Will General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan concede or maintain his current control?

Mediators say negotiations between the two parties continue and will “bear fruit” in the coming days. John*, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan, doesn’t think a “quick fix” is realistic.

“The (complex) background in Sudan doesn’t give a good foundation for quick movement into a new government, a new philosophy of society,” John says.

“Real change takes time.”

A family seeks shelter from bombings among the rocks.
(Photo, caption courtesy VOM USA)

The October 25 military takeover is the latest episode in Sudan’s rocky transition to civilian rule. Massive protests in 2019 removed former dictator Omar al-Bashir from power. Bashir held Sudan under militant Islamic control for nearly 30 years.

Persecuted Christians saw Bashir’s departure as their chance for religious freedom, but that hope quickly faded. “When the change in government first took place, in Khartoum [believers were] marching in the streets with banners celebrating the birth of Christ,” John says.

At the same time, “in Darfur, leaders of house church movements [were] arrested and in Blue Nile state, churches were being burned,” he continues.

“There’s always a cosmetic change before any real change.”

Find your place in the story

Pray for unity among Sudanese believers, and pray they will stand firm in their faith.

“Pray they do the work of the Church, [and] pray they have the courage to challenge a government that is restricting their right to worship God as they choose,” John requests.

“The Church is called to be the Church in all circumstances. That means leaders – even broken ones, even persecuted ones – God is still calling them to lead the Church.”

Ask the Lord to help Sudanese Christians persevere. Sudan may follow the same rocky path to religious freedom as Egypt. “[It] took two other versions of the Arab Spring” to get Egypt where it is now, John says.

“They had the (first) Arab Spring, got rid of the previous leader. They thought they had a leader [who] was going to lead them toward democracy. It became an oppressive government. Then, there were 10 million people in the streets, and they have another change of government.”

*Pseudonym

Graphic used in header image courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada reports that three Sudanese churches in the Blue Nile State were burned down on January 16th.

VOM Canada’s Greg Musselman explains that this is the second time these churches have been burned down. The original church buildings were burned down in late December and the replacement structures are now gone as well.

He says, “Although we don’t know exactly who was responsible, believers in that area are pointing their fingers at the Islamic Jihadists.”

Movement Towards Religious Freedom

(Photo courtesy of VOM Canada)

World Magazine reports that former President of Sudan and Islamic dictator, Omar al-Bashir, was removed from office in April 2019.

Sudan is currently working to create a democratic government with more religious freedom for all religions. Musselman says, “The Sudanese government, they want the world to see that they are making an effort.”

A Sudanese human rights organization is stepping in to support churches as they ask for protection from the government.

“The thing we’re seeing is that even within the mostly Muslim culture there are people saying, look, we need to keep the constitutional rights for all citizens, not just the Muslims,” Musselman says.

Yet despite this movement towards progress, many Sudanese Christians are still facing persecution. Musselman says, “[The churches] did their due diligence. They filed reports with the police, but as often happens, the investigations don’t take place. They feel like they are sitting ducks and this is going to happen again.”

Persecution Remains for Sudanese Christians

Burning building (Photo courtesy of VOM Canada.)

For many Sudanese Christians, living under an Islamic dictatorship led to mistrust and fear as well as persecution.

“It’s a culture that has been under decades and decades of fear,” he says.

“There’s militant Islam that was taking place and fear in the culture. And that even spread to, unfortunately, the Christian community. Nobody trusts each other.”

VOM Canada is working to unite the Sudanese Christians by bringing them together as brothers and sisters in Christ. However, changing this culture of fear is going to take time.

Musselman adds, “This is a situation where I would say the majority of the people, they want a change there, they want a more free and open society. But of course, there’s those militant Islamic Jihadists, they’re hell-bent on making sure that doesn’t happen. And they will continue if they are not stopped, to harass the churches.”

How Can We Help?

Helping Sudan starts with prayer. VOM Canada is stepping in to spiritually support Sudanese Christians in Sudan and they ask for continued prayer.

“We need to continue to pray for Christians in Sudan, that they would have unity… and as they are strengthened that will strengthen the message of the Gospel and bring the hope of Christ to a pretty broken nation,” Musselman says.

Ask the Lord to protect the Sudanese and help them break through fear and mistrust. You can also pray for Sudan’s government. Pray that the change in leadership continues to bring religious freedom for Sudanese Christians.

If you want to support VOM Canada and Sudanese Christians, donate here or connect with them here.

Header photo courtesy of VOM Canada.