Fighting shows no signs of slowing down as a third faction rises to rule. John of Greater Reach Alliance says, “There’s a strong influence from the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to take over through the army.”

Recently designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S., the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood could seek to capitalize on an opportunity. Fractures within the army led to restructuring last week.

(Representative AI photo created with ChatGPT)

“Because of this, coordination within the army is weakened, making it harder to effectively fight the RSF,” John says.

“Our team on the ground thinks it’s more likely to make the war longer than shorter.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have died since the civil war began. Millions are living in displacement camps. One in three Sudanese people needs humanitarian aid to survive.

RSF rule does not promise a brighter future. “If the RSF gains control, there’s a great fear of increased violence,” John says.

“They enacted, on behalf of the previous administration, genocide against black Sudanese tribes in Darfur and the Nuba mountains.”

Hope and help

With the help of Greater Reach Alliance, Sudanese Christians are sharing the hope of Jesus in displacement camps. Read more here.

Ask the Lord to give believers strength. Pray that the war will end soon.

“The best hope is strong international pressure for a return to the civilian leadership that was intended after Bashir was removed,” John says.

(Representative AI photo created with ChatGPT)

“They (civilian leaders) are still in the country. But it would take a very strong international intervention to make a restoration of civilian government possible,” he continues, requesting prayer for Western involvement.

“A return to some kind of civilian leadership is really the answer, because if either side of this conflict wins, the picture for Sudan continues to be extremely bleak.”

Header image depicts a Sudanese combatant with G3 rifle. Steve Evans, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Sudan’s civil war, which erupted on April 15, 2023, is a violent power struggle between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces. Civilian deaths continue amid ongoing drone attacks, Radio Dabanga reports, and “the humanitarian situation there is rapidly deteriorating” as fighting blocks aid access.

Strikes also continue throughout Darfur State as the war rages on. Tens of thousands of people were executed in El Fasher, Darfur, in December and January. At least 6,000 people were slain in just three days.

John* partners with dozens of Sudanese church planters. “Many of them are from Darfur,” he says.

“The statistics are not statistics to them; they’re losing family, friends, and property. In the middle of that loss, they’re trusting God.”

Masalit tribal dancers at a 2014 event in Darfur, Sudan.
(Photo courtesy UNAMID via Flickr/CC)

Believers are not only trusting God but also continuing to serve Him. In the refugee camps they now call home, “Where the dominant tribe [in the camp] is Masalit from Darfur, with the greatest persecution and death, there are Masalit house churches,” John says.

“We’ve started literacy classes so they can learn to read and write their own language.”

With the help of Greater Reach Alliance, believers are making Christ known among the Masalit. Consider supporting church planters through GRA here.

“We started in 2018 with the first known two believers from the Masalit tribe,” John says.

“We’ve now graduated [28] from our school, and we have 15 [leaders] involved in (Bible) translation in their language. Our Masalit team translated The JESUS Film and Magdalena film for women.”

Fourteen graduates from GRA’s school of mission lost family and close friends in the massacre at the end of 2025. Pray they will experience the peace only Jesus can offer.

*Pseudonym

Header image is a representative AI photo created by Chat GPT. 

John*, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan, says Rapid Support Forces show no sign of slowing. “They’re going east to Kordofan, and it’s creating a new displacement of people,” John says.

“We really need to pray. I don’t think that Sudan is on the radar; very, very few people that I talk to are even aware of how dire the situation is.”

Displacement and despair

A brutal power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in April 2023, plunging the country into widespread violence, displacement, and humanitarian collapse. See our coverage here.

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

El Fasher, the last army stronghold in Darfur, fell to the RSF in October. “Now the RSF, much like ISIS, is free within the city to do what it wants without having to fight a battle. And what they’re doing is ravaging the people,” John says.

“Rape of women is [common]; the numbers are unbelievable. And then the trafficking and selling of children has become one of the most horrible results of the RSF having control of El Fasher.”

Thousands of families are struggling to survive as their access to aid groups is limited. Access routes into Darfur and Kordofan have become increasingly restricted due to RSF control, active fighting, and the looting of aid supplies.

Furthermore, “They (survivors) are moving from El Fasher into places that make it more difficult to help them, and that has really heightened the crisis,” John says, adding that the Mara Mountains are a popular destination.

“The (church planting) teams that we had [in El Fasher] were driven out. We’re trying to contact some of them in the Mara Mountains.”

Strength for today, hope for tomorrow

Church planters living among the displaced offer the hope of Christ through trauma counselling.

“We have 28 teams in 28 refugee camps in three countries, and they are sharing Christ. I have pictures of baptisms from refugee camps, so the Church is growing. People are coming to Christ,” John says.

