“The harvest is great and ready here in Nuba Mountains, Sudan.”— Paul Tokichon, missionary, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya.

"The work in Nuba Mountains is demanding more workers for this harvest. So, for now I’m both teaching and preaching the Gospel of Good News,” says Paul Tokichon, a Lutheran school teacher serving as one of the first international missionaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) to Nuba Mountains, Sudan.

“Recently, I went to one of our churches far away from the school. I spoke the Word of God, for this is what Jesus commanded us to do. They all welcomed the message and were happy to hear about the merciful Jesus.

“The church is growing very fast. One man traveled for four days from western Nuba to come and ask for help to start a church there. Glory be to God for all this!”

LCMS work in Sudan began when Sudanese refugees living in western Iowa asked the LCMS to start evangelistic and development work in their war-torn homeland. As a result, LCMS World Mission, through the ministry of Rev. John and Kathy Duitsman, established work in three areas known as the Nuba Mountains, the Shilluk Kingdom and the Western Upper Nile in 2001. There is now work in the Upper Nile as well.

When John met a young Nuba man named Younan Bashir, he trained him in Lutheran doctrine and sent him back to his home to establish a Mission Training Center to train more leaders. Since then, the mission has been entirely carried out by the local population.

Bashir began worshipping with a few others under a tree. In three years, 38 Lutheran congregations were planted in the eastern half of the Nuba Mountains with opportunities to expand into the western half. It is estimated that the church has grown to possibly as many as 8,000 people! Even so, there are only four pastors to serve this vast region besides the 31 untrained evangelists and six elders. According to the Nuba church leadership, the Lutheran church is now the largest in the eastern region.

“Nuba is an exciting area for many reasons,” says LCMS missionary Scott Yakimow. “One is the huge response to the Gospel that we have seen. This has occurred in an area that has suffered greatly from [an ongoing genocidal] war, from famine and from a lack of any basic infrastructure.

“Another reason is that the Nuba people truly know that God is calling them—not ‘white missionaries’—to reach out to their neighbors.

“What we can provide is theological training. This is always their request of the LCMS. The people take this training and share it with others. They own the responsibility and privilege that this calling brings and are saying, ‘Here we are. Send us!’”

• Pray that more leaders and teachers may be trained to serve the fast-growing church and schools in the Nuba Mountains. Give God thanks for strong local leadership and growth.
• Pray for the church members in the Shilluk Kingdom, where recent fighting led to the destruction of an LCMS World Mission-sponsored Mission Training Center and three primary schools.

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