What’s happening in Sudan?

Tensions in Sudan erupted into civil war earlier this year and millions of people have been forced to leave their homes.

Sudan is a chronically unstable country in Northeast Africa that lost its Christian-majority southern states in 2011 when they gained independence and became a separate country, South Sudan. Although Sudan is constitutionally secular, around 97 per cent of the population is Muslim, with a small minority of around two million Christians remaining.

Bible Society continues to share God’s word in this challenging situation. The local team, led by Revd Ismail Abdulrahman Kanani, is working to translate the Bible into minority languages and meet the spiritual needs of people affected by the conflict through Bible-based trauma healing. This civil war has seen more than a quarter of a million Sudanese people escape to Egypt, and reaching these refugees is now a key focus for the trauma healing work.

But Bible workers are among those directly affected by the war. ‘I think this is the most difficult time I have experienced since I started working with Bible Society in Sudan,’ said Ismail. Various members of his team have been driven from their homes, some to escape violence and others (in the translation teams Ismail struggles to find funding for) through eviction. ‘I am trying to connect all the staff from different locations, some in the country and others abroad.’ 

How you're helping

Earlier this year, supporters of Bible Society in England and Wales provided £10,000 as an urgent response to this crisis. Ismail is working to hold his team together and restore their Bible outreach programmes in the most difficult circumstances.

The war has put Christians in especial danger. Last month it was reported that two churches in Omdurman, the country’s second largest city and a major theatre of conflict, had been severely damaged in the bombing.

Ismail is determined to keep going. He said: ‘We don’t know when the war will end or what the post-war reality will look like when it does. So we try to adapt to the new circumstances and continue to do our ministry. People still need the message of hope provided by the Scriptures.’

Will you pray for Ismail and his team? Ask God to bring Sudan’s Bible workers and their families safely through these terrifying days. Pray that the war would be over soon and the people of Sudan would experience an unprecedented peace.

Pray for Sudan