DR Congo, South Sudan, Uganda: Ebola

There have been 220 suspected deaths from Ebola since an outbreak was declared in DR Congo on 15 May. Pray for ongoing protection for CMS partner Bisoke Balikenga and his colleagues, and for those they minister to through a peace centre in Bunia.

Please also pray for mission partner Martin Gordon, Bishop of Goma, and local churches as they offer healthcare and support communities.

Uganda has now fully closed its border with DR Congo, putting South Sudan at higher risk from anyone wanting to leave DR Congo.

Pray for mission partner Nicci Maxwell, a doctor who focuses on paediatric and neonatal medical care in Juba, South Sudan, and her colleagues, as they handle whatever might come their way.

Pray for protection from Ebola across all three countries, and for the virus to be contained.

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Tanzania: sharing the gospel despite challenges

CMS partners in Tanzania ask for prayer for Christians in Zanzibar, who are in a minority and suffer persecution from people of other faiths. Last weekend, a church building was vandalised and some church members were injured. Our partners write, “Despite all that has happened, we continue to stand in faith, knowing that God still reigns.” Give thanks for their dedication in the face of adversity and pray for encouragement as they continue to build God’s church in Zanzibar.

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DR Congo: Ebola

The World Health Organisation has declared a public health emergency in DR Congo due to an outbreak of a rare strain of the Ebola virus for which there is no vaccine. CMS partner Bisoke Balikenga shares that the city Bunia, where he runs a peace centre, is affected by the crisis and asks for prayer. Lift up all those who are caring for those who are ill. Pray for people to take wise precautions to help stop the spread of the virus. Ask God to protect Bisoke and his colleagues from the virus.  

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South Sudan: peace among Dinka Twic and Ngok

“Please pray for lasting peace along the Twic–Abyei border amid the ongoing land dispute. Although chiefs from both communities recently met in Wau to discuss honouring previous agreements made by church leaders, women, and youth, disagreements remain concerning court processes and land ownership,” writes CMS partner Paul Lueth. Praise God that in Turalei, a church plant with members from both sides of the conflict is flourishing. Pray for the church to continue to grow and foster peace among the wider community.

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Where the church is small and under pressure, CMS partners are helping to design relevant training for church leaders who have never been able to access it before.

By Chris and Suzy Wilson who have served with CMS for 10 years in Ethiopia

“When I came here, it was not clear to me that Jesus is my God. But I understand that he’s the one who brought me from darkness to light.”

These are the words of an Ethiopian man, a refugee who is from an ethnic minority group, after being given the opportunity to take part in intensive theology training. His quote shows the difference that this kind of training can make for people who have the potential to become Christian leaders, but who have had their lives upended by violent conflict.

Learning, interrupted

Ethiopia hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. In the western areas of the country, refugee camps accommodate women, men and families displaced by conflict from South Sudan, Sudan, the Great Lakes region and beyond.

Remarkably, churches have rapidly emerged and grown within these camps, yet they face many challenges, as many of these refugees originate from contexts where access to theological education and leadership training has been severely limited and/or suddenly disrupted. 

Faith growing in fragile contexts

This rapid expansion of the church in refugee settings is not new in the church’s history. Time and again, Christian faith has taken root and flourished through persecution, migration and displacement. The book of Acts recounts how, following Stephen’s martyrdom and the scattering of believers, the gospel spread from Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire. Church history demonstrates how God often works through displacement: Christianity took hold in Ethiopia through Frumentius’ shipwreck, in Ireland through Patrick’s kidnapping and in Georgia through Nino’s captivity.

Even today, God continues to work powerfully in disrupted and fragile contexts, as evidenced by the rapid growth of Christianity among South Sudanese refugee populations over the past 50 years.

As churches expand in refugee camps and many people spend several decades there, a clear need has arisen for theological training that is faithful, accessible and contextually grounded. Additionally, since many refugee camps are geographically remote and language barriers are significant, local Ethiopian churches have limited capacity to invest in these refugee congregations. Therefore, there is a genuine need for theological educators with strong English or Arabic skills (languages commonly spoken) who can collaborate with church leaders from refugee communities.

Responding to refugees

After we returned to Ethiopia following COVID-19, Chris taught at St Frumentius’ Seminary in Gambella to help students catch up on classes they had missed during the lockdown. Due to conflict and instability, several refugees were unable to travel to Gambella, so Chris made two teaching trips to deliver these classes in a refugee camp. While there, many church leaders requested that he return to provide training to help them with their preaching.

Since 2022, we’ve been responding to this request. Over many trips, conversations and thinking on the go, we’ve designed a course for preachers in refugee camps with no prior theological training. The course integrates biblical studies, Christian doctrine, homiletics and discipleship, all delivered with space for discussion and reflection on their relevance to camp life.

During this period, we have run this course for leaders from more than 10 ethnic groups across several refugee camps in western Ethiopia. God has blessed us with a small but great teaching team, including both international and local theological educators. In particular, we’ve been working closely with a man who was one of Chris’s students in Gambella, and it’s been a profound encouragement to see him develop as he has served as a course coordinator, translator, and, more recently, a co-teacher. He’s been invaluable both in helping us develop the course and in delivering it to church leaders in their mother tongue.

Transformation through training

In January 2026, we conducted a new initiative. With generous support from SIM Ethiopia and one of our link churches in the UK, we organised two weeks’ intensive training for a group of leaders from a small ethnic group that has only five Christian churches. God truly blessed this effort, with both instructors and trainees noticing a marked improvement in the quality of preaching. One of the instructors, Dr Simon Harrison, said, “It was amazing to see the clear impact of the training on the participants over the two weeks. Some went from never having preached before and being unsure of the gospel and who Christ is, to being able to preach a Christ-centred sermon that clearly presented the gospel.”

