CRM Family,
By now most of you will have read or heard the news about the fall of the Sudanese city of El Fashir to the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary militia. El Fasher is in North Darfur State in western Sudan and was under siege for over 500 days. The siege created horrific conditions within the city and in the nearby Zamzam refugee camp. It is estimated that 250,000 civilians remain trapped in El Fashir, 40% of them children.
Every social media forum and website news platform is now awash with reports of the slaughter of civilians that began last weekend. All one must do is search, “fall of El Fashir Sudan.” But be warned, in “X” and other sites, many entries are very graphic.
You ask, “how does this relate to CRM and its Darfurian team members?” Good question. In July 2022, CRM funded the move of its Darfurian team members from Zalengei, the main city of Central Darfur State, to El Fashir. They left Zalengei because of state sponsored persecution. CRM enabled the team to rent and outfit a house in El Fashir as a ministry center. Until April 2023, when the current civil war started, the Lord blessed the team’s evangelism and discipleship ministries. When the war started, the team’s leadership evacuated, but many believers remained in El Fashir. I learned this week that 104 Christian families were in the city when it fell.
This week, every civilian who could flee El Fashir did so. They joined the hundreds of thousands of people who had already fled for Tawila, a nearby town. Last Thursday, we learned that eleven Christian families with 17 unaccompanied minors had arrived in Tawila. The stories of what they experienced along the way are horrific. But they were greeted and helped by believers in Tawila.
The good news is that today, fifty families in Tawila received a month’s worth of relief food via a CRM project. But this is only a drop in the bucket. So, how can we respond? Pray, of course. And give as generously as possible between now and the end of the year to enable CRM to provide the gospel resources and humanitarian resources our Darfurian team members need.
Prayer Requests
- Pray that opportunities arise for CRM to collaborate with like-minded evangelical organizations to immediately provide humanitarian aid.
- Pray that CRM procures funding to purchase and transport more Bibles and digital ministry resources.
- Pray that the two CRM-affiliated volunteer teams traveling to South Sudan and Uganda in 2026 to train Sudanese believers will raise the required funds. The goal is to train as many believers as possible, and the cost of their roundtrip transport is expensive.
In His Name,
David Crane
President, Calvary Road Ministries