Please Pray: Missionaries Needed for South Sudan
The following comes from Pastor Austin Gardner’s blog and from Missionary Keith Shumaker.
South Sudan became the world’s newest country on July 9, 2011. For more information on that you can read A New Flag Raised: South Sudan Celebrates Birthby clicking on it!
I got the following notes from missionary Keith Shumaker who serves in Burkina Faso.
As most of you know, I had the unique opportunity to go to South Sudan.
South Sudan is the newest country in the world. They got their independence in July.
They were ravaged by war for many years. Over 2 and half million were killed in the war. The stories of war are terrible.
While there we passed out thousands of tracts. Lead some people to the Lord on the street. It wasn’t a quick pray after me. We could have had hundreds of those.
They love Americans. If you see the president he always wears a cowboy hat. George Bush gave it to him.
I have never seen a country with more of an open door than South Sudan. The country is now being built. The door will probably not be as open in 5-10 years.
It many times bothers me that the Jehovah Witnesses and other groups are already there and we aren’t.
The opportunity is unreal.
It really needs a missionary with the right training, vision and good work ethic.
There should be a video of our trip coming out soon. I will let you know about it.
Please pray that God would raise someone up to work in this needy country.
What a strong plea for workers! Would you please pray about being the man to go?
The following came from wikipedia:
The transitional constitution recognized English as the official language of the new republic, cementing the belief that English is a global lingua franca that can encourage development and differentiate South Sudan from Sudan where Arabic is the primary language. With more than 40 ethnic groups, South Sudan is very linguistically diverse. Perhaps in choosing English as the official language of the new republic, South Sudan can avoid the problems of a nation like Morocco, where classical Arabic is the official language, the local population speaks the Moroccan Arabic dialect of Darija, and the elite use French and English in the halls of government.
The following came in another email:
I of course don’t speak Arabic so I don’t really know but we passed out many tracts in arabic. A decent number asked for the Arabic tracts.
After we ran out of English and were just passing out Arabic, many got upset with us. Saying we don’t want Arabic here, we want English. They truly dislike what the Muslim north did to them and I don’t blame them.
Supposedly Bid Laden practiced chemical stuff on the kids in the hospital, killing many of them.
This country will call for a very strong family that is willing to pay the price. Would you consider praying for this country? Vision is looking for a man that will step up and go? Read and see if this challenges you or discourages you!
I do want to say that the climate was dry and warm. Not quite as bad as Burkina but hot.
It is one of the most expensive towns in the world. Housing is terrible but I think in 5 years it will get better. social groups and government groups are paying a huge amount for housing/hotels and stuff.
It would be a tougher than Burkina in my opinion. It will change and probably be better after many years but it will take awhile.
Ministry would be great, life for many would be tough. Just wanted to be honest if somebody was interested.
I would go in a heartbeat if I wasn’t already in needy country and a ministry that God is blessing. I still feel peace about Burkina and the needs here are great.
If anybody wants to talk about it, I am available and would be willing to help in any way that I can. I am burdened about the need and country and don’t want us Independent Baptists to miss the opportunity that God has given us.
I hope as you read this that God has burdened your heart. Will you go? Will you make a difference in a very needy place? I would love to hear from you!
This just came in from Jason Royalty:
“A young man from Sudan named Gassim Domkog and his wife from our church are headed to South Sudan as soon as they can raise support. He is from Sudan and was reached by our Sudanese Pastor and went to our Bible Institute. They are excited about going. He plans to help get a radio station up and running. He is working with Bro. Feghaly. South Sudan is wide open right now and we need to get folks there quick!”
“If you know of churches wanting to support a Sudanese national going back to his home country let me know and I will help put them in contact him. He is at about 60% support I believe.”