Unfortunately we were not able to have the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday 11th May 2008 as we planned it to be join together with the Sudan Pentecostal Church celebration. This is because there was fighting in the city. We organized the prayers to begin from the 9th, 10th and 11th, Pentecost Sunday. This was to engage the Christians to pray together the last two days of the 10 days of prayer.
On the 9th May 2008, the prayers began well and more than 80 people attended. People prayed for repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.
During the prayer session, the prayer leaders were told to put off the meeting because the situation in Khartoum was said not to be safe. Instead the prayer leader ignored it and told the congregation to pray for the situation in Khartoum. We praised God that the praying meeting went successful in spite of the interruption.
On the 10th May 2008, the prayer meeting started at 2:00 pm and people turned up to worship and praise God and interceding before the official program started at 4:30 pm. At around 4:00 to 4:30 pm the prayer and program leader of the day received a message that there was an attack of the city. So they put the sound system off and continue to pray with the microphone at the center of the city. Within a short time they were told to go home because the government had declared a state of emergency and curfew was declared from 5;00 pm until 10:00 am the next morning. Later on we heard that there was an attack on Khartoum by Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) of the Darfur resistant group.
The prayer leader who led the prayer meeting lived at Omdurman and he could not go home because of the combat that took place on the bridge, They decided to spend the night in Khartoum center praying.
On Sunday the 11th may 2008 around 11;00 am the curfew was lifted but it was difficult to move because the government advised people to stay at home and at the same time there werecheck points all over and the armies were searching some of the Rebels who were hiding in residences. There were no church services at the three big cities Omdurman, Khartoum North and Khartoum center.
So the GDOP we planned on Pentecost Sunday did not take place. It was a sad situation and many lives of people were lost in this incident but the Bible says in Romans 8:28 that "And we know that in all things god works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to this purpose."
The situation now is calm. We still value your prayers for the situation in Khartoum and the Darfur issues to be sorted out in order for peace and stability to be in Sudan.
George Taban gtawad@gmail.com |
