by Matt Jones

“This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden.”– Ezekiel 36:35

South Sudan is the youngest country in the world. When it gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the streets of Juba erupted in celebration. After decades of oppression, freedom had finally arrived. President Salva Kiir pledged to faithfully serve the Republic of South Sudan, but the nation faced an enormous task. It had virtually no infrastructure—few schools, roads, hospitals, or reliable water systems. For freedom to flourish, leadership would have to reject the tribalism and corruption that had plagued the region for generations.

Fifteen years later, the celebration has faded into despair. South Sudan remains among the poorest nations on earth. Corruption has siphoned away public resources, elections continue to be postponed, healthcare is nearly nonexistent, and countless children die from preventable diseases. The promise of freedom has not produced human flourishing. Why? Because freedom without obedience is dangerous.

Scripture teaches that civil authorities are called to administer justice, restrain evil, protect the innocent, and create conditions where people can flourish and worship God (Deut. 16; Rom. 13). South Sudan’s tragedy reminds us that authority divorced from obedience to God’s Word inevitably leads to ruin.

Are there cultural boundaries to the Great Commission?

The level of despair raises another question. The gospel first came to South Sudan in the 1850’s. Why has the church not impacted the culture more deeply?

John Frame writes that the Great Commission “can be understood as the republication of the cultural mandate.” 

In Genesis, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and exercise dominion under His authority. Adam was to expand God’s kingdom by extending the order of the garden into the uncultivated world. Adam failed, and sin brought disorder into every sphere of life.

Then Christ came.Where Adam failed, Jesus obeyed perfectly. After Christ’s resurrection, God again commissioned his image-bearers to make disciples (multiply), go to the nations (expand), and teach them to obey all that Christ commanded (exercise righteous dominion). The Great Commission is not separated from the Cultural Mandate; it is its fulfillment through the finished, redemptive work of Christ. 

Flagship Vision & the Cultural Mandate

Over nearly twenty years of ministry, Empower One has learned that making disciples is more difficult than making converts. Planting churches is different than maturing churches that faithfully obey Christ and reproduce healthy churches and disciples. Yet this is precisely where lasting transformation begins.

If the church teaches believers to obey everything Christ commanded, entire communities change. Widows are cared for. Orphans find families. Honest business replaces corruption. Violence gives way to justice. People use their gifts to build schools, businesses, farms, and communities that bless future generations. We eagerly await the day when Christ returns and fulfills all things, but until then we recognize that the gospel transforms both hearts and cultures because Christ is Lord over every area of life.

This conviction shapes the Vision 2032 Flagship strategy.

The churches, schools, water towers, pharmacies, radio stations, and theological training are a wholistic solution to this widespread problem. Together they demonstrate the reign of Christ by addressing both spiritual and physical needs while creating opportunities for long-term flourishing. Like the exiles in Jeremiah 29, we “seek the welfare of the city… and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Our prayer is that the church in South Sudan would become a foretaste of God’s eternal Kingdom. The Kingdom that is already breaking into a lost and broken world (Matt 6:10). May we be a people whose obedience and love displays His glory so clearly that what was once desolate would magnify the character and glory of God. 

“This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.” – Ezek 36:35

We pray this for South Sudan.
May the Lord use his church to reflect his glory and bring hope to a desolate land.