“It’s the women, it’s the children, it’s the men, it’s across the nation because the men are the ones going to war – there’s just devastation,” he says. 

Wesley and his team recently visited partners in South Sudan to encourage, teach, and provide trauma counseling. He says touching down in the capital city of Juba didn’t raise immediate societal alarms. But when he spoke with people: 

“All they would talk to you about was the fact that civil war is looming and that they don’t want it to come,” he says. 

Since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has struggled to establish national unity, with skirmishes involving both ethnic and religious groups within the country and neighboring countries outside it. Furthermore, Wesley says corruption complicates a worsening situation. 

“Here’s the heartbreaking thing: aid is trying to come into the country, and it’s being robbed.”

He says International Aid Agencies are working to help where they can. 

“Now they’re considering air dropping things to the needy people – to the camps – but it costs 17 times more to do it that way. And yet, if you don’t, what is that going to look like?” Wesley asks. 

Yet against this heartbreaking reality stands another one: hope found in the doors of unassuming church

South Sudan flag. Courtesy of Aboodi Vesakaran via Unsplash. Header image courtesy of Speak Media Uganda via Pexels.

buildings and the hearts of humble Jesus-followers. In his experience of congregational worship, Wesley says the people’s joy and exuberance were unmatched. 

“I was overwhelmed. They have tapped into the reality that God is their strength in the midst of this hardship,” he says. 

And the substance of their supplication is clear. 

“The number one prayer is peace,” Wesley says. 

Without peace, war will continue to impede almost every kind of progress: economic, societal, educational. Please pray that spiritual progress would be the exception, and that God’s Word would go out with more force and power than any earthly weapon being wielded. 

“If there’s any believer out there who’s listening to my voice, and you’re hearing this story about South Sudan, join with us in praying for South Sudan,” Wesley requests. “All of the prognostications are that it’s going to go into civil war, and it’s going to go downhill. But God.” 

Let us pray for the Holy Spirit’s convicting work to transform leadership and the economic landscape in South Sudan. Pray for peace in hearts and peace in this nation, and ask the Lord to do a mighty work in this most difficult place. 

“There was such a gracious anointing there as they were responding to the Word,” he says. “So they weren’t just hearing it. They weren’t just writing it. They were now living it.”

Even before the conference had ended, stories were surfacing of its impact. 

“We heard testimonies from the people who were there who were holding onto unforgiveness because of people who had killed their family members. Yet in hearing the training, they forgave,” Wesley says. 

The impact of a faithful church, even (or perhaps especially) in dire economic circumstances, cannot be understated. One attendee, for example, a young church leader who Wesley likens to the Biblical church leader Timothy, is being sought out by local government officials needing leadership advice. 

“When the church is doing the church right, even the world will recognize it and want to hear from you and want to have participation with you because they recognize that you can bring a difference and a positive result,” Wesley says. 

Yet this reality does not negate another: persecution. Two weeks after the conference, another attendee’s husband was murdered by gunmen targeting him for his faith. 

“I come away from that, and I’m thinking, ‘How gracious, in one sense, that this was available to her before the fact, and now after the fact we can do something to help and support them,’” Wesley reflects. 

His hope is that regardless of circumstances, the true church of Jesus will showcase the glory of God: 

“By loving, by serving, by forgiving, by caring,” he says. 

For more information on VOM Canada’s training and resources on suffering, listen to Greg Musselman’s complete interview with Stephen Wesley. 

Dinka tribe, South Sudan. Courtesy of Randy Faith via Unsplash. Header photo courtesy of Speak Media Uganda via Pexels.

“But then on the other side: you’re seeing, really, brother against brother, ethnicity against ethnicity, tribe against tribe – both of whom are calling themselves Christians but are not living it. And so this has to get worked out,” he says. 

Wesley recently returned from Juba, South Sudan, where his team and ministry partners held a theological training on persecution and discipleship. 

“I heard some of the leaders from South Sudan speaking at our conference and basically calling out the South to say, ‘If you name the name of Christ, then you cannot kill your brother,’” he says. 

Wesley notes there were several testimonies of people impacted by the teaching, including a high ranking army official:

“[He] heard the teaching and wants to take [it] to the government and show them that what they’re doing is the opposite of what they should be doing.”

Wesley says a transformative idea for warring believers is an understanding that our identity should be in Christ. 

“And where the world’s culture has infiltrated the church, it needs to go out,” Wesley exhorts. 

Instead, we need to usher in Christ’s kingdom, one that works together in unity. 

As lessons from this training continue to take root, please pray that people will continue to respond to the messages they heard, and pray for an end to the growing violence. 

“My confidence is that there is a number of key leaders that God is raising up in that land right now, in the midst of it, that are going to be influential to benefit both the church and society no matter what’s happening in the culture or the country,” Wesley says. 

