NEWSLETTERS

Sudan for Jesus!

It is with gratitude to God that Wheels for God’s Word can report back on a very special trip to the Nuba Mountains in from 19 September to 3 October 2010, conducted on behalf of Wheels for God’s Word by Arrie Preller.

Training of leaders at Cush Theological College in the Heart of Man chart
After arriving in the Nuba Mountains students and staff of Cush Theological College (CTC) together with other church leaders underwent training in the use of the Heart of Man chart. At its maximum thirty leaders attended the training. Several people in the group attended the Wheels for God’s Word outreach in March 2009. They understood the value of this evangelistic tool and contributed to make the training relevant to the situation.

Outreach from participants to other areas than the main outreach
Some of those trained could not go with on the Talodi outreach yet still wanted to make use of the Heart of Man chart. Since these are trusted leaders, it was decided that they could be entrusted with Heart of Man charts.
Two pastors, Timothy Agnok and Yuhanna Timotaus, took two charts with the promise to share it with soldiers in the Al Mangur military base and the Motammar Wattan area. There are 600 SPLA-soldiers and 600 government soldiers in the above mentioned areas and I trust that many of them will be exposed to the Heart of Man presentations.
Pastor Abdul Aziz Omar also took a chart and promised to use it at least ten times in Kadugli where he is spearheading the Veritas program and where he is involved in youth focused ministries.
Pastor Butros Snaba also took a chart with the intention of sharing its content with people in an isolated area more to the northwest of the Nuba Mountains.

Outreach in the Talodi area
The main outreach was directed towards the people in the Talodi area.

Tum-Tum
Eighteen people first went to the people of Tum-Tum with two tractors and a trailer. Apart from the discussions with different groups of people an important discussion took place with the leaders of the area.
Last year the community was divided on the issue whether they must allow a church to be constructed or not since the inhabitants are predominantly Muslims. The conflict turned violent with a Muslim man beating his wife quite severely in an effort to stop her from attending a church service. At one point during our discussions the village chief (a Muslim himself) made an important announcement. He said he has made his decision that a church must be built in the area under his control. Another man immediately donated a piece of land and took us to see it. This breakthrough has a lot to do with the good relationships being established by the outreach coordinator of Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC). His obvious love and care for the people opened many doors for our group.
Various discussions took place in the villages of Salamat, Demoni, Tabaldi and Nus. The total of people spoken to in this area were 248 people.

Talodi Nuba
Our second stopover was at Talodi Nuba where 69 people gathered to listen to the Heart of Man presentation. At some point the local imam stood up and went to the mud mosque a few meters away where he started calling Muslims for the normal afternoon prayer. Several of those listening to us went, but many remained seated until we were finished and only then went to the mosque. They returned afterwards to greet us in a friendly fashion.

Talodi town
Talodi town is the town with the strongest Muslim presence. Many Arab traders and leaders reside there. Some of our group members were a bit apprehensive about reaching out there (and quite understandably because for some of them it was a first visit to an area hostile to them during the civil war). Others, however, grabbed the opportunity with enthusiasm. A number of discussions took place with old men, youth, children and mixed audiences. A total of people spoken to in this area were 218 people.

Dar es Salaam and army barracks
One or two kilometres outside of Talodi a settlement developed whose inhabitants are mostly people who were displaced from other parts of the Nuba Mountains during the war. On the Sunday morning during church services the Heart of Man chart was explained to 230 members of the Evangelical Church and to 58 members in the SCOC congregation.
A number of our group’s members went to preach at the army barracks outside Talodi town. Sixty-six soldiers attended and enthusiastically participated in discussions resulting from the explanation of the Heart of Man chart.
Between the two congregations and soldiers 354 people heard the Heart of Man explanation.

Maflu
During a visit in 2006 the outreach coordinator of SCOC took me on an exploration trip to the Talodi area. On the way he pointed out a small hill to the side, called Maflu, and said there was once a thriving church, but at that point there was no church or Christian presence. How special it was this time around to hear that in the mean time a small church was established!
We visited the church where 112 people heard the explanation of the Heart of Man. In the afternoon different teams went out and shared with a number of groups. The total number of people spoken to at Maflu was 315.

Man’s challenges became God’s opportunity
On our way back the road was in a very bad condition due to heavy rains the previous two days. At one point trucks were stuck in such a way that only one vehicle at a time could try to squeeze by. It took us about 5-6 hours to move forward about 5 kilometers!
During this time several truck drivers (about 15 of them) became a captive audience to some of our team members who shared the Heart of Man chart with them.
The bad road delayed us so much that we missed going to the market at Dipkir, but the whole team felt satisfied that God through us did what was needed for this particular outreach.

Total number of people who heard the explanation of the Heart of Man chart
The team was really tired after a physically exhausting trip, but we thanked God for the opportunity of sharing with a total of 1,219 people.
If you take into account that the majority of these people profess to be Muslims it was indeed a remarkable opportunity. Many of those who listened indicated a new openness to the Christian message and we trust that the seed we had the privilege to have sown will result in a rich harvest. To God be all the glory!

Testimonies
We had one lady on our team and as she shared the gospel with women at Salamat in the kitchen where they prepared food for us. One woman then said she really desires to be taught how to read and write so that she can participate fully in future outreaches! She showed the encouraging fact that the people do not want to receive the good news just for themselves, but want to share it with others as well. Several questions were asked by Muslims about the Christian faith. We prepared for such questions during the short training before the outreach and it was special to see how a number of Muslims accepted the explanation to their questions. One specific individual came to a point where he said the Qur’an contradicts itself and he left the discussion with an openness to the Gospel.
One old Muslim man after hearing the Heart of Man explanation said he wants to receive Jesus and that a church must be constructed in his name. If anyone (military or in government circles) has a problem with the church he will stand up for the defence of the church!
At Maflu several team members experienced an initial reluctance from people to listen to them, but then saw how attentively the same people listened once the explanation started.
Not many conversions took place, but lots of seeds were sown and we trust that a harvest will follow in due time.