Pokot Outreach Ministries – South Sudan

Our ministry’s primary focus is bringing the good news to everyone through evangelism and church planting. Besides this, we also engage in community development activities such as education, health campaigns, and capacity building on social and economic matters.

In the ministry of preaching the gospel and church planting, we have missional leaders leading our missional hubs with evangelistic teams reaching a particular area of focus. For instance, the evangelism team of the main mission hub in Kapoeta ministers in the town’s outskirts, hospital, and prisons. The team conducted three house to house evangelism events in which over 50 households were reached. We also followed up with the Jesus film and other Bible videos, which was attended by hundreds of people (it is difficult to give a precise number because we normally conduct film ministry at night). We can confidently report that our main hub’s ministry impacted over 800 people in the past year.

The other mission hubs and village churches led by our missional leaders Nichodemus, Sam Etyang’, Eliya Lokuru, and Lopeyok also did marvelous work. Their village teams were able to do home to home evangelism, night fireplace evangelism, and water well evangelism (preaching to people who gather at water points). Open air preaching/crusades were done in Chukudum (among the Diding’a people), which over 400 people attended. Also, we normally use the Christmas celebration to make contact with many people in the village. Our ministry leaders, along with members of the village churches, organize for food and drinks on Christmas eve and/or day, which becomes an invite-a-friend event. Most of those who are invited are unbelievers, and they get an opportunity to hear about the greatest gift of a savior to the world. This is part of the year that we always look forward to because we make contact with many new people.

Another success in 2017 was the program in Nachilagur village. In this village, we implemented two of our major goals of ministry: church planting and education. We planted a church that is now meeting every Sunday at the Nachilagur primary school. The primary school was one of the many closed down schools in the state until our ministry revived operations. Both the school and the church program have given us contact with over 800 people in a village with a population of about 2,000. Over 500 hundred people, including children, teenagers, young adults, and parents are directly impacted by this twin program.

In 2017, our entire ministry made contact and shared the gospel with over 3,500 people, among whom over 250 came to faith.

This is Martha Lokwale – a woman who believes in God’s power and provision. She walks for over 21 kilometers to our mission home/hub in Kapoeta. She always longs for her people to know the Word. She has defied all odds in a society that gives the lowest regard to women. In this society where women are there to be seen and not to be heard, she has mustered the courage to share her testimony among her village members. Her changed life is the script that her own village reads as they listen to the good news we preach. She has earned respect and influence and has on several occasions brought women to visit our church in Kapoeta. Her hospitality and generosity show the spirit of resilience which rises above the shortcoming of droughts, diseases, and economic crisis that points that her anchor and faith is in Christ, the rock of ages. Whenever there is an outbreak of disease in her village, she takes the burden on herself and walks the full distance to share with us the prayer requests from her village. We normally respond by prayer and sending medical help to rescue the situation. Her faith fans mine into flames and has drawn my heart to dream for a health facility to help the many women she worries about in the village. She has faith that cholera that killed dozens in her village will not happen once they have a source of clean water. I see the spirit of God moving in this woman, and I can’t wait to see Martha’s prayers answered!

We praise God for the provision of the things we have been praying for: completion of the church construction, motorbikes for our two mission hubs and accompanying Jesus film systems. Pray that the use of these resources shall be effective in showing the love of Christ and preaching of the good news to the unreached.

We have a vision of planting 12 or more churches this year; at least three in each of our four mission hubs including Kapoeta, Riwotoo, Chukudum, and Lotien/Mogos. Please pray for our missional leaders Nichodemus, Sam, Eliya and Joseph as they lead their teams that they may be led by the Holy Spirit in rallying the troops to battle for the lost souls. We thank you for your prayers and support!

Sion Assembly Church – Ministry Update

Thank you for your support of our ministry. We have had an eventful year here in India with two new churches planted, the addition of new programs for assisting people affected by leprosy and AIDs, and the opening of a satellite campus of the North Carolina Theological Seminary (NCTS).

In September, we began training pastors, evangelists, and church leaders through NCTS. Almost 160 men and women from two different states travel to our facilities for two days twice a month to receive training that will culminate in a bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies. Meals and lodging are provided during these intense training sessions. Some of our first class are pictured here. We ask that you pray for these servants and their families as they pursue God’s call on their lives.

Our children’s home is attached to our church building in Vellaturu. Our desire is to give abandoned and orphaned children a chance at life – both physical and spiritual. We embrace them with the love of Jesus! Not only do we provide their basic necessities of food, shelter, clothing, we also provide for their education. In 2017, we began holding classes on the roof of the children’s home. This year, we are planning to begin construction of a school building. We hope to provide an English speaking school for those in the children’s home, as well as children in the community.

We ask that you pray for the construction of the school. Also, please pray for Rufus, the son of Pastor Venket, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Kerith Ministry Update

We celebrated ten years of ministry in 2017, and I am pleased to share with you how the Lord has blessed us this year. During the year, we held seven revival meetings, planted one new church, baptized 496 new believers, and held seven Gospel crusades where just over 1,700 people received Jesus Christ as their Savior!! We held our ninth annual believer’s conference, which attracted over 600 people, and held our fifth annual youth camp.

One of the Gospel crusades was held in the village of Kaboloi. The three-day crusade attracted thousands of people and over 600 gave their lives to Christ. As a result, we planted a new church there, and it is growing rapidly. Among the people saved at the crusade was a former witch doctor. He was so radically changed by the power of Jesus that he donated the land where the church is currently meeting! Church members (seen here dedicating the land) have worked together to put up a shelter for the meetings.

In June, the Lord blessed us with three hectares (approximately 7.5 acres) of land for farming, which has been a long-term ministry need. This allows us to grow food for the children living in our children’s home and also provides income through the sale of food to the community. We were also able to begin construction of a permanent school building. The building structure is almost complete, and soon we will begin work inside to finish the classrooms.

Serving in a Muslim community presents a challenge in finding a place to hold a fellowship. Over the last four years, we have been trusting God for a place in the middle of Pallisa where we can hold midday services. With much prayer, the Lord led us to an unfinished building right in the middle of our town. We contacted the owner, and he agreed to rent us the place for $450 per year. It has been three months since the fellowship started. Within a few weeks, the group grew to over 100 people! We meet every weekday for one and a half hours for prayer and studying the Word. Every Friday, we have a two hour prayer meeting aimed at praying that the Lord will save our town.

Since this fellowship started, there has been a lot of resistance, but the Lord has helped us to stand amidst it all. The Gospel is preached through our loud speakers and reaches most parts of the town. People can hear our message of hope even if they aren’t physically there. Two former Muslims, and six others, have given their lives to Jesus. This has also grown our church in the area of prayer and commitment to begin more fellowships, since the church is far from the center of town. Our future plan is to buy this property and set up a radio station, which will broadcast the Gospel in eastern Uganda and part of Kenya. We are experiencing revival in our community!

I ask that you pray for our team. Pray for more passion to serve and patience since our staff members are volunteers and don’t receive a monthly wage. I also ask that you pray for the Kerith primary school project that the Lord will give us the right staff and a good environment for our children to study. We are trusting that by the end of this year, the Lord will provide the required funds to complete the building. Finally, please pray for our pastors as they disciple our members and that this would be a year of growth and fruitfulness for the ministry.