South Sudan - FRIENDSMISSION.COM

Brad & Chelsea Carpenter | February Update

Barb Arroyo — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 19:49:02 +0000

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for continuing to pray with us as we walk and serve with Jesus in Central/East Africa. We are thankful for your partnership over all these years.

Brad has now been living in Rwanda for 20 years, and in June, Chelsea will have been here for 17 years. We praise God for the many ways that He has helped and empowered us to be a part of what He is doing!

Much has happened since we last wrote.

Thank you for praying for the trip to Burundi and South Sudan in December. The trip was great. It is exciting to see how God is leading Burundi Friends in preparing a plan to send missionaries to unreached people in Tanzania, and Rwanda Friends preparing to send missionaries to South Sudan in May.

In January, our EFC-Rwanda Friends hosted a team from EFM who led a 5-day Small Business Development training that we believe will be an important part of how God wants to give Rwanda Friends new ways to do His mission here in Rwanda and beyond. Mission through businesses is exciting and will open many opportunities for ministry in the communities.

On January 29–30, the Administrative Council of EFC-Rwanda met to discern the Lord’s plan for who the next executive leaders of EFC-Rwanda are to be. We believe that the Lord helped the group make wise decisions.

On February 14–16, we will have some important D4D meetings with David Thomas, one of our D4D coaches.

On February 17–18, there will be an important Pastors’ retreat. On February 19–20, there will be Yearly Meeting sessions to fill several other leadership roles for the coming years. Please pray for God’s blessing and help in those days of discernment and decision.

Please also pray for a retreat that Brad will attend in Kenya from February 19–24 with others working in Disciple-making movements. Pray for good connections with God and others who are doing similar work. Please pray for Brad to have special times that are renewing and refreshing with the Lord. Also, please pray for Chelsea and the kids, who will be home in Musanze.

We continue to be so thankful for the ways the Lord helps us stay healthy in general, and the ways He heals us when we do get sick. We are still praying for Brad’s stomach issues that interfere with his sleep. Our kindergartner, 4th grader, and 7th grader continue to show diligence and kindness at school, and we also all enjoy the school events that help us feel like a community. We are thankful to have rhythms of hosting special visitors and everyday home life—normal days and exciting days, work and rest. We pray the Lord blesses you with these things as well!

Brad, Chelsea, Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

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Thomas Moore | December Update

Barb Arroyo — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 21:01:00 +0000

With Nicodeme At The Airport

Hi Friends and Family,

I’m writing to you from the Wycliffe compound in Juba, South Sudan and am a little over halfway through my trip. For the past 6 days, I’ve had the opportunity to meet the missionaries and the South Sudanese who work with Wycliffe here, and I have absolutely loved it! I’ve felt so welcomed by various people making sure I have what I need and looking out for me, and several people have had me over for dinner on various nights to get to know me better. Beyond that, I’ve loved being with people who have a love for linguistics and Bible translation. From conversations about the process of Bible translation to Greek and Hebrew to the software tools Wycliffe uses to aid the translation process, I feel very at home here.

But one of my favorite things has been sitting in with a couple of translation teams (the Avokaya team and the Fur team) as they work on translating the Old Testament. The Avokaya team, who I visited on Friday, were checking their draft of Exodus 21 and talking about various exegetical and translation issues that came up. The Fur team, who I visited on Monday, were checking their draft of Joshua 14 and doing the same. I’ve learned a lot by watching them and was able to help out in small ways when they had questions about the original Hebrew text or about the cultural context of the passage they were working on.

The Tuqul: A Place For Monday Morning Prayer Together And Hanging Out

Today (Tuesday), I will leave Wycliffe’s compound and have a different focus for the rest of my trip. Pastor Nicodeme, a missionary from Rwanda, has been in South Sudan for the past two and a half months to figure out the logistics of his family and him living here starting sometime next year. The plan is for Nicodeme and his family to be joined by Evangelical Friends Mission (EFM) missionaries in the near future so that we can partner together in planting churches in South Sudan. I, two pastors from Rwanda, an EFM missionary, and an EFM director will spend the rest of the week with Nicodeme to be with him, encourage him, and help him debrief. I’ve already gotten to spend some good quality time with Nicodeme when he’s visited me at the Wycliffe compound and am looking forward to hearing more about what the past few months have looked like for him.

