PRAY FOR SUDAN

Sudan, located in Northeast Africa, is Africa's third-largest country by area, with a geography varying from sandy desert to tropical forest. Until 1956, when it was declared an independent state, Sudan was run by a governor-general appointed by Egypt with British consent. It is one of the most corrupt and poorest nations in the world. There are 201 Sudanese people groups with many different dialects and languages. In 2023, an armed conflict between rival factions of the military government began. As a result of the war, more than 8.6 million people have been forced out of their homes, 18 million are facing severe hunger, with five million of them at emergency levels. In May 2024, U.S. government officials estimated that at least 150,000 people had died in the war in the past year alone.

Sudan is currently ranked fifth on the Open Doors World Watch List of countries with the most severe persecution of Christians. Because of the ongoing war, Sudan is home to the world's largest displacement crisis and the world's largest hunger crisis. Neither side is sympathetic to Christians, and the conflict has given Islamist extremists more opportunity to target them. More than 100 churches have been damaged, and Christians have been abducted and killed. Sudanese Christians who have come to faith from a Muslim background face severe backlash from their families and communities. These believers tend to keep their faith secret, even from their own children. Christians are also experiencing exceptional hardship in the hunger crisis because local communities discriminate against them and won't give them support. Much of the church in Sudan, which might have been able to help with aid distribution, is on the run. (Open Doors)