CrossWay Community Church in Grand Rapids, MI hosted a very successful Car Wash/Bake Sale in July to support the purchase of Emergency Shelter Kits for displaced Nuba families. The day’s activities ended with a Sudan update provided by Persecution Project’s Director of Ministry Advancement, Ed Lyons.

If you would like to invite a PPF speaker to your church event, please contact Ed at ed.lyons@persecutionproject.org.

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Right now, Persecution Project is involved in perhaps the most aggressive outreaches we’ve conducted in our history. Multiple flight rotations, many tons of freight moving by road, and weather wise, all taking place during the worst time of the year.

We are deep into the rainy season. The roads are rivers. The only reliable way to move is by tractor. It’s slow and expensive, but it’s the only way we can reach thousands of families suffering from disease and exposure.

We can confidently say that if you’re reading these lines, it’s because you’ve been divinely recruited to pray for the persecuted in Sudan. They need your prayers right now. We need your prayers right now.

The security situation inside the Nuba mountains is worse than anything we’ve seen in the last 15 years. The influx of more than three million displaced people in the last three years, combined with shortages of every item for basic survival (food, shelter, safe water, medicine) has created tensions and aggravated old communal wounds and rivalries.

The local Church is working every day to encourage peace and, above all, patience in “waiting on the Lord” for help.

We have successfully delivered shelter tarps, emergency food supplies, blankets, mosquito nets, soap and salt, cooking pots, and other crisis relief items to thousands of displaced families. Additionally, we’ve distributed thousands of audio Bibles to those needing to hear the comforting words of Scripture in their language.

We’re entering the most challenging part of the year. August is typically the worst month in terms of getting access to remote areas like the Nuba mountains. While we desire a good rainy season for the sake of the farmers in the region, we also know that good rain means our work gets more difficult. More importantly, more rain means more sickness, disease and death for those displaced and homeless due to the war. So, we’re working as fast as we can. Every day of delay can be measured in greater loss of life.

But we can end on a high note. While the challenges we face are enormous, we have been overwhelmed with encouragement from YOU. Our ministry partners have responded with prayers and giving to meet the need thus far. Please continue to let us hear from you. Your prayers are our spiritual bulwark, and your generosity is loading plane after plane of relief supplies. Please keep it up. You’re making a difference.

Anyone in Sudan will tell you Persecution Project punches way above its weight class… and that’s because of partners like you. Thank you!

The post A Call to Prayer appeared first on Persecution Project.

By Brad Phillips

Each evening, as I sit down in the comfort of my own home to give thanks with my family for God’s provision of health, food and shelter, I remember there are many fathers and mothers in the Nuba mountains of Sudan sitting under a tree watching their children die slowly from the impact of hunger and exposure-related illness.

We have previously written about conditions facing tens of thousands of displaced Nuba families affected by Sudan’s current war.  

Violence, war and terror have left millions of Sudanese homeless and hopeless.

I want to share a brief update regarding our rainy season campaign to provide Emergency Shelter to vulnerable Christians families.

The Nuba region has experienced a massive influx of refugee/returnees. The population has more than doubled since the current war started in April 2023 (from 2.9 million to now more than 6.2 million souls).

For displaced Christian families seeking refuge, heavy seasonal rains threaten their lives, as lack of shelter (combined with hunger) means exposure to many illnesses.

God answered our prayers and paused the rains during the last few weeks, allowing our team to accelerate the delivery and distribution of life-saving emergency shelter supplies to families across the Nuba mountains. We successfully distributed tarps, mosquito nets, cooking pots, plastic buckets for storage and washing, soap, and other essential items to more than 2,400 vulnerable families – approximately 14,800 people in Heiban County.

These families now have a fighting chance to make it through the most difficult months of the rainy season and begin to rebuild their lives.

Additionally, 3,400 families received audio Bibles from our local church ministry partners, led by Pastor Musa. 

This rapid response was made possible by your generosity. But the reality is that the need far exceeds the 5,000-family goal I previously shared in our appeal.

Our prayer is to do more, as God allows, to encourage and assist our persecuted family during this critical moment.

