Seventh-day Adventist Church members recently held outreach meetings in south Sudan, an area experiencing an influx of displaced persons returning home after 20 years of war.

The meetings on Biblical concepts and seminars on healthy living were held near the city of Juba and were part of an Adventist world church initiative marking 2009 as the year of evangelism.

In 2005, North and South Sudan signed a peace treaty ending two decades of warfare between the Muslim northerners and the Christians in the south. Refugees are still returning to the region four years later.

Despite setbacks, including sandstorms, flooding, and equipment breakdowns, the meetings were well-attended, church leaders said. About 1,000 Sudanese children attended daily meetings geared toward their specific age groups.

Sixty church members will continue holding outreach meetings in the Juba region as well as their home areas during the coming year. Three new Adventist churches were also planted in the region, bringing the total for South Sudan to 19. Sudan’s population is over 40 million, of which about 14,000 are Adventist.