Awerial Diocesan Bishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, Rt. Rev. David Akau Kuol has marked the 16th anniversary of his ordination as bishop.
Akau marked 6 years as Suffragan Bishop of Awerial Area Diocese and 10 years as the Diocesan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Awerial on Saturday.
The Diocese of Awerial was formed in 2008 as a suffragan under the Diocese of Yirol.
On 30 Nov 2013, the Provincial Standing Committee meeting in Bor, Jonglei State, voted to separate it from Yirol, and it was officially inaugurated on 18 October 2014 at a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral, Mingkaman in Awerial.
Bishop Akau was installed as the first diocesan bishop on 11 Jan 2015 at the Cathedral in Juba.
Reflecting on how far he has come, Akau thanked God for his protection to serve his people for 16 years.
“I was ordained or consecrated as a bishop on the 29 November 2009. That is when I became a Spartan Bishop and I was enthroned as a bishop, Diocesan Bishop of Bavaria Diocese on 11 January 2015,” he said. “So, when I joined them together that is the 16th anniversary of the bishopric.”
Akau who also served as Secretary of the House of Bishops in the Episcopal Church in the Eastern Bahr el Ghazal Internal Province said he has offered various services including education during his 16 years as bishop of Awerial County.
“When I was consecrated as a Bishop of Awerial and came here, our pastors were not trained. So the priority for me was to send some of the pastors to theological training. So now we have some pastors who are trained as pastors,” he said. “Also, when I came here, there were a lot of challenges about education not only in the church but as a community. So, I prayed and I thank God that there are people who support me, especially the Department of Education in our province and we built a school called St. Paul Girls Primary School in Awerial.”