Sudan (MNN) — Sudan’s latest woes may sound like the end-time warnings of Scripture – famine, war, genocide, flooding, and disease. Yet hope remains amid Sudan’s darkest chapter.

“You’re seeing the enemy driving the world to the edge, and God is there,” says John, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan.

“Even though we can’t feed [the Sudanese and] we can’t heal them physically, we are seeing great response to the Gospel – that is an eternal hope.”

A growing humanitarian crisis

Heavy rains have overwhelmed at least 21 locations in Sudan, raising fears of waterborne disease in a nation whose healthcare system is already crippled by war.

Sudanese refugees who have fled the conflict in Sudan register for food aid in neighboring Chad.
(Wikimedia Commons/FCDO/Russell Watkins)

“Flooding is absolutely a massive issue, and it’s a growing one,” John says. “Last year, something like 180,000 people were displaced in Sudan by flooding.”

Already, 10 million people are on the run in Sudan, and another four million have crossed into a neighboring country. Some displaced within Sudan belong to ethnic groups that are actively hunted by one of the warring parties.

“In Darfur, flooding is a significant issue, but one of the greater issues is the genocidal targeting of specific tribes to possess their land,” John says.

Earlier this week, Sudanese authorities indicted leaders of the Rapid Support Forces for genocide tied to mass ethnic killings in Darfur. Human rights groups say the RSF is trying to drive out non-Arab communities. Yet hope remains.

“The teams that I am connected with on the ground, they’re seeing a real openness to the Gospel,” John says.

“We are seeing a great movement in IDP camps in Darfur as people are absolutely desperate to make sense of their suffering.”

Find your place in the story

Although we can’t name his organization for security purposes, John says, “We have about 26 [church-planting] teams. Fifteen of them are inside Sudan, and the other 11 are in refugee camps outside Sudan.”

While John’s organization primarily focuses on training and leadership development, it also offers the hope of Christ through trauma healing courses.

“It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes a person whole on the inside,” John says. “Help cannot be brought without hope.”

Send help and hope to Sudan by partnering with John’s organization here.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Dieuvain Musaghi/Unsplash.