If you have followed our work for any length of time, you will have learned that among the Nuba people is the largest community of Christians in the officially Islamic State of Sudan.
For decades this strong voice for the Gospel has been the target of persecution, terror, and genocide by Islamist extremists in the capital of Khartoum.
Tragically, things have just gotten worse.
On April 15, 2023, fighting erupted between two factions of the Islamo-fascist establishment and quickly spread to Darfur, Kordofan and other regions in the country.
As of mid-June, one month into the conflict, thousands of civilians had been killed and tens of thousands of others injured by shelling, bombing, and shooting between these two Islamist Generals.
Literally millions of civilians are caught in the crossfire of this terrible war, and many face certain death from a lack of food, water, and medical care. Nearly all hospitals in the conflict regions have ceased operations. There is no power, no internet, and no mobile network most of the time in Khartoum.
Of the eight million civilians remaining in the greater Khartoum area, an estimated two million are ethnic Nubans. As many as half of these identify as Christian. Most of these in years past fled bombings and persecution in the Nuba mountains region carried out by the very same Islamists destroying Khartoum now.
For those Nubans trapped in Khartoum, their best option is to return home to the “liberated” areas of Southern Kordofan (the Nuba mountains).
But scarcity of fuel, food, water, and medicine combined with ongoing military ground and air offensives in civilian areas have made it very difficult for people to leave their homes.
We have been getting stories every day from our people on the ground— some tragic and others heroic. There are many courageous believers who daily risk their lives to deliver food, medicine, water, and money to those trapped in their homes. Others are shepherding families to buses moving in convoy out of the city in a sort of modern-day underground railroad.
It is not possible to communicate the level of terror being experienced now by the people of Sudan, especially our Nuba brethren.
Unfortunately, we can’t help everyone. But because we have been in fellowship with the persecuted church in Sudan, especially the Nuba, for more than two decades, we have the extraordinary privilege— and duty— to do as much as we can to save as many lives as possible. This is our spiritual FAMILY.
Thousands of refugees have been pouring into the Nuba mountains. Just in the first three weeks of the start of the fighting, over 60,000 refugees arrived.
Many of these families have nothing but the clothes on their backs and a few personal belongings.
There is a desperate need for emergency relief and shelter items to help these refugee families begin to rebuild their lives. Moreover, the annual rains have begun, and that means people need to get their temporary shelters built quickly.
We have already started sending in more shelter tarps, and refugee aid kits to distribute to the returnees arriving every day.
Please remember to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters right now, as they face “defcon 1” for their country.
And please pray about your role in contributing to the relief of the suffering through active compassion.
