The most recent bout of war, from 1983-2005, left some two million dead, and five million in membership of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS). Package that in your next "how to grow your church" bestseller: 1) resist the imperial claims of your own Shar'ia-imposing government, 2) endure genocidal bombings of villages, 3) have millions of refugees suffer thousand-mile walks (including the famous lost boys), and 4) emerge with a church twice the size of the Episcopal Church in the United States. That's not even counting millions of Catholics. "Khartoum tried to swallow the South," Bishop Hilary Garang Deng of the ECS told me. "But Christianity was like a bone, stuck in the throat, causing it to vomit."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi Mike,
We had a gentleman at HTC a couple weeks back from the church leadership in Sudan. He shared about the expansion of the church in the Northern capital city. It went from something like 16 churches to nearly 800. The amazing thing was that the Islamic government was doing everything possible to prevent growth. They destoryed churches, imprisoned leaders, provided no protection, etc. He also shared about Darfur and the growth of the church there.
It is truly amazing what God is doing in these places like Sudan. The Christians love for God and neighbour is a lesson for all of us.
Jason
The first step is instructive: the Sudanese resist the colonising empire. In the west we collaborate with the empire of Mammon.
Post a Comment