East Africa (MNN) — Christianity is growing in East Africa – even secretly in places like Somalia and Sudan.
The Program for Theological Education by Extension, or PTEE, helps believers know Christ and make disciples. A believer we’ll call Abraham says, “We send the course by email, and then we meet each week with a Zoom link. This is how we train people.”
Here’s how you can pray for East Africa.
Esther, one of PTEE’s all-star students, is reaching refugees for Christ. “She has now at least five years with the Lord and three years with [our] program. She is doing very good, and she [is] also discipling other people,” Abraham says.
(Photo courtesy of Michael Starkie/Unsplash)
“She has a group of [believers], and she made a small church with her husband. He [is] ordained as a pastor,” he continues.
“She said the numbers [in her group] sometimes reach 20 [people]; most of them are from the Majority [religion].”
Why refugees?
The number of refugees in eastern Africa has nearly tripled in the past decade, from 1.82 million in 2012 to almost five million – including 300,000 new refugees last year alone. Over 20,000 refugees recently crossed into Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Uganda hosted close to 1.6 million refugees as of February 28, the most recent time statistics were available. Approximately 3.6-percent of that total, or 56,905 refugees, came from Somalia; more than 3,700 came from Sudan.
Esther understands refugee life because she fled to Uganda from Sudan. Her family started persecuting her when she followed Jesus. PTEE courses helped Esther grow deep “faith roots” so she could withstand persecution.
Today, Esther wants to use that knowledge to help Somali and Sudanese refugees get closer to Jesus. “She finished five courses from PTEE. Now she wants to finish her bachelor’s degree in theology,” Abraham says.
“Pray that she could open a class where more people can come to the Lord and she could disciple them.”
Your gift to PTEE can help Esther and other Gospel workers just like her. “In poor countries like Sudan and Uganda, they (believers) don’t have enough money for their (education) fees, so people in other countries pay for them,” Abraham says.
Header image depicts Sudanese refugees. The number of refugees in eastern Africa has nearly tripled in the past decade. (Photo courtesy of combonianos_brasil/Pixabay)