Sudanese combatant with G3 rifle, courtesy of Steve Evans via Wikimedia Commons. Header image courtesy of Ahmed Abubakar via Pexels.

The UN says two-thirds of Sudan’s population will need help to survive another year. Children are disproportionately affected, with 55 percent of displaced people being under the age of 18.

Hope remains for Sudan, but not because the government says that 2026 will be a “year of peace.” Instead, a different source offers a more optimistic outlook.

“God is at work in our fallen world,” says a Gospel worker we’ll call John.

“He is not silent, not powerless. He is bringing people to Himself in the worst of times.”

Help for the hopeless

Sudanese church planters and medical teams bring donated medicines to displacement camps in Sudan and South Sudan. More about that here.

“The last bit of medicine that we had in this second shipment went to an orphanage outside of Juba,” John says.

Sudan refugees
(Representative AI photo created by ChatGPT)

More than 900 children call the facility home, and “this orphanage encapsulates what’s happening everywhere we go,” John says.

“About 15 percent of the children are suffering from what they call night blindness, and it is caused most times by an extreme deficiency of vitamin A,” he continues.

“The children were covered with sores and lesions from malnutrition and poor hygiene.”

“Critical edge of death”

Famine is widespread in Sudan as a result of the war. Children at the orphanage only get “one meal a day, and it is a small thing of beans and cornmeal. Because they’re not getting iron, there is a large, large percentage with anemia,” John says.

You can help by supporting Sudanese church planters through John’s organization.

“We’ve decided to do a four-month effort and then see what God does. So, we’re going to provide meat for those 907 children every week, and multiple vitamins for each one of them,” John says.

“We’re purchasing some of the protein meals that the UN uses to get these children under five away from that critical edge of death.”

As the children received medical care through the latest outreach, they heard about a God who loves them. Pray that these Gospel seeds will take root.

“Anyone who gets involved with the suffering of displaced people in the world is up for a great blessing,” John says.

Header and story images are representative AI photos generated by ChatGPT. 

(Photo courtesy of Erik McLean/Unsplash)

Two years of conflict shuttered most hospitals and clinics. One review found that in states affected by the war, close to 70 percent of health facilities had closed or were barely functioning. Even if a clinic exists, most Sudanese cannot safely or affordably get to it.

Earlier this year, the Lord’s provision seemed like a miracle in and of itself. “God provided medications that allowed us to do what we were capable of doing, and it was just an incredible blessing,” says a Gospel worker we’ll call John*.

“We did a pop-up clinic, we identified the needs of people, and we gave them medication.”

But the blessing didn’t stop there. Sudanese church planters working alongside the medical teams shared Christ with every patient.

“The Gospel is hope. When there is an actual connection with a person to say, ‘I have hope for you today. Would you like to hear it?’ And the answer is ‘yes, please’ – in the middle of an unchanged exterior, there is an internal rest,” John says.

“The outside things that happen to a person – peace doesn’t come from there. It comes from what happens on the inside.”

Today, those patients still have peace that surpasses understanding.

“It’s hard to calculate the responses of the people that are coming to Christ, but the absolute power of the Gospel, when it’s combined with practical, compassionate service to their needs, has been a very special thing,” John says.

Find your place in the story

Now that you know, how will you respond? Start by seeking the Lord. Then, wait for His leading. “I found there needed to be a transformation in my prayer life, from taking the list of my needs to God to be part of His plan for reaching the world,” John says.

Submission also involves asking the Lord, “Will you involve me in the Great Commission?” John adds.

“There are a lot of ways of going, and first of all, it is going there with your heart. Eventually, your other parts of your life will continue… it is a wonderful beginning of a new aspect of your faith.”

Consider partnering with John’s organization to support Sudanese church planters.

*Pseudonym

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

Many of the pastors, directors, and workers at the conference work in challenging areas, including northern Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For countries in this region, it can be challenging to conduct street work ministry. Working with teams like Every Home for Christ allows World Missionary Press booklets to be distributed in closed areas.

Helen Williams with WMP says that despite persecution, jail time, and loss of family members, the workers keep on going and sharing the written Word of God.

While at the conference, Williams met with a young woman from Namibia whose husband was a WMP contact and national director.

Despite his passing in an accident a few months ago, Williams says, “I was just so blessed by her spirit

The One Africa Conference encouraged partners from several countries. (Image courtesy of WikiImages on Pixabay)

and by her willingness and by her friendship.”

“She was his partner in ministry, and she came up to me and thanked me for our prayers, hugged me, and told me that she’s going to continue the work. She’s going to do the paperwork and keep the office going,” says Williams.

“The ministry will take over and provide another director, but she’s going to stay with the work. We have a container in process and a language project in process, and she’s going to pick it up.”

