Sudan (MNN) — There's concern growing over lapses in the
peace accord between North and South Sudan. A lack of progress in the implementation of
key provisions of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) threatens
trouble, but not, some government authorities say, a full blown war.
The specter unrest raises memories of the losses Christians
faced during the war, which included burned churches and destroyed Bibles. In
many areas, those Bibles haven't yet been replaced.
So, World Gospel Mission's Joy Phillips, in partnership with
Samaritan's Purse, is distributing a quarter of million a Bibles to six
language groups in the South next year.
The Bibles have been shipped from the printers in Korea and
are now on the high seas due to reach the port of Mombasa, Kenya, in late
December. But the challenge is just
beginning. She explains, "The
logistics of getting the Bibles here is huge. Even once we get them to Sudan,
moving around Sudan is quite a challenge. I'm here in Malakal right now and talking with church leaders. They keep telling us that we have to either
fly to certain places or go by river because there are just no roads that are
open at this time."
They'll be partnering
with a church network for the distribution. Training is also in progress for lay
church leaders to start reading groups and Bible study groups. "One
of the things that we need most is prayer, that the Bible will get into the
hands of literate people, that their
hearts and minds would be open to the Word of God, and that this would be
incredibly encouraging as well as challenging, and that the body of Christ, as
the church, would be built up."
Pray that the peace would hold to ease distribution. Pray, too, that the churches would be ready
and excited about reaching out with the Gospel to the Bari, Zande, Dinka Bor, Dinka
Padang, Nuer, and Shilluk-speaking
communities.
