The Quest

An excerpt from...

The Quest: Community Transformation

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By Joy Phillips, Compassionate Ministries Coordinator
July-September 2015

“No one in my family got sick with malaria this year,” reported Alice, one of the Community Health Evangelism participants in South Sudan. After putting into practice what she’s learned, her family gets sick less often. Yay, that’s what we want to hear! Others are planting banana and papaya trees in their yards, enhancing their families’ diet. Another participant reported that they have formed a prayer group that prays for their community on Tuesdays and Saturdays. All of that must please the Lord, don’t you think?

This process of community transformation didn’t just happen. It took a team and lots of networking. John and Beth Muehleisen, in the role of Africa Regional Transformation Training coordinators, have mentored WGM international missionary Adhanom Hidug as a CHE facilitator. Volunteer CHE Champion Rick Morse joined the Mango Ministries training team and others have helped as well. I’ve also been able to use my experiences from serving with Tenwek Community Health and Development in Kenya to help develop this new ministry in South Sudan.

WGM’s central ministry focus is wholistic transformation. As you can see from the ministry in South Sudan, this is best facilitated when resources, personnel, and ideas are shared. One of my favorite books that has helped me gain a better understanding of transformational development is When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. It’s a great read for anyone interested in missions.

I’ve been connecting with many missionaries in WGM as I take on the role of WGM’s Compassionate Ministries coordinator. It’s been amazing to hear about where God is already at work. From Argentina to Arizona to Africa, WGM missionaries are involved in all kinds of creative ministries that are resulting in transformed lives and communities. I’m excited when I see people following Jesus and reaching their God-given potential.

If you look at the nightly news, it appears that communities in our own neighborhoods as well as around the world are in serious need of transformation. Will you join WGM in our quest to see communities transformed?

ACT: Is God calling you to share a kind word or deed with someone where you live or in a nearby neighborhood? The peoples of the world have come to us; who can you reach out to today?

PRAY: Grab a friend and ask them to join you in praying for the CHE participants from South Sudan this quarter. Pray that God will continue to grant opportunities to get this team involved in His transforming story.

These Are Our Visitors

An excerpt from...

These Are Our Visitors

Putting down roots in South Sudan
By Jen Lavery, Volunteer, Kenya
January-March 2014

“These are our visitors, Joy and Jen. They are from the group that brought the gospel to my people in Kenya.” This was our introduction by Africa Gospel Church missionary Brian Mutai to the village administrator in Nyinbule, South Sudan. Brian is the fruit of the seeds that WGM planted among the Kipsigis people 80 years ago. Generations later, we get to share in the legacy.

Brian’s wife, Debbie, has been working in South Sudan for five years, serving as a clinical officer in the village clinic she helped build. After they married, Brian joined her to work with local church pastors and community leaders. When it was suggested they expand their work to target children and youth in the community, they agreed with the need but didn’t feel they had the expertise or skills necessary. They conveyed their concerns to Mango Ministries. What started as a simple conversation and prayer has developed into a working partnership.

I don’t speak Dinka. I am only beginning to scratch the surface of the culture. Because Brian and Debbie have been living among the Dinka for several years, they understand the culture more deeply, have some grasp of the language, have relationships, and see the needs more closely. They knew that churches needed more than just children’s choir directors; they needed leaders who could effectively teach the Bible and practical health lessons to children to reach the community. But they needed help to train the leaders. I can do that. We, in Mango Ministries, are gifted medically and educationally as well as in community health to help meet some of the vast needs of this new nation, but we recognize how much we need other’s vocational gifts and gifts of relationships, language, and cultural knowledge and sensitivity.

Mango Ministries’ motto is:  “Putting down roots, bearing fruit, and multiplying the harvest.” We are privileged to join in multiplying the harvest of WGM’s early efforts and putting down roots in South Sudan. None of us can do it alone.

ACT: Invite others to join the partnership of Mango Ministries through sharing. The WGM website offers you a free speaker outline that will give the details of sharing the impact and needs of this ministry. Download your outline at www.wgm.org/outlines.

Biblical Transformation

An excerpt from...

Biblical Transformation

The benefits of using the CHE tool in South Sudan
By Joy Phillips, South Sudan
July-September 2013

World Gospel Mission has joined a global movement called Community Health Evangelism. Mango Ministries in South Sudan uses this tool that leads to transformed lives and communities. In 2013, we are training and mentoring nearly 75 leaders in four different areas of South Sudan.

We’ve seen exciting glimpses of transformed lives in both the spiritual and physical realms. In one CHE lesson, WGM missionary John Muehleisen explained the plan of salvation by drawing the Four Spiritual Laws illustration in the dirt, in lieu of a chalkboard. Here is a testimony from one of the participants:

“I had gone to different trainings. But this was very special. I benefited spiritually and physically. This is a lesson that I can’t ever forget. I used to believe that salvation is from my side. I was thinking that I can reach God. But when Pastor John explained to us, I realized that I was wrong. I realized that it was God who can reach to me and save me. I can’t forget this lesson all my life—never!”

Isn’t that exciting? Changing misconceptions about God is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our job is to pray. Will you join us in praying that God will continue speaking truth into the lives of the CHE leaders and turn their worlds upside down? It’s a slow process, but we believe biblical transformation holds the key to radically changed lives, families, churches, and communities. When a life is wholly submitted to God and His truth and God’s creative power is unleashed, no one can predict what amazing things God will do!

Partner with Mango Ministries through prayer. Print Pray CHE, a free prayer guide, at www.wgm.org/mango.

Learn more about the CHE movement at www.chenetwork.org.

The Love of a Lost Boy

An excerpt from The Love of a Lost Boy
By Tracy Dubois, Support Staff

July-September 2012

While most 5 year olds are learning to read and ride a bike without training wheels, Deng Jongkuch was running for his life across the African desert. Sudan’s civil war claimed more than 2 million lives and caused Deng to be separated from his family for 18 years. Deng is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.

His horrific past started in 1987 when he walked for three months to find refuge in Ethiopia. Roughly 20,000 unaccompanied minors began the journey, but only 16,000 remained when the group arrived at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya in 1992.


The Lost Boys created makeshift families to survive, and the refugee camps provided security, food rations, donated clothing, and basic education. Deng began his schooling in Ethiopia but completed high school in Kakuma.

After living in refugee camps for 14 years, Deng’s life took an unexpected turn when he was given the opportunity to resettle in the United States. Through a government bill sponsored by the United Nations, Deng moved to San Jose, California, in March 2001 with 58 fellow Lost Boys. He earned an associate’s degree before graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in health services administration and a master’s in public health.


Deng lived in America until 2011 and now serves as site administrator at Memorial Christian Hospital in Werkok, South Sudan.

“I returned to Sudan for the first time in 2005 after 18 years,” Deng stated. “The war destroyed the healthcare system, and people are dying from preventable diseases. This tragic situation inspires me to be part of the change in Sudan. I am showing them love by praying for them and taking care of their needs.”

MORE: Watch the docu-mentary God Grew Tired of Us to learn more about the Lost Boys of Sudan and to see firsthand how love helped them survive.