When was the last time you were at a church service and saw a grain offering given during the collection of the tithes and offerings? Here in Aweil, Sudan, this is becoming a regular occurrence. While there is paper currency (the Sudanese pound) within the local economy, many people in rural areas have less access to such money. As the harvest season is just coming to a conclusion in Southern Sudan, we have seen many such offerings. We rejoice with our Sudanese brothers and sisters that this year has been a much better harvest than last year, with good regular rains to water the crops.

Another unique way that believers here give to the church is by laboring in the church peanut field, where the members work together in planting, cultivating and harvesting the crop. They can later sell the harvest when the market prices are rising to help fund the different ministries of the church.

The giving of not only paper notes but also the fruits of the harvest was one of many topics discussed in the deacon training courses held earlier this year in a few of the Aweil Community Churches. This year has seen the ordination of the first deacons, and now there are two organized congregations that have deacons.

The role of the diaconate is a very important aspect of the ministry of the church, especially as it leads in the carrying out of the ministry of mercy. In an effort to make it very simple and straightforward for these young congregations, we’ve divided up the responsibilities of the deacons into three categories: fellowship, stewardship, and mercy ministry.

To promote fellowship, we are encouraging the believers to meet in one another’s homes throughout the week. The deacons organize the homes where members can meet and fellowship with each other.

Under the category of stewardship, the role of the deacons is caring for the meeting place (which, in most cases, is a grass mat shelter) and managing the collection and counting of the tithes and offerings. Currently the monies and grain that are collected are being given to the needy or set aside for the maintenance of the meeting place, or being used for special times of celebrations. One goal that we would like the congregations to work towards is the financial support of the teaching elders, who are currently “tent-making” pastors with other forms of employment to support their families.

We see mercy as perhaps the most vital part of the diaconate. In the Old Testament we see God judging the nation of Israel for her lack of caring for the poor and needy. Our prayer is that the church here will very early on see the importance of carrying out this ministry. Because of the decades-long civil war between north and south, Southern Sudan is one of the most underdeveloped parts of the world. In turn, the developed world has poured a large amount of aid into the region, to the degree that dependency has become a problem. Our prayer is that, as the gospel goes forth into these communities, the believers will develop a mindset towards taking dominion of God’s creation and utilizing the resources they have. Thus they can be a blessing to those among them who truly are destitute.

In light of that, we would like to assist the deacons in addressing common problems with which their communities struggle. Here are a few examples. Southern Sudan has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Most births occur in the home with little medical expertise available. We would like to equip one deacon in basic midwifery skills, which she would be able to utilize in the community. Another project with which we can assist and give training is basic wound care. Over the years we’ve spent here, the ladies on our mission team have bandaged many cuts and scrapes that have become infected and have turned into large sores. We would like to train one deacon in each church to oversee and administer basic first-aid care. You can see a pattern here of how we would like to equip deacons with specific training in which they would be the “expert” on such-and-such a topic. There are several other topics that would be addressed such as agriculture, sanitation and preventive health.

We desire that the diaconate of the church here in Aweil, Southern Sudan, functioning under the oversight of the elders, would lead in the carrying out of mercy ministry so that the body of Christ would be evident to all. In Isaiah 58 the Lord has a tremendous promise for the nation of Israel if it would care for the needs of the poor and oppressed. This is applicable for the church today. Let us pray for the church here in Sudan, that she would “pour [herself] out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted…that [her] light would rise in the darkness and [her] gloom be as the noonday” (v. 10).

—Daniel Faris

Daniel is an RPCNA missionary serving with the Cush4Christ team in Sudan. An RP Global Missions feature appears semi-annually in the Witness.