There’s a country where hope once flickered, where, just a few years ago, Christians dared to dream of worship without fear. That dream is now burning to the ground. Welcome to this episode, where we journey into the heart of Sudan’s unfolding tragedy.
For decades, Sudanese Christians navigated persecution with quiet resilience. Then came a glimmer of light, the fall of an oppressive regime, promises of religious freedom. But that taste turned bitter.
In 2021, military boots marched back into power. By 2023, brutal civil war tore the nation apart. Today, ancient Islamic laws have been resurrected as weapons.
Comply or bleed. Church buildings that once echoed with praises now serve as militia headquarters. Bombs have silenced sanctuaries.
Displacement has scattered families like dust in the wind. The world’s attention is elsewhere. But Open Doors is here.
And their story deserves to be told. Meet our brother Rafat Samir, is a Sudanese church leader and chairman of the Evangelical Community Council for Sudan. He tells his story.
Nobody cares about what’s going on, but this is supposed not to be in the body of Christ. We thank God for people like Arise Africa campaign, who asked people to pray and raising awareness about what’s going on in Sudan, other churches, and who is supporting the church in Sudan. The Christian Sudan is suffering a lot, due to the war, due to this war.
Others have, someone can support them. But for Christians, always they are abandoned from the many governments, successive governments in Sudan. Organisations, NGOs in Sudan are so limited and have no place, not too much to work.
And they work according to the state instructions, which not many times be in the favour of the vulnerable ethnics, and especially the other religions. And many places, reliefs being used like a tool to persuade you to change your faith. So the church in Sudan is suffering, especially in those times.
We’re just praying for God to help the Christians to live one more day, to proclaim the love of Jesus in our communities. It’s just, we’re asking our brothers and sisters to help the Christians just to survive one more day. The country, the state for a long time is trying to have, they declare it an area, it’s not something hidden.
This country is supposed to be in one religion, one ethnic, one culture. There is no tolerance for others to coexist in this country. And since then, the Christian in Sudan is suffering from, and in this war especially, the churches have so limited resources.
We open our churches, our homes. I can tell you, I saw with my eyes, homes have more than 40 persons in just one small bedroom. They just eat salty water with some wheat.
In some places, they eat animal food, because they have nothing to eat. And they all eat if they found just one meal a day. Many camps are full of Christians, just children and women have no clothes, have nothing.
They don’t know what will happen tomorrow, where to go. One of my brothers, I speak with him, and he said, this is the third time I forced to flee from my home. I hope that in heaven, I have a home and I will not be forced to flee from it, because since I am a child, this is the life I live.
So such stories break your heart. Yet, you saw him in the church, praising and glorifying God. Such things make you try your effort to help, just to give him a small smile, a small piece of bread, just to make him survive for another day.
This is all what we are trying to do now, just to preserve their lives, to preserve their dignity, to preserve their soul from being tested too much, to accept other gifts, poison, and just want them to follow someone or some religion. This Arise Africa podcast, in partnership with the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, aims to shed light on the impact of violence across the Sub-Saharan. This episode focusses on Sudan.
It is number four on the Open Doors World Watch list and currently has 4.3% of Christian population. We do not just merely look at how violence is impacting the church, but how it is also strengthening the Bride of Christ. Even as the brutal civil war in Sudan continues, faith leaders are experiencing arrests and detention due to the ongoing conflict.
Rafat shares an encouraging glimmer of hope in how Christians continue to follow Christ in Sudan despite their struggle. Their hope is that they can share the light in the darkness and be salt in the communities of Sudan. I can tell you this is a miracle of our Lord, and that then you can describe when Paul said we are executed but not abandoned, we are struck down but we are not destroyed.
You can see how God’s work inside the church. Due to all these struggles, church is still growing in Sudan, even among non-Christian backgrounds. You find the churches, if you come to our churches, you will see how people are praising the Lord, how the joy of the Lord is fulfilling their heart.
God’s promise to protect us does not necessarily mean that he will protect our bodies from scratches or diseases or from any wars or that we will just have a happy easy life for us. How God preserves our faith in him and our souls in his heart, and you will experience that when you are due to struggles and persecution. You can feel the intimacy of God’s love physically and even emotionally and spiritually in your heart, and this is a miracle how God preserves his church.
It’s not about what we have in our hands, it’s about him, and this is the Christians in Sudan since day one. They learn how to give him the glory, how to follow him among these troubles. To become a Christian, it’s a hard choice here in Sudan.
It’s not an easy choice, it’s not something beautiful or what how you say it in English, sorry for my poor vocabulary, but it’s not something attractive for others. So when you choose to become Christian in Sudan, you know that what you will face, and this gives you hope in him. It’s not about others.
The issue is we would love to see our community know Christ. It’s not about how we survive. No, it’s not how to save our communities.
We pray that the church to become a light in this darkness of hate, darkness of war, darkness of intolerance to others. This darkness of killing and blood to become a light shining and showing the road, the way, and telling the people this is the way for life. This is the way for God.
It’s Jesus, only one. We can’t come to Lord. We pray that the church became a salt for to heal our wounds.
Sudan has many wars, many hate wounds. When you see the people in their eyes, they have no hope. They have no future.
They have nothing to hold. They lost everything, and we pray as a church that to salt in this community and give it a taste, give it a hope, give it a future, and this as a church what we pray. And we pray always as a church to be a lighthouse and lead the people to Christ.
Indeed, the church is growing stronger in Sudan. The gospel is shining the light, and his followers are leading many to Christ. Thank you for taking the time to listen and gain insight into the challenges facing our family in faith.
As part of the Arise Africa podcast initiative, we warmly invite each of you to sign the Arise Africa petition. Please take a moment to add your name and share this initiative with fellow believers so that together we can make a meaningful impact.
Transcribed by TurboScribe.
