Bibles will bring comfort and encouragement to people forced to live in a refugee camp.

June 3, 2009

Bibles Bring Hope

Samaritan’s Purse provides “daily bread” to Congolese refugees living in a camp in Sudan

Ugandan rebels raiding border towns in the Democratic Republic of Congo have driven more than 6,000 people to a refugee camp in Lasu, Sudan. Samaritan’s Purse learned that refugees were receiving food and water through the UN, but pastors in the camp reported another pressing need—Bibles for their congregations.

Samaritan’s Purse staff responded, bringing 80 Bibles in the Bangala language to Lasu and dividing them among three pastors who hold Sunday worship services and minster to people in the camp.

Pastor Charles Obote was thrilled.

“The Bible is the daily bread that people should take every day, and a tool that you can use to encourage someone and bring them to Christ,” he said. “Getting these Bibles has value because without the Bible you cannot bring someone to Christ.”

Along with delivering the Bibles, the Samaritan’s Purse ministry team also provided training in basic study and interpretation, encouraging the pastors to form Bible study groups among the refugees.

Working with local churches, Samaritan’s Purse has distributed more than 260,000 Bibles and helped establish 10,600 study groups in Sudan.

Like others in Lasu, Pastor Obote and his family were driven from their home by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Under the command of Joseph Kony, LRA troops routinely raid villages along the borders of northern Uganda, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing civilians, stealing food, and forcing captives to join the LRA or serve as slaves.

“Since I’m a pastor I can work here in Sudan through the church and by preaching,” Pastor Obote said. “Unless there is peace in Congo I will not go back.”

Anna Nadi fled to Lasu after LRA troops attacked her village and killed her pastor.

“When we saw that the pastor was killed, we were terrified,” Anna said. “That’s why everyone had to leave because they feared that the LRA would kill people and the children would be taken.”

Anna said her new Bible was a special gift and an answer to prayer.

“I have been searching for a Bible in vain, but today God has answered my prayer and now I have a Bible,” she said. “The Bible is so helpful to me because sometimes if I have sorrows or grievances and I open my Bible I can find a chapter to encourage me and I forget about all my grief.”

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

PRAY:

• That God will provide peace and encouragement for those forced from their home and into the refugee camp.
• That God will use the Bibles to lead people to faith in His Son.

GIVE:

Please visit our donation page to help provide Gospel booklets to the lost, Bible correspondence courses to people seeking light from the Scriptures, and Bibles to believers who have never owned a copy of His Word.

Samaritan's Purse , Sudan , Evangelism , Bibles Bring Hope