2 of 6

"The agreement ended a devastating war. That's the good news," says Richard Williamson, President Bush's special envoy to Sudan. "The bad news is that you ended up with an imperfect peace."

Amid this imperfect political peace, the Sudanese church has been making peace in its own way, carrying on its mission at the grassroots level. In recent months, CT traveled hundreds of miles through southern Sudan, visiting Juba, Yambio, and several remote villages. It was not hard to find passionate Christian leaders who set aside personal safety to build up the church and work for a more unified, just Sudan.

On a hot and dusty runway on the Sudan-Kenya border stands the tall, lean James Lual Atak. Years ago, as a refugee and former child soldier, Atak was one of Sudan's 27,000 Lost Boys separated from his parents during the war years. Today, he is a pastor and the founder of New Lives Ministries in the remote village of Nyamlell, Bahr el-Ghazal state.

Atak raises his hands above his head to shade his eyes from the scorching sun as he watches the transfer of 1,650 pounds of medical supplies. The supplies were flown in from Nairobi and will be taken the rest of the way on another plane to Atak's village. The supplies will stock the shelves of the medical clinic his ministry has recently built. The compound already includes a school, church, and several dorms.

When Atak founded New Lives in May 2002, he was the only staff member caring for and educating 153 children. There were no buildings then, but there were trees. Each day Atak would divide the children into three groups and position each beneath a different tree. He would get one group started by counting numbers, and then run out from the shade of the tree into the hot afternoon sun to another group. With the next group, he would begin reciting the alphabet until they caught on, at which point he would head out to the third tree to teach the children how to sing Bible songs.

After landing with medical supplies at Nyamlell, James proudly shows off their new two-story dormitory. In a landscape of browns and beiges, earth, trees, and huts, the dorm's bright white walls and shiny, corrugated roof gleam like a beacon. The entire village seems to revolve around the New Lives compound. The children of the orphanage, now numbering over 400, flock to Atak as he returns.

Nyamlell's fate might have turned out differently had Atak accepted a golden ticket for refugee resettlement in the United States. Like nearly 3,800 young Sudanese who had survived the war, Atak was offered a one-way seat on a plane bound for the U.S. After much soul-searching prayer, he turned down that invitation; he was done running. Atak later graduated from a Bible college in Kenya and returned to his village. By no small miracle, he discovered that his parents were still alive.

Within weeks, Atak determined to stay in Nyamlell. He received a land grant and began his ministry by preaching under a tree. Eventually Atak was able to gain the trust of many orphans, whom he offered a home on his land. Atak admits he has more than once questioned his decision to stay in Africa. But he resolves that question each time by saying, "We can be happy where we are, whether gunshot or no gunshot, as long as we have Christ."

next page... |  2 of 6

share this page

January 2009, Vol. 53, No. 1