Frontline Fellowship News Edition 1 of 2018

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of questionable allegiance whose agendas lead to factions within the military and division across the country. I saw some of the disasters South Sudan is facing now during my most recent mission to South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. South Sudan Arriving in Juba was arriving at chaos. The International airport was a disorganised crowd in a tattered tent next to a busy airstrip. I was meant to connect with a local contact, but he was nowhere to be found. Despite the rabble and notoriously corrupt officials at customs, I managed to make it out with relative ease. I exited the airport and walked across the dusty road under the scorching sun, trying to ignore the aggressively grasping crowd attempting to “help” carry my bags. After being collected at the airport, I had to obtain permission to head into the Nuba Mountains, which is a war-torn resistance controlled area of Sudan. The Nuba people are thought of as rebels by the Khartoum (Arab/Muslim) government. They are marginalised because of their race, land and Faith. About 50% of Nubans are believed to be Christians, which makes opposition from the Islamic government of Sudan even more severe. Churches and Christian schools are the most common targets of terror bombings. Many missionaries and relief-aid workers lamented that they have been trying for years to get approval to work in the Nuba Mountains without any success. I was blessed to gain my Mission to the Nuba Mountains - continued from page 1 approval letter from South Sudan authorities within just 10 minutes of meeting the local authority in charge and I did not even have to pay a bribe! As I drove through Juba, I was reminded of the very severe selfinflicted trauma which South Sudan has faced in recent years. The entire country is a high conflict area filled with every kind of humanitarian disaster and sickness one can think of. The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army are constantly fighting rebel groups and elements of it are even participating in criminal activities, such as looting and stealing from civilians, themselves. There is no municipal electricity in the entire country; water accessibility and sanitation remain disastrous problems. Measles, TB, HIV, AIDs, typhoid and malaria are typical infirmities. Driving past the presidential compound, I observed the 500-meter-long wall covered in bullet holes from a recent battle between the national army and a rebel group wanting to gain control of the country. NGOs are the biggest employers in South Sudan. I have never witnessed so many NGOs working in a single area in my whole life. Sadly, the work of NGOs has not helped missionaries with their task of Gospel preaching and discipleship. Many local South Sudanese now expect foreigners to provide jobs and handouts, not something as simple and mundane as sound Biblical teaching. However, this would not be my problem to battle this time around. I would focus my energy further north, in the Nuba Mountains. Nuba Mountains I served with Ben. Our goal was to train and assist the local church with discipleship development and evangelism training, research and document least-reached and unreached people’s groups and develop a strategy for mass Bible distribution. The Nuba Mountains are in great need of evangelism and discipleship. There are many Muslims and Animists throughout the Nuba Mountains. A recent temporary cease-fire between the government of Khartoum and the people of the liberated areas of Nuba made this an ideal time for us to travel and visit areas that would be extremely dangerous otherwise. Ministry in the Nuba Mountains Our ministry began after our team hitched an extremely bumpy and dusty 8 hour ride into our first place of meetings. The church where we would serve had experienced 18 bombings from Antonov aircraft in just 12 months! It was damaged beyond repair and so needed to be completely rebuilt. As we approached the church on Sunday morning, we heard sounds of singing and bells ringing. When I entered the church, I saw that the ringing bells were actually musical instruments made by the congregation. They took artillery shells from high-powered guns and tapped against them with smaller metal bars to make a chiming sound. These artillery remains, meant for war, are now being used to make music to the Lord. Problems of the Persecuted While this church, 250 people strong, is a testimony to the Lord’s grace during times of hardship, they face the same challenges that many churches in unrestricted countries face. Peace and comfort can easily become idols for many Christians and it seems that this is also the case with the persecuted church. Many congregation leaders bemoaned the fact that during the cease-fire church members have become awfully lax in their attitude toward Christian service and dedication to Christ. We witnessed this first-hand with the lean attendance at our Evangelism Workshops. FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP 2018 EDITION 1
