Helen Williams with World Missionary Press recently attended Every Home For Christ’s One Africa Conference, where she connected with national directors from several countries that WMP works to provide Scripture booklets to.

In northern Nigeria, where there is open persecution, ministry work is pivoting to cities to avoid Muslim resistance in villages. But the Nigerian director said people in these villages remain unreached and without access to the Bible.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

“He said, ‘In the cities, they’re able to openly distribute material and minister and have outreach,’” Williams says. “But his heart was for the villages, because they don’t have the Word anyway, and the resistance is so strong that it’s dangerous.”

The ministry in Nigeria is finding new ways to operate, which can involve finding hosts near villages or conducting gospel conversations under a tree.

“There’s a lot of trying to protect the believers, and yet encourage them and continue to do the work,” Williams says.

In the Goma area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, people are losing their homes and fleeing the country, but despite these challenges, the work continues.

The director in the DRC said, “This is a challenge for us, but we know that the Lord wants us to continue the work.”

Williams says, again, the work continues; it is just finding new ways to share the gospel with people.

Williams says the DRC director was very open about how the conflict is affecting them. “He said, ‘This is a challenge for us, but we know that the Lord wants us to continue the work.’”

In other countries, including Somalia, Djibouti, and Eritrea, where it is dangerous to distribute Scripture, the work continues as well.

“These are areas that they’ve not been able to come to us in the open as of late. They’ve been getting their material from Ethiopia, but they came up to us and said, ‘Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,'” Williams says. 

Despite scary resistance, particularly in Eritrea, Scripture is still making its way into the hands of people and changing lives.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are experiencing persecution in Africa. Pray for wisdom and protection as they minister to their persecutors and others who do not yet know Christ.

Header Photo Provided by World Missionary Press

Greg Musselman with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada explains, “The Houthis and al-Shabaab are now sharing weaponry; they’re becoming more aligned, in a sense.”

As described here, the Houthis are giving al-Shabaab access to more advanced weaponry systems. In return, al-Shabaab shares its coastal intelligence network and years of expertise in piracy.

A calligraphic logo used by Ansar Allah, a Shia movement in Yemen commonly called the Houthis, with Arabic text: “Oh ye who believe, be supporters of God” (Quran 61:14)
(Wikimedia Commons)

“These groups have these weapons, they share intelligence, and that makes it very scary for persecuted Christians in those nations as these radicalized groups take more and more control of their countries,” Musselman says.

As radical control grows in Yemen and Somalia, believers continue to quietly share the hope of Christ. “In Somalia, they have one of the fastest-growing Churches in the world,” Musselman says.

“Instability causes people a lot of fear, but also opens them up to the Gospel.”

Yemen and Somalia are some of the world’s most dangerous places to follow Christ. For example, Yemeni citizens are not allowed to convert to Christianity. More about that here.

Similarly, believers in Somalia keep their faith a closely-held secret, as al-Shabaab demands the death of Christians if discovered. More about that here.

“Often, we can’t talk about stories [like these] because of the security issues. We don’t want to put anybody else in any further danger. But we can be encouraged that God is working amid all the challenges these believers are facing,” Musselman says.

“Because of the fear, the unhappiness with [the] regimes leading these countries, they (people) just see no hope. And that’s when many of them are turning to the Lord.”

Pray that the Gospel will penetrate the hearts of many hopeless people.

“Let’s pray for God’s work to continue in Somalia and Yemen. Yeah, they have heavy Muslim populations, but there is an emerging Church,” Musselman says.

“Believers are willing to risk their lives to bring the Gospel to some of the world’s most dangerous places.”

Header image depicts al-Shabaab insurgents during an attack on Somali National Army positions in 2023. (Wikimedia Commons)

Shania came to faith in Jesus out of a Muslim background. Her husband, Shino, accepted Christ a few years later after much prayer.

When they first began sharing their faith with fellow Somalis online, they kept their identities secret. They were met with distrust and suspicion. There were questions about whether they were Westerners pretending to be Somalis.

Eventually, Shino and Shania decided to go public. They shared their real names and faces and even their contact information. “That,” Shania said in a recent conversation with The Voice of the Martyrs USA, “shook [the] whole Somali nation.”

Over 98% of Somalis follow Islam. (Representative stock photo courtesy of Mohamed Abukar via Unsplash)

Their story was covered by major news outlets. “All the imams, they sat down, and they said, ‘What [can we] do?’” Shania explained. “They give us (Shino and Shania) a fatwa. They said, ‘Anyone who see them, either kill them or find where they are from.’”

Though Shino and Shania have had to move frequently for safety, they are still sharing the gospel through Somali Christian TV. The fruit of their ministry has been profound, but so has the opposition, Shania says.  “Millions of Somalis have seen what the Lord is doing. Many of them come to faith, but many of them are threatening us, and they are after us.” 

Even so, this couple celebrates how God is changing peoples’ hearts and lives across Somalia and across the Somali diaspora.

“Many of them, when they come to faith, they will say, ‘I used to hate you. I was the person who [was] threatening you. Please forgive me,’” Shania says. One woman in the U.S. told them, “I used to hate you every day, and now I pray for you every day.”