“The Gospel is such a threat to Islam because it gives the person inner strength, regardless of the circumstance, and it gives them hope through the circumstance. It is an incredibly powerful thing.”

Please keep Sudan in your prayers. Ask the Lord to guide and protect two church planting teams in Kordofan, the expected path of RSF advances.

“Desperation creates an openness to the Gospel. Pray that the people who were seeking wouldn’t become closed off,” John requests.

“Pray that the Christians in these camps – the people who know God, who have peace, and yet are struggling with discouragement – would be reminded of the hope that they have, and they would be motivated by the Holy Spirit to share that.”

*Pseudoynm

Header image depicts the flag of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). (MartinKassemJ120, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Any truce would be a vital first step toward ending the war that erupted two years ago, triggering a severe humanitarian crisis. Today, famine is widespread, millions are displaced, and more than 40,000 people have been killed.

Flag of the Rapid Support Forces
(Wikimedia Commons)

“This conflict, there is no reason for it,” Ibrahim Adam with the Darfur Christian Association says.

“This conflict must be stopped, and the ceasefire must take place as soon as possible.”

The U.S.-led ceasefire effort aims to lay the groundwork for lasting political dialogue once the immediate humanitarian crisis is brought under control. Adam says Darfur’s believers need to be involved in those conversations, rather than hiding in the background.

“As Christ’s ambassadors, we are the peacemakers,” Adam says. “We need to be integrated into the Sudanese society; we need to show up, especially on the public issues.”

Find your place in the story

Pray first for the war in Sudan to come to an end. Secondly, pray for wisdom as Sudanese Christians weigh next steps. Speaking out in an Islamic environment carries risk – but so does staying silent.

“We’re experiencing conflict because in the age of public issues, we left it to them to decide on our behalf. If we were there in the decision-making, this ongoing conflict was avoidable,” Adam says.

“That disagreement that happened between two belligerents, it was possible that we [could] manage it without reaching this level.”

Pray for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts at all levels of government, including among the two warring factions.

“We believe that the heart of government officials, presidents, and kings is in the hand of the Lord,” Adam says.

“Pray that God will control the hearts of those political leaders in order to soften their hearts and see the suffering. Then the nation will experience peace.”

Header image depicts IDPs at a food distribution center in North Darfur circa 2023. (Wikimedia Commons)

According to one analyst, peace talks in Washington, D.C., give the RSF militia political cover to commit atrocities. Pastor Ibrahim, a Sudanese pastor, tells MNN, “The peace negotiations [have] always been up and down, and always end negatively.”

The United Nations and regional actors call for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher. Civilians have no access to food, water, or medical supplies, and aid workers are unable to reach them.

More than 260,000 people – including 130,000 children – have been trapped under siege in El Fasher for over a year. “Things are beyond government control,” Pastor Ibrahim says.

“It’s a mess everywhere in Sudan, and there is a lot of pressure.”

Attributing pressure to Islamist non-military sources, Pastor Ibrahim voices concern about ceasefire resistance within Sudan. “They will not take it easy, that’s really the fear,” he says.

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

Sudan’s silver lining

Believers throughout Sudan suffer alongside their Muslim neighbors. In some cases, the Church is at the top of the radicals’ hit list. “The Church always is in the middle of the persecution,” Pastor Ibrahim says.

“[The] RSF, when they came to Khartoum, one of the places they attacked immediately was the Church.”

Yet hope remains. “The Bible tells us in the Book of Acts that persecution has been one of the elements of the growth and the extension of the Church,” Pastor Ibrahim says.

“We can testify and tell [of] the number of unreached people who are responding to the Gospel today [compared to] the times of peace.”

Pray for strength and endurance for Sudanese Christians.

“The most important prayer is that the Lord enable the churches and the ministries to stand firm and to be bold, and then seek God’s guidance and protection,” Pastor Ibrahim says.

Pray also for unity. “When we face difficulties from outside and we are divided inside, that makes it harder,” he adds.

Header image depicts a Sudanese combatant with G3 rifle. (Photo courtesy of Steve Evans/Wikimedia Commons) 

Days of heavy rain triggered landslides in the Marrah Mountains, reportedly leaving only one survivor. The scale of the debris and the disaster’s remote location limit information. Civil war, raging between rival militaries since 2023, further complicates recovery efforts.

“The area hit by the landslides is also a hub for displaced families fleeing the fighting,” says John, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan.

“They were trying to escape that (fighting) in El Fasher. They went up to this area, and now [there is] a landslide.”

Authorities say between 300 and 1,000 people were killed, but the actual death toll could be higher.

John’s partners fear the worst as attempts to reach their friends go unanswered. “Even though it’s an Islamic area, there are house churches that have been planted over the years,” John says.

