There has not been a comprehensive Bridge Report update published on Matthew and his ministry since the October 2019 issue, which you will find by clicking on SOUTH SUDAN under the COUNTRIES tab above. We start this report with great personal news:
October 2019: CHURCH CONFERENCE FOR SOUTH SUDANESE CHURCHES IN NAKOUWA SUBURCH IN KAMPALA, UGANDA
In 2013, two years after South Sudan was declared a separate new country, internal civil war broke out between the new President and the Vice President. Many who had returned from diaspora after living for decades in refugee camps in neighboring countries, left for fear of violence and fled back abroad. Matthew remained in the country and continued bringing the Gospel to his countrymen. There are now many small South Sudanese fellowships of believers in diaspora in Uganda. The Bridge helped sponsor Matthew and his team who visited Kampala and gathered these churches to a Praise and Peace Conference where thanksgiving and prayer were in focus. “We give glory to God for all He has done for us,” Matthew reports.
November 2019: A COUNTRY-WIDE CHURCH CONFERENCE TO DECLARE A NATIONAL DIALOGUE OF PEACE IN SOUTH SUDAN.
Matthew reports, “We had been prayer for this for a long time. All the churches of South Sudan came together to pray for repentance and reconciliation. It was unifying—peace will come!”
December 2019: GOSPEL OUTREACH TO THE PEOPLE OF ABYEI AND VISIT TO HIS HOME STATE OF TWIC
After Matthew had returned from living as refugee in Israel to resettle in his new homeland, he told me he was born in the very northern part of the country, the state of Twic, where he had family who owned land. It is located due south of Abyei, the most disputed and troubled region between Sudan proper and South Sudan. However, he was not ready to visit his family, as yet. His call was to settle in the capital of Juba and care for the believers who had returned with him from Israel.
Seven years later, after he was established and had planted two churches in Juba and done a number of conferences and Gospel outreaches, the Lord laid upon his heart that the timing was right to bring the Gospel to his home region. In December, he conducted a Gospel outreach in Abyei. 
After that, he traveled to the rural village where he was born and grew up. He had not been back for 36 years, since he at eight years old was abducted by Sudanese enemy soldiers and brought to Khartoum!
The reunion was cause for a great, joyous celebration! His father died when Matthew was young, but Matthew reconnected with his mother and two sisters. His uncle, his father’s brother, now more than 100 years old, expressed that he had been determined not to die before he would see his nephew, again. Matthew had told me his close family counts about 3,000 people and his Dinka family tribe in the region close to 30,000!
The Dinka tribe is traditionally a very tall nomadic people who support themselves largely from herding cattle. They live today the same subsistent lifestyle as they have for hundreds of years. I realized that for Matthew, who had for decades lived in large metropolitan cities abroad, visiting his family’s rural hometown was like stepping back in time several centuries to a simple lifestyle with no electricity, no roads, no infrastructure, no technology! “I have come home!” he expressed. His uncle took Matthew to the family property, a vast land area of rich, raw fertile soil with plenty of water available—an agricultural paradise. “All of this is yours, Matthew, I give it to you to manage this and lead our people.” And then, his uncle, being the local tribe leader, passed on the leadership to Matthew and appointed him Chief over their land and people! Before Matthew left for Juba, he promised to return three months later as he had a clear vision how he could help his people prosper by utilizing the rich land to grow their own food. When he returned in March 2020, he helped clear and plant a couple of acres with various seeds.
February 2020: TRAVEL TO SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA AS ONE OF 16 SOUTH SUDANESE REPRESENTATIVES AT AN INTERNATIONAL PEACE SUMMIT
The new Vice President is a committed Christian, and had noticed Matthew’s ardent pursuit and leadership in bringing believers in the country together to intercede for peace and reconciliation. He invited Matthew to meet him in Khartoum, Sudan, during which he appointed him to be one among 16 delegated representing South Sudan at the Interreligious and International Federation of World Peace (Matthew’s official name is Manyang Ayii). Upon his return, Matthew was offered a leadership position in the government, but declined. “I am called to be a Pastor and Evangelist, not a government worker.”
THEN—COVID-19 ARRIVED AND CURBED PUBLIC OUTREACHES AND ACTIVITIES Although the infection rate was extremely low (to date less than 11,000 infected and a total of 115 deaths among a population of close to 14 million) the government restricted most activities. The believers met in homes, and Matthew focused on strengthening the home base.
The Bridge helped finance a new Computer Training School by providing 2 desktops, 3 laptops, a printer, and a scanner, and we recently added 3 more laptops. 16 students have completed the three month course. 20 are presently attending classes, 3 groups per day for three days a week with two teachers. Today, a year later, the school is self financed.
Every one of the women’s cottage industries in which we initially invested are all thriving and able to support them and their families: sale of women’s clothing, a shop selling homemade tea and snacks, a restaurant serving home made food and beverages.
Matthew continues to do what he loves the most via different forums: preaching and teaching the Word of God. We help pay for his once a week Gospel hour on the largest FM radio station in Juba, which reaches most of the capitol’s half mill people.
SUMMARY REPORT FROM ELOHIM INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES by Matthew
Since I arrived with my church members in 2012 from Tel Aviv, Israel in Juba, South Sudan, we have been working very hard to fulfill the vision and mission the Lord gave us when we were refugees in Israel: to preach the Gospel, that the South Sudanese people will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. We have experienced God’s blessings and His provision and watched how He has used us to bring wonders and miracles to the people who have come to faith.
We have now two churches in Juba with about 300 believers in each, and many have been trained in leadership. The believers meet in Bible study groups, groups for teenagers and young adults, and groups for young mothers. We have Sunday school for younger children, and leadership meetings for the training of pastors and leaders. Once a month, we gather the two churches for a conference where we teach on specific topics, or we gather for worship and thanksgiving, where there is food and fellowship.
Every year I bring our leadership team to other regions in the country where we conduct crusades in unevangelized areas. In 2019, we were in Wau, capital of Western Bahr el Gazal State and in the Abyei area, near my home town, where we have planted a church in each place. In 2020 because of Covid-19, we could not preach the Gospel publicly, but God was still in control! Now, South Sudan is free from Corona, and the country has opened up, so we will continue our outreaches! I am planning to devote my time between Juba and my home area in the North. We have ordained a new local pastor for the Juba churches, Robert Simon Tombe, as I will be focusing on my new marriage and church planting, preaching and teaching. Thank you, Bridge partners who have helped us with finances and prayers!
FROM R.K.’s CORNER
You may have noticed that the May issue of The Bridge Report was not published, nor mailed to our contacts. The reason for skipping this report was that both Steve and I had contracted Covid-19. We felt that the best cause of action was to shut down the Stateside activities of The Bridge office while we quarantined in our home to give us time to heal, but also ensuring that we would not infect anyone else coming to the office or in contact with us. Fortunately, this did not affect any of the work or activities of our field partners overseas!
We had decided not to be vaccinated, but rather let nature take its course by allowing our natural immune system to do the fighting. We both had a mild to moderate case; I chose to stay at home, while Steve, due to precautions regarding a lowered immune system caused by the anti-cancer chemo therapy he is given, was admitted to the hospital for a few days. Today, six weeks later, we are both healed and back to life before Covid, with no lingering side effects, thanks to God’s grace and the prayer and intercession by brothers and sisters across the globe! THANK YOU!!
This is therefore a bit longer publication where I present an update on Matthew Deng Dut’s life and ministry in South Sudan from the fall of 2019 until now. There is some exciting news, and much fruit for God’s Kingdom!