Finally, I’m so grateful for all of you! Thank you for how you’ve prayed and are praying for me and for how you’ve given so that I can begin a disciple-making apprenticeship with North County Project in January. Currently, I’m 73% funded! Thank you for your incredible generosity! As a reminder, if you’d like to partner with me through financial gifts, here are the ways you can do it:

Online: Visit the NCP Apprentice donation page by clicking this link. Once there, scroll to find my name and select your gift amount. You’ll have the opportunity to indicate whether you are giving monthly or as a one-time gift.
Credit Card: You may give online (as stated above) or by calling the EFM office at (303) 421-8100 to provide your information to a live representative.
Automatic Bank Transfer: Download the form here and email it to Debby McElroy (EFM Bookkeeper) at debby@friendsmission.com. Please note that ACH payments are processed on the 10^th or 25^th of the month.
Check: Mail a check to EFM, P.O. Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Please mark your check with “Thomas Moore NCP Apprentice Support” and indicate if your gift will be recurring (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Make the check payable to “EFM.”

Thank you again for how you’re coming on this journey with me. I look forward to giving many of you more details about this trip. I’d love to meet with you to tell you more about it if you live in Southern California or talk with you over the phone or video chat if you live elsewhere.

In Him,
Thomas Moore

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Brad & Chelsea Carpenter | December Update

Barb Arroyo — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 19:29:43 +0000

Dear Prayer Partners,

Many things have happened since we last wrote. We are so thankful for your prayers and partnership in the whole-life discipleship movement here in East Africa!

From Saturday, December 13, until Sunday the 21st, Brad will be on a trip to Burundi and then South Sudan. Time in both countries will be focused on starting new mission work and partnership with our African friends. Please pray for wisdom and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and to each other, as we (EFM) work with EFC-Rwanda and EFC-Burundi. We are praying for God to lead us into the best ways of partnering together for more effective mission to the nations. Please pray for health, safety, and blessing over those who are travelling and for their families at home.

We are thankful that we are all fairly healthy after being sick recently. We are also really thankful that Brad’s parents are with us until the beginning of January! We look forward to spending this Christmas season with them and some friends in Musanze.

Most of all, we pray that all would hear about the hope that God offers through Jesus. May He be glorified all throughout the world!

Thank you!
Brad & Chelsea
Sarai, Gideon, and Ian

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A Report from the 10:2 Prayer Trip to South Sudan

Kimberly Mer — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:02:49 +0000

By November 2024, EFM had made a commitment to launch seven of the nine fields that were under exploration. Those seven fields are now moving on to the prayer and pre-launch planning phases. Meanwhile, we are currently still sending Luke 10 Exploration Teams to consider other potential fields, one of them being unreached people groups in Southeast Asia. You can learn more here.

A 10:2 Prayer Trip is an annual trip to the mission fields where EFM has committed to sending missionaries. Teams are asked to pray for the soil (Matthew 13:1-23) and pray for the workers (Luke 10:2). Teams are sent or guided by sponsoring regions/yearly meetings of the new EFM fields that have been leading exploration. 10:2 Prayer Trips will target appropriate communities for prayer walking and interceding that “the Kingdom come, and God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven” in those places.

In November 2024, a 10:2 Prayer Trip took place in South Sudan. The following is a report written by team member Kevin Hoppock.

Who Was on this Trip & Where Did We Travel?

The team members who participated on this trip were, from EFC- Rwanda, Jean Paul Nsekanabo (Missions Team Chair), Nicodeme and Annonciatha Basebya with daughter Joy (approved missionary candidates) and Brad Carpenter (EFM Missionary); and from Mexico Yearly Meeting North, Samuel Vasquez (Pastor); and from the U.S., Kevin and Melissa Hoppock (EFM board member), Tony and Stacey Wheeler (EFM board member), and Matt Macy (EFM staff).

We travelled to the country of South Sudan, not to be confused with the neighboring country of Sudan, is the newest country in the U.N. We traveled to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. From there, we made a couple of trips to a nearby new suburb, Juba Two, which is where we sense that the mission may first get established. We also made a day trip by flight to Kapoeta, which is in the Eastern Equatoria part of the country where the unreached Toposa People continue to practice animistic religions.

A Few Trip Highlights

In Kapoeta, Annonciata made a divine connection with a key Rwandan shop owner who is deeply connected to the Rwandans who enter the country. She was able to pray over him and exchange numbers. She also was led to the outskirts of Kapoeta where we found a large gathering of women. Communication was difficult, but we were able to visibly extend love and joy. Annonciata has a beautiful and skillful way of engaging women even despite language barriers.

