Church Planting Movement in Kapoeta, South Sudan, among the Toposa

Kapoeta, South Sudan, is the land of the Toposa, a tribe of oral learners.This has been the challenge for my church planter colleagues, Patricia and Robert, since 2007. During this mission trip, from the end of October through the beginning of November, Patricia and I saw God's hand crumble that challenge to establish His church among the Toposa.

 

 

This expedition centered on training leaders with the T4T church planting movement material. Patricia and Robert have been working with Kenyan pastors who are able to speak the same language. Although they are from a tribe called Turkana in Kenya, they have the same roots (culture and language) as the Toposa of Sudan. Pastor John is the pastor of Kapoeta Baptist Church, and he has mentored many young men, some from nearby villages and others from boarding schools and are literate. These guys are less than 20 years old, and they reminded me of the passage in  1 Samuel 16:7 when God chose David instead of his older brothers as the anointed leader.."But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, ... for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.'” These  young men surprised me with their enthusiasm for the Word, their passion for Christ, and to start small bible study groups at their schools. Some like David in the bible are shepherds who tend to goats and cattle. They are now leaders and shepherds of people, too. I saw the guy in the blue Samsung t-shirt in action as we traveled to his village of Natchukut. He lined up the people interested in baptism. I didn't think it was going to end. They kept coming until all 77 of them were baptized.

 

One scripture came alive to me during a trip to Kapoeta, South Sudan: Romans 10:17 - Faith comes by HEARING and hearing by the Word of God.

It has been wonderful to hear the Word of God in their heart language.Bible stories have been recorded in the Toposa language through devices such as Proclaimers, which were brought in the spring, and Megavoices, which Patricia brought with her on this trip. The pastors have selected individuals in several villages to lend and use these devices, and these individuals were to invite others in their village to listen to the stories together.

¹¹ For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; ¹³ for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who ^[i]bring good news of good things!”

Top left: Pastor Stephen in the blue jacket was interpreting for me as I shared the Creation to Christ story before explaining baptism. Top right: Who wants to get baptized? Many raised their hands.
Seventy-seven were baptized!

 

The Toposa boys gave us nicknames, and mine is Nasike; an example of one is pictured below. It is the place of shelter or shade for cattle and other animals. I told them I liked it, because I, too, look for shelter, and I find that in the God Most High. He gives me shelter wherever I go - a shelter in the storms of life and from arrows of the unseen enemy. (Psalm 91).





On the right are the typical homes of the Toposa. They build compounds, and this is the home of a chief and his wives. Two homes (tukels) belong to one wife and two others belong to another wife. They have many children - over ten for one wife alone.

 

The structures on stilts are storage areas for food and whatever else they want to store awayy from animals that roam around.

 

Bonus training time with some of the Toposa boys who didn't have school because the governor was in town. I was able to go over the I Am Second follow-up and discipleship materials for small groups with them. The emphasis of obedience and accountability differentiate these studies from what most would get in Sunday School.

Turkana pastors (two from Kenya). Stephen who is pictured in the middle and his family are from Kenya. They plan to move to help Pastor John with the ministry next year. Robert on the right did most of the preparation of the people for baptism in Natchukut. Both Stephen and Robert have gentle spirits, and I really enjoyed my time with them.

 I knew this was going to be great trip when I got to ride "shotgun" on the way to Kapoeta from Loki airport in Kenya. It was only 30 minutes on this MAF flight, but it was fantastic! Mission Aviation Fellowship carries cargo and people to remote places. This was my first MAF flight, and we took their regularly scheduled flights to make it cheaper, and we rode mostly with cargo before getting to our destination. The pilot was nice - I liked that he prayed before we left the ground.

 My entourage or escort back to mango camp, where I was staying. These were the students I had for training for 2-3 days. They spoke Arabic and the Lord provided Ezra, one of the teachers in the African Inland Church schools, to translate for me. Some of these young folks speak English, but the way I speak and the way the speak is so different.

Some of the African Inland Church students. Some of older ones who came for training small group studies are leaders in Children In Christ Ministry. We had the breeziest place to gather under this tree.

My new friends who are ready to take the training they received back to their boarding school. They decided they will pair up and start the small groups. They also decided the girls will have to be taught as well, as most of the one who came to their training with Patricia were just boys. James, the guy at the far right in the picture, asked to have my bible. It was only Sunday, and I had the rest of the week to utilize my compact bible. These guys had such a hunger for God and the Word, that I had to give him my bible to him and made him promise to share it. They can read English and the material we provided them were also in English. Thank God for technology -the bible on iPhone was very handy the rest of the time.