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The message of hope, from one refugee to another
by | 19 Jun 2015
John can relate to those in the camps; he fled from South Sudan to Ethiopia as a teenager in 1988 to escape the war.
His ministry involves discipling refugees and teaching them how to start cell groups and churches within the camps. When he first meets with refugees, he doesn't just dive into the gospel message and try to convert them, he said. He gets to know them, shares his personal story, and tells them, "I have been where you are. I can understand what you are going through."
Life in refugee camps is hard, John said, because of food shortages, crowded living conditions, and a lack of educational opportunities for children. John lived in a refugee camp for 15 years, and during that time he got married and began raising his family.
In 2000, his family was accepted into a resettlement program in Australia, giving them a chance to start over. But John felt a pull on his heart.
"God was telling me I cannot go, I must stay with my people and preach to them," he said. "And I said no, no that is not right. Our life in the refugee camp was terrible. If I go to Australia, it will be better. But (God) said, 'No, stay, serve my people.'"
John told his wife, Nyamal, about this call from God. He asked if she would be willing to give up the resettlement program and all the comforts it would bring. She told him, "If you are receiving a call from God, we must follow it."
Following the call meant risking his own safety at times, John said, such as in 2003 when he walked for seven days to return to South Sudan to bring God's message of hope to his people.
"(My family) knew the situation was not good, but because they shared that same call, we shared the vision together, they said, 'No, you can go,'" John said.
John stayed in South Sudan for six weeks and helped plant several churches.
"People were coming to Christ, people were accepting Jesus," he said. "Their life was really transformed. It was amazing."
John, Nyamal, and their five children now live in Uganda, where John pastors a church and continues to work with South Sudanese refugees.
Refugees, John said, can identify with people all throughout the Bible — such as with Jesus and his parents, who were refugees when they fled to Egypt to escape Herod's infanticide.
In the Bible, when the early church believers fled from persecution, God used that hardship to spread the message of the gospel to more nations. Today, John's ministry is equipping refugees in East Africa to also spread the gospel, both in the camps and back in their home countries.
"As my experience tells me in being a refugee for many years, I do trust that God is going to use refugees in many different ways when they go back to their homes countries," John said. "What we should do today is to make sure that we have 'intentional discipleship' among the refugees, and God is going to use them in the mightiest ways tomorrow. The bright future can be built among the hopeless people, and may Christ Jesus be their hope."
Related:
To support the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Global Refugee and Immigrant Fund, click here.
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