During my time in Sudan this past summer, I saw the Lord accomplish many wonderful things. I am planning to return there in June but I wanted to give you an update on what happened last year and what has happed lately.
Leadership Training
Last summer (2009), John Monychol and I were able to hold several training sessions for around 30 pastors and church leaders. The men at the conferences were very hungry for God’s word. We were able to have several days of teachings on the basics of the gospel, as well as a time for evangelism in the local community. Many of these guys had never before shared their faith with strangers and as you can imagine were quite nervous, but when they came back they were thrilled to be able to tell wonderful stories about what the Lord had done.
Evangelism
At the end of February, David Kaya and Mike Congrove of e3 partners will be leading a team of Sudanese pastors from the Bible school in Kajo Keji to Upper Nile. They plan to meet with John and local leaders there to do training for church planting. They will also be helping John and other local pastors to develop their strategy for reaching out to unreached people in their region.
Orphans
The civil war in South Sudan that went on from 1983 to 2003? killed close to 2 million and created an incredible number of orphans all throughout the country. After spending time with John Monychol and the leaders from his church, we decided that it is the responsibility of the Sudanese church to care for the orphans in their own community. Because of your support and prayers we were able to start and maintain a home for the kids at the church, which we dubbed “Fishers of Men Children’s Home”. The name of the home is due in part to the fact that one of the ways the church has provided food for the kids was by forming a small fishing business. Our goal is for the home to eventually become completely self supporting. So far we have taken in 10 orphans who are living at the church, and are being cared for by widows from the congregation.
Here is a list of some of the children’s names. It is not completely up to date right now because several other kids have come to live in the home since I last talked to John. I am hoping to get pictures and information about of each of the kids when I go back in June so that we will be able to put faces and names to our prayers.
Atter Ding
nyanlat Deng nyok
nyalam dau mijok
nyariak Arop monyding
mijok monyluak nyok
nyandeng chol monyjok
riak nyok dau
nyaluk thon bol
We hope to one day start a Bible school in Baliet for the pastors in Upper Nile. Our vision is to train church leaders from all over Sudan to plant churches and preach the gospel, and to start church-based children’s homes that are run like families where the children will be loved and cared for and shown the love of Christ. Our prayer is that someday children like Atter Ding, Nyanlat Nyok, Nyalam Mijok and others will become mighty men and women of God who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the darkest parts of their country. Thank you again for living out James 1:27 by helping to care for the widows and the orphans and demonstrating the love of Christ to these precious children.
Education
We are also planning to start a school for the children in Baliet County. Currently the only school available is an Islamic religious school, funded by Muslims from North Sudan. The school bases its entire curriculum on the Quran in an effort to convert the children to Islam. This is part of the radical Islamic government’s plan to spread Islam to the people of the south. They were unable to convert them by force during the war so they have now settled for the long term mission of converting their children, village by village. Perhaps the most frightening thing is that according to many villagers in Baliet, children from the Islamic schools have been taken from their parents by the Muslims to be trained in Islamic schools in the north and are never seen by their families again. In response to this John and I have begun planning to build a school where the children can be given a good education and taught about the Lord. John has already made arrangements for 4 Christian teachers to begin teaching in the second part of June, and we are expecting well over 100 kids to attend this school as soon as we start. We are extremely excited about these new doors the Lord is opening, and I truly believe that there is a tremendous opportunity for the gospel to spread rapidly in Sudan. I ask that your continued prayer for the children in Baliet and for the Lord’s favor as we preach the gospel to the people of Upper Nile, Sudan.
Thank you for all your prayers and support.