There’s so much to pray for. Pray for the gospel to spread and deepen among Somalis! Shino explained no aboveground church can exist in the nation, and small underground churches are always in danger of discovery and violence.

“If you are Somali, and they know that you are Christian, they will persecute you. They are scattered everywhere, and they are isolated,” he said. “The whole nation needs to know Jesus. Please pray for those who are already believers in Somalia that the Lord’s Spirit [will] equip them and make them bold.” 

Then, pray for much fruit as Shino and Shania reach and disciple Somalians for Christ. Lack of access to Scripture, biblical teaching or fellowship makes growing in faith a slow process for believers in Somalis. Yet God is moving and building His Church! 

Listen to one of two conversations with Shino and Shania on VOM Radio here to hear more of their story. 

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Khalid Abdalla via Unsplash.

For the past five plus years, drought has been an unwelcome reality in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and other East African countries. Poor rainfalls have devastated the land and displaced millions in the urgent search for food and water. 

“They have experienced many crop failures because of drought. A lot of animals have died,” says World Concern’s Peter Macharia. 

Woman collects water from a protected water well.
(Photo, caption by Daryl Finley/World Concern)

In East Africa, World Concern serves as the hands and feet of Christ. They work among communities to provide water, nutrition and medicine in the face of hunger and disease. This help is critical, but today Macharia asks us to take a brief step back and consider how water points us to spiritual realities. 

“When we talk about physical drought, we should also be thinking about the spiritual drought. You know, water refreshes our weary bodies; so is the gospel. It refreshes our weary souls,” he says. 

“The Word of God in John chapter 15:3 says, ‘You already clean through the Word which I have spoken to you.’ So when you think about what water does to us physically, the gospel does the same to us spiritually.”

Macharia asks that the Church would take deliberate action to meet the practical needs of people in the Horn of Africa. 

“Think about people across the globe that are suffering without water, and find ways of how do they help? We are all living in a global village and we need to see the other person, the other country as my neighbor, because when they suffer, we all suffer,” he says.

Learn more about how you can partner with World Concern’s relief work here. 

Finally, in a world full of trouble, advocacy is another way you can stand with East Africa. 

“Prayer is able to go where we cannot go,” Macharia says. “(People) can also be participating by sharing the word and speaking about the suffering of the people wherever they are.”

Header photo of young girl in East Africa drawing water from unprotected well, courtesy of Daryl Finley/World Concern.

The global authority on food security levels has projected that in Somalia alone, 1.5 million children under the age of five will experience acute malnutrition between August 2023 and July 2024. 

“There are so many families that have left their homes, and now they’re scattering all over looking for any assistance that can come their way,” says Peter Macharia with World Concern.

Woman collects water from a protected water well. (Photo, caption by Daryl Finley/World Concern)

“Most of those families are dependent on rains, and they have no choices. Women have to move miles and miles to access clean water.”

World Concern seeks to serve the unique needs of the communities in which it operates. In the Horn of Africa, the food and water crisis dominates. 

“We do water trucking, finding water that is clean in a well that we have built or others have built and we truck that water to villages that have no clean water,” Macharia says. 

World Concern also provides cash vouchers for food, nutritional supplements for children and nursing women, and de-worming medicines, among other helps. 

“We have also been working on permanent solutions like digging wells, constructing water dams to harvest rainwater, and those kind of things. So our desire is not just to help (alleviate) the suffering, but also to have a permanent solution to the problems that people face,” Macharia says. 

Pray for those who are suffering deeply from the effects of drought. Ask God to bring rain. Jeremiah 14:22 says, “Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.”

“I really encourage (listeners and readers) to be prayerful, and when they see things that are happening, let them see them as as happening to their brothers and sisters,” Macharia says.

Pray that World Concern and local believers will be able to serve the physical and spiritual needs of many in the Horn of Africa. 

Header photo courtesy of Peter Caton for World Concern.

Some have compared Sudan’s potential future to that of Somalia. Somalia’s chaos and violence have made it rampant with humanitarian crises and violations of human rights. In the words of John*, a Gospel worker in Sudan: “Al Shabaab is still waging one of the largest and deadliest insurgencies in the world. [There is] massive poverty [and] a continuation of violations of not only law, [but] international humanitarian law with just impunity. Human life has almost no value.”

In short, “It’s a place that has become so radical [that] there’s not a corner where you can find peace[…] let alone an awareness of the value of life that we know that God has. It’s very difficult in Somalia.”

Unfortunately, John thinks some of patterns that led to Somalia’s current state can be seen in the recent years of Sudan’s history. He’s concerned that should total collapse come, dangerous factions already present in Sudan could gain more power. 

But God has a plan, and we can pray for a different future for Sudan. “It’s easy to be complacent, but I would encourage Christians to pray, ‘Lord, stir my spirit, stir my heart. Help me care about the things that you care about, and bring them into the way I live my life and make my decisions.’”

John says that prayers like that could incite transformation within the Church. Christians in Sudan need support. They need to know that the global Church is paying attention. They need practical support stemming from the generosity of Christians with more resources. And they need your prayer for Sudan’s future.

