HOPE

I and the teenagers in after a bible study

Donatoh and Paul during one of the bible studies

I am blessed every day to see how the Lord is using us to accomplish His purpose. Every day as we minister to the community here we know that God is present with us to accomplish His purpose, which is to draw all of us closer to Him. In addition to the other programmes we have been having, we recently began a teenagers/youth programme, which takes place every Saturday. The aim of which is to reach the young people with the gospel and to have them come together and share freely their experiences in life and seek for answers from the Word of God.. We sometimes watch a Christian movie which have been helpful as they provide a subject of discussion. We have lately watched the “Walking with Jesus series”, which basically addresses the assurance of salvation, Holy Spirit, walking in holiness and purity and many other topics. Having grown up in culture that holds so much to tradition, most of these youths find it difficult to relate to the word of God. Being used to life that is much inclined to immorality, it’s difficult for them to come to terms that they need to live in purity. Majority of them do not see it as a choice but as impossibility. Many are not willing to make the right choice even though they know the truth.  We know that the bible holds answers to the questions that we have in life even as the bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”.
                                                                           

Moses one of the teenagers pose for a photo

We hope that as we continue to share with the few who have been coming, their lives will be transformed and they will be a light to others.

  The bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”.

VISIT TO LURCUK

   God calls us and never gives a boundary of where to go and share the gospel, He keeps opening doors day after day. He calls each of us to be faithful in handling His truth. Isa 52:7, “​​​​​​​​How beautiful upon the mountains ​​​​​​​are the feet of him who brings good news, ​​​​​​​who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, ​​​​​​​who publishes salvation”​​​ In obedience to His word I and two other brethrens Whitney and Margit (who are working with WGM-World Gospel Mission) went to Lurcuk.  It is a village about 2 and ½ hour’s drive from Tonj. This was my first day to spend the night out of the IDAT-Indeed And Truth Ministry compound since I came here two months ago. Our main aim was visiting pastor David who is pasturing a church there. Pastor David graduated in October last year from the bible school that is run by IDAT here at Tonj after three year of learning.

    

Sabet and i holding the Jesus Movie kit 

  One of the tools we use for evangelism and discipleship is the Jesus movie kit. We have a couple of movies like Jesus film translated to Dinka and Arabic, Mary Magdalene and walking with Jesus. We had the Jesus film (Dinka version) with us and my plan was to show one at least one film. We had arrived there a bit late about 7:30pm, and before everything was set it was past 8. My fear was people may not show up but few minutes after they beat the drum (easy way to call people), people streaming in to the compound and so we aired

the Jesus movie. We had about 70 people who came out and stayed to the end of the film which was about 10:30pm. I shared the gospel afterwards and encouraged them in the Lord, before pastor David released them to go home after prayers. What a beautiful way it was to celebrate the Easter holiday, reminding ourselves of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it was all done for us.

     

 Part of the Lurcuk's church choir members

                                                                                     Pst. David and his family     

We also met with two other brethrens; Mary and William who had attended the “Simply The Story” workshop here at Tonj during the month of March 

2^nd week. It was great to hear how God is using them. They are also a great help to Pastor David and to the church. God gave us  a wonderful time sharing the gospel and having fellowship with the brethrens most of whom were teenagers and children and encouraging them to remain steadfast in their walk with Christ wait for the blessed hope of His appearing, and not to give up to the pleasures of this world which are just momentary. It was encouraging to see what fruits the gospel is bearing among them. Just like it says in Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to         renounce

ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”,

   

                                Brethren having fellowship at the church's compound

 At Lurcuk, just as in the rest of South Sudan, the culture has a very strong grip on people. The culture is the determining factor on what is to happen in any situation. The Bible is considered to be the Word of God but has no majority following. The brethrens are caught up in very difficult situations. But despite the challenges the church is growing in the grace of God, and it was a great blessing to us to see how they received us with joy and gladness and even received the Word we shared with. They were even willing to share with us the little they had. Pastor David also took us to His home and it was good to meet His wife and daughter, and also the relatives. It was beautiful to see how God is using Pastor David to be a blessing to his community.

Prayer Points

Ø  Pray that these brethren’s may grow in the knowledge of God and of His will and in their walk with Him.

Ø  Pray that the church shall  stand strong despite the opposition to what the bible says

Ø  Pray for the young men and ladies in the church who are willing to live in purity but are facing mockery from their friends

Ø  Pray for Pastor David and the church in the area that the Lord will continue to use them to champion the cause of Christ.

LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME

                                          I, Sunday school assistants and kids

                                      Kids having fun after classes

Luke 18:16, “But Jesus called them [unto him], and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God”.

As each Sunday the church gathers, part of our congregation is made up of kids. They join us at the beginning of our service at 10 am. Before they can be released to their classes we have songs that are relevant to them. It is happy to see them sing in both English and Dinka. We have one teacher very committed to the Sunday school and I had a chance to help her for two Sundays. I realized that the kids are very attentive and creative and can remember past lessons, which was a great blessing to me. We have been having one class but are implementing a second class such that we can be having two classes every Sunday. We believe and hope that this will help in reaching many kids and increase effectiveness. It is always happy to see the kids have fun outside after their classes. They do various forms of games.

