‘This is the only hope we have… we have nothing we can do, except wait for God to move.’
Pretty striking words when you read them from Rafat Samir, a Sudanese church leader, in an interview last year for Christianity Today. But they hit differently, when you hear the same sentiment repeatedly – over drinks in an Egyptian cafe, in a dark apartment during yet another power-cut, in joyful worship services packed with refugees giving thanks.
Recently, we spent a week in an Egyptian city with a massive, and fast-growing, Sudanese refugee community. There were plenty of tragic stories to hear, but in every conversation we were warmly welcomed, pointed towards hope and we left with a clear sense that God is at work.
Here’s three things I’m learning about God from the Sudanese church and three ways we can all be praying for them.
God is still seeing
Sudanese brothers and sisters are painfully aware that around the world there are very few eyes on Sudan. Church leaders wondered aloud why the BBC and CNN are so uncharacteristically quiet. Back home in the UK, friends asked us why we couldn’t just fly to Sudan for a visit, what was going on there?
The numbers – over 10 million displaced people, estimates of casualties ranging from 15,000 to 150,000, 26 million people facing acute food insecurity – are as bad or even worse than much more well-publicised conflicts. But there are no mass rallies in London, no celebrity speeches, and even in our churches, very few prayers for the suffering members of our body in Sudan.
It’s easy to wonder if anyone cares.
But God still sees. Jesus still cares. Shed blood still cries out from the ground to him.
And the brothers and sisters there testified to the power of us seeing. They were thankful for a face to face visit, even when we didn’t offer anything more than our listening ears and a greeting in our very broken Arabic. We kept being told that it made a difference that someone was noticing.
And they were thankful when we promised to keep talking about Sudan back here in the UK That at least a few believers here would be reminded to weep with them and keep on bearing witness.
Pray for peace
For violence to cease, for evil to be exposed, and for the long slow work of reconciliation and rebuilding to begin.
God is still turning
One pastor reminded us of Deuteronomy 23.5: ‘the Lord your God … turned the curse into a blessing for you’. The Scripture that came to mind for me was Acts 8.4: ‘Those who had been scattered, preached the word wherever they went’.
God has a track record of using the worst situations humans can create and turning them for his purposes. Twenty years ago, Darfur was wracked by genocide and, for a brief moment, the world’s attention was on Sudan. But the media didn’t stick around to report on the stories we now hear coming out of Darfur. In the midst of that genocide, a movement began among a previously unreached people group. Survivors, displaced from their homes and disillusioned with the majority religion, began turning to Jesus in their thousands
And now, as the same perpetrators return to commit the same war crimes, the same God is doing it again. Repeatedly, we heard from Sudanese leaders and ex-pat ministry workers that there is a greater openness among Sudanese than ever before. Far away from their homes, refugees in Egypt are finding new ways to share the good news and seeing fellow refugees from Muslim backgrounds asking questions they have never asked before.
As well as those coming to Jesus for the first time, there are stories of faith growing deeper and stronger. Among each leader we met, and each worship service we went to, there was openness to God’s spirit and moments of joy. Leaders were praying not just for physical needs to be met, but also for their churches to remain faithful: “We know God will provide. Please pray that we won’t turn to the wrong methods to provide for ourselves but that we will trust in his goodness”
Pray for faith
Thank God for how he is turning the worst of human-made situations for his glory. Ask him to ‘consider men’s threats and enable his servants to speak his word with great boldness’. (Acts 4.29)
God is still answering prayers
Have you ever noticed how often God answers a need from within the community that prays for it?
The people of Israel groan in their slavery, and one of their own children grows up to lead them out. The disciples ask where the food will come from to feed the crowd, and out of the same crowd comes a boy with bread and fish. The Greek-speaking Jews complain of injustice to their widows, and from the Greek-speaking Jews God raises up new leaders.
Early in the week we kept hearing the same prayer request from Sudanese pastors, “please pray for our youth”. They saw their young people as vulnerable, surrounded by extreme poverty and myriad temptations and asked God how he would provide. Who would help them to grow as disciples and find meaningful education and employment?
As we listened, I immediately thought to myself, ‘youth work? I can do that! Let me come back and answer this prayer.’
Thankfully, by the end of the week, God had put his finger on my saviour complex and gently pointed out to me that he is already answering these prayers, and he’s doing it from within the community. What a privilege to see young Sudanese believers serving their own communities and giving the glory to God!
We enjoyed some stirring harmonies at a concert with Good Friends choir. The choir was formed before the war, bringing together young Christians from different churches and different tribes across the Sudan / South Sudan border. They have now reunited as so many of them found themselves as refugees in Egypt. The hall was packed with Sudanese youth worshipping together in their own diverse languages.
And then an opportunity to visit a project started by two young Sudanese refugees which now provides health education, trauma counselling and food aid, initially among Sudanese refugees and now across the wider community including with Yemeni, Somali, Libyan and other displaced groups.
It’s not straightforward -the needs are enormous and the Egyptian government seems to hinder more than it helps. But these young leaders were clear that they would have never started the work if God had not called them to it and they have firm faith that he will keep providing.
Since we returned to the UK, I’ve been reading Isaiah, a book written in the shadow of war and displacement. Again and again, the prophet mentions the remnant, the promise that some of God’s people will return to the land and rebuild it. It’s the Christian youth of Sudan who I keep thinking of. Those who have suffered so much, been carried so far away, but who one day will return and maybe rebuild a different nation.
Pray for the youth of Sudan
Thank God that he is already using them to answer their parents prayers. Pray for the raising of young disciples who will be a blessing in the nations they flee to and will eventually go back to rebuild their land.
And pray for me, to stop thinking I’m the solution to everyone’s prayers.
Further reading:
Rafat’s interview is a great introduction to the Sudanese church and how they are currently living out their faith:
Recently, I’ve challenged myself to read some Sudanese literature, to get to know the beauty and humour of its cultures as well as their pain. There’s a good list here and a powerful spoken word poem there.
It’s important we keep shining a light on the tragic news from Sudan, and not just relying on Western media for this. Start here and keep noticing: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/11/why-did-war-break-out-in-sudan-a-year-ago-where-does-it-currently-stand
T hails from the north of England and has been fascinated by God’s global mission for about as long as he can remember. This passion was fed by six months volunteering with a mission agency in Uganda followed by three years at university asking questions about poverty, development and conflict resolution. He is currently based in West Yorkshire where he is involved in making disciples among university students and serving in a Newfrontiers church. T is exploring and preparing for a move to North Africa and found completing the Unreached Network Internship incredibly helpful as he continues working this out.