*Name changed for security purposes

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Is it a famine?

Photo courtesy of Peter Caton for World Concern.

Still, the government has not yet declared famine officially. Cathy Herholdt with World Concern explains why. “Things need to reach a certain level for an official famine to be declared. And those things are this: at least 20 percent of the population is facing extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, and at least two people out of every 10,000 are dying each day due to starvation or a combination of severe hunger and illness.”

These things are happening in pockets of Somalia but not the whole country. Several humanitarian groups issued a joint statement, saying global aid can’t wait until the famine is officially declared.

Herholdt concurs. She says, “I spoke with our country director recently. He said they had gone out to a village to assess the situation. As soon as they pulled in, there was a mother who just ran up to the vehicle with her child in her arms, and the child was just on the brink of death.”

“They put them both in the vehicle and tried to make it to a health clinic 50 kilometers away. And unfortunately, the child passed away in the car on the way there.”

You can support World Concern as they give food and water in Jesus’ name.

This work in a couple of ways. First, Herholdt says the ministry is distributing Nutripackets. “These are emergency nutrition supplements for children ages six months to about two or three years. And they’re just little peanut butter paste packets fortified with protein, minerals, and all the healthy fats that a child needs to recover quickly.”

They also truck in water to the hardest hit areas. Herholdt says, “We give people vouchers because they can receive a limited amount of water daily. We also do cash transfers so that they can purchase whatever their family needs, whether that’s medicine, seeing a doctor, or food.”

You can support this work here.

The header photo shows dead carcasses of drought-stricken animals in Somaliland. (Photo courtesy of Peter Caton for World Concern) 

The drought has affected Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and even Uganda. Every Child Ministries has seen the effects firsthand in the Karamoja region of Uganda. Mark Luckey says, “There is always some food insecurity in a place like Karamoja. And then sometimes things come together, kind of the perfect storm as you might put it.”

“It’s a time when many people are starving, especially the elderly and the small children.”

Things aren’t looking better in the future. Meteorologists have predicted a fifth-consecutive rainy season with less precipitation. When the rains do come, the recovery will still take years. Water shortages also put people at higher risk for water-borne illnesses.

ECM

That’s why ECM helps farmers get the most out of the rain when it does come. Luckey says, “The Karamojong are a wonderful people struggling to adapt to new farming practices and understanding how to survive and thrive in this kind of environment.”

ECM wants to see kids and families in Karamoja thrive. Luckey says, “We’ve worked hard on providing food, some supplies, and just any way we can ensure that people stay alive.”

Pray their love will point to Jesus.

The header photo shows Emily Chebet, a coffee farmer in Uganda who works with ECM. (Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries on Facebook)

How can the Somali Church grow when society treats believers so poorly? Jacob is a partner with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada. He says Christians outside Somalia are eager to help the Church grow. But they need to let Somali Christians do it within their own culture. “Don’t force them to behave in what you think is the traditional way. Jesus did not come to change the culture.”

Instead, Jesus proclaims His message within cultures. Jacob says, “It doesn’t matter if I’m eating with the left or right hand. Am I eating? That is the thing.”

Somali networks

Some Christian ministries or denominations expect the Somali Church to look like Western churches. Instead, Jacob encourages listeners to pray for the Somali church as it is.

Jacob says Somali Christians have built their own networks. “We have a lot of believers who are connecting with others in the networks in various regions. So let’s pray for the networking to be even stronger. Let’s also pray for the resources to educate the children of these families. They cannot just go to any school. It’s good for them to go to a school where they are protected.”

Christians in Somalia and outside the country need each other, Jacob says. Ask God to strengthen them. “We come to one table. All of us are building one building. And that building is the body of Christ, bringing the hearts and minds of believers together as we pray for one another, strengthen one another, and share our resources.”

The header photo shows Somali shoppers in the city of Mogadishu. (Photo courtesy of AMISOM Public Information, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Kenya’s National Drought and Weather Authority says there will be less rainfall this November through December, normally months when the region gets some precipitation.

Muslim religious and political leaders attended the service, which was held at the Garissa Primary School. Nehemiah with FMI says, “Farming activities are dead in the region following the prolonged drought. More livestock have succumbed due to lack of rain and pasture. Human beings are suffering amid a lack of water. Water is a huge, huge issue in this area.”

At the meeting, Local leaders encouraged different groups to work together, stressing that the drought was not caused by any of them.

Persecution

Nehemiah traveled to this area earlier this year. He saw the poverty, the lack of basic infrastructure, and the desolation caused by the drought.

But Christians near Garissa face additional problems as well. Nehemiah says, “They experience persecution daily. Their churches are often damaged with stones. Whenever they move or walk in the streets, people chant at them because they are a very, very tiny minority. The girls who come to their churches are very vulnerable.”

“Muslim boys from a Somalian background often try to kidnap them and take them back to their villages.”

Christians make up less than one percent of the population in this area, near the border with Somalia.

Pray this region receives rain and ask God to strengthen the local church. Many FMI partners serve in the area, regardless of the danger.

Header photo courtesy of FMI.