      We believe that in reaching the children, we are reaching not only this generation but a generation to come. These kids are still fresh and their minds are quick to learn. The bible tells in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it”.

  

                              I and kids at Malony

 I also travelled to Malony last week  with the medical team where after ministering the word to the adult patients, I called the children aside and it is kind we had another wonderful service. I shared the word from genesis about creation and fall of man. We then prayed together and had a couple of songs. The kids were very excited and kept telling me that I should do the same next time I visit.

 I also visited the headteacher to the local primary school, which has a population of 97 pupils. I shared with him our idea of showing the Jesus film to the pupils in school and requested Him for permission to do so  . He was okay with it and promised us that when they begin the feeding programme sometime later in April we are welcome to go and minister to the pupils as well as show the Jesus film. This we feel is a breakthrough worth praising God for.

    These are part of the effort we are making to make the gospel get to the children, and have them won for Christ. Statistics show that about 85% of Christians give their lives to Christ when they are still children.

   Prayer points

***Pray that we shall have breakthroughs in many other schools to air the Jesus film and share the gospel regularly

***Pray for our Sunday school that we shall have enough teachers and helpers.

***Pray that these kids shall make their personal choices to follow Christ

JESUS OUR SUFFICIENCY

                                    Peter and i at the ministry premises
True christian fruits are seen when mere men chose to put their faith in Christ and in His word despite their hardship, cultures and what the world teaches them. One of the greatest hindrances to the gospel here is a culture that is so much implanted in belief in witchcraft and sorcery. The community so much believes in them that they are mostly the first option in case there is a disaster. We know that this is idolatory, and God does not want His children to practice it. But today we see this change. One of the guy who have been very keen to discipleship is Peter. He is a student in Secondary school, and he is born again. He has been coming  to our  ministry premises at IDAT every week where we spend time in the word of God. He also comes to church every sunday for fellowship. We also pray together. His story is that of breaking away from tradition by not only embracing Christ but also His teachings. I see him a good example of what Paul said to the church in 1 Thesalonian 1:9b, "......, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living God".  Peter had his dad sick two weeks ago, his brothers were planning to have their dad taken to a witchdoctor (which is kind of the norm here) but Peter said No. He suggested they take Him to the Hospital at Juba since that is where He(dad) works. Peter feared that the brothers will not take his advice since they had also taken their Dad to a witch doctor for treatment last year. He came to me asking that we pray together and ask God that His dad not to be taken to a witch doctor. We prayed and after 3 days He came back with a testimony that his elder brothers had agreed to take their dad to hospital. On saturday17th March, Peter came with the good news that his father was now well and had been discharged from the hospital. This story is one among many others that we witness everyday here ay Tonj. The bible tells us that we are not to live as the unbelievers do, Ephesians 4:17-18This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that  walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart....  (24) But we are to put on the new nature which is created in the likeness of Christ. For Peter it took courage to say NO to what was ungodly, to walk away from what the culture advocates and to follow what the bible says.
Prayers points:
**Peter and other believers that they will continue to trust in Jesus in difficult situations and they will severe any ties with the witchdoctors and spirit masters.
**Pray for Peter's growth and continual commitment to discipleship.
**Pray for his Dad and brothers that they will fully trust in Jesus and that they will accept Him as their saviour.
**Pray for His exams that are forthcoming in April.
**Pray that the Lord will continually use him at school and home.

SOWING AMONG MINISTERS

                            I and my group perform a drama presentation in aid of Story telling

          Some participants pose for a photo. We have Peter(Right) the youngest participant

                                  Billy and his group present a dramatized story

                               This guy though is blind but determined to preach the gospel.

Paul told the church of Corinth 1 Cor:26, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air” Considering this scripture in light of ministers of the gospel, i think that alot needs to be done to improve our effectiveness in soul winning and discipleship.And as i look and pray concerning South Sudan i tend to see that one of the greatest need for the church is to have the pastors and the teachers of the word equipped properly to have them carry on the work of Christ effectively. The In Deed and Truth (Go to @ www.indeedandtruth.org) ministry has been training pastors from Tonj and Rumbek. Last week we had Pastor Billy from Uganda come and teach the STS (Simply The Story), the art of story telling as a way of passing the Word of God. Since majority of the congregation cannot read or write story telling is one of the beautiful concept that the pastors can use to teach the word. As the seminar went on, it was just beautiful to fellowship with the pastors and church leaders and see how eager they were in learning. I was really encouraged to see one of the participants Peter who is 16 years old eager to learn the story telling concept. Our prayer is that as they go back to their homes they will continue to use this method to teach the word. The Lord Jesus said Luke 12:48,”For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more”.  We would urge you too who are partners with us in Christ calling to pray for them.