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About The Episcopal Diocese of Ayod

The Episcopal Church came to Sudan through the Church Missionary Society (CMS), an Anglican Missionary order, in 1899. It established itself first in North Sudan and then moved southward and established its first mission station in Malek, near Bor Town in 1905 and thereafter it spread throughout South Sudan. The CMS established two centres, in Juaibor and Wanglel, in the old district of Fangak, around 1932. These two centres were run by Rev’d. Bertram, and his wife Dr. May Bertram, a British medical doctor. Because she won the hearts and minds of the Nuer people, she was given the name of “Nyawech”, meaning in Nuer, the daughter of the land or nation. This was an ideal team. They opened a school and dispensary for the benefit of the local people in both Wanglel and Juaibor.
After years of good service, tragedy struck, Revd. Bertram succumbed to malaria or the black fever and his wife (Mrs. May Betram) continued for some-time, but she could not sustain the mission and the CMS could not find any replacements, so Dr. May Bertram was withdrawn and relocated to Omdurman where she ran the CMS’ hospital there until her retirement in the late 1960s.
After the death of Revd. Betram and the subsequent departure of Dr. May Betram to Omdurman in North Sudan, the two centres were run from Leer, another CMS station across the River Nile in Western Upper Nile. These stations were catered for by the Revd. Canon Ewell, and Dr. Jim West, a medical doctor. Soon after, Revd. Canon Ewell had to leave for health reasons and Dr. West remained alone in Leer.
The running of the schools and dispensaries in Wanglel, Juaibor and Leer became enormous for the CMS and these Episcopal Church stations were ceded or handed over to the American Mission in the early 1950s who later became Presbyterian Church of South Sudan. Although Juaibor and Wanglel in former Fangak district were abandoned by the CMS due to African tropical diseases, illness and death. Even in the far away Omdurman, Dr. May Bertram (Nyawech), did not forget the Nuer people.  Near her hospital grounds, she opened a night club for the evangelization of Southerners and the Nubas.  In this club she evangelized the Nuer, and many accepted the gospel and were baptized by Revd. Philip Abbas Gaboush.  Among her converts and to her credit was one man by the name of John Kang Dung, who was later on ordained a Presbyterian pastor, and became one of their outstanding moderators

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Although the Anglican community in Ayod and Fangak area remained dormant for a that long time due to lack of leadership, we thank the Lord for the ministry of Bishop Nathaniel Garang Anyieth, then Bishop of Bor Diocese, who sent Revd. William Lul Buot, a son of the Duk Padiet, to Ayod to rejuvenate the church in 1988. Revd. William Lul went to the area and established a church centre in Kalibalak in Ayod Town in 1989.

In 1995, a senior charismatic evangelist from Presbyterian Church, by the name of William Nuot Chuol (Jong Nyagany), took a bold decision to join the Anglican Church. His example was followed by many people and almost half of the Presbyterian Churches in Ayod area joined the Episcopal Church led by William Lul Buot out of their own conviction. This move did not augur well with local authorities at the time, and it created a big tension between the two SPLM/As (Nasir and Torit factions). The Presbyterian Church identified itself with the SPLM/A (Nasir Faction) because its leader was a Presbyterian while the Episcopal Church identified itself with the SPLM/A  (Torit Faction) because its leader was an Episcopalian. The Christians who had crossed over to the Episcopal Church with their senior evangelists were arrested and put into various prisons and, in some instances, some of these church leaders were forcefully returned to the folds and files of the Presbyterian Church including William Nuot Chuol who was a ring leader who triggered the move!
The old district of Fangak, now in modern South Sudan has been divided into three counties and these counties include (Ayod, Fangak and Pigi) and currently the two Counties of Ayod and Fangak constitute the Episcopal Diocese of Ayod. It was that small church which was established by Revd. William Lul in Ayod town in 1989 that has today spread like wildfire into many Archdeaconries, Deaneries, Parishes, and Church centres across the jurisdiction of Ayod and Fangak Counties.

In November 2013, during the annual House of Bishops’ meeting which was held in Bor, the Ayod Archdeaconry was elevated an Area Diocese and subsequently an emergency synod was called to elect the bishop of the newly created Area Diocese of Ayod. These meetings were chaired and presided over by the Diocesan Bishop of Twic East – Ezekiel Diing Malangdit where delegates of Ayod congregations convened meetings in their respective parishes in both Ayod and Juba to elect the new Area Bishop. In these meetings, Thomas Tut was unanimously elected for the position of Bishop in the Area Bishopric of Ayod. His name was submitted to the “House of Bishops’ meeting by the electoral college of the new area Diocese which was duly approved on 24th November - 2014 after a thorough background check by the college of Bishops. After the House of Bishops’ approval, Revd. Thomas Tut Gany was consecrated first Bishop of Ayod Area Diocese along with other 8 bishops across South Sudan on 30th November – 2014.On 14th July 2018, the Area Diocese of Ayod was inaugurated full Diocese and on 18/November/ 2018, the first Bishop (Thomas Tut) was enthroned at St. Paul’s Cathedral Church in Gorwai

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