What are we doing?” is a question we have often asked ourselves as we serve in Aweil, South Sudan. However, it is really not a matter of what to do but how to do it. The biblical mandate is clear that we are to “make disciples” (Matt. 28:18-20), but the remaining question is, “How do we make disciples of the Aweil people?”

How do we make disciples in Aweil where the majority of the population cannot read the Bible, where there are so few biblically qualified men for eldership, and where most people assume that the work of missionaries is to build schools, clinics and church buildings? There are many more seemingly impossible obstacles in the way of making true disciples of Jesus Christ.

When we came here, there was no instruction manual for establishing a successful “Reformed Presbyterian, disciple-making, and church-planting mission to the Aweil people.” Over the years, manuals have been studied, methods have been examined, and missionaries have been consulted, but nothing has been found to be a hand-in-glove fit for disciplemaking in this context. Helpful insights have been gained from these sources, but it became clear that a manual had to be developed for this context.

At the beginning of our days here, we prayed “Lord, what is your desired end for Aweil?” Many phrases have come to mind, but one has gained a permanent place in our minds: a gospel-centered church in every community in Aweil and beyond. If it is God’s desire to have a faithful local church established in every village then we needed to ask, “Lord, how do we co-labor with you toward that end?” Our mission statement has morphed over the years, but more recently it has been: “Cush4Christ exists to glorify God by strengthening Aweil Community Churches [Reformed Presbyterian Church of South Sudan] through the disciplemaking ministries of leadership training, media, education, and mercy.”

What about a plan? I remember showing a 10-year master plan to someone who oversees a large mission organization in Africa. He said that it is good to have a plan in advance but as soon as you get to the field you will be changing it! True indeed, but as we enter the eighth year of ministry, what has not changed are the incremental and sequential phases through which our discipleship materials progress. While we have reduced the number of phases from five to four (from the original master plan) we have maintained that all disciplemaking and church planting have these four phases (see top of chart, in photos above).

We have used this sequence for the spiritual formation of both disciples and churches. All our discipleship and church-planter training materials follow these four phases. For each phase we have sought to provide an appropriate level of teaching for the level of spiritual maturity. From infancy we seek to apply truth and grace until every person reaches maturity in Christ.

Full maturity in Christ is in the perfected world. In this world, we are faced every day with our imperfections and inadequacies. Despite this, we strive to provide the right conditions for growth through our training. Each lesson of our curricula seeks to address knowledge, faith, skills, and obedience, which are symbolized by the head, heart, hands, and feet, respectively. We have learned the obvious—that curricula alone can do nothing apart from the working of the Holy Spirit and the Word appropriated within the community of believers. The seed must be sown and watered, but it is God who makes it grow.

As co-laborers with our beloved Dinka brothers and sisters, we seek to “toil and struggle with all of Christ’s energy so that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28-29). Sadly, we have often labored with those who give an appearance of maturity but over time and by their deeds proved their selfish ambitions. Cross-cultural dynamics and expectations necessitate a longer testing period to reveal genuine sincerity and true faithfulness. Many are eager for the benefits of the training but so few are committed to selflessly evangelize their community (E1), establish new believers (E2), equip laborers (E3), and extend the church to other communities (E4). Truly many are called but few are chosen (Matt. 22:14).

Jacob Majak seems to be one of the chosen few, although he did not seem so promising at the start. The first time he was commended to me as a potential church planter, he was sitting beside me in a hut, wearing a winter hat and smelling like a chain smoker. I was not thinking he would ever become the leader of the Aweil town fellowship, at that time a three-month-old fellowship of a dozen people which, after some difficulties, was dying, and seemed to have no anticipated resurrection. As I witnessed Jacob and another brother commit themselves to restarting the fellowship, there were good reasons to doubt this would even get off the ground. Reluctantly, I committed myself to go weekly to Jacob’s hut to start working through the E1 material, the first level in our two-year training curriculum for pastors.

While many others have attended the training in Aweil town, Jacob has consistently persevered with the training and is soon to finish E4. After the restarting of the fellowship, problems of all kinds were stirred up, and when the dust settled, Jacob was found alone with the responsibility of the fledgling church. One Sunday, after leading a service where only children showed up, he said to me on the phone, “You know, Deng Garang, I will never give up.” As we evaluate our walk with Jesus whenever we meet, Jacob regularly recounts how the Lord has delivered him from besetting sins and has called him to preach the Word to unreached peoples. Meanwhile, during the last four months, his heart has been heavy as he longs to be reunited with his wife and children who have just escaped from an area of military conflict in another state in South Sudan. Through all these severe trials, our brother Jacob is being discipled and the church in Aweil town is being strengthened.

God is at work in the church body and in individuals. Asunta Agau is one example of a fruitful plant in God’s vineyard. She once was a gossip, reviler, drunkard, and persecutor of the church. But through the persistent encouragement of a friend she came to the local church in Parot. Soon she joined Class 1, which leads people through the gospel and the call to follow Jesus. (Class 1 is also the church’s baptism and membership class.) As a young believer she continued to receive instruction as she faithfully attended the discipleship groups, otherwise known as Class 2, Class 3, and Class 4.

Since then, whatever truth Asunta receives, she shares with others. For several months after being taught the lesson entitled “The Disciple’s Cross,” it seemed that she incorporated Galatians 2:20 (one of the memory verses) into just about every greeting or conversation. Similarly, she spreads widely the teaching she receives from the Parot church’s health class. She tends to countless neighbors’ physical needs, all the while naturally speaking the word of the Lord. If you, the reader, were to find yourself here and would happen to get dehydrated, she would make for you a rehydration drink, preach the gospel of Jesus—the Living Water—and sing for you this song: “My sister, you who have diarrhea, wash your hands with soap, take a big mug of water, 3 finger pinches of salt, 1 spoon of sugar, if you drink that, it will help your body. Jesus says ‘Everyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.’”

Along with other church members, Asunta has been attending the church’s Dinka literacy class. The day she and her classmates successfully read a page from the Dinka New Testament, they erupted in spontaneous singing, clapping, and dancing in praise to God. No doubt, literacy will be a powerful tool by which Asunta will be blessed and be a blessing!

Jacob and Asunta are examples of disciples of Jesus who are in turn making disciples of Jesus. They are taught that they are called in two ways: to be disciples and to make disciples. Among those who are bearing fruit, the Word is sown abundantly that they may bear even more. Among those who are not bearing much fruit, we continue to sow the Word in hope that God will bring the increase.

“What are we doing?” We are desperate for the Lord’s guidance and wisdom. How do we make disciples that strengthen His Church and extend His kingdom? We labor while at the same time resting in the sure words of our King and Head: “I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

—Vince Ward

Vince is team leader of the RPCNA’s South Sudan missionary team, which continues to support the spiritual growth of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.