Williams also met a coordinator from Angola who sent a sudden request a few months ago when the northern part of Angola had opened up for more outreach.

Williams met the contact early in the trip when he approached her and thanked her for the materials WMP sent him.

“This is the Lord’s plan, and we were able to respond. He came to us, and we were able to respond and get it there,” Williams says.

Another blessing was the opportunity to meet with a new coordinator from Zambia. As the previous one had too many other responsibilities, he knew that WMP was looking for another Zambian contact.

“His son and his son’s wife came up to us, and he said, ‘I can do this. I want to do this,’ and they were so excited,” Williams says.

Williams met with them and went through the expectations and logistics process, and says meeting them was the Lord’s time.

Ministry partners were grateful to WMP as they work to provide the Word of God in small booklets.

“It is just a unique piece of literature, and they know that literature in Africa is vital. They have the internet and they have digital and all of this, but the written Word is still well received and needed,” Williams says.

Please pray for those on the ground and praise God for their consistency and faithfulness. Pray for the Word to change villages and cities and to disciple believers.

WMP can print a booklet for $0.06 apiece, so even a small donation can bring the Word to somebody. Please pray over financial and logistical needs to be met as WMP works to fill orders during a transition time.

Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press.

Two years of civil war have forced nearly 12 million people from their homes. Over four million have crossed into neighboring countries as refugees. John – a Gospel worker focused on Sudan – partners with church planters in the region.

A recent medical outreach brought much-needed care to Sudanese refugees in South Sudan. Although his organization* primarily focuses on disciple-making and church planting, “We went to the Lord, and it became obvious that this (medical outreach) was an opportunity,” John says.

“We saw God do an amazing thing.”

Healing and hope for Sudan’s displaced

The medical outreach began as an answer to prayer. “Our organization sits in full view of the suffering of Sudanese refugees, and we were just praying and praying for these people day after day,” John says.

(Photo courtesy of John)

One day, “out of the blue, we were approached by an organization saying, ‘We have a ministry of providing medications purchased in the U.S. at a greatly reduced price, and we’d like to do something to help the Sudanese,’” he continues.

“Several organizations worked together, and the [agreement] was, ‘We’ll secure the medications and ship them to where you are, and you figure out how to get these to the people that need them.’ We were able to receive the medicines and air freight them to the areas where we had access to refugees,” John says.

“In one location, the doctor and nurses saw 1,000 children in eight days.”

Last week’s pop-up clinic focused on children with cholera, while an earlier outreach provided antibiotics and blood pressure medicine. “We were able to give them medication for several months, because a week wouldn’t help them that much,” John says.

As doctors and nurses met medical needs, church planters helped refugees process trauma. “Islam doesn’t offer anything in these settings,” John says.

“In this suffering and deep despair, they’re not finding comfort or answers or hope for the future, only a question – If I die tomorrow, [where will I go?] The Gospel gives assurance and hope.”

Now that you know, how will you respond? Ask the Lord for guidance, and then wait on Him for answers. Consider partnering financially with John’s organization here.

“When we seek to do that on a deeper level in prayer, then the Great Commission is a natural response,” John says.

*Ministry name withheld for security purposes.

Header and story images depict pop-up medical clinic serving Sudanese refugees in South Sudan. Photos courtesy of John. 

This Easter, believers have a chance to give in a way that reflects the very meaning of the season: hope, new life, and redemption. Through World Concern’s One Village Transformed project around the globe, practical gifts become powerful tools to meet needs and build up communities in the name of Jesus.

Whether it’s a Bible in South Sudan, medicine in Myanmar, or a beehive in Kenya, each gift supports long-term ministry efforts led by local partners — not just charity, but transformation.

Allison Farstad with World Concern says this type of giving aligns closely with the Easter message.

“The idea of redemption and resurrection goes along with giving other people the opportunity for a new life and sharing with those in need.”

(Photo by Bernd Dittrich/Unsplash)

These aren’t one-time handouts. Each gift is intentionally chosen to serve a broader purpose — helping families generate income, equipping churches to serve, and giving children a future through education and health. And they all come through ongoing ministry relationships in places like Kenya, Laos, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“A bee farm isn’t the first thing you would think of when you want to help someone in need,” Farstad says. “But we think long-term — how can this provide food, income, and a way to contribute to the community?”

The impact is deeply personal. A bicycle becomes a way for an evangelist to reach distant villages. A small bundle of ducklings can start a family business. Clean water, parasite treatment, or school supplies can mean the difference between survival and thriving.

And while the gifts vary in size — from just $5 to several thousand dollars — they each represent an opportunity to share God’s love in practical, life-giving ways.

This Easter, consider a gift that brings lasting hope. Join the story of transformation by supporting World Concern ministry efforts in hard-to-reach places — and pray that more communities will experience the light of the Gospel and its redeeming power.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Ganta Srinivas/Pexels.

