sometimes persecuted, unafraid to speak his mind on their behalf when he felt it appropriate. It was a great privilege acting as his translator. He never used notes, but spoke from the heart, and those of us who have learned Sudanese colloquial Arabic, alongside the modern literary, know how capable this African Arabic is of moving both heart and mind. The Archbishop ensured that in his addresses and his sermons his language, when translated, was able to leave the Sudanese moved by the Holy Spirit and encouraged to move forward with God into an exciting but unknown future.

As the sun was setting, the Christian crowds who had been with us through the day sent us off from Juba airport. The sound of the singing and cheering stayed with us until we were high in the sky, tired but strengthened in our own faith and hope by these wonderful Sudanese Christians.

It had been a grand day out.

John Brown
former Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf