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. 

What was once a table of nourishing, flavorful dishes has been reduced to hurriedly plucked weeds boiled in hot water. As war and famine take hold of the land, Sudan’s people face daily survival, desperate for help.

Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says, “There are literally millions of people that are living on the threshold of starvation.”

Photo courtesy of Faruk Tokluoğlu via Pexels

Reports show many survive on just one meal of millet porridge a day, while others fill their stomachs with wild plants and weeds. In North Darfur, some have resorted to sucking on coal to ease hunger.

“And always, — says Kelley, — the unfortunate thing in these situations, always, those are the weakest that suffer the most — the women, the children, the people that can’t fight for themselves, provide for themselves. And so that makes a huge percentage of the country.”

In Sudanese areas where people rely on farming for their livelihood, ongoing fighting and shortages of farming resources are steadily shrinking the available agricultural land. In areas where certain food is available, prices are skyrocketing.

According to the World Health Organization, 25 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 100,000 cholera cases have been recorded since last July. This year, approximately 770,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

“Nearly 50% of the country is utterly dependent upon foreign aid of some kind, whether it’s through the UN or through NGOs,” says Kelley.

Yet many in desperate need remain unreachable. “There are cities that have been surrounded for over a

year now, and cities with approximately 300,000 people in them that you can’t penetrate, you can’t get into them because they’re surrounded by militia groups,” Kelley explains.

This crisis calls urgently for the global community to unite in prayer and strategic action for the Sudanese people, as they suffer from both famine and spreading disease.

“The church needs to look at these kind of opportunities as a situation where the suffering is present, but we can respond with a cup of cold water, with a hand of help, and minister to them in the name of Jesus,” says Kelley.

Visit Unknown Nations to learn more about the way you can help Sudanese people. Lift up in prayer the ministries serving Sudanese in conflict zones. Pray also for the 1% of local believers to persevere in faith and bring hope to others.

Header photo courtesy of Tom Rogers via Unsplash.

“You’re seeing the enemy driving the world to the edge, and God is there,” says John, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan.

“Even though we can’t feed [the Sudanese and] we can’t heal them physically, we are seeing great response to the Gospel – that is an eternal hope.”

A growing humanitarian crisis

Heavy rains have overwhelmed at least 21 locations in Sudan, raising fears of waterborne disease in a nation whose healthcare system is already crippled by war.

Sudanese refugees who have fled the conflict in Sudan register for food aid in neighboring Chad.
(Wikimedia Commons/FCDO/Russell Watkins)

“Flooding is absolutely a massive issue, and it’s a growing one,” John says. “Last year, something like 180,000 people were displaced in Sudan by flooding.”

Already, 10 million people are on the run in Sudan, and another four million have crossed into a neighboring country. Some displaced within Sudan belong to ethnic groups that are actively hunted by one of the warring parties.

“In Darfur, flooding is a significant issue, but one of the greater issues is the genocidal targeting of specific tribes to possess their land,” John says.

Earlier this week, Sudanese authorities indicted leaders of the Rapid Support Forces for genocide tied to mass ethnic killings in Darfur. Human rights groups say the RSF is trying to drive out non-Arab communities. Yet hope remains.

“The teams that I am connected with on the ground, they’re seeing a real openness to the Gospel,” John says.

“We are seeing a great movement in IDP camps in Darfur as people are absolutely desperate to make sense of their suffering.”

Find your place in the story

Although we can’t name his organization for security purposes, John says, “We have about 26 [church-planting] teams. Fifteen of them are inside Sudan, and the other 11 are in refugee camps outside Sudan.”

While John’s organization primarily focuses on training and leadership development, it also offers the hope of Christ through trauma healing courses.

“It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes a person whole on the inside,” John says. “Help cannot be brought without hope.”

Send help and hope to Sudan by partnering with John’s organization here.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Dieuvain Musaghi/Unsplash.

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. 

Flood warnings come on top of famine, a worsening cholera outbreak, and ongoing civil war. More than 14 million people have been forced to flee.

“Every two seconds, someone is newly displaced in the world because of war, violence, or persecution,” Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says. “Exhibit A is Sudan. They’re saying it’s the worst in the world.”

(Photo courtesy of World Mission)

Conflict between the Sudanese army and rebel forces shows no signs of letting up.

“You’re talking about a fairly recent civil war between two entities, the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces, that were allies until just a couple of years ago,” Kelley says.

“You get this power struggle and they start killing each other, [resulting in] about 150,000 fatalities, and that’s not to mention the 14 million people that have been displaced,” he continues.

“When it’s all said and done, the average Sudanese person – the common man, woman, child – suffers the most.”

Gospel workers are meeting needs on every front. “[It’s] a physical crisis, but it’s also a spiritual crisis, because Sudan is a country [where] well over 95% of the people are yet without a Gospel witness,” Kelley says.

Pray for protection as believers risk their lives to reach the lost.

“They’re being the hands and feet of Jesus meeting physical needs, but they’re also taking the solar-powered audio Bible, and multiplying themselves,” Kelley says.

“When talking about 14 million people displaced and growing, we have to think exponentially, and that is through the multiplication of God-fearing, Jesus-loving men and women who are making disciples of all nations.”

Partner with Unknown Nations to make the Gospel known in Sudan.

Header image depicts 2024 floods in Al Fasher, Sudan. (Wikimedia Commons)

“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.

Johan Grobler with MegaVoice says the ongoing devastation poses obstacles to ministry. 

“Many church leaders had to flee. Some decided to remain behind, and some have even lost their lives,” he says. 

Photo courtesy of Abdulaziz Mohammed via Unsplash

MegaVoice is currently at a standstill in their efforts to distribute audio Bibles within the country. Grobler says logistical protocol and tax requirements are completely unpredictable. Please pray that doors would open for MegaVoice to continue its ministry efforts. In the meantime, Grobler says: 

“We can just continue to help where we can. We can pray, and we continue to support those who have gone, and we can be involved in making people more aware of the situation.” 

As fighting continues and famine plagues the nation, Sudan is on its way to becoming a failed state: one in which law and order are not maintained, international relationships are in disarray, and speech and travel are restricted. 

“It’s very difficult to get out of a state like that. To have free and fair elections is almost impossible. It’s fertile ground for dictatorships and people to control the environment,” Grobler says. 

Please remember the oft overlooked Sudanese conflict in your prayers. Pray for perseverance and provision for brothers and sisters in Sudan, many of whom are fighting daily to survive. 

“Prices are skyrocketing, and it’s difficult for farmers to produce. Food is a crisis. Safety is a crisis,” Grobler says. 

Pray also for the safety of missionaries and church leaders as they seek to carry on their work. 

Amidst the chaos, Grobler says there are many testimonies of people coming to faith. 

“I think in situations like this, in any crisis, people are running to Christ. They ask serious questions about the future, and we all know that in the gospel we can have a hope in the future.”

Featured photo courtesy of Lara Jameson via Pexels 

Sanctions have born little success so far in moving either of the warring parties to the negotiating table. An ongoing war between Sudan’s army and rebel forces backed by the United Arab Emirates has uprooted more than 10 million people since April 2023.

“They’re in the midst of their third civil war in the last 50 years,” Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says.

“When we hear ‘Sudan,’ we associate that with carnage, and what happens is [we] get apathetic. But we should care, as followers of Jesus, because Jesus called us to make disciples of all nations.”

Sudan is facing the worst levels of food insecurity in its history, with more than half of its population in acute hunger. Famine conditions were confirmed earlier this month in several displacement camps.

Believers bring relief supplies to Sudanese refugees in Chad.
(Photo courtesy of Unknown Nations)

“Children are dying every single day of starvation. That’s not a pleasant sight, and it’s happening by the dozens in both South Sudan and Sudan,” Kelley says.

Yet amid Sudan’s despair, hope remains. “People are open. They’ve lost every earthly possession, and they’re sitting in a tent in a country that’s not their own,” Kelley says.

“They are asking questions. When you’re in that position, and someone comes with the life-transforming message of the Gospel, that heart is ready to receive.”

Partner with Unknown Nations here to support this work in Sudan.

“We need to be praying for the Christian leaders because they share the Good News in the most difficult of environments. Pray that God would give them strength and courage.”

Header photo depicts Sudanese refugees being baptized in Chad. (Header and story images courtesy of Unknown Nations)

Nearly nine million people have fled their homes in more than a year of conflict. See our full coverage here. One in three Sudanese faces acute hunger, and millions of vulnerable people are on the brink of famine.

What stands between countless thousands of desperate people and the peace and stability they need to survive? In a word, ambition.

Photo of a family in Sudan courtesy of Sudan Envoy/Wikimedia Commons.

“The paramilitary has grievances toward Arabs (government forces) of North and the middle of Sudan,” Reverend Joseph*, an unfoldingWord partner in Sudan, says.

“They (paramilitary) feel they were used to keep them (Arab military) in power, so they want to change the narrative; they want to come to power as well.”

A grocery shop owner in El Fasher tells BBC News that wherever the armies fight, civilians become victims.

“[It] is a chaotic, senseless kind of war for normal Sudanese,” Reverend Joseph says.

When a coup unseated long-time Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Sudanese Christians held hope for a brighter future. Today, that hope is a distant memory as believers face persecution from both sides.

No matter who “wins” this war, “We suspect it will be harder than the Bashir era. Whether [army] or with the [RSF], they are targeting systematically the institution of the Church; they try to demolish all church structures,” Reverend Joseph says.

“They intend, after the war, there will be no Church.”

Pray for strength and endurance as Sudanese Christians continue Bible translation work in neighboring countries. More about that here.

“We are not just [translating] the Bible so that they have Word, but also we are preserving those languages [so they don’t] die,” Reverend Joseph says.

*Pseudonym

Header image depicts a church in Sudan. (Photo courtesy of World Watch Monitor)

This led to a vote on Friday by the United Nations Security Council on a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. But like several previous resolutions, this one failed to pass in the fifteen-member council.

Food isn’t the only thing scarce in Gaza. Darrel Templeton with MegaVoice says their audio Bibles ministry has had to stop, despite their many years of partnerships in the region.

(Photo of audio Bible unit courtesy of MegaVoice)

“Right now, even though the requests are coming in, we just have not been able to provide the audio Bibles that are requested — because of the war, because of the blockades, because nothing is getting in or out,” he says. 

“As soon as those doors open, we pray that we will have enough to be able to provide for the Palestinian believers and the Palestinian seekers.”

As the situation in Gaza becomes even more grim, you can do something that will touch all those suffering. 

“The Scripture teaches us to pray for the peace of Israel, and so that is first and foremost what we need to do is pray for the peace of the land,” Templeton says, referring to Psalm 122:6.

“Real and full peace only comes with the Prince of Peace. So that is the ultimate answer for the Palestinian people, as well as the Jewish people as well as anyone around the world.”

See last week’s two-part story on the war from the perspective of Christians in Palestine and Christians in Israel. 

Header photo: U.S. Air Force C-130J Super Hercules conducts an airdrop of humanitarian assistance over Gaza, Mar. 2, 2024. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.