We thought it would be fun to share with you some of the most frequent questions or our favorite questions asked at our open houses here on our website for those of you who live too far away to attend an open house in person.
What is the structure of the SIC (Sudan Interior Church)
We wanted to say this was our favorite open house question to date because we didn’t know the answer! We emailed one of our teammates who interviewed a church leader. The church is undergoing changes since South Sudan became it’s own nation so this is the newest information and was so helpful for us. Thanks for asking Phil!
There is an executive body which is lead by a chairman. The chairman is selected from a different tribe each year. There are Dinka, Uduk, Mabaan and Shilluk (not highly represented) tribes. Each year a chairman is elected from a different tribe. This year the chairman is from the Mabaan tribe.
There are five regions (Mabaan is one of these) and each region has a chairman who oversees the districts in that region. The regions govern themselves during the year as they deal mostly with issues that relate to their tribe. The executive exists to liason between SIM and other organizations and the SIC church.
The church developed a book that goes over basic doctrine and church discipline rules. The church is very organized around this book.
The church is heavily divided among tribal lines.
We hope this helps create a clearer picture of the structure of the SIC church and how to partner with them in prayer!