DINKA OF SOUHERN SUDAN: “Be careful not to say this phrase or it will lead to fighting.”  This is a common warning given to new missionaries in Southern Sudan by their Dinka language teacher.  It has become a bit of a joke among them, because some phrases seem so innocent and even silly to their American ears.  But there is an element of danger rooted in the stories and history that lie behind each phrase; stories that bring shame to one’s tribe or clan.  The Dinka people take great pride in their tribe and clan as well as in their reputation as individuals; they are always prepared to fight to defend their honor.  Even at a young age of 13, after receiving tribal scars as a rite of passage into adulthood, the young men are expected to beat the younger boys.  Pray for the Dinka people that they would understand that all honor and glory belongs to the one true God.  Pray that God would soften and humble their hearts to see Christ’s glory and receive His mercy.

DINKA OF SOUTHERN SUDAN:  “Why do you talk like a man who has been cut in half by a hippo?”This is the literal translation in English of a Dinka expression used to convey that someone is talking nonsense.  Among the Dinka people, it is believed that if you are cut in half by a hippo and your top half is in the water, you will still be able to talk for a while before you die (though you will not make much sense.)  The Dinka culture is full of stories.  For instance, did you know that the dog was the animal which brought fire to the ancestors of the Dinka people?  Before they had fire, they cooked by sunlight.  In such a story-driven culture, pray that God’s Spirit will move in hearts to illuminate the truth found in the stories of the Bible.  Pray that many Dinka people will experience God transforming power through hearing the “sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” (2 Timothy 3:15, ESV)

DINKA OF SOUTHERN SUDAN:  Timidity was the expression seen on the face of a young Dinka pastor as he began to address the new church.  Pray for local pastors that they would be dependent on God’s Spirit and have confidence in God’s ability to use them to proclaim His good news to those living in hopelessness. “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant.”  (2 Corinthians 3:5-6, ESV).   Pray that they would take comfort from the apostle Paul’s experience:  “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV). Pray that the gospel be clearly proclaimed among the Dinka people bringing many to faith by the power of God.