The Ingessana people are, in the words of Ethiopian missionary Getachew Tsegye, a “hard-core Muslim” tribe – some of whom were even trained by Osama bin Laden as members of Al Qaeda. There was a group of Ingessana living in the refugee camps around Doro, South Sudan when an AIM AIR flight brought Getachew and his fellow Ethiopian evangelists to work among the Sudanese refugees for the first time in 2012.

For the team of evangelists, it was a short-term trip to engage the refugee tribes. At the end of that first trip into Doro, AIM AIR pilot Jerry Hurd picked the team up from the airstrip to take them on the first leg of their journey home. On the way out, Getachew reported that there were many positive responses among the tribes. However, with the Ingessana, it looked like a hopeless case. The Ingessana people had not just been resistant to Christianity; they were openly hostile to the evangelists, even throwing stones and chasing them away. 

The Ingessana people remained hostile to the Gospel, even as Getachew moved to Doro to serve long-term. Soon after his arrival, Getachew started seeing the Gospel spread in miraculous ways among the other Sudanese people groups. Three years later, four Ingessana youth came looking for him. Based on their history, Getachew thought they may have come to beat or imprison him. But when the youths found him, they presented an astonishing request: 

“We want to discuss with you about Jesus. We have grown up as Ingessana Muslims. But we see that the way of Islam is war, fighting, and making problems. Nobody has ever told us the truth about Jesus the Messiah until now. We heard about you from a Jumjum guy named Kabele. He told us how you taught the Jumjum people about Jesus and now they have become Christians. We held a big meeting and now the whole of the Ingessana youth want to believe in Jesus the Messiah.”

Just before Christmas 2019, Jerry was nearing the end of two full days of flying, delivering medicine, mosquito nets, food, and Christian songbooks throughout South Sudan. At the end of that trip, he again had the opportunity to pick up Getachew from Doro. This time, Jerry was bringing him home to Kenya to celebrate Christmas with his family. As Jerry leveled off the aircraft for the quick one-hour leg, Getachew began to share what he was most excited about this Christmas. The former “hard-core Muslim” tribe that had once thrown stones at him would be celebrating Christmas as a body of Christ for this first time. 

It is now seven years after Getachew’s initial visit to Doro, and the Ingessana tribe has three churches that continue to grow. Another tribe, the Jumjum – which had forty-five believers when Getachew arrived – now has five churches and more than 1500 believers. Others are going to Bible schools, serving as Bible translators, and taking up the role of missionaries themselves.  

AIM AIR pilot Jerry Hurd reports, “In 2012 I had no idea what fruit the visit of the evangelists would have. It is amazing to see that even one of the most resistant tribes will now be celebrating Christmas as a body for the first time. I often find the art and practice of evangelism daunting, and these Ethiopian evangelists went forward with courage and boldness, and their faithfulness is still bringing people out of darkness!”