Our first workshop was with the large congregation of 250 people. Only about 40 people attended on the first day and about 20 people attended on the following days. Admittedly, this is still better than the average Evangelism Workshop attendance in my homeland South Africa. Many of the participants who attended this first day of the workshop did not know how to clearly articulate their Faith and some did not even understand the Gospel. Thankfully, we could clearly teach them about the way of Salvation and how to share it with others. The best parts about the Evangelism Workshops are the practicals. What good is it to learn about evangelism without actually going out and evangelising the unsaved? We led our group of about 20 evangelists out into the market place to share the way of salvation with the lost. Our team split up and energetically proclaimed the Gospel to as many people as we could reach. Muslim Evangelism When we arrived at the market, I saw two men sitting down drinking tea. They did not understand English and my interpreter had vanished. Things quickly became awkward. Just then, a group of people formed around me to see what this foreigner had to say for himself. Thankfully, one of the curious onlookers could speak English and volunteered to interpret for me. In the end, I was able to share the Gospel with a group of about 15 young men, some of whom were Muslims. I thanked the young man for helping me share the Gospel and he expressed his gratitude for the message I brought. I asked him if he was a Christian. He responded that he was a Muslim! I encouraged him to ask God to reveal Himself and to call upon the Lord Jesus to save him from his sins. As the mission progressed, we encountered many Muslims in our evangelism efforts. When we spoke with them, it was apparent that they were Muslim by tradition only. Most of the people we spoke to had no idea what the Qur’an even taught. They were wide open to listening to what we had to say, but when we challenged them on the fact that their belief system contradicts the way of salvation as revealed in the Bible, they completely shut down. They simply said that they are not theologians; they are uneducated; and they are not willing to listen. There are a few reasons I believe this to be the case. First, they are taught the superstitious belief that Christians are poor people and when one converts to Christianity, they will become poor. Second, fear of losing one’s identity is a major problem. Their religion is tied in with their work, tribe and family life. To reject Islam is to reject their life and loved ones. Third, there is spiritual resistance. The Bible describes unregenerate people as dead, blind, suppressors of truth. Unless the Holy Spirit works mightily in them, they will not believe. Although some people were shut off to the Gospel, many listened and many believed. At the end of our first outreach, the enthusiastic evangelists were beaming with joy and energetically sharing testimonies about their encounters. We pray that God will use those Gospel seeds to reap a great harvest. Schools of the Nuba Mountains One of our primary tasks was to evangelise and encourage school children. This is a very neglected ministry in the Nuba Mountains, yet it is full of opportunity. The students and teachers alike are receptive to the Gospel. They are also in critical need of encouragement. Most schools do not have pens, paper, chalk, or even textbooks for the students. The teachers are often located far away from their families and always work without pay. Some of the schools we visited were bombed several times by Khartoum. Some schools are hidden away in the mountains to avoid air-attacks. All of the schools have trenches and holes which serve as bomb-shelters for the students to hide in whenever Antonovs fly overhead. Thankfully, these schools are always happy to receive visitors, especially when they are bringing Words from God. Most of the areas where these schools are located are isolated and many children have seen few, if any, white people before. The result is a fearful fascination with the Khawaja (white man). Sometimes the children would be so excited to see us, they couldn’t keep still. Other times the children were so afraid that they were literally crying from terror. At all the school assemblies, students stand outside in a giant square. We stand in the middle and address them. Once, as I walked over to some of the children during my message, the little boys got so scared that they ran away! Their faces were full of terror as they fled the school premises. Some of the teachers had to go running after them to try get them back. I don’t think they found all the boys and it was difficult to keep everyone’s attention after that. Some of the schools we visited were Islamic schools. The story of Abraham sacrificing his son works very effectively as a bridge to share the Gospel with Muslim children and
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Page 5 and 6: ZIMBABWE CELEBRATES as MUGABE FALLS
Page 7 and 8: lion meat! The obscene extravagance
Page 9 and 10: 9
Page 11 and 12: "...Go therefore and make disciples
Page 13 and 14: 13
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Frontline Fellowship News Edition 1 of 2018

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