SSELC [South Sudan Evangelical Lutheran Church] was formed on June 12, 2011 in Bor area of Jonglei state, South Sudan by Pastors and Christians who moved out from the Anglican church diocese of Bor after they got dissatisfied with Anglican theology and practice. 21 Pastors met together to establish the SSELC, vowing to proclaim the pure Gospel of their Savior, Jesus Christ. These pastors left the
Anglican church due to doctrinal differences after a very long struggle with the system which had mixed up Christian faith with some elements of traditional worship, that is African Traditional worship (ATR). The church body has 6 church buildings in and around Bor built with temporary building materials. Three of these are located in Bor town and the other 3 are in the villages 75 miles, 50 miles and 35 miles away from Bor town. The church currently has 13 congregations; 8 are in South Sudan, 4 are in the refugee camps in Uganda and one for students in Nairobi, Kenya. SSELC is present in 4 of 10 states which make up the republic of South Sudan. We are present in Jonglei state (where this church is headquartered), Lake, Upper Nile, and Central Equatoria states, where we have a congregation in Juba the capital city of South Sudan. This church started with a congregation of 21 people (adult and children).That was so because the pastors had left the Anglican Church without congregations. They left with their families and to serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15b.In 2013 our church membership was around 1, 200,and now our membership has grown and it stands now between 2,500 and 3,000. Due to the ongoing civil war in South Sudan, our members are scattered, some went to take refuge in the refugee camps in Uganda and Kenya and in the internally displaced people camps within South Sudan. And there is in the refugee and the internally displaced people’s camp we received more members and when and we hope when peace returns to South Sudan and people go back home we shall be having more members who were not Lutherans before the conflict.