At the end of the training, interviews with the trainees reflected a similar story. One trainee said, “I learned so many things in that training – one of them is I found out Jesus is my Saviour. The second thing is – when I came here, it was not clear to me that Jesus is my God. But I understand that he’s the one who brought me from darkness to light.” Another added, “When I came from there, I didn’t know how to preach at all, but now I have learned to preach.”

It was a real joy to spend time with and invest in young leaders from a community where following Jesus is fraught with difficulties. Given the very positive response to this training, we hope to run more intensive training courses for leaders in places where the church is small and under pressure.

Pray together

Please join us in praying for our brothers and sisters who are displaced, for refugees leading church communities in extremely challenging situations and for wisdom for our team as we partner with them.

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Ethiopia: fuel crisis hits hard

Mission partners Chris and Suzy Wilson report that the fuel crisis in Ethiopia is still serious and it is very hard for many people reliant on diesel to earn money. It’s not unusual to find queues of vehicles waiting for fuel in many parts of the city Addis Ababa that stretch for over a kilometre. Please do pray for a way for the situation to be resolved as soon as possible.

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Uganda: Mission partners hand over the reins

Sarah and Simon Cawdell have recently finished their time as mission partners in Gulu. Please pray for Dr Denis Ruhama as he has taken over from Sarah and is now running the Archbishop Janani Luwum Theological College. Please also pray for distribution of coffee seedlings through the recently formed Diocese of Northern Uganda coffee cooperative. Pray for the long-term success of this initiative and in particular for rebuilding work being carried out on a greenhouse being used for the harvesting of seedlings.

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In this month’s student interview, we meet a first year undergraduate from Africa, who lives and works in a minority context, so they remain anonymous.

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, could you tell me more about your calling to work on an island?

The call wasn’t a single moment, but a growing “burden of love”. While serving on the mainland in my home town, reaching out to the Masai people in a remote area in a bush village, my wife and I felt a persistent pull toward the unreached coastal communities. We spent months in prayer with our local church, and the more we looked at the spiritual and social needs of the island, the more we realised we couldn’t just visit; we had to move our lives there to truly be a “faithful presence”.

I think it is right to say your work is in education and skills. I understand, for example, that you help people to make shoes and support themselves through workshops. Please could do tell us about the friendships formed and your achievements?

The real achievement isn’t just a finished pair of shoes; it’s the dignity in a student’s eyes when they realise they can provide for their own family. These workshops create a “neutral ground” where barriers drop. I’ve found that when you sit together over a sewing machine, you aren’t strangers anymore – you are friends sharing life’s struggles. Those friendships have become the bedrock of everything we do.

And now you have developed this work and have started a foundation. Could you tell us more?

We are now in the process of registering the foundation and it has not been launched yet. By moving from an informal mission to a registered foundation, we will gain “institutional trust” with the government. This will allow us to own property, hire staff legally and show the community that we aren’t just passing through – we are committed to the long-term flourishing of the island.

What exciting fruits have come from this venture?

The most encouraging “fruit” is seeing local people take ownership of their new life in Christ through faith. For example, seeing a leader from a local village choose to follow this path and then open his home for others to learn is incredible. Also, seeing our local young student from this island finish his studies to come back and lead is a huge milestone for us. It means the work is becoming truly indigenous.

That’s wonderful, people coming back to lead. Please do tell us other ways that your work is indigenous?

I do this by looking at our ‘local ways of doing things’ and asking how we can mature them into lasting spiritual and operational health. Through the CMS training, I am learning to move beyond just ‘pioneering’ into a season of rebuilding and reform. By establishing the new foundation, we are creating professional management structures that don’t stifle the Spirit, but rather provide a strong ‘trellis’ for the vine of our local community to grow on sustainably.

That is great. How can we pray for you?

You can pray for us:

​For the homecoming:

Pray for our local Muslim background believer, a disciple who went to theological studies in mainland, returned from Bible school in Dar es salaam; that he would integrate well and lead with wisdom as he joins our team full-time.

​For the foundation and future island empowerment centre:

Pray for the final registration steps of the foundation. Once this is complete, it will allow us to legally own the land for our permanent Community Empowerment Centre – a huge step for our sustainability.

​For protection and provision:

For continued favour with our neighbours and peace in our community. Specifically, pray for our family as we parent our young children in this context, and for provision regarding their school fees for the coming term.

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South Africa: protection and hope

Crime is a constant presence in Cape Town where mission partners Caroline and Dick Seed live. Pray for their safety and wisdom as they travel to deliver their work training Bible teachers across Africa. Pray for a way out and a way forward for people stuck in cycles of crime in Cape Town especially those involved in drug gangs.

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Tanzania: connections

Dave and Tricia Rollett are preparing to move to Zanzibar at the end of the summer as new CMS mission partners. The Rollett family asks for prayer for good connections when they arrive in Zanzibar, so that they can form connections and new relationships and be fruitful in their work. Please pray for the Church in Zanzibar, that it would be strengthened in faith, hope and love. 

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Egypt: Sudanese communities

Please pray for our partner network TN as they seek to support and equip local churches to serve more than 3,000 Sudanese refugees across Egypt. Pray that the Sudanese communities experience God’s favour and provision in every area of their lives. The needs are great and the number of refugees has increased so prayer is requested for more labourers with a heart to serve the Sudanese people.

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South Sudan: training amid instability

Give thanks with local partner Joseph Noel Sati for God’s provision and protection amid the unstable economic and security situation in South Sudan. Pray for Joseph’s work of building the capacity of local churches through CMS-Africa’s courses; for participants to be empowered to fulfil their potential and for new trainers to be equipped to teach and encourage others.

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