Papiti Aban Yowin met Bill Joukhadar at Maadi Community Church in Egypt.  Papiti also attended what was then called ‘Victory Bible Institute’ which is now called the ‘Petrescue Bible Institute’ in honour of Pastor Dave Petrescue, formerly Senior Pastor of MCC, who died tragically in 2006.

At the end of 2010 I was reconnected with Papiti and amazed to hear that he had left Egypt, had planted a church (the All Nations Community Church) and school in his homeland of South Sudan and was planning to implement the Small Groups model in his church to build up the health of his growing congregation, and to raise up new leaders from among the congregation. Papiti wrote to us saying:

“Ours is the Almighty, He is Wonderful. I remember the time I came from Egypt to Sudan – I suffered finanically to the point that it was difficult to pay the ticket. But I kept praying untill the Lord opened the way for me and I also got a job in Sudan with a good salary.  From this I managed to buy two plots of land and I started to build the main hall for our church, the All Nations Community Church, in Malakal.

After starting this ministry many children came and we faced problems of where these children could worship and learn, so by faith we started to construct two rooms for them. We also prayed for two plots near us and we now have them. Today we are praying to have six more plots in our block so that we will be able to build a larger meeting hall for the Church – we believe that God is speaking to the people and we claim them for Jesus to the glory of His name. I know He is going to do that.

All these times I have been working as a contracting engineer and this has meant that we have been able to finance the basic needs of the Church. This time He is going to do the same in the way He likes, according to His will and not to my will.

The Bible say in Phil 4:6-7 that we should not worry about anything… but in everything we should pray and he will give us his peace and answer our request. That is why I say He is wonderful – our God is wonderful. He will do more than we think or imagine in order to expand his Kingdom.”

This was such encouraging news and a real testimony to the experiences that Papiti had at MCC, and the power of the biblical principles on which our Small Groups training have always been based.  I was particularly touched when he wrote:

“Thank you for your contribution toward this vision to come to life. When you called me to your office that time at MCC, I was wondering if it is the voice of the Lord that was talking to me to go back to South Sudan, I think this Vision couldn’t come out today. You and the late Pastor Dave had a great impact in my life. The short time I spent in MCC with you has helped me to do this. MCC, Pastor Dave, Small Groups all contributed to my life starting again with Victory Bible Institute.”

We have connected Papiti with two members of our team – Elijah in Nigeria who is our African Field Director, and Helen who has returned to South Sudan from Egypt – to support him more closely.  We have also provided resources and materials, including the Small Groups Church Plan to facilitate his initial training sessions.  Initially this training will be carried out in English – but this does limit the opportunities as few people speak English and there are high levels of illiteracy.  So we are now making arrangments for the translation of some resources into the Sudanese Arabic dialect.

Get Involved

Pray

• For the people in Southern Sudan and the post referendum government in the Upper Nile State; and that the government will truly serve the people.
• For the success of the Small Groups training programme that started in January 2011.
• For God to move mightily in our town (Malakal) and state, and for the transformation of our local community, through our church and it’s members, into a christian community.
• For continuing provision of resources (physical, financial and human) that will enable ANCC to serve the local community, in particular the large number of children in the town.

Invest

Please prayerfully consider making a donation to the All Nations Community Church in South Sudan.

If just 25 people commit to $10 a week ($520 in a year) that’s an amazing $13,000 investment in this project. Your gifts for this  ministry will provide some small support for Papiti and other members of his church team (who are all volunteers), contribute to resources and provisions to help support the 200+ children and 50+ youth that the church is trying to assist and perhaps enable further development and resourcing of the church facilities to accommodate the growing congregation, small groups and community ministries that are growing up.