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Sudan Harvest Worker Project

Amount Raised $0.00
Team Goal $0.00
Sudan has been an important SIM field since the late 1930s when missionaries from Ethiopia entered Sudan and open the work among the Uduk, Mabaan and Dinka people. Fledgling churches were then planted among each of these people groups. Later in the 1950s a series of civil wars plagued the South of Sudan and has left a heavy legacy of war. The expulsion of missionaries in the 1960s meant that up until three years ago SIM Sudan existed only in Northern Sudan.

The peace accord signed in 2005 enabled SIM to make a strategic decision and reopen ministry in the South: a project called Rebuilding Southern Sudan: Church and Nation was born. As a recent development it brought a number of missionaries from other African and Asian countries in addition to the traditional sending countries. SIM Sudan has become among the leading countries in welcoming teams of missionaries from diverse backgrounds working together in the Great Commission.

In particular, it has been most encouraging to watch Nigerian, Ethiopian, Indian and Kenyan missionaries working in Sudan. An observation that has been noted empirically is the great strength and credibility they carry in the areas of evangelism, church planting and discipleship. Although their primary responsibilities were related to the Basic Education Learning Centers, their passion for the lost and their ability to do Kingdom business has been clearly demonstrated.

In bringing these missionaries into Sudan, SIM was careful to make sure that the core funding for each missionary was provided by their sending country. This policy has been carefully maintained throughout. SIM has found, howerver, that there are many additional costs related ot these missionaries that are heavy for them to bear. For instance, the cost of chartering aircraft into and out of Southern Sudan is very high. One of the costs of having these workers has been to provide the infrastructure that can sustain them. To that end, SIM has made things like air travel, basic housing (tent) etc, medical and other, part of the Rebuilding Sudan project.

Given that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) has paved the way for greater recovery and rebuilding of Sudan, we are now ready to move into the second phase of our operation in Sudan. Here the emphasis will shift from relief/recovery into targetted the strengthening of the church as a real source of lasting change. Now that Sudan is slowly shifting from relief into recovery, there are some tangible opportunities for SIM Sudan to engage in the strengthening and maturing of the church. The Harvest Worker Project will therefore pave the way for missionaries from to be important workers in this field. This is particularly true as the goals of SIM Sudan evolve into spheres of church empowerment: natural strengths of our missionaries from say EKHC, North East India and EMS.