I was blessed to arrive just before the annual conference which allowed me to gain a better perspective about mission life and the reason we live it. Conference began on Friday evening and concluded on Monday morning. We heard from several speakers, saw tribal updates, sang songs, prayed and, of course, ate.
My favorite sessions were the video updates on how works in the bush are going with the tribal people...
in regards to relationship building, Bible translation, literacy classes, Bible studies, believer discipleship, and details of everyday life. There is one missionary family of 6 that does not have running water and is living in a one-room house where the one bed also serves as the dining table and couch. There are some tribal areas that can only be reached by walking. One is a five hour hike to get to where the missionaries are working. My admiration for their devotion and sacrifice is great. There is one tribe where the door is being closed to the missionaries and they are planning to leave. You could hear the pain in the missionary’s voice as he talked about the situation. The hunger for God’s Word is just not there but we know that God’s Word does not returned void and God sees the future that we might not understand. (“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11)
Three stages (early stage of a work, the beginning of a church, and the establishment of a mature church) were presented by three missionary families. The ages of the missionaries matched the stages of their work, which I think shows the establishment of a mature church can take a lifetime. And, those who are involved in planting the seed are not necessarily the ones who reap the harvest.
It is said that Papua New Guinea is one of the most “missionized” but least “evangelized” countries in the world. Early on missionaries presented the Bible using pidgin rather than a tribe’s native language. Pidgin vocabulary is very limited because it was created as a means to trade with someone having a different tok place (native language). There is not a word for love or grace so explaining what Christ did for us can be confusing. The people took what they understand and combined it with their own beliefs which consisted of spirit appeasement. They live in such bondage and fear because they are constantly trying to appease some spirit. Death and sickness are not seen as a natural occurrence but results from wrongdoing or oversight of another person. They will turn to mediums to identify the sorcerer or witch involved. Before I moved to PNG, I read an article about a girl that was recently burned alive because it was believed she was a witch.
I have been told that the people thought if they could appease the missionaries’ God, they would also have planes bringing them abundance. There was one tribe who began stealing from the missionaries and presented the stolen items as an offering. The same tribe was so confused they thought