One morning, we all went to the top of our seven-floor hotel, where we had a view of the city of Juba. We then spent a powerful time together in prayer over the city.

Our corporate times of prayer were sweet; however, for those of us who are not African, to be present in the neighborhoods where the mission may soon start was limited due to the concern that the presence of foreigners might create misunderstood expectations. Even with that limitation, the Rwandans on the team were able to walk, pray, and make connections in Juba Two, and the rest of us were able to engage and pray with a few families in Juba Two and with a few business owners in Kapoeta.

What did We Pray for? How Can You Continue Praying?

We invite you to join us in prayer…

For more workers from EFM in the U.S. and from the Friends Church of Rwanda. South Sudan is ripe for the harvest!
For EFC-Rwanda as they challenge themselves to send well. They plan to send their first missionary family, Nicodeme, Annonciata, and Joy Basebya, in the summer/fall of 2025.
That the EFC-Rwanda missions-sending framework be strong in prayer, care, finances, and strategy, as well as for discernment in training and coaching.
For this missionary family’s logistics, such as housing in Juba Two, adequate support systems for the family in transition, and appropriate school choices for Joy, who is due to begin “secondary school” in fall 2025 (grades 7-12 in traditional boarding school).
For EFM’s partnership with EFC-Rwanda in starting this new mission field. May the Lord Jesus get the glory, the nations get the gospel, and the church get the good life!

Are you Feeling Called to Join EFM?

Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years?

EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church!

To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form!

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

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Pray for the 10:2 Prayer Trip to South Sudan

Kimberly Mer — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 16:37:06 +0000

This next 10:2 Prayer Trip is taking place in Juba, South Sudan, from November 15-24. The team will be focusing on prayer in Juba Two and Kapoeta.

The team members going on this trip are: from EFC- Rwanda, Jean Paul Nsekanabo (Missions Team Chair), Nicodeme and Annonciatha Basebya with daughter Joy (approved missionary candidates) and Brad Carpenter (EFM Missionary); and from Mexico Yearly Meeting North, Samuel Vasquez (Pastor); and from the U.S., Kevin and Melissa Hoppock (EFM board member), Tony and Stacey Wheeler (EFM board member), and Matt Macy (EFM staff).

Juba Two is a fast-growing suburb of the capital city, Juba, where many refugees are returning in this peacetime era to reestablish residence in South Sudan. The South Sudan Field Study Group senses that the mission will likely launch in Juba Two. Kapoeta is a more remote town with many rural villages in the area that are unreached people following animistic traditional tribal religions. The exploration and pre-launch planning teams have had their hearts drawn to the many remote areas of South Sudan, where few have heard that Jesus loves them.

Team prayer leaders Kevin and Melissa Hoppock share these insights and prayer requests:

We are most excited about this critical moment in stewarding the movement by preparing the soil through intercession and partnership with Rwandan missionaries for the harvest to come.

Please pray that our ears would be attuned to the Holy Spirit as he guides us to the places and people who can create the connections that will be necessary for the mission to thrive.
We pray for favor among government officials, police, and all in authority.
Please pray for divine protection from any political unrest, spiritual opposition, and over the health and well-being of the team.
Pray that God gives us wisdom as we create a cross-cultural missionary team.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

To learn more about how you can join these trips or if you are interested in exploring missionary service, visit here.

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Report from the Pre- Launch Planning Trip to South Sudan

Kimberly Mer — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 17:45:11 +0000

By Fall 2023, 17 teams had been sent out to explore 11 different potential new mission fields since EFM’s Five-Year Goal launched in 2021. In November 2023, EFM made a commitment to launch 6 of the 9 fields that were still under exploration. Those six fields are now moving on to the pre-launch planning phases. See more information here.

A Luke 10 Pre-Launch Planning Trip occurs after EFM has made a decision of commitment to launching the mission field. EFM commissions Field Study Groups to complete a Pre-Launch Planning Report, which often requires further trips to obtain the details necessary for EFM to be able to deploy missionaries to a location to launch a new field.

In June and July 2024, a pre-launch planning trip took place in South Sudan. The following is a report written by team memner Matt Macy.

Who Was on this Trip & Where Did We Travel?