As we see the needs continue to increase, my prayerful goal now is to help 10,000 families during this rainy season.

Please join me in praying daily for the Nuba.

And please continue to help us respond to this urgent crisis.

Thank you for not turning away.  May God bless you for your part in this ministry.

The post Responding With Your Love appeared first on Persecution Project.

The Nuba mountains of Sudan are home to that country’s largest Christian community. And this community has been under a humanitarian blockade since 2011. This means there is a shortage of nearly everything, from food, to medicine, to fuel.

But there is no shortage of courage.

A couple years ago, we introduced you to a brave woman named Honey. Honey was living in the capital, Khartoum, with her husband and several children when the latest war began around her home on April 15th, 2023.

As Honey recounts, the artillery fire was very heavy. Then everything went dark. She woke up in a hospital a few days later. To her horror, she discovered that one of her legs had been amputated. Worse, two of her children were killed in the same attack. Honey’s husband, who was away at the time, never returned home.

Through the amazing courage of Pastor Musa (Moses) and his assistant, Emmanuel, buses were organized to evacuate some of the most vulnerable in the Nuba diaspora living in Khartoum. Thankfully, Honey and her surviving children made it onto one of the buses. She now lives in a refugee camp in the Nuba mountains. But her life is far from easy.

For decades, the Nuba have successfully resisted the Islamist Sudan Armed Forces, carving out a comparative safe haven for millions of their fellow Sudanese (mostly ethnic Nuba) who have fled from other parts of Sudan to escape the current civil war which has split the country into at least three major pieces.

The number of refugees arriving, like Honey, has steadily gone up. Three years ago, there were around three million people living in the Nuba mountains. Today, there are over six million— one million having arrived in just the last few months.

One of the new camps is called Umdulu. It is home to 50,000 internally displaced refugees… and growing by around 100 families per day (approx. 700 people). Many traveled for weeks arriving with only what they could carry. The new arrivals are living under trees or whatever straw shelter they can throw together.

But it gets worse.

The rains have begun. And the weather will worsen for the next several months, making transport very difficult. Thankfully, we use tractors which can access most places. But they’re slow and expensive. In the meantime, refugees are exposed to the elements, and when people start getting sick, they will swamp the few hospitals available.

This is a growing crisis. These are the worst conditions we’ve seen since 2011. We committed to sending immediate help to 5,000 additional families above our current budgeted distributions. That’s approximately 35,000 more people. It seems like a drop in the bucket, but we must do something.

The “help” we’re sending is very basic: a heavy-duty tarp to keep off the worst of the rains; a mosquito net to ward off malaria (one of the biggest killers this time of year); a plastic bucket for storage and washing. A heavy-duty cooking pot; and a large bedsheet.

Additionally, the encouragement these families receive will help keep them going until they can be absorbed by the broader community to begin rebuilding their lives.

Please pray for the Nuba people. We can still make a difference. But it’s not Persecution Project. It is God working through your ACTIVE COMPASSION. It may seem little on paper, but to those receiving your help— and those looking on from a distance— the love of Christ is being proclaimed in word and deed.

Pray we can work fast. Since the rains have started, every day we don’t move means the ground gets muddier and the costs go up… and more people suffer. Thank you!

The post The Growing Crisis appeared first on Persecution Project.

We recently received the heartbreaking news that a good friend and member of our Sudan team was killed in the Nuba mountains. 

Yassin Hassan was an accomplished Nuba photographer and videographer who we had the privilege of knowing for 15 years. During this time, Yassin’s combat photographs and videography (some of which featured prominently in many award-winning films, including our film Exodus) was instrumental in helping to get the story of his people’s struggle out to the rest of the world.

Yassin leaves behind his wife, Tereza, as well as an infant son and daughter.

His death is another reminder of the real cost of Sudan’s Islamists’ decades-long war on the Nuba people. Yassin was a fearless warrior who used his camera to lift up the faith and courage of his people. He has now paid the greatest price.

As his family and community mourn this great loss, please join us in praying for Yassin’s widow and children. 

May God work through Yassin’s example of courage and service to raise up more faithful and courageous men in his community.

May God rest His soul.

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The current war with Iran might not be a “World War” but it certainly has global reach.