“We know there are some Christians among [the affected people.]”

Pray for wisdom and discernment as church planters determine how they will respond to this disaster. John’s organization supports frontline Sudanese church planters throughout the Islamic nation.

“We’re not a relief organization, but because of the network of believers on the ground, getting $200 someplace has a huge effect,” John says. “We’ve done targeted relief in many, many places.”

(Photo courtesy of Spoken Worldwide)

Pray that Sudanese Muslims will find truth, comfort, and peace in Jesus Christ.

“I have met so many Muslims that, in their desperation of finding inner peace and hope, had God meet them in a dream. So many Muslims have come to Christ without someone leading them,” John says.

Frustration with Islam leaves many Sudanese open to the Gospel, he adds.

“The whole nation is in trauma, and that trauma cuts to the core,” John says.

“These are non-Arabs, but they’re still Muslims, so they’re trying to deal with the fact that ‘The Koran says we’re brothers, and yet, here’s my brother trying to kill me, take my land, drive me from my land, because I’m not Arab.’”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Franklin Peña Gutierrez/Pexels.

A Gospel worker we’ll call John explains: “It’s a multisector emergency because you have flooding that displaces people, armed conflict, no access to basic services, and one of the most significant cholera outbreaks that part of the world has seen in decades.”

The ongoing civil war has displaced over 10 million people within Sudan, surpassing displacement figures seen at the height of the conflicts in Syria or Ukraine. At least 18 million Sudanese face acute hunger, with aid agencies warning of famine-like conditions.

Hope amid hardship

Families are eating leaves to survive in parts of Darfur, while hospitals in Khartoum have been bombed or shut down due to fighting.

(Photo courtesy of Kamal IG/Pexels)

“In the middle of that, how do you get help to [people in need]? Delivering aid is incredibly dangerous. Any movement of aid is looted and confiscated,” John says. “They (warring parties) attack, loot, and kidnap aid workers.”

By God’s grace, help is on the way. “In the next couple of weeks, four teams are going into four refugee areas on South Sudan’s border with Sudan, with medications for children to address cholera,” John says.

“Cholera is easily dealt with if you have what you need.”

Thanks to a partnership with aid organizations in the US, “we just received [9 pallets of] medications focused on children,” he adds.

Of the 14 million people currently displaced in and around Sudan, “50 percent of them are children, and 27 percent are children five and under.”

Find your place in the story

Malnutrition and unsanitary conditions in displacement camps significantly increase the risk of infection for young children. In response, small teams of doctors, nurses, and evangelists are mobilizing to bring medicine, compassion, and the hope of the Gospel to those in need.

Pray for God’s protection over these teams as they travel through dangerous territory. Ask the Lord to help them reach the sick in time.

“It’s an incredible blessing not just to sit and look at the problem, but to see God miraculously place in our hands what we can do to help,” John says, “not only with the Gospel, but to help those who are suffering.”

Header graphic courtesy of Spoken Worldwide. 

“Because of the killing that [are] going on, people were not allowed [to] … plant anything. That’s why there is no harvest,” explains Bishop Dr. Yassir Eric, a partner of Horizons International.

Child in Sudan (Photo courtesy of Abdulaziz Mohammed/Unsplash)

“The situation is very, very severe, because two rainy seasons pass by, and people are not able to do anything. And now in Darfur, the killing is also going on, and those who manage to plant anything, the rebels [come] and then put everything on fire.” 

The Darfur killings Bishop Eric refers to happened last week, when the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group assaulted one famine-struck refugee camp called Zamzam (among other locations in Sudan’s western Darfur region). The attacks displaced an estimated 400,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Although this latest episode was done by the RSF, its chief opponent, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has committed horrific acts against civilians as well.

“Jesus is our God, and He’s the God of the suffering,” Bishop Eric says. “This is actually the difference between Allah in Islam and God in the Bible. In our suffering, we know He feels with us.”

Please pray for God’s mercy on Sudan’s crises and find your place in the story. 

“We need to see people that are helping there, and to back them up, give them the resources that they need, so that to engage, not only in helping people that famine will go away, but that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Eric says.

“I know and I believe that all things [work] for good — even this terrible situation, a beauty could come out of that, if we pray and if we give, and if we go.”

Click here to financially support Bishop Dr. Yassir Eric’s ministry in Sudan.

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Lara Jameson via Pexels.

“Geographically, they are neighbors, but culturally they are extremely different. There is lots of discrimination going on in Egypt,” for example, “because of their color, their background,” he says. 

In Ethiopia, Sudanese are not welcome because of political differences. In Uganda, refugee camps exist but are often underserved. This plethora and diversity of challenge is experienced by the approximately 3 million IDP who fled to other countries  since Sudan’s civil war began on April 15, 2023. 

The Gospel and Darfuri diaspora

Sudan’s northwestern region of Darfur is especially ravaged by the ongoing conflict. Historically, the area has been distinctly Muslim. Eric says he knew of only one Christian from Darfur when he moved out of Sudan in 1995. Since then, spiritual transformation has rippled through the growing wave of refugees. 

“Today, the church is flourishing among the Darfuri people: in Chad, in Egypt, and even in Southern Sudan,” he says. 

Eric suggests that refugees from this region are responding to the Gospel for two main reasons. 

The first is disillusionment with Islam. 

“Those people are being killed by their own brothers and sisters, so we realize that Islam cannot be the solution that we have been always seeking out.”

The second reason is that Christians are proactively engaging displaced Sudanese with the love of Christ. 

“I just got back from Chad where I baptized in one day 250 Muslim-background believers from Darfur,” Eric says. 

Ministry to Muslim-background believers

The encouraging reality of a growing church among Darfuri diaspora is sobered by the unique challenges faced by Muslim background believers. Eric explains that they must overcome theological challenges as their worldview is overhauled; spiritual challenges as they seek freedom from the spirit of bondage; and liturgical challenges as they learn how to worship and mature in their newfound Christian faith. 

Growing up in a devout Muslim family, Eric experienced these obstacles firsthand. Before he became a believer, he witnessed genocide from the perpetrator’s perspective. 

“People got killed in Southern Sudan because they were followers of Christ. And I used to belong to the group that wanted to finish those people,” he says. 

That’s why when he became a follower of Jesus, the first thing Eric learned was how to live in peace with others. 

“And this is what we are lacking in Sudan. It’s not the political intellect or the resources, but we just don’t know how peace works,” he says.

Eric now serves the church of Muslim-background believers worldwide, working with Horizons International, an MNN partner based in Lebanon. 

“What we need as Muslim-background believers: people to help us find our identity in Christ,” he says. “Sometimes people think that we became Christians because Islam is bad. No. We became Christians because Jesus touched our hearts.”

He says ministries should seek to drive that point home by engaging with, listening to, and answering the questions of Muslim background believers, being careful not to provide content without context. 

Find your place in the story

In a short documentary about his conversion, Eric credits his salvation to a persecuted Christian’s 25 years of supplication on his behalf. This Christian was once the victim of a brutal attack by Eric himself, years before he knew the Lord.

“That’s the answer to persecution, to hate,” he concludes. “It’s prayer.” 

Please pray for the country of Sudan. Pray that the warring parties, primarily the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, would seek peace in the best interest of their people. 

Pray also for the Darfuri people and other refugees fleeing the country. Pray that in the midst of turmoil, they would encounter the transforming love of Jesus Christ. 

Click here to financially support Bishop Yassir Eric’s ministry in Sudan. 

(Photo of Khartoum, Sudan courtesy of Ammar Nassir via Unsplash)

Header image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“In Khartoum, there tends to be more talk about coming to some kind of resolution, but in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and other parts of the country, the war continues full force,” John says.

“There don’t seem to be any genuine attempts to come around the table. Both sides say they won’t stop until the other side is dead.”

If nothing changes, Sudan’s bloody civil war will see its second anniversary in April. The fallout from the 2019 overthrow of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir led to a two-year transitionary government.

Two years later, a military coup removed the temporary government, creating a power vacuum, and Sudan’s transition to civilian rule stalled.

Then, tensions erupted between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, resulting in violent clashes. Today, more than 30 million people need humanitarian aid and protection.

“The people are bearing the brunt of the violence,” John says. “The brutality of this war mirrors the brutality that we’ve seen on the news here from ISIS, Hamas, and other terrorist groups, except the perpetrators are two groups of the Sudanese military.”

Find your place in the story

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

John’s organization and unfoldingWord support believers in Sudan who plant churches and translate God’s Word. Sudanese Gospel workers offer trauma healing and share the hope of Christ with refugees and internally displaced populations at 28 locations.

Pray for courage and perseverance. “Those working to help the people come under fire because each side accuses those helping the people of supporting their opposition, and so they become a target themselves,” John says.

“But even though they’ve lost so much, they’ve not lost their hope. They’ve not lost His peace, they’ve not lost His call, and so their work continues.”

Pray for the salvation and transformation of individuals and families who hear the Gospel and turn to Jesus.

“As you pray for the people of Sudan, pray for God’s healing power to be released into broken hearts, bodies, and spirits,” John says.

Support church planters through John’s organization here.

*Pseudonym

In the header image, shell casings litter the ground in the Nuba Mountains. (Photo courtesy of VOM USA)