There were eight total on this team: six future missionaries and two missions-sending leaders, which included three from Rwanda, one from Mexico, and four from the U.S. The team was made up of Pastor Jean Paul Nsekanabo (EFC-Rwanda Missions Board Chair), Nicodeme and Anoinciata Basebya (EFC-Rwanda-selected future missionaries to South Sudan), Ximena Maldonado (future missionary from Mexico Yearly Meeting North), Ellie Ware (future missionary from EFC-ER), Luke Macy and Nathan Macy (future missionaries from EFC-MAYM), and Matt Macy (EFM Director of Mobilization).

We started with visit to the missionary training boot camp in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, followed by visits to several boot camp student graduates who are serving among the unreached in Tanzania (June 23-29). Then we went to South Sudan, where we spent time in Juba, Sherkat, Juba Two, Kapoeta, Gemueza, and Tarit (June 29- July 8). Nicodeme and Anoinciate Basebya stayed a few more days in the vicinity of Juba to gather more information.

A Few Trip Highlights

We made our third visit to the town of Juba Two, which is a very quickly growing suburb of the capital city of Juba. Many refugees who were internally or externally displaced are moving home, and this is one of the places where many of them are building simple homes and businesses. For the third time, we had future missionaries who were with us who felt a sense of peace and even a sense of “I feel like I am home” when visiting there. It seems like a great place to start the mission. We enjoyed fellowship with local people there, visiting a couple of homes, and spending some time at the water well helping run the hand pump to fill jugs.

We made a two-night trip in Kapoeta, our first time there, which required a flight on a 14-passenger Cessna Grand Caravan. We met the Tiposa Tribe, and we were deeply touched. This is an unreached tribe where child marriage, child labor, and each man having many wives, is the norm. Access to education and other basic services is a challenge in the area. Identity in the traditional tribal way of life and African traditional religions and worldviews are very important to them. This is a town that represents countless towns in “the bush” of South Sudan, where road access is limited/seasonal or non-existent. During the low-altitude flight to/from Kapoeta, we saw countless clans and villages throughout the countryside and felt our hearts drawn to taking the Good News of Jesus to them, in a spirit of humility, learning, and service.

Our team had several visits with groups of people in Kapoeta. We were not allowed to take pictures, but it felt like we were walking amongst the pages of National Geographic, African bush tribes. Upon arriving at the town market, our girls talked to several girls, heavily adorned in jewelry around their necks, wrists, waists, and multi-ear and face piercings, who were happy for conversation as they rested in the shade. They appeared to be around age 16-17 but wouldn’t admit it or didn’t know their age and had their second or third child in their arms. We also had rich conversations of learning with a family outside of town, and also with people leading schools and a local hospital.

What Did We Discover on Our Trip?

As this was our third trip to South Sudan, after Luke 10 Exploration Trips in 2022 and 2023, the poverty and lack of infrastructure stood out, as we were thinking about how and where missionaries would live and what future strategies might look like, especially long-term. The Rwandan missionary family, Nicodeme and Anoinciata, are discerning how they would provide adequate education to their 11-year-old daughter. Also, in earlier trips, our minds were on immersion and homestays for launching the mission, but on this trip, we were also thinking about what minimum needs our missionary families will need for housing for long-term sustainability in areas where existing housing may lack in ventilation, water, electricity, sewer and even roads or security in some places.

We can see that the EFM South Sudan Field Study Group may be recommending that the mission look at sustainable options for starting schools, even before churches are planted. We also discovered that in order to pursue going to the vast areas of unreached peoples in South Sudan, we will need to be prepared to go to towns that can’t be reached by roads most or all of the year, but instead will require travel by small airplane. Discernment will require missionaries to immerse into communities in order to gain access to the information EFM will need in order to make long-term decisions and plans, but there is a growing sense of peace about Juba Two being a newer town that we could move into to get started in establishing an immersion presence and learning language, if not also getting a home base started for the mission there near the capital city of Juba.

What Are the Needs? Who Should Go?

We believe that people with business experience, school administration, teaching, gardening or farming, hospitality, and organizing skills would fit well on this team. These roles, along with a variety of other physical and spiritual support roles for establishing a presence for this disciple-making work, will be needed by both short-term (two-year) or long-term (four years plus) workers. People from the U.S. or other countries who are ready to serve in humility as learners alongside and under EFC-Rwanda’s leadership will be needed.