Persecution Project works primarily in areas heavily influenced by traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf. With shipping from the region coming to a standstill for weeks, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in costs across every category of our ministry:

> 6-ton Relief Flight: Increase from $13,800 to $14,800 (7 percent)

> Shelter Tarps: Increase from $30 to $33 (10 percent)

> Galvanized Pipes for Borehole Repairs: Increase from $20 to $22 (10 percent)

> Therapeutic Food: Increase from $6.30 a box to $7.00 (11 percent)

> 40 ft. Truck Hire: Increase from $16,000 to $18,000 (12.5 percent increase)

>Ladies’ Hygiene Kits: Increase from $12 to $14.5 (20.8 percent)

> Diesel: Increase from $1.50 per liter to $2.50 (66.6 percent!)

The list goes on and on.

Of course, many reading these lines can probably relate. “I’m seeing the same thing in my monthly budget!” This is why we’re so grateful for your continued support of the persecuted church. Every time we receive a special gift during these difficult times, we thank God for His great love being shown— because we know many of our supporters are really feeling the pinch.

We have received a few touching letters from long-time supporters apologizing because they have to reduce their regular giving because of financial pressure. We pray for them because we know where their hearts are.

But we have also received greater support from many partners because they know the current crisis is increasing costs and impacting outreach. They’re digging deeper and taking on additional burdens for the sake of the Gospel.

So, we press on. We must with such great love behind us and great need before us. We press on TOGETHER for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Thank you for your sacrifice. We will not stop. We will continue to do all we can, as God provides.

The post Pressing On appeared first on Persecution Project.

In 2012, we launched our Nuba Borehole Repair Project. At that time, there was a population of 1.2 million souls in the entirety of South Kordofan’s Nuba mountains. The number one need was access to safe drinking water. Dirty water was killing more people than anything else.

Our strategy to take down this “Goliath” was to hurl our small stones— sent in the form of small teams of safe water engineers repairing as many broken boreholes as possible. The results have been nothing short of a miracle for the community.

With limited to no funding for this project, we set our sights on repairing 15 boreholes— knowing that each borehole, intended for 1,000 people, would likely serve more than 3,000 due to war and displacement conditions.

Our vision was significant… but too small, because God’s love for the Nuba is great and His vision for us still greater. As of this writing, I can report that in the past 14 years we have provided access to safe water to over 3 million Nuba.

This is significant because contaminated water accounts for more than 80 percent of all illness and disease in the war-torn Nuba mountains.

Sudan has been recognized as the #1 Humanitarian Crisis in the World today. And the need for clean, safe drinking water has never been greater or more critical. Due to the war and terror instigated by Sudan’s Islamist regime, millions of Sudanese have been violently uprooted from their homes.

One consequence is that the “sharia-free” Nuba mountains region has become the number one safe-haven for millions who have been forced to flee— especially Christians. Today there are more than 5.6 million souls in the Nuba mountains (up from 1.2 million in 2012).

In the Gospel of Matthew our Lord reminded us of the value of providing even one cup of water in His name. Right now, we are asking you to prayerfully consider doing just that. It costs less than one dollar to provide safe water access to a thirsty soul.

As needs have grown exponentially three years into the current war, we are praying with our Nuba brethren that God will continue to expand our capacity to respond.

The post Water in a Thirsty Land appeared first on Persecution Project.

Persecution Project seeks to minister to victims of war, genocide and religious persecution. We bring physical relief but also spiritual hope to those who have often been neglected or forgotten. 

For this spiritual hope, we rely heavily on our indigenous ministerial partners on the ground. These shepherds live in targeted communities and are often the victims themselves of severe persecution. 

Through their example and faithful proclamation of the gospel, their flocks find the strength to live day-by-day through tremendous hardship and challenges.

But shepherds also have needs, and that’s why Persecution Project has sponsored many ecumenical pastor/evangelist conferences where faithful teachers can receive instruction and encouragement.

At these ecumenical conferences, pastors, pastor’s wives, and evangelists meet to share their experiences and to receive encouragement and practical training on ministering to communities wracked by war and persecution.

