CHRISTIANITY IN SUDAN

Gary Short

The name Cush meaning "Dark," is mentioned several times in the Bible. As early as Genesis 2 Cush is described as a geographical area with a significant river running through it, thought by some to be the Nile. This river is said to flow out of Eden, don’t tell this to any of my Ugandan friends. Isaiah 11:11 tells that God has people in the land of Cush, and the day is coming that He is going to restore them. The Bible also describes Cush as a person and then a people group, the eldest son of Ham, brother of Canaan and the father of Nimrod (Genesis 10:6-8). When the Old Testament uses the word Ethiopian it is actually the word for Cushite, which could have been a generalization for all Africans. The wife of Moses was a Cushite (Numbers 12:1). In Old Testament times the people of God were aware of the dark skinned people to the south. Over time there were probably many occasions when the Jewish nation had the opportunity to influence the African continent. Unfortunately they did not respond to the call to take God’s message to the world.

Thankfully, the early Christian church was very different; taking the good news everywhere. One of the early conversions singled out for our attention is that of an African man from somewhere is North Africa (Acts 8:26-38). As far as we know, this obviously influential man could have taken Christianity back to his home area immediately. It is very likely that the tradition that this man introduced Christianity to the Sudanese or “Nubian” culture of northern Africa is true.

We are fairly certain that Christianity came to North Africa as early as the middle of the first century. According to one tradition, the apostle Mark brought the Gospel to this region. Without doubt, if the Gospel came to the Africans by AD 41, as many think, then it started with the New Testament style of vibrant congregational worship with apostolic preaching followed by signs and wonders (Mark 16:20). However, by the 3rd or 4th century Coptic Orthodox Christianity similar to Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodox became the dominate Christian organization in the region and was formalized at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Using the latest possible scenario, Christianity was introduced into the Sudan at least by the 3rd or 4th century, and eventually much of northern Sudan followed the Coptic Christianity that came down from Egypt. The Moslem religion was brought to Egypt and the surrounding region in 640AD through an armed invasion of the Middle Eastern Moslem nations. With the influx of Arab Muslim traders and culture, all of northern Africa eventually was Islamized. The African kingdoms which had earlier been Christianized called the Nubians (present day southern Egypt and northern Sudan) managed to resist forced Islamization until the 15th Century. This area was also a part of the land called Kush or Cush. It is uncertain just how far south this area extended. There were a number of different Nubian or cushite kingdoms in that region with differing and fluctuating borders.

It is currently estimated by some that more than 95% of Egypt’s Christians belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church. The Coptic Church is also found all over the Arab nations of North Africa including northern Sudan and the countries to which these people have migrated. Sudan the largest land mass country in Africa has a population of between 30 and 40 million people with the heaviest concentration in the north; an estimated 16% are Christians while Muslims make up 62 % and those who practice traditional religions 22%. When we consider southern Sudan apart from the north the numbers shift to almost 50% Christian.

The majority of Christians in Sudan are adherents of either the Catholic or Anglican churches but there are several other denominations represented there including:
Apostolic Church,
New Apostolic,
Coptic Church
Coptic Orthodox Church,
Ethiopian Orthodox Church,
Eritrean Church,
Greek Orthodox Church,
Presbyterian Church of the Sudan,
Seventh Day Adventist Church,
Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church,
Sudan Pentecostal Church,
Sudan Interior Church,
Africa Inland Church,
Sudan Church of Christ.

There is also at least one cult group operating in Sudan.

Roman Catholic missionaries began work in Sudan in 1842; both the Anglicans and the American Presbyterians began in Sudan in 1899, the Anglicans through the Church Missionary Society in Omdurman while the Presbyterians began in Khartoum but developed ministry both in the north and the south. The Sudan Interior Mission began working in the country in 1937. The Africa Inland Mission launched the Africa Inland Church in 1949. In 1964 all foreign missionaries were made to leave southern Sudan because of the war. A few groups maintained missionaries in the north. The Sudan Pentecostal Church which has grown significantly in the south was started later by the Swedish.

This information is over 10 years old and since the signing of the peace accords many other groups are operating in southern Sudan. There is currently a freeze on the registration of new organizations so groups like my own denomination the Foursquare Gospel Church have begun to plant churches but are not yet on the demographic radar screen.

One thing is certain, through the signing of the Peace Accords God has granted a window of opportunity to spread the Gospel message though all of southern Sudan and to some extent even the north. There are several evangelical groups working in the displaced person’s camps around Khartoum. There are less than five years left on the peace agreement and no one knows what will happen after that point.

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send laborers to Sudan (Luke 10:2).

Sources: Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia; Sudannetnews; Nifcom