Pastor Nicodeme and Anoinciata Basebya from Rwanda have been chosen by EFC-Rwanda to move to South Sudan as early as the summer of 2025. We also have young adults from the U.S. who are considering the possibility after further preparation and training. We are praying that the Lord of the harvest would send other mature persons with personal and professional life experiences who could be a part of this work to go to people who may not hear the Good News if we don’t go!

Are you Feeling Called to Join EFM?

Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years?

EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church!

To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form.

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

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Pray for the Luke 10 Pre-Launch Planning Trip to South Sudan!

Kimberly Mer — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 18:31:13 +0000

This next Luke 10 trip is a Pre-Launch planning trip to South Sudan with a visit to “missionary training boot camp” in Dar es Salaam (East Africa School of Missions) in Tanzania. The team will be in Tanzania from June 23-29 and in South Sudan from June 29-July 8.

We have eight total on this team: six future missionaries and two mission-sending leaders. Three from Rwanda, one from Mexico, and four from the U.S. The team members are: Pastor Jean Paul Nsekanabo (EFC-Rwanda Missions Board Chair), Nicodeme and Anoinciata Basebya (EFC-Rwanda-selected future missionaries to South Sudan), Ximena Maldonado (future missionary from Mexico Yearly Meeting North), Ellie Ware (future missionary from EFC-ER ), Luke Macy and Nathan Macy (future missionaries from EFC- MAYM), and Matt Macy (EFM Director of Mobilization).

EFM is working with EFC-Rwanda in plans for launching a new mission field in South Sudan together. This includes continuing logistical details in South Sudan for deploying missionaries from Rwanda and the U.S. as early as 2025. The main focus for at least the first two years in South Sudan will be language learning immersion and culture bonding. EFC-Rwanda has selected missionaries to go, and EFM is seeing that Nicodeme and Anoinciata will be key missionary team leaders in South Sudan.

We are also considering best practices in special training for pioneering new fields among unreached people in Africa, and EFM, alongside leaders from EFC-Rwanda and EFC-Burundi, over the past two years have selected the boot camp in Tanzania for a key part of this training. This year’s trip is to expose future missionaries to the school as we all consider what the timing should be for enrollment.

Lastly, EFM is in conversation with EFC-Rwanda about partnership in missions-sending for launching in South Sudan, which includes a multi-national missionary team with team members from both Rwanda and the U.S. We wish to consider options for how the team might develop both on the field and off the field, including potentially at boot camp together.

The following are ways that you can pray for this team while they are in Tanzania and South Sudan. Please pray…

For a “peace of mind” (2 Cor 2:13).
That we hear and discern God’s direction for the next steps moving forward.
For unity between EFC-Rwanda and EFM.
For the “casting out” of workers to the unreached of South Sudan (Luke 10:2).

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

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Report from the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan

Kimberly Mer — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 16:31:03 +0000

The second trip within the second wave of Luke 10 Exploration Trips went out from September 8-17 to South Sudan.

Ten exploration teams made trips to ten different destinations and peoples between April 2022 and March 2023. These trips were the first wave of exploration in discerning potential new fields for EFM to launch as part of EFM’s Five-Year Goal. It was determined that eight of those destinations require a second trip for further, deeper, exploration, plus as of July 2023 plans are being made by FSW to start a new work among unreached people groups in Cambodia and surrounding areas. Further exploration will help EFM to begin making decisions about where to make commitments in November 2023 to send North American households to launch new fields. See more information here.

The following is a report written by a member of the team, Brendan Steinacher.

Who Was on this Trip & Where Did We Travel?

The team included Aaron Mupenda (EFC-Rwanda), Jean-Paul Nsekanabo (EFC-Rwanda), Nicodeme Basebya (EFC-Rwanda) Matt Macy (EFM Director of Mobilization), Brad Carpenter (EFM Missionary), Todd Brown (EFC-MAYM), and Brendan Steinacher (EFC-MAYM). The seven-member team met in Juba, South Sudan from October 10-17. They used the Dandy Hotel in Juba as a base camp, traveling to towns and villages in the surrounding areas. Over four days the teams visited Juba City, Juba Two, Mangala Payam, and Torit City to investigate evangelism and the lack of evangelism among the various people groups.

What was our experience traveling here? How did the Lord meet us?

The intent was to discover regions and areas where the people are underserved or unreached. In the places we visited, we found many tribes that have exposure to some faiths but very few who have a true relationship with Christ. Many told us that they were a Christian country where Catholic, Protestant Christian, Muslim, and others (in that order) have churches/teach. What we found were people who associate with a brand of faith because of family or community identity more than personal faith. We also found connections to many unreached peoples and villages in vast remote sections of the country.

