Sudan (MNN) — Paramilitary fighters made strategic gains in Sudan this week while slaughtering more than 100 people – two-thirds of them children – at a kindergarten. Drone attacks targeted first responders as they tried to move victims to a nearby hospital.
Two years of civil war have left close to 80 percent of Sudan’s health facilities useless. So-called “citizen-led clinics” are filling the void.
Sudanese church planters recently partnered with Christian doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from South Sudan to hold several citizen-led clinics in displacement camps. “They went to 12 pop-up clinics and 10 camps in four locations,” a Gospel worker we’ll call John says.
“In total, we did 104 days of clinics, and we were able to see 7,000 people. The majority of this last medical outreach was with pediatric medicines, and we’ve been able to see about 3,500 children.”
Pop-up clinics offer lifeline
It’s the latest edition of a coalition formed earlier this year between Sudanese church planters, U.S. suppliers who provide donated medications, and medical professionals from South Sudan.
(Photo courtesy Joko_Narimo/Pixabay)
Including earlier dispersals, “We distributed 7,000 pounds” of donated medications, John says. “We don’t get to choose all of the medications. We get a list of what’s available, and we say, ‘Yes, we can use these things,’” he continues.
“They arrive, then they’re divided up, taken to the locations where refugees are. Working with the South Sudan Council of Churches, we were able to get the medications duty-free.”
In an email to MNN about the medical ministry, John adds:
Medical ministry among Sudanese refugees is one of the most powerful ways God’s love is made visible. In refugee camps on South Sudan’s border with Sudan, access to even basic healthcare is often limited or nonexistent. Through our partnership in Movement of Medicine, we are blessed to step into these gaps, offering not just physical healing but also dignity, comfort, and the hope of the Gospel.
A doctor dressing wounds or treating a fever may also be the one who listens, prays, and brings emotional healing to a war-torn heart. In such settings, the power of medical ministry is not merely in the medicine, but in the message that every life is valued by God. As prayers are answered through healing hands and compassionate presence, the Gospel is preached not only in words but in action.
Donate to John’s organization, unnamed for security purposes, to help cover the costs associated with outreach.
“We’re provided only with medicines. And then we, by faith, take it from there,” John says. “At times, we had to find other funding for things like bandages.”
Help and hope
As medical teams meet desperate needs with donated medicine, the church planters address spiritual needs. “Every time we have a clinic, we have an open-air presentation of the Gospel,” John says.
“We’re hearing, as a result of the clinics, about some pretty powerful (spiritual) harvests. These are all Muslims, primarily – 1,750 asked for individual trauma counseling, approximately 1,200 people put faith in Christ.”
Ask the Lord to strengthen believers and medical teams. They’ll receive a third round of donated medicine in the coming days. “Our teams have said, ‘We’re not going to take Christmas break, and we’ll be continuing,’” John says.
“‘Sudanese people need the Gospel, but they also need the encouragement that, somewhere in the world, Christians recognize what they’re suffering.’”
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy Nappy/Unsplash.