These conferences are sponsored by Persecution Project’s Discipleship and Evangelism program, and they are responsible for serving thousands of Shepherds needing refreshment so they can continue the hard work of leading their congregations through great trials.

Please pray that these pastors and evangelists do not grow weary in their work. Pray also that we can continue supporting their ministry to the poor and broken-hearted.

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On Christmas Day, the world learned of President Trump’s ordered strike against Islamist terrorists in Nigeria for their relentless persecution of Christians.

But at the same time, more than a thousand miles away in Sudan, the Islamist regime of Abdel Fattah al Burhan launched a strike against Nuba Christian worshippers at a Christmas Day celebration. 

The Nuba mountains of South Kordofan State is home to Sudan’s largest indigenous Christian community. Consequently, it continues to be the number one target of religious persecution by Islamists like Burhan.

Initial reports indicate that 12 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed by the Christmas Day drone strike. Another 19 worshippers were severely wounded. 

This is the second drone attack inside the Nuba in less than one month. The previous occurred on November 29th and claimed the lives of 49 Nuba civilians. 

The Islamist terror in Nigeria is certainly a problem, but it mostly involves rogue groups operating against official government policy and sanction.

But in Sudan, it is the “official” government which is perpetrating acts of terror and genocide against its own people— especially the Christian population.

The addition of drones ushers in a new era of terror for the Christian population. In the past, old, noisy Antonov bombers would at least provide some warning. But small, comparatively quiet drones can strike at any time, day or night.

May God expose and defeat the wickedness perpetrated by Sudan’s Islamists. May He also encourage and sustain Nuba Christians as they minister to family, neighbors, and all those impacted by this terror in their community.

Please join us in prayer for our persecuted Nuba brothers and sisters in Sudan. Pray also for the safety of our staff.

The post Christmas Day Massacre in Sudan appeared first on Persecution Project.

Dear Persecution Project Family,

Since April 15th, 2023, the population inside Southern Kordofan Sudan (Nuba mountains) has swelled by more than 1.6 million souls, bringing the total number to more than 4.5 million!

All of the recent arrivals were forced to flee with only what they could carry. The current war has resulted in mass death, displacement and famine.

Perhaps the greatest challenge among the Nuba right now is famine conditions that lead to a deadly condition known as “severe wasting.”

The most affected among the displaced Nuba population are small children, the elderly, and pregnant and lactating mothers.

In Sudan’s Nuba mountains, more than 300 children continue to die every day from the effects of “severe wasting.” This is a direct result of the destructive behavior of the Islamist SAF regime in Khartoum.

In response to these conditions inside Nuba, Persecution Project launched its “Therapeutic Feeding and Medical Care Campaign” to combat severe wasting.  November 1, 2025 marked one year since the implementation of this campaign.

I am grateful to report that during these past 12 months, God has answered prayer in a miraculous way —allowing our medical teams at GRH and Tujor Hospitals to treat and save more than 27,000 patients!

Our medical teams, led by Drs. Alamin and Martin, have treated an average of more than 2,300 patients per month (mostly small children).

It is not an exaggeration to say this has been a miracle for the Nuba people. For much of the year, the roads in the Nuba become swamp land… quite literally. Moving large, heavy shipments of food becomes extremely challenging.

The airspace has been closed by the SAF Islamists since 2011, so everything must be moved overland. And this is often a problem money can’t fix. To get through requires sheer will power, and we have been blessed with a team so dedicated, they are willing to do what it takes to break through to our hospitals.

Our guys persevered, not just because of the extreme need waiting for them at the hospitals, but because of the people behind them: you.

They know that the burden they’re carrying is one borne first by you. It is a burden of love for the persecuted Church. Love for them.

This is our team— yours and mine. Our brothers and sisters working together to bring the love of Christ in word and deed to the suffering and persecuted.

I hope it encourages you to “not grow wearing in your well-doing.” You are making a difference!

This is a cause of great thanksgiving for us. As we gather to celebrate the greatest gift of all — the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ— remember that there are unseen members of your family still present with you in spirit. I pray your Christmas holiday is full of grace and peace.

From my home in East Africa to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

Brad Phillips
President

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