By visiting these locations and hearing reports about surrounding villages we were able to identify places that need evangelical presence and are interested in hearing the gospel. Some places once had mission influence but the people from these places were not discipled sufficiently to have sustainable congregations. Other areas would be considered refugee towns due to displacement from war, flooding, and migration across the country. Many of these villages are asking for biblical training. Some areas were once well evangelized but now have no spiritual support contact outside of their own villages or areas. Christ’s guiding hand and the introduction to people at the right time and the right place seemed to direct our paths and speak to his opening of doors as we traveled through South Sudan.

Two Trip Highlights

New Beginnings:

There is a deep encouragement in the resolve our Rwandan friends have towards opening this work in South Sudan. In 1999 EFC Rwanda had the vision that the light of Christ would be taken across Africa making disciples by Africans. Our friends are committed to sending missionaries – “We do it!”- by 2025. That conviction is clearer today than it was on the first Luke 10 Exploration Trip to Juba. Part of that deep conviction is that Rwandans see the tribal tensions in South Sudan and have lived and transformed tribal reconciliation in Rwanda. Bringing the love of Christ into South Sudan using Discipleship for Development whole-life discipleship methodologies is a fire that has started. EFC-Rwanda demonstrates organizational maturity as they have a missions board overseeing missions-mobilizing activities at national, regional, and local church organizational structures, and are strategically identifying next steps including missionary selection, training, and support. A highlight for our team was to continue blowing on the embers of the inevitable fire!

Power of Relationships:

Is it possible that a primary reason for EFM missions to South Sudan is because it is “on mission with Rwandan missions sending”? Also, the relationships built during this trip with prominent South Sudanese contacts were plentiful. From the church, government, United Nations security, business owners…leaders from all walks seemed to fall into place at just the right moment. God provided a way at every turn, even when doors closed, we just had to be patient for the doors to open when he was ready. South Sudan is a country in transition expressing a desire for change. After a long history of war and recent independence, it is a country and a people that want and are ready for a spiritual harvest.

“When you come back in a year, we will proclaim this day, a day of prayer in the National Immigration Offices of South Sudan” – Deputy Inspector General.

How Can You Pray for Next Steps in this Country?

Next Steps:

EFC-Rwanda works with government contacts to establish church registration.
EFC-Rwanda selects missionary/s that have a call by November 2023.
EFC-Rwanda determines a plan for missionary training as well as training for key leaders in sending church.
EFM makes a decision on EFM’s commitment to send U.S. missionaries.
Possibly send a missionary or team for one to three months to get more information.
Continue to develop EFC-Rwanda’s framework for missions sending.
Continue to mobilize for prayer and financial support.

Please pray for…

The raising up of EFM missionaries to accompany our Rwandan friends. A partnership agreement for a multi-national team.
The upcoming elections in 2024 for South Sudan. For a peaceful transfer of office and a stable geopolitical climate.
Coaching and training for EFM and EFC-Rwanda missionaries.

What’s Next?

The second round of Luke 10 Exploration Trips continues through October 2023. The EFM National Luke 10 Think Tank will meet on November 8, 2023 to look at which fields meet EFM’s CAN GO Criteria for launching new fields and begin making the first decisions as to where EFM will commit to deploying missionaries by the end of 2025.

Are you Feeling Called to Join EFM?

Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years?

EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church!

To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form!

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative.

Matt Macy

Director of Mobilization

The post Report from the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

Pray for the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan!

Kimberly Mer — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 16:18:57 +0000

We are now sending the second wave of exploration trips to potential new mission fields to discern where EFM and partner regions/yearly meetings will make decisions for launching new fields, based on EFM’s CAN GO Criteria. The next National EFM Luke 10 Think Tank convenes in November 2023 with plans to identify which fields EFM will make commitments towards launching. Ten teams have now explored ten different country/people group destinations on a first Luke 10 Exploration Trip. See more information here.

This next trip to South Sudan is taking place between September 8-17! This team is made up of representatives from EFC- Rwanda and the U.S., including: Pastor Aaron Mupenda (General Superintendent and Legal Representative of EFC-Rwanda), Pastor Jean Paul Nsekanabo (Assistant General Superintendent of EFC-Rwanda), Pastor Nicodeme Basebya (Leader of Pastoral Training in EFC-Rwanda), Brad Carpenter (EFM Missionary), Brendan Steinacher (EFC- MAYM), Matt Macy (EFM Director of Mobilization), and Todd Brown (EFC-MAYM).

