Sudanese Christians have told thousands gathered at the Men's Katoomba Convention (MKC) Sydney's consumer culture is threatening the spiritual life of families who have already survived incredible physical challenges.
Dau Jurkuch was the leader of eleven Sudanese believers invited to attend the final weekend of the conference and share their experiences of persecution and preservation.
Interviewed by Katoomba Christian Conventions chairman, the Rev Al Stewart, Mr Jurkuch spoke of the materialist lifestyle that threatens to draw away Sudanese Christians.
The majority of Sydney's Sudanese community are refugees from a civil war that raged for decades between the Islamic north and the Christian south of their homeland.
"It’s ironic that these men are in more spiritual danger from the materialism and hedonism of Sydney than the physical persecution and oppression in the Sudan," Mr Stewart commented.
The MKC conference has been attended by more than 5,400 men over three weekends, all keen to learn spiritual survival tactics of their own.
Guest speaker, the Rev David Cook, preached plainly and directly about loving our enemies.
Fellow speaker, the Rev Mike Raiter drew from the Sermon on the Mount to remind his listeners among other things what it meant to be poor in spirit, to mourn, to be peacemakers.
The stark contrast between the values of this world and the next had an obvious and profound effect on men leaving the conference.
"It is so refreshing to be challenged to live the Christian life in a way that builds treasure in heaven," says one listener. "I had tears in my eyes."
"I needed to hear what these guys are telling me the Bible is saying," adds another. "I have heard it before, but not like that!"