The government responded with force, and chaos spread throughout the country. At least 63,000 people have fled the capital. “The [U.S.] State Department has issued a level four warning for Americans, which is their highest level,” Dane with unfoldingWord says.

“They say, ‘If you go [to South Sudan], you should leave a DNA sample with your family doctor so they can identify you later.’”

Hostility between President Salva Kiir’s allies and his long-time rival, First Vice President Riek Machar, has been at its highest since a temporary peace deal was initiated in 2018. Because of the rising tensions, Germany has temporarily closed its embassy in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

“‘There is the violent crime like carjackings, shootings, and ambushes. Foreign nationals have been victims of rape, sexual assault, armed robberies, and other violent crimes,’” Dane says, reading from a March 9 notice.

“The State Department ordered the immediate departure of nonemergency personnel from Juba because of an increase in crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict.”

Continuing God’s work

unfoldingWord trains and equips local believers to translate the Bible. More about that here. Partners who work on translations in neighboring Sudan are based in South Sudan.

“It’s pretty serious, but our partners are still working. They’re still translating the Bible,” Dane says.

(Graphic courtesy of unfoldingWord)

As part of its “Whole Bible, Whole Nation” initiative, unfoldingWord trains, coaches, observes and assists Sudanese partners in establishing foundational expertise in technology, software usage, translation principles, and equipping trainers. Equipping Sudanese church planters will enable them to translate the Bible into all the heart languages in Sudan.

Support Bible translation in Sudan through unfoldingWord.

Sudanese evangelists are incorporating Bible translation into their church planting strategy. Ramadan provides a unique opportunity for translators to showcase their work.

“Very often, we hear stories of Muslims coming to Christ during Ramadan because He appears to them in dreams and visions and speaks to them,” Dane says.

“The next thing you know, He leads them to someone with a Bible they can read in their language.”

Pray the Lord will use Bible translations in minority languages to introduce people to Jesus.

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

Rob Myers with DOOR International is excited about what God has been doing among Deaf communities in South Sudan. 

“DOOR’s work in general really has two main emphases,” Myers says. “One of them is training local Deaf leaders to share the gospel—to disciple other Deaf people—and to plant Deaf churches. We call that our two-by-two program. And then right on the heels of that, and really key and integral to that too, is helping local communities do Bible translation in their own sign languages.”

One member of the Deaf community in South Sudan whose life was changed due to the work of DOOR is a man named Keij Worro.  

Worro, originally from northern Sudan, fled south with his family when civil war broke out, in order to find a better life. 

His family struggled, losing many family members due to illness and the war. But Worro especially struggled as his family knew almost no sign language and were unable to communicate with their Deaf son. 

“And that is the case for too many Deaf people around the world,” Myers says. “They might not have access to a Deaf school. Their family doesn’t have resources. This wasn’t the case with Worro’s family, but in some cases, the family is viewed as cursed because they have a Deaf child, or somehow the Deaf child is a shame.”

All this led Worro down a path of alcohol addiction. That is until Worro encountered a group of Deaf people conversing in sign language, including Morris Yanga, one of DOOR’s Deaf church planters in South Sudan.

Though Worro was initially skeptical of the group, he was welcomed instantly. 

“For many, many Deaf people that I talk to who come to Christ, really one of the first turning points is encountering another Deaf believer,” Myers says. “But when they encounter another Deaf person, there’s an immediate connection and it’s just, it’s an instantaneous connection that happens because you’re now talking to someone who understands all of the frustration, who understands the isolation.” 

Myers says God uses that connection to train up and send Deaf leaders into the field, to use a shared culture and language to connect with other Deaf people and bring them to Christ. 

One question that often comes up in DOOR’s work is how the Gospel can be brought to someone, like Worro, who grew up with little to no language in his life.  

In Worro’s case, like in many others, he met a group of Deaf people, was welcomed, and began to build one-on-one relationships with the people in the group, giving him the opportunity to learn more of the language, specifically South Sudanese Sign Language. 

“Worro told Morris, ‘I’m so glad that I’m a part of this group now. Something’s happening inside of my heart that I can’t even describe,’” Myers said. 

Worro hasn’t yet come to Christ, but God has been doing transformative things in his life.

Pray for Worro and others like him who are in similar situations, that they might feel connection to believers and learn of the transformative power of Christ in the process. 

“There’s really four key elements that come into play here,” Myers said. “Access to connection with Deaf people, access to language. So the gospel in their own language, a group praying for these individuals, and God’s word available in their heart language. And when you bring those four forces together, something very, very powerful happens. We praise God for that.”

Learn more about DOOR International and other stories like Worro’s by visiting doorinternational.org.

Header photo courtesy of DOOR International