Frontline Fellowship News Edition 1 of 2018

teachers, since this story is also in the
Qur’an. We pray that God uses the
Gospel to bring many to salvation.
Modelling Ministry
Our ministry also focused on pastors
and evangelists. Many of these men
work very hard, without pay. We
met men who had been arrested and
tortured for spreading the Gospel.
One man showed us the scars on his
wrists and legs from daily beatings
he received while he was a prisoner
of the Sudan Armed Forces. All the
people of the Nuba Mountains have
been affected by the terror bombings,
land invasions and scorched earth
policy from Khartoum. In spite of
this, the Christian Faith is spreading.
More and more people are coming
to Christ daily. Even though there
is tremendous suffering, there are
countless stories of God’s grace and
protection during times of intense
strife. Churches and Bible colleges
have been bombed numerous times.
Some keep the bomb remains and
others leave the unexploded bombs
where they are as a testimony to
God’s grace. In fact, the church we
held our pastor’s training had holes in
the roof and walls from bomb-blasts.
It was a very sobering reminder of
what our brothers and sisters in
Christ face in their war-torn world.
Our mission took us to places
where other missionaries are not
willing to go. Some foreigners are
doing excellent work in the major
villages and busy areas of the Nuba
Mountains, but almost no one does
work on the outskirts, near the
battlefront.
We proceeded to a village market
about 12km away from enemy
territory to minister the Gospel. I
started open-air preaching. In order
to get people’s attention, I started
asking different people standing
around why they think there is so
much suffering in the world. One
man shouted out “Omar Al Bashir!”,
the name of the current dictator of
Sudan. Just then, people started
taking out their mobile phones
to presumably take pictures and
videos of me. Not only was I in an
Islamic area preaching the Gospel,
4
but I was now in an open discussion
about the suffering caused by the
chief of the Sudan Armed Forces –
who were a 15-minute drive away!
I was reminded about the warning
issued by the US State Department,
cautioning all westerners not to
go to Sudan because of terrorism,
hijacking, kidnapping, armed robbery
and suicide bombings! There was
nothing I could really do except
continue to preach the Gospel. Plus,
I had everyone’s attention, which
is exactly what I wanted. I used the
opportunity to explain that yes, Omar
Al Bashir is one of the problems. In
fact, the world is filled with people
just like Bashir. The world is full of
people who have wicked hearts and
love to do wicked things. That’s the
problem with the world and that’s
the problem with every single person
listening to my message. We all need
forgiveness for our wicked pasts, we
need God to replace our wicked hearts
and give us new lives in Christ. At the
end, I made an invitation for anyone
who wanted to call upon the Lord to
save them from their sins. About 15
to 20 people, some of them Muslim,
came forward to publically call upon
Jesus Christ.
Our focus included not only teaching
but also modelling evangelism.
After teaching the students about
evangelism, we took them out to
the busy market places to share
the Gospel. I started by open-air
preaching. There must have been
about 300 people within earshot. I
proclaimed the Gospel loudly and
about 30 people responded at the
end. We also went to the cattle
market and I spoke to about 10
men under the trees. They all came
from different backgrounds. I spent
time answering questions they had
about Christianity, turning it into
opportunities to share the Gospel.
Praise and Prayer
Our ministry in the Nuba
Mountains did not come without
challenges. We did not have our own
vehicle, so we spent much of our
time hitchhiking, catching rides on
the back of motorcycles. I also came
down with sickness, some kind of
stomach bug, a number of times.
FRONTLINE FELLOWSHIP 2018 EDITION 1
Heat, cross-cultural communication,
challenges and confusion and
spiritual warfare meant that we
had to draw deeply from the well of
prayer and the Word.
Pray for the Church in South Sudan,
facing conflict and disaster as well
as the temptation to rely on secular
NGOs instead of being stewards
of what the Lord has entrusted to
them. Pray for the Church in the
Nuba Mountains to stand strong
in the face of persecution from
without and temptation and apathy
from within. Pray for the unreached
people groups, that many more
evangelists would take the Gospel to
these people. Pray for pastors and
leaders to remain firm in the Faith,
rooted in the Word and confident in
the Gospel.
In 2018, we will be a part of an
initiative to deliver 40 000 Bibles
and 50 000 Creation to Christ story
books to the Nuba Mountains. This
is an incredible logistical challenge.
Corruption, high-jacking and
theft are major oppositions to our
operation. Please keep these plans
and difficulties in your prayers. Pray
for Ben who is arranging for the
Bibles and books to be printed and
shipped to the Nuba mountains.
Learn More About Sudan
If you would like to learn more
about Sudan, the Nuba Mountains
and Islamic persecution in North
Africa, I recommend reading Faith
Under Fire in Sudan by Dr. Peter
Hammond. If you are interested
in viewing first-hand footage and
testimonies from our persecuted
Sudanese brothers and sisters
in Christ, watch the 3 Films on
Sudan DVD . These resources can
be obtained from Christian Liberty
Books.
“And I heard every creature in
heaven and on earth and under the
earth and in the sea and all that is
in them, saying, to Him who sits
on the Throne and to the Lamb be
‘blessing and honour and glory
and might forever and ever’”.
Revelation 5:13
Rev. John Clifford