Matt Macy and Brad Carpenter provided these insights into this trip to Ecuador.

The team will visit some different areas and people groups in and around Juba, South Sudan. Pastors Jean Paul and Nicodeme arrived to Juba on September 4. The rest of the team will join them on September 10. The purpose of this trip is to seek the Lord’s direction for where EFC-Rwanda will start a mission in South Sudan. We also expect some important, Holy Spirit-led discussions about missions, vision-casting, fundraising, and more. We continue to ask the Lord to give us insights to help EFM discern whether or not he is leading EFM to send missionaries from the U.S. to South Sudan or if EFM will simply partner with EFC-Rwanda as they send their own missionaries to South Sudan.

The following are ways that you can be praying for this team while they are in South Sudan.

Pray for protection and health in each part of the trip.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to clearly lead the team to know and understand where and in what way God wants the Evangelical Friends Church to join in what he is doing in South Sudan.
Pray for productive discussions and strategizing for the next steps towards a new mission in South Sudan.
Pray for EFM leaders to have wisdom to know what God has planned for EFM in regards to missions in South Sudan.

The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to cast out more workers into his fields.

Matt Macy

Director of Mobilization

To learn more about how you can join these trips or if you are interested in exploring missionary service, visit here.

The post Pray for the Second Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan! first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.

A Report from the Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan

Kimberly Mer — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 16:35:01 +0000

The sixth of the ten Luke 10 Exploration Trips in 2022 went out October 10-21 to South Sudan, with a team of six from EFC-Rwanda and EFM. Thank you for praying for this team and EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative as Evangelical Friends discern where to launch new mission fields as part of EFM’s Five-Year Goal. See more information here.

The following is a report which Brad Carpenter, EFM Missionary to Rwanda, helped prepare.

Who Was on this Trip?

The team included four pastors from Rwanda:

Team leader Jean Paul Nsekanabo (Assistant General Superintendent of EFC-Rwanda),
Gerard Munyanganizi
Nicodeme Basebya
Theodore Uwiragiye

And two representing EFM:

Brad Carpenter
Matt Macy

Where Did We Travel?

We arrived in Juba, South Sudan on October 11. We were blessed through a friend of Jean Paul’s to connect with a South Sudanese pastor (William) and missionaries from Uganda (Jane, Luke, Veronica, and Faisal) who are living and serving in South Sudan. These leaders helped us find a place to stay, find transportation options and gave us insights we used in choosing which people groups and locations to visit.

What is the Need in the Area?

According to the Joshua Project, there are 80 people groups in South Sudan. There are some unreached people groups and many who are under-reached (according to various Christian leaders we talked with). The groups we visited on our trip are: Dinka-Bor, Nuer, Murle, Olubogo, Mundari, and Cholo. We also met many from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Uganda, and others.

Some areas of the country were inaccessible at this time because of marshlands that are flooded from heavy rains at this time. South Sudan has suffered through very difficult times since 1983, with much war and many consequences of violence. In each place we visited we found friendly people who were ready to share with us about their culture, beliefs, and their lives in general. Our observation is that there are many people who are open to spiritual things and who desire transformation, peace, and new life that comes from Christ.

