Few things have shaped my understanding of God’s call to go and tell the nations about Christ more than John Piper. And I am sure many other people would say the same thing. Pastor John says that “missions exists because worship doesn’t.” All people worship something. As image bearers of God we are born to be worshippers. Our hearts yearn to be filled and give glory to something. The problem is we worship the wrong thing. Our worship is too small. Missions exists to get worshippers of King Jesus.
When we think about missions and people groups our prayer should be that they see Jesus as the great treasure that he is—that they see him as better than anything else this world has to offer. He deserves our worship. And he will get it one day. But for some, the realization of the glory of Christ will come far too late. It will come in eternity. This should cause us to weep. It should humble us. But it should compel us to go and tell because there are souls at stake. Souls with faces, names, and desires.
God has a people for himself, and he is calling them even now. They are from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Even Sudan.
Over 19 million people practice Islam in Sudan, which is approximately 65% of the population. Darfur, Sudan is one of the least evangelized areas on earth, and there are no known believers among the indigenous people of Darfur. To say that persecution of Christians is a reality would be a huge understatement. Within the entire country there is tremendous persecution of Christians, including bombing of church services, murdering of pastors, and slaughtering of entire Christian villages. In addition to the persecution of believers, slavery has been reinstituted and it is estimated that there are anywhere from 60,000 to 200,000 people who are now chattel slaves.
Sudan is a country devastated by civil war and oppression by an Islamic Government that wields its sword against defenseless people—leaving 2 million dead and many more damaged and traumatized. In some places riots and violence are common place leaving many to live in fear.
Ways to pray:
- Sudan is a closed country, so pray that Christian missionaries would have ways into the country to teach them about King Jesus.
- Pray that the people of Sudan would turn from their idols and worship the true and living God
- Pray for protection for the believers already there and that they would have the courage and the faith to hold on to the promises of the Gospel
Read more about Sudan here
Learn more about a movie about Sudan here
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