Sudan (MNN) — Torture and disease are among the latest woes plaguing Sudan, yet the Lord is at work.
A prominent human rights group accuses Sudan’s army of torturing people to death through “execution chambers.” Meanwhile, cholera has now spread to every state in Sudan, claiming at least 1,000 lives since January.
Additionally, famine-like conditions are deteriorating in refugee camps. Around 25 million people – nearly half of Sudan’s population – are facing severe hunger, while 3.5 million women and children suffer from malnutrition.
A Gospel worker we’ll call John says, “The situation continues to get worse.”
Refugees wait for water distribution. (Photo courtesy of Robert Stansfield/Department for International Development via Wikimedia Commons)
Yet hope remains. People are turning to the Lord as they encounter the peace only He can offer.
“One of the guys that I work with, who was an imam [and] became a Christian, he says, ‘In my lifetime, I never believed that I would see a Muslim come to know Christ. And then in the space of a year, I’m seeing them lead 50 to Christ,” John says.
With help from John’s ministry, which remains unnamed for security purposes, new believers from Muslim-majority Sudan learn how to share Jesus and start churches.
“We have about 26 teams: 15 are inside Sudan, and 11 are in refugee points outside Sudan. They’re all leaders we have trained at our school; [350] Muslim-background believers from 65 tribes,” John says.
“We’ve been working in Darfur for a long time. Many of the house churches that were underground in Darfur are displaced, and they’re now in Chad.”
While church planting is the believers’ primary focus, they offer limited aid whenever possible.
“We’ve given them training; we try to give some support,” John says. “We did a feeding program in Chad, just the 100 most vulnerable in three camps. We were able to feed for two months and give tarps for shelter. That’s all we could do.”
In recent weeks, the leaders held biblical trauma healing workshops, and 150 Muslims came to the Lord. “Satan wants hope to be contraband, because it is hope that removes the control of the enemy; it removes their power over a person’s life,” John says.
“Help cannot be brought without hope. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes a person whole on the inside.”
Ask the Lord for mercy. Pray He will introduce millions in Sudan to the peace only Christ can offer. Then, support the efforts of John’s organization here.
Header image is a representative photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.