Highlights of What We Learned

We visited two large refugee camps on the outskirts of Juba. These started during wartime of 2013/2014 and lack of security in their home places have kept them in the camps up to this point.
- One camp had 30,000 people in it, a community built from simple stick frames with tarp coverings, with UN presence. This camp had 95% from the Nuer People Group. We had a nice visit with a group of students and teachers who were on break from school. We shared from John 3 and heard many questions about various denomination’s claims about the Christian message that have come into their camp. We learned about some cults who are working in the area.
- Another camp had 7,500 people in it made up of Murle People as well as Dinka and Nuer Tribes. The community leaders we spent time with were Murle who discussed the dynamics and culture of their remote home villages where there is no cell phone service or electricity, security is scarce, and they are particularly isolated during wet season when roads are not passable. We learned about their tribal god, Nyadit, and the common reasons that people go to witch doctors.
South Sudan has strict protocol about visiting any community, which requires letters of permission before visiting. Most of this work was done in advance of our visits to communities, but the work had not been completed before we visited one town towards the end of our travels. So in this town, we spent time sitting with police officials at their office, who then took us to the county commissioners office to spend time with him, who upon learning about the purpose of our visit, sent us to an Episcopal church to meet with the leader of the local council of churches, where we received the warm welcome and blessing we needed in order to move about and visit with people in the community.
Everywhere we were able to go to on this trip we heard of churches in the area.
- We heard about many tribes who have Christians who also go to witch doctors or worship their local tribal god, sometimes making animal sacrifices to their local god. Due to wet season, we were not able to travel to distant villages where there are no churches among communities of unreached peoples.
- We also met some people in towns and villages whose knowledge of scripture, church leadership and discipleship demonstrated that there must be some good churches in their community.
- We received many welcomes for a new mission and church work, due to under-reached peoples locally and much need for whole-life discipleship and community development.
Most strangers that we walked up to and asked questions were quick to offer a chair and open to a conversation to tell us many things about their tribe, cultures, community and religious practices.
- Most places we visited on this trip, including remote village locations, people spoke English for great conversation without a translator. Otherwise their common trade language is Arabic and each tribe has their own tribal languages.
- We saw hundreds of villages full of small mud huts with grass roofs. Some of us were drawn with a desire to know these places and people for potential of taking the Good News.
- Each tribe we met had different scar markings/cuts on their foreheads and different patterns of teeth removed to identify with their tribe. The cutting occurs as they approach adulthood in the villages as a right of passage and they are very open to talk about their tribal identity and customs. There are some who no longer practice these customs, especially in the cities among the youngest generations.
- A group of Mandari men selling cattle and goats under a shade tree told us about custom of making sacrifice of a cow to their god, hanging the skin on a tree, then pouring milk into the river, in order to get the protection of their god for their cows when they take their herd across the river. They also shared about a more complex approach to marriage proposals and dowery in their tribe.
- One item that came up regularly among tribes was their dowery customs and they were unusually open about how many cows or goats were paid to the families of their wives, commonly 100 cows or more there. One group was baffled that we didn’t give dowery in the U.S. as if we don’t place high value to make a big sacrifice for our wives and their families.
- We heard many stories from various people groups and communities throughout the trip who were afraid of one particular tribe attacking them or stealing from them or killing them. This particular tribe is an unreached people group that we would like to learn more about.
- When we visited people in one town near the Ugandan border, we heard many R-rated stories of tribal conflicts and difficulties with lack of security. The Olubogo People talked about having babies taken from their women from one particular tribe and their crops destroyed by another tribe bearing guns that come through during the first couple of months each year. They were in a pretty large town, but with no local school they send their kids to Uganda for school, where they also flee to during certain months of the year for safety.
It was a joy to hear the Rwandans on several occasions offer much encouragement and hope for reconciliation and tell their own story of tribal conflict in their past which has changed to peace and reconciliation through the Lord Jesus Christ in their home communities and churches. It was an honor to stand with the Rwandans and pray with villagers asking the Lord Jesus to draw them to himself and bring hope and peace to their families.
South Sudan is a fascinating place of many tribes, customs and lifestyles that left an impression on our team. We pray for peace and hope for them in Christ.

Please Pray for Discernment and Next Steps:

As a team we sensed affirmation that EFC-Rwanda is being called to be on mission in South Sudan. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we keep discerning God’s plans. We think the next step will be for another, much longer trip to happen in the dry season. The purpose of this trip would be visit places we were not able to visit and to work toward narrowing down our focus toward a specific place or two that we would then seek to deeply understand.

Thank you for praying with us for this and the other Luke 10 trips. May God continue to lead us into his plans. May his kingdom come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

What’s Next?

Luke 10 Exploration Trips continue into 2023 as teams explore potential sites with first trips and/or follow up trips. Our next benchmarks include hopes that the EFM board will approve a commitment in November 2023 to launching at least five new fields.

How Can You Join?

Are you interested in exploring missionary service? Do you know of anyone of any age who might be interested in exploring the idea of serving as a missionary overseas for two or more years?

EFM is currently looking to contact and connect with people about opportunities to explore serving as missionaries with the Friends Church!

To learn more, visit here or fill out this interest form!

We look forward to sharing more news as it becomes available about what we are finding and discerning in EFM’s Luke 10 Initiative as we continue to explore where EFM may launch new mission fields.

Matt Macy
Director of Mobilization

The post A Report from the Luke 10 Exploration Trip to South Sudan first appeared on FRIENDSMISSION.COM.