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The Walk of Faith in Sudan
November 2, 2009

I’ve been pondering and blessed with the progress and changes we have experienced over the past 4 years but in the SIM’s Rebuilding Southern Sudan: Church and Nation program but with the other agencies as well.* This letter is to mobilze you to pray for Sudan-- the “window of peace” between North and South Sudan is at risk as the referendum between north and south Sudan is only 15 months away. Pray for the Sudanese, the government and us as we as called to represent Jesus.

I’ve never sent out an overview of how the Lord has truly guided, provided and shown us undreamed of things in the process.   I want to give God the glory and hope this summary blesses you because everything starts with obedience to the Lord as He keeps showing us “the plans He has already laid out for us “(Ephesians 2:10).

SIM, along with our supporting partners, stuck our necks out in obedience when the peace agreement was being signed ending decades of blood-shed in Southern Sudan .  Our involvement began back in 2004 and 2005 because Howie obeyed the Lord’s guidance to bring SIM back into south Sudan with a clear vision to rebuild Southern Sudan, church and nation. The Lord has now blessed us with dozens of missionaries from 13 nations to join hands to serve the Sudanese.

BUT we had lots of creative adjustments!

• We went to Sudan to train up primary school teachers but couldn’t find enough young adults to train.  So plan ‘B’ was to set up Basic Education Learning Centers to get them up to standard so they could take teacher training.  133 students have already graduated from the Sudan government approved Accelerated Learning Program in 4 centers.  The Yabus center is still progressing this training to get adults who never had a chance to go to school because of the war get their 8th grade certification.  In the process about 2/3 of the students came into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. SIM has not gotten new volunteer teachers nor funding to initiate more centers, but have plans and locations selected if the Lord provides.
• Now the Fast Track Teacher Training has been going for over a month.  Our vision is for Sudanese teachers to finish with a portable skill and a heart for serving the Lord when they finish.
• Because of the educational entry strategy about 400 Sudanese have made decisions to follow the Lord, been baptized and 10 churches have been started.  Some have built little meeting places, some just meet under trees.
• Over the last four years we’ve been involved in intentional discipleship of about 600 individuals in Abwong, Atar, Malakal, Thiangrial, Doro, Meiut and Yabus areas from seven denominational backgrounds (including Catholic).
• A clinic was started to address the health needs and help between 50-100 people each day.  Dr. Congdon has just gotten Ministry of Health permission this month to receive the medications and treat endemic leprosy in the area. The second class of Community Health Workers will graduate soon to serve their people, a nutrition village for rehabilitating children has brought help to over 250 kids.
•  The HIV/AIDS project fulfilled our donor’s expectations, but didn’t work very well from our perspective.  It was funded by Centers for Disease Control/PEPFAR  but requirements and geographic focus shifted after 1 ½ years so we declined their half a million dollars and have moved to grass-roots and a more integrated approach.  Our new effort is starting with the mothers of the malnourished kids who stay with their little ones while the children recover.
      We never anticipated how complex it is to work in Sudan.  Just to implement the initial ideas was tough, but we continued to expand and respond to our challenges on the ground:
• God blessed us with an experienced missionary who respond to the Sudanese request for a secondary school.  The Sudanese church owned school has been up and going  is ready to admit new 9th grade students next month and the present class will be ready to start their 10th grade in January.
• Clean water filtration and chlorination have blessed people.  Upcoming wells are in the planning stage.  The Lord has blessed SIM with a number of missionary specialists to address this.
• God blessed us with a missionary who envisioned a suspension bridge to address one isolated location (due to 6 months of a flooded rainy season river).  Now five ethnic groups can to travel back and forth on a bridge they helped to build.  http://yabusbridge.blogspot.com/
• God blessed with medical missionaries who initiated a Ministry of Health approved community health worker training and the community health care center.
• God brought an evangelist who is traveling side-by-side with Sudanese pastors using village evangelistic meetings, reaching out often door-to-door AND inspiring the Sudanese to follow his example because it’s not a high-finance initiative.  The Jesus film is wonderful for this oral culture.
• The Lord has mobilized Ethiopian missionaries to disciple and bring life-related mentoring to little groups of seekers and Christians.
• http://vimeo.com/6813166 illustrates God’s answer to the challenges of getting timely air transportation in and out prompted us to ask God’s people to fund an SIM airplane. The Lord provided a pilot as well: www.ngkilloren.com.
• We saw undernourished children primarily because of food shortages and the cultural belief that you don’t feed or hydrate ill children.  The nutrition village is a ministry of mercy but the new Language Recordings MP-3 music, messages and scriptures are shared as mothers and families stay at times for weeks with the ill child.   http://gwnafrica.blogspot.com.

We never had any ideas of the way Sudanese and the churches would push forward—but I’m blessed to see them build their own churches, start their own primary schools as an outreach of the church, step forward in peace and reconciliation gatherings, bringing health care to the community, run their own theological college and the latest thing I’ve been involved with are 4 of the “lost boys”—kids who fled Sudan without parents during the war and were airlifted to USA are now seminary students and doing an internship with us in Sudan serving their own people.  After they graduate, the plan is for them to return. What a fabulous opportunity to enable Sudanese to come back and rebuild their own country.

*Cush Consultation annually brings together the partners and groups working in Southern Sudan.   SIM is only one of about 35 church denomination and missions/Christian NGOs who gathered but since I was part of the coordinating committee, and deeply appreciated the many ways God is at work.

Howie and Jo-Ann from Kenya
Serving in Mission (SIM).
SIM-Kenyabr> howard.brant@gmail.com

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