Beloved in Christ,

 

I send you very warm greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is always a privilege to send you our monthly praise and prayer calendar.  We sincerely thank you for being a part of what God is doing in Africa through the humble efforts of His faithful servants on the front lines in Africa.  We consider it a real honor to be His heart, His hands and His feet extended to meet gospel needs in Africa.  This is our passion:  To take His love to the remaining unreached people groups in our beloved homeland.  We appreciate your prayer and financial support towards this goal.

 

We again thank you for under girding our recent Spring 2003 mission trip to Sudan and Uganda. Your prayers made a huge difference.  Please take the prayer items in this month’s calendar seriously.  And particularly pray for:

 

• Rev. Samuel Dobai Amum, an Episcopal priest in Sudan, who was imprisoned on April 7 because he refused to demolish his church building.  According to a recent report from ICC, Rev. Amum built the chapel in an undeveloped part of the Takamol-Hag-Yousif area of Khartoum North in 1987, the city council informed him in 1995 that the land belonged to Mr. Awad Abdalla Bashir, a member of the council. Bashir demanded that Amum pay 10 million dinars (about $38,400) for use of the land. A judge upheld Bashir’s demands, sentencing Amum to prison for an indefinite amount of time until he pays 7 million dinars ($26,900) to secure use of the land or destroy the church.  Please pray for God’s special protection over Christian refugees in northern Sudan who are treated as second-class citizens.  And pray for God’s intervention so that the church could continue to exist and that Rev. Amum would be released from prison.
• AFNet Prayer Bulletin calls for prayer for the "Movement for African National Initiatives" (MANI) in French speaking central Africa; and for the Cameroonian National consultation on Missions which is being organized through MANI’s effort to see a pioneer and saturation church planting movement developed in partnership with the churches and other mission agencies. 
• Pray for the planning and preparation for a West African sub-regional prayer leaders congress in Lagos, Nigeria later this year. The theme of the congress is Transforming West Africa through Prayer.

 

Lastly, please pray for the ACF mission team preparing to leave in August for our summer mission trip to Benin Republic, Nigeria and Uganda.  Pray for God’s direction as we equip the team for ministry and ask our gracious Lord for fruitful ministry in Africa this summer.

 

May our God make your stronger on your knees!

 

For His excellent glory,

 

Richard Erhiawarien