The split within the Presbyterian Church in Jonglei State’s Ayod County has deepened, with the two factions now operating independently and reporting to two separate entities in Juba.
In 2020, the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan (PCOSS) in Juba was factionalized with James Makuey Chuol leading one splinter group as the moderator and James Koany Ruey heading the other. Since then, the two factions have been operating independently.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Friday, James Chuol Jiek, the Ayod County commissioner, admitted that the Presbyterian Church in his jurisdiction has suffered the ripple effect of the split in Juba since 2020 and that the division is now only deepening as pulpits were being used for political rallies.
“What happened is that Pastor David Lam Chuol who supports Koang Ruey here in Ayod preaches that they belong to SPLA-IO and he preaches politics and even soldiers attend services in uniforms. This is creating division in the community,” he said. “As the commissioner, I called pastor Lam and others to unite them but Lam declined and said that he cannot speak to me because he is only answerable to the SPLA-IO.”
However, David Lam Chuol, who identified himself as the Secretary of the North West Jonglei State PCOSS and the parish priest of Torkei, dismissed the talk of being politically allied and instead accused the commissioner of colluding with some of his church colleagues to wreak havoc.
“There is no politics in the church but the commissioner is the one creating division by working with pastors like William Noat Chuol against us,” he charged. “Now we are in Ayod with our congregation.”
For his part, William Noat Chuol, a clergy who leads another PCOSS faction in Ayod, said they are engaging all religious leaders to forge unity.
“We have no problem with Pastor David Lam except that he is dividing people along political lines. There has been division in the PCOSS since 2020 but the reason this is coming up again is that the other side is preaching politics,” he stated. “The church is for God and not politics and it is for this reason that we asked the commissioner to bring us together with David Lam to dialogue.”