Romans 8:22—“For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, appears to be a literal fulfillment of that Scripture. The following clipped quotes portray a few of the wrenchings of that travail: “The oldest civil war in the world … landscape of impressive emptiness—a sea of grass that is burned and reburned by wildfires into a mottling of purplish grays, as if the muscles of the earth itself lay exposed. … drop bombs …and employ famines and modern-day slavery as crude weapons of mass destruction” (National Geographic, Feb. 2003). “Sudan’s leaders proudly boast that they are the leaders of the Islamic Revolution in Africa. … The human tragedy of Sudan was largely ignored until it was revealed that the Islamic government had sanctioned the re-institution of slavery … over 2 million deaths through war, genocide, and famine since 1983” (Operation World).

Now observe these quotes from Operation World revealing that which the travail is birthing: “Christians have spread all around the country, leading to multiplications of congregations in areas with many unreached people. … Christianity in the southern peoples has leaped from 5% in 1960, to an estimated 70% in 2000 … major breakthroughs among the Bor Dinka with collective renunciation of the old ethnic religions and wholehearted commitment to Christ … similar turnings among other peoples.” Thus we understand that despite the terrible suffering and atrocious circumstances, God’s Spirit is yet hovering over and working in the Sudanese peoples.

Sudan is situated south of Egypt, north of Kenya and Uganda, west of the Red Sea and Ethiopia, and east of Chad. The Sahara Desert covers nearly the northern half of the country. The Central area is grassland and mountains, turning into tropical bush in the South as it nears the equator. The Nile River and its tributaries, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, flow north through the East Central region.

The peoples of Sudan are as diverse as its geography. Arab Muslims dominate the North; mountain tribes live in much of the Central area; and other indigenous people groups, many being of Christian persuasion, make up the southern population.

The political and spiritual histories of Sudan are linked through the ages over the conflict between Christianity and Islam. A Christian majority prevailed in the North for nearly a thousand years. Muslims invaded and defeated the Christians in the late 1200s. The North was Islamized by 1500, although the whole country was yet a collection of small independent states. Egypt conquered and unified the northern states in 1821, claiming the entire area of present Sudan, but unable to take control of the southern fragmented tribes. During the 1800s slave raiders often attacked those southern tribes.

The British entered the governing powers of Sudan in 1899. Although this administration appears to have been prosperous for the country and of general good to the people, Sudan wanted to be independent. That independence was granted in February 1953. Since that time the government has been as unsettled and the people as troubled as a raging sea. Parliamentary government, military rule, provisional civilian government, communist rule, and Islamic law have followed each other as coup followed coup. At least one of the factors of dissent has been the Muslim effort to Islamize the South, and to force Islamic law (including amputations and stoning) upon the non-Muslim population.

For all but 11 of the past 48 years, civil war has raged in the country as the South resists Northern dominance. In October 2002, a “fragile” cease-fire was signed between the Northern government and the Southern military. National Geographic (Feb. 2003) reports that the Northern government sent truckloads of satellite dishes into the mountains in order that the Nuba can be lured through television out of their mountain strongholds into areas of government control. Many of them have never seen television before. Operation World reports that there are many Nuba Christians in those mountains who have suffered immense persecution for 50 years. Pray God’s grace and mercy upon them to be faithful to Him. Pray that they would not give place to bitterness, retaliation, or compromise.

Christian Persecution

Sudan is rated fifth in the world in the persecution of Christians. “All schools in the North, including those run by Christians, have been turned into Qur’anic schools to the dismay of the 2 million Christians in the north. Yet despite discrimination, bulldozing of churches and persecution of individuals, there is considerable freedom for Christian ministries” (Operation World). Both the government and the resistance armies have wrought havoc especially throughout the Central mountain regions. Sunday church services have been bombed; hospitals, schools and churches have been destroyed; pastors and leaders have been killed; and refugees that fled to areas about the capital have met with a food-for-conversion policy. It is estimated that the slave raiding and trading of recent years has resulted in 60,000 to 200,000 chattel slaves. Pray that Christians give a clear testimony to their persecutors and walk in the spiritual strength of that exercise. Pray also for the defeat of the spiritual powers that have held this land in bondage for centuries.

Nominal Christianity

Many who are caught in the trauma of war, poverty, and suffering turn to Christianity as an opposition to the northern Muslim government. Consequently nominalism is a problem in the church. Another need facing the Christian churches is a lack of leaders and pastors to disciple new believers. There are reports of entire villages of northern Muslims turning to Christ as they become disillusioned with Islam. There are an estimated two million southern Christians living in the North who have been displaced by war. Many of the churches are said to be introspective and in “survival mode.” Pray that they may rise up, overcome their pain through true forgiveness and earnestly evangelize in the field God has given them.

Also hindering the progress of the church is the lack of schooling. Few of the southern children have had an opportunity to go to school. Many of the young men and children are snatched off the streets and forced to become soldiers. May God pour grace upon them to be faithful unto death, if it be so.

Less-Reached Peoples

Operation World reports that there are many unreached peoples in the North, East, and West of Sudan. There are also a number of unreached Nuba tribes in the mountains. They are neither Christian nor Muslim. A thousand years ago the Darfur Province on the west side of Sudan was Christian. But now they are one of the least evangelized areas in the world. There are no known believers among these tribes. Almost the same is to be said of the Beja on the Red Sea Coast who were once Christian. Only four believers are now known to be in this area. The Baggara tribes of the Central region are nomadic. Very little effort has been put forth to bring Christ to them. They speak three or four Arabic languages, but are not of Arab origin.

The United States and other countries have sent aid into Sudan, but cut back much of that aid when the Sudanese government continued inhumane practices and took a pro-Iraqi stand during the Persian Gulf War. Sudan has expelled many foreigners, including missionaries, since 1990. Fewer visas are being granted. There are ministries, mostly based in Kenya, which are sending aid into the South of Sudan, where the Northern government is not in control. The Bible Society has distributed many Bibles from their facilities in Khartoum. Pray “for the reopening of the land so that outside aid may be given to help the battered Church repair the immense emotional and physical damage to lives and property, and to train a new generation of leaders” (Operation World).

The Country

Within the last decade oil wells have been pumping from a vast source in South Central Sudan. The government took possession of that and built a huge pipeline from the oil fields to a port on the Red Sea. The National Geographic writer explains that the shiny pipeline appears out of place as it passes through war-devastated Central grasslands and poverty-gripped shantytowns about the capital.

Eighty percent of the work force is involved in agriculture. Cotton, groundnuts, sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sesame, and sheep are the more prevalent products. Industry is largely given to the processing of these agricultural products. Although Sudan has immense agricultural and mineral resources, they are not utilized because of the war. The cost of the war has put the entire country in poverty, and the means used in war has devastated the South.

Will you pray for this country that has turned upon itself and brought about its own destruction?