Rejoicing Through Suffering: the worship of the Sudanese believers

devastation

The African nation of Sudan continues as one of the worst places of suffering on the planet. This biblical land of the Cushites is also Africa's largest country, containing an area equal to Western Europe. The government based in the north has waged jihad on the Christian and animist south, resulting in two million dead. Civil war traces back over decades but greatly intensified in recent years. The devastation in the South has included pillage, rape, people sold into slavery, whole villages burned--all the markings of a scorched earth policy by the militant government. Many of those that have survived have huddled into refugee camps at the borders of Uganda and Kenya, while millions more have melted into the outskirts of greater Khartoum, the tri-city capital complex. Of all the tribes undergoing persecution, none have been more devastated than the Dinka tribe of Southern Sudan.

Christian ministries have responded in varying degrees to this present day holocaust, sending in food, clothing, and money to free the slaves, and other forms of relief and aid. This in turn has led to all kinds of exploitation among both the Sudanese tribal people and well-meaning foreign Christian groups.

Another Christian response has been a desire to strengthen the believers by encouraging their worship through this time of deep trial. Christian radio ministries have targeted broadcasts in the various tribal languages of the Sudan.

While each project differs greatly, the Sudan trip was in a class all its own for complexity and unpredictability. Just three days before boarding the flights to Africa, the underground studio the team planned to use and upgrade pulled out of the project because of a mistake that occurred. This resulted in a last-minute scramble to get all the alternative recording equipment together.

A diverse team arrived in Khartoum in late February 2002. The team included a pilot who helped us get cheap standby tickets for most of the trip. Another spoke fluent Arabic and even some Dinka which greatly facilitated communication. Another had scored and recorded projects in different parts of the world, including assignments for Disney and Discovery channels, and the team leader brought almost three decades of music ministry to the mix including previous trips to Khartoum.

arab and tribal musicians

On arrival, we discovered the studio shifted to a small room at one of the larger churches. Mattresses had been purchased and cleverly framed to form freestanding units to acoustically deaden the makeshift studio room. Recording began with a Sudanese worship leader using a sophisticated Korg auto-accompaniment keyboard. The Sudanese musician was quite brilliant manipulating the various styles in continuous variation. Nevertheless, we began to wonder why we came all the way to Africa to record the rhythms and sounds we hear every day on radio in our own backyards. Nevertheless, as the vocals were added the songs took on an interesting hybrid urban-Afro blended sound, punctuated by the gutsy Arab phrases.

Two other youth bands recorded over the next two days. They also chose to record their urban Arab arrangements. When we asked about their tribal background and their tribal music, they admitted they just don't relate to those music structures. But another Sudanese brother from the Nuba Mountains was eager to share and record his tribal music. He was one of the students who attended the music-writing class the HSI team had taught. The Nuba brother had his handmade harp along, tuned to the Nuba pentatonic scale. We captured some of his songs on the spot. We kept meeting musicians from various Sudanese tribal areas at conferences and church meetings where the team ministered.

Listen to Arab urban song.             Listen to tribal urban song.

dinka surprises

Having heard so much about the suffering and persecution of the Dinka tribe, the HSI team particularly targeted recording the Dinka people. We reserved the final day to record the worship of one of the Dinka churches. We expected to record 5-6 songs and planned for half a dozen singers. We were delightfully surprised when a choir of 18 showed up. We wondered how we would cope, squeezing a whole choir into a tiny studio room that almost filled up just with a drum set. Several other surprises followed. Rather than coming prepared with 5-6 songs, the leader told us they had 30 songs ready to record.

During a brief rehearsal we discovered they sang mostly in unison and to the accompaniment of two drummers playing various permutations of polyrhythms. Before long, the marathon began. The choir had divided their songs into various medleys and punctuated the start and ending of their songs with a vigorously spoken "Hallelujah".

The little studio they squeezed into instantly became an oven once the fans were switched off, the door closed and the singing began. Hour after hour, the team sang medley after medley, and though drenched in perspiration they sang with vigorous abandon, taking only short breaks to cool down, get a drink or eat a sandwich. Once the drumming and singing began, the choir became oblivious to their surroundings, to the recording equipment, and to the four strangers doing the audio and videotaping and taking all the photos. The choir knew their songs well and most songs were recorded in one take. In all, 33 songs and almost 80 minutes of worship music were recorded all in one day.

delightful pandemonium

On the final medley, the Dinka believers reserved the biggest surprise of all for us. At some point in the medley, some of the teenage girls started responding in their dance movements, and began moving about that cramped studio. Soon the older women joined in with their swaying dance movements, and before we knew what was happening, the ladies started circling the tiny room, dancing and swaying joyously, while the men started jumping vigorously in one place. A delightful pandemonium erupted as the choir overflowed with joy, dancing and marching, oblivious to cables, stands, and microphones. One of the engineers quickly put down his digital camera and rushed through the circle to grab the microphone stands to keep them from falling over as the choir continued in their exuberant, abandoned worship.

Listen to Dinka song.

In the aftermath, we videotaped the leader and through translation asked him the meanings of the songs. He mentioned that the songs spoke of their difficult situation in life, but also expressed hope, faith, joy and trust in the Lord. These were the very people whose children were abducted, sold into slavery, women raped, houses burned, crops and cattle destroyed. To see these persecuted believers overflow with worship was one of the highlights of the entire trip, even if the dancing and celebration disrupted the recording of that last song a little. Copies of the Arab and Dinka songs will go to various missionary radio ministries, and masters sent back to Khartoum for distribution throughout Sudan.

front row seats

We realized afresh that through worship God keeps his people strong in times of difficulty and persecution. We experienced vividly the theme that drives all that we do in Heart Sounds International: "every people should worship our awesome God in an awesome way that reflects their own culture." As we reflected on such an unforgettable moment, we imagined the angels reserving front row seats as they get ready for the vigorous Dinka worship around the Throne. The four of us on the HSI team have put our order in for front row box seats as well. The suffering Sudanese believers made us homesick for heaven.

worship among persecuted believers

A special feature of the “Global Worship Report” is reporting on the worship of persecuted peoples. God keeps his people strong through times of trial and difficulty through their worship. Here is a story from people facing great difficulties in different parts of the world.

the dinka of sudan

Christianity came to the Dinka people of Sudan in 1853 with Catholic missions and in 1906 with the Protestants. But progress in evangelism was slow with this fiercely independent group devoted to their cattle and traditional life. However, Sudan's second civil war, which broke out in 1983 and continues to this day, brought traumatic loss, with the erosion of traditional social and religious structures. The result has been the greatest turning towards Christianity in their history.

In February 1994, 30,000 people, inspired by interpretations of Isaiah 18, gathered to burn traditional religious artifacts as a result of a mass stirring towards Christianity. Dreams, visions, and miraculous healings have also accompanied this recent encounter with faith in the living God. A deep grappling with suffering has resulted in a theology expressed not in books but in more than 2,000 new songs with rich, biblical lyrics. The Dinka church continues to proclaim its faith in adversity. Typical of the Dinka strong faith through times of trial is a contemporary Dinka hymn by Mary Alueel Garang, "Let us praise the Lord. Let us praise the Lord in the Day of Devastation and in the Day of Contentment."

Compiled from a report by Wycliffe Bible Translators. Song text from "Day of Devastation, Day of Contentment; the History of the Sudanese Church Across 2000 Years," by Roland Werner, William Anderson, and Andrew Wheeler. Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications, 2000