On one front is the DRC and neighboring Rwanda. They signed a peace deal in June but have missed next-step deadlines to implement it. Last week, representatives of both nations met again in Washington, D.C., to work toward on-the-ground peace. 

On another front is the rebel group M23, only one of more than 100 militant groups in eastern DRC. M23 and the DRC government signed a declaration toward peace in July, but this deal has also stalled. Both sides accuse the other of violating the agreement. On October 14, the government and M23 agreed to establish an international oversight committee as another step toward peace.

“They have signed paper, and they have made a lot of statement which brought hope for the people living there, but so far, nothing tangible has changed,” says lllia Djadi, who serves with Open Doors International as the senior analyst for freedom of religion and belief in Africa.

There is another layer of the DRC’s decades of conflict that we must not forget: Islamic extremism. 

“There’s one armed group called ADF, the Allied Democratic Forces. The ADF is a radical Islamic group with a clear affiliation with Islamic State. So when we consider the ongoing violence in DRC, we need to pay attention on this particular group,” says Djadi. 

He notes that sub-Saharan Africa has become the new epicenter of terrorism. 

“What Daesh [ISIS] try to do in Middle East, that’s the same project. That’s what they [ADF] want to achieve: to set up a caliphate, to rule that state by Islamic law, by Sharia law,” Djadi says.

“They [ADF] are using the same modus operandi. They are sharing the same ideology. They are targeting particularly Christians, bombing churches, attacking Christian communities mainly in rural areas.” 

One attack on September 8th saw at least 70 Christians killed and dozens kidnapped in one village. (More on these attacks here.) It’s not the only ADF incident either.

“It has been going on for months now in eastern DRC. Why? Because the ongoing military activity and all the focus was on M23. Even the [ceasefire] agreement is only about M23 and the military forces in DRC,” says Djadi. 

“But we are saying, ‘Pay attention. This [peace with M23] is not enough to bring peace in eastern DRC. We need to consider the activity of Islamic State there.’” 

Learn more about the challenges in the DRC and what Christians there face. Pray for peace, says Djadi. 

“Let’s pray for this Church to be resilient, to stand in the midst of this violence and violent persecution, how to continue to minister, how to continue to go to church without any fear of being attacked or bombed,” he says.

Header image of DRC flag courtesy of Pixabay.

Mali provides a snapshot of the trend across sub-Saharan Africa. This region is the new global epicenter of terrorism, according to the Global Peace Index.

The insecurity resulting from violent attacks often leads to authoritarian government or ‘strongman’ rule. As described here:

Military officers have seized political control in countries including Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Sudan. Traditional pressure in the form of sanctions and political isolation has largely failed to dislodge them.

“As this Islamist terrorist activity picks up, the people want somebody who can fight against that terrorist group,” Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA explains.

“There is a ‘romanticism’ towards a strong leader who can say, ‘Yes, I will fight the terrorists; yes, I will protect you.’”

Strongman rule isn’t necessarily better for Christians. “Sometimes we see a combination of these strongman rulers and Islamist factors coming against the Church,” Nettleton says.

“One of the best examples of this is Omar Al Bashir, who is not the ‘strongman’ in Sudan anymore but was for more than 20 years. Whenever there were political challenges, he would wrap himself in Islamic principles and present himself as the defender of Islam. That was his way of getting the people to fall in line behind him.”

Rahila and her children are safe in Niger, relocating after her husband’s murder in Nigeria. The global body of Christ has supported them with living expenses, school fees for the children, and vocational training.
(Photo, caption courtesy of VOM USA)

Yet hope remains. “[VOM] is providing help to Christians who’ve been displaced by some of these violent attacks,” Nettleton says.

“We’re also providing them with tools to reach their neighbors for Christ.”

Visit VOM’s website to help displaced believers. Ask the Lord to sustain Christ-followers in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Pray that God will protect them, provide for them, and meet their needs,” Nettleton requests.

“Pray that they will have discernment about their government and about what’s going on around them, just to be wise in those situations.”

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

“This is the first freedom, so to speak,” says David Curry, of Open Doors USA, while describing religious freedom. “It’s the place where . . . people are being pressured for issues of conscience. If you cannot decide for yourself if you’re going to be able to read a Bible and worship freely and go to church . . . you’re not free at all.”

A land in chaos

And that certainly describes the situation in Nigeria, along with Cameroon, Chad, and Burkina Faso. Militant Islamic group Boko Haram has been ravaging the land for years, killing and kidnapping Christians and others. And the situation only seems to be growing worse.

Curry says, “You have a clash of civilizations of sorts [with] a lot of Christians in the South of Nigeria, and Islamic Sharia law states in the North. And for a long time, Nigeria has been the most violent place, that we can measure, against Christians.” Curry says North Korea, for instance, may be a more violent place for Christians, but the danger there is not as easily measured.

Boko Haram is always getting bolder, Curry says. “You have weak, weak governments that are responding very slowly and ineffectually and it’s really emboldening Boko Haram in a way that I think is problematic. We could see them conquering . . . what they would call a caliphate where they feel like they own an entire region that would cross three or four different country boundaries.”

Hills near Abuja, the capital of Nigeria (Photo by Ovinuchi Ejiohuo on Unsplash)

The rest of the free world can learn a lesson from this. 

Curry gives the example of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. When ISIS began bombing churches, Open Doors called attention to it. Nobody reacted very strongly, having become desensitized to religious violence. Then things got worse and ISIS began conquering huge sections of land. Now that situation has become a horrible humanitarian crisis.

To Curry, the loss of religious freedom always points to worse things down the road.  “So I think the free world needs to worry about [this]. When you don’t protect these religious minorities, it has a way of tipping over into a greater chaos for the entire world community.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

How can Christians help?

Why should any of this matter to Christians living in the United States? “On a biblical basis,” Curry says, “it matters because we’re called to pray for people in chains and who are suffering for the name of Jesus. . . I think that we have to stay rooted in that.”

Christians are to be peacemakers, Curry says, and should be thankful for and cultivate religious liberty in the United States an all over the world.

Christians should also pray for peace to come to the surrounding countries, and that the power of Boko Haram would be shattered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Boko Haram (Photo courtesy of Think Defence via Flickr/CC2.0)

(Representative image courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen are facing a famine the United Nations says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. Both drought and terrorist violence are key factors in the largely man-made famine.

“What’s particularly difficult about it is that it is by-and-large a man-made famine,” shares Emily Fuentes of Open Doors USA, a ministry which serves persecuted Christians worldwide. “Drought has affected it, some other things have affected it, but a lot of it’s man-made — either groups like Al-Shabaab in Somalia blocking aid workers from coming in because they’re viewed as Western, or government officials seizing food in South Sudan so the people won’t get it.”

The situation in Yemen is especially grim. According to the UN, it’s the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, with 18.8 million people in need assistance and more than seven million who do not know where their next meal will come from. United Nations humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said $4.4 billion is needed by July to curb the disaster.

“We stand at a critical point in history,” O’Brien told the UN Security Council in March. “Already at the beginning of the year, we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the United Nations. Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA via Facebook)

Christians are one group especially at risk due to persecution from terrorist groups. Fuentes says it’s important we don’t abandon them in their suffering.

“What’s especially difficult for our work is that Christians are being impacted by it because they’ve been displaced, in Nigeria specifically by Boko Haram,” Fuentes says. “It’s especially important for Christians to be paying attention, not only for their own brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and facing the famine, but then for all other people who are facing the famine in all these countries.”

Open Doors works on the ground with partners in several countries affected by famine to assist families at risk of starvation. She says your prayers and financial support are vital. Click here for ways to get involved, and here for resources to help you stay informed about this great need.

It’s in their home.

2.5 million people are newly infected with HIV/AIDS every year. Most of them are children. 97% of HIV/AIDS victims live in impoverished areas of the world.

Jeff Palmer with Baptist Global Response (BGR) says caring for people with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is vastly different from first world countries. “Here in the United States, when people have a long-term illness there are ways they can be cared for by hospitals and hospice. But most places of the world, especially in rural poor areas, there’s nothing like that. People go home to a village and die–maybe lay on a dirt floor, or maybe cared by the family.”

With 2 million people dying each year to HIV/AIDS, there’s a sense of urgency for ministry. For "a lot of people, this is the last chance they will have to hear the Gospel and respond, and have a chance at eternal life,” says Palmer.

BGR sees a desperate need for quality care and the Gospel for HIV/AIDS patients in Sub-Saharan Africa. That’s why they have the Bucket Project putting together hospice kits.

Churches and organizations can pack a 5-gallon bucket with things like plastic gloves for caregivers, vitamins, changing pads, and bed sheets. These buckets are sent to BGR national partners in Sub-Saharan Africa. The partners take the buckets into homes and show the families how to care for their loved one with HIV/AIDS.

Palmer explains, “[It’s] basically a hygiene kit to help the caregivers who are going to take care of those who are dying at home, to die in a way that gives them some dignity and show that somebody in the world cares for them.”

BGR’s goal for this year is to send 10,000 buckets to Sub-Saharan Africa. So far, they only have between 1,500-2,000 buckets.

Palmer explains how your church can get involved. “We ask the churches who pack the buckets here in the states: as you pack it and close that bucket, you pray over it for the person who is going to receive it…. Then, when that bucket gets there, a caregiver who is a believer…[will] share with the family, saying, ‘This bucket was packed for you by a group of Christians in the United States and they wanted to demonstrate God’s love for you.’ Then they pray over it and open it up.”

“At that point it opens up all kinds of ways for witnessing that can share the love of God, the compassion of Christ to bless them. Many times the eyes will light up. I saw one young man who received his bucket, and the mother who was caring for him: it was just like, ‘You mean somebody in the world cared for me?’ I said, ‘Yeah, they care for you because God loves you, and we want to bless you with this gift.’”

It's proven an exciting project for churches and organizations to get involved in, says Palmer. “It gives them something hands-on to do, and it gets them excited. It raises awareness of what’s happening around the world.”

“We ask people to pray that God would lead us to a cure of HIV/AIDS. It’s a terrible disease. [We pray for] a cure that we can use also to make His name known among the nations. Pray also for those who are suffering that we could reach them in time…. Pray for our caregivers all around Sub-Saharan Africa that are going out. You can imagine an emotional thing to walk into a home and to minister to a family that is losing their loved one. Pray for strength and wisdom and knowledge and words of life.”

To get involved in BGR’s Bucket Project, click here.

There are at least 500 Bantu languages spoken by over 60 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Many Bantu languages spoken in eastern and southern Africa share linguistic features like syllable structure and tone. Translation personnel observed that leveraging these similarities would improve literacy and translation work. They established the Comparative Bantu Narrative Discourse Project, an initiative that develops tools and materials to accomplish this goal.

Part of the initiative is a manual explaining ways in which Bantu languages differ from Greek and Hebrew. It also describes the ways Bantu languages differ from each other. This would allow translators to use one Bantu language as a "source text" to translate the rest, allowing many to hear God's Word in their heart language for the first time.

The manual will be based on 15 Bantu languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique, and Kenya.

Steve Nicolle with SIL International will be working on the first draft of the Comparative Bantu Narrative Discourse Manual. Pray that the draft will be completed before the end of the year.

Often, this is because harsh terrain makes it difficult to get to some people groups, and cultural differences can stand in the way of communicating the message of Christ.

Back in 2005, churches started partnering with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) to bring the Gospel to people groups who have never heard it.

Since then, over 150 churches have followed Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations, including Sub-Saharan Africa.

IMB is holding several “Base Camps” this year to train committed churches for venturing on missions into Sub-Saharan Africa. The closest upcoming Base Camp training will take place in Chicago, Illinois this weekend, June 8-9, at Uptown Baptist Church.

Committed churches that attend Base Camp will hear testimonies of God’s work in Sub-Saharan Africa and will attend ministry workshops.

Workshop sessions include instruction on discipleship, leadership training, and cultural insights.

While the deadline for registration for this weekend’s Base Camp is already closed, other upcoming Base Camp trainings will take place in Texas, Tennessee, and Missouri from August-September.

IMB suggests that those who are interested in training for their Sub-Saharan missions read T4T: A Discipleship ReRevolution by Steve Smith and Ying Kai. The registration fee for Base Camp is $35.

To learn more about Southern Baptist IMB Base Camp training for missions in Sub-Saharan Africa, click here.

"I think a lot of it is due to failed policies, where we're
not taking into account what really needs to happen, which is prevention, and
prevention at a younger and younger age," Hoskins explained. 

OneHope runs programs for children in public schools,
teaching them a biblical approach to sexuality. Hoskins said that attempts to alleviate the HIV/AIDS epidemic must
address the "systemic" problem of the culture's attitudes about sexuality. OneHope is trying to prevent the spread of
the epidemic by adjusting kids' attitudes while they are still young.  

"We want young girls to understand who they are in God, that
He's created them, that they're special, and that He's given them a gift, which
is their sexuality," Hoskins explained. "The same thing goes for young boys — we want to really teach them a biblical
worldview. We want them to respect all people, including young girls, and understand that they don't get their significance
from sexuality, but rather God designed them to use sex in a proper way for
marriage."

African women tend to view their sexuality as their only
resource and their "only weapon" in society, Hoskins said. Recently, he met a 13-year-old girl in Swaziland who
has a difficult decision to make. 

"Do I sleep with the bus driver once a month, or do I walk 6
kilometers to school every day?" Hoskins explained. "Everything in the culture says, 'Sleep
with the bus driver, it's the only thing you have to barter.' And if you have an education, then you can
help your family out of economic difficulty." 

Hoskins continued, "Obviously that's a lie of the enemy, and it most probably
condemns that girl to death. And this
vicious cycle continues."

Swaziland
has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, and the life expectancy of its
population is only 32 years. The United
Nations has warned that it could become the first nation in the world to go
extinct, if nothing changes in the next 21 years. 

Nevertheless, Hoskins said there is hope for the children of
Swaziland.

"OneHope is active in the schools of Swaziland and many other countries in
sub-Saharan Africa. We hope to take the Word of
God and implement new values into that young girl's heart, working with the
church to give her an alternative so that she doesn't have to face this
existence of death." 

It costs only 33 cents to bring the message of the Gospel to
one child, providing teacher training, Scripture materials, and a school
program.

Hoskins asks
Christians to pray for the children of sub-Saharan Africa. "We need a massive prayer emphasis for the children and
young people of southern Africa, so that God
would really encounter them, and that they'd view the world a different way,"
he said. "One of these three things is possible to everybody:  pray, give, and go."