When we gathered the Teachers in Yei

As we employ our gifts and grace towards building a new nation in South Sudan, we are strongly
persuaded that the quality of teachers here are the yardstick that measures the achievements and hope we envisage.

Despite severe oppositions and ridiculous comments against this Conference from some quarters, we decided to proceed with it and
gathered teachers in Yei on the 5th of May. We tagged the conference, “The
Teacher: An agent of change.” Eighty teachers attended, along with many
members of the community. We had a memorable experience.

Mr. Kepo James, the Principal of Yei Teacher Training
College, and Rev Johnny Anikpe made wonderful presentations and moderated the
discussion sessions. We cast the vision for the Conference and shared our expectations, listing eight reasons why
we believe our gathering at this time is not only essential, but
non-negotiable.  

Here are five of our eight perspectives:

1. As a Christian body, we’ve
come to see that our overall outreach to the youth (most of whom are students
and comprise over 80-85% of our members) is very limited because a vital agent
(the school teacher) is not fully involved.There needs to be a deliberate and collaborative effort between
school teachers and Christian ministries.

2. We are convinced that our
discipleship work within the schools will be more fruitful if we connect
with a few teachers, lead them to Christ, and train them to both mentor and
model truth to their students. A single teacher speaks to more
students weekly than any pastor here.

 3. We told them we are interested in their development to the extent that
we’ve made (and are still making) contact with some individuals and
Christian-focused teacher-trainers and educators who are willing to come to
South Sudan to train teachers, as part of their contribution to the building
of this new Nation.

4. We made it clear that we want
to see teachers in Yei and South Sudan make deliberate eternal commitments to know,
love, follow and serve Jesus,  thereby become active participants in God’s
redemptive Kingdom purpose in the schools.

5. We proposed an Association of
Christian Teachers that could:

c) Make it possible for teachers to meet
regularly for talks, to share information on available courses, and to sharpen one another in
their profession.     

At the end of this Conference, ten teachers gave their lives
to Jesus. We are following up with them now.

Imagine what could happen if all of them kept the faith and
became Christ’s hands and voice in their schools.

If you have a call or a passion to instruct teachers and
equip them. We need to connect with you. There’s a great ministry waiting
for you here in South Sudan.

Author: Uche Izuora

I'm inspired by God’s passion for His name in every generation, which provokes global worship through Jesus Christ. Becoming an emotionally healthy and transformative disciple, I aim to mobilize the Church to engage in cross-cultural missions and raise other like-minded disciples who discover themselves in Christ and seek to present and represent Him as Savior and Lord among the nations northward of Uganda. View all posts by Uche Izuora