Augustine and Miriam are both originally from Eastern Equitoria State, South Sudan. They were married in 1988 in a Ugandan Refugee camp. They have eight children: Serah 23, Keziah 21, Charity 18, Paska 17, James 15, Samuel 12, Josephine 10 and Daphne 2. Their desire is to raise their family in the ways of Christ, to see their children know God follow Him. They have a deep desire to see their children educated, especially the girls. As a family, they grow together through evening devotions.
Ministry Vision:
“Our vision is to create mission awareness and empower Church leaders, men and women; who can lead the Church in sending out missionaries to the unreached people groups throughout Southern Sudan.”
Ministry:
Augustine and Miriam are the base leaders for YWAM Yei, and have been on the leadership team for 6 years. They are both passionate about training, raising up, and reconciling the leaders of the Church across Southern Sudan.
Augustine’s primary focus is Church ministry: to bring the Church together as the Body of Christ, founded on truth and passionate about mission. He strongly desires to reach and out train leaders regardless of denominations or backgrounds. He wants to see them passionate about knowing God, able to listen to the voice of God, and with a daily relationship with God incorporated into their lives.
Miriam’s heart is with the women in the Church and the community:
“Here in South Sudan, many times women are oppressed, not valued and left behind. They are not given a chance to stand and preach. So the women need to get up to train, and rise up other leaders in the Church. We are equal, we are not different. But many times the women of pastors don’t know anything about the bible; they need to be trained in the way of Christ.”
They are both heavily involved with the Discipleship Training School, and have led three DTS schools in the base during their time here. Augustine is also the leader of a church in Yei, and is involved with various inter-church ministries, and he is often called upon in the community to help with various reconciliation/conflict resolution issues. Miriam is a midwife for the community, works in the clinic, and oversees the agriculture ministry. She is often able to minister to the women in the community through love, relationship, and counsel when they go through difficult times.
Vision for South Sudan:
Their vision is for peace to prevail permanently in South Sudan and to see all 24 unreached people groups in South Sudan touched with the gospel of Jesus, and for YWAM to be able to minister to all 10 states of South Sudan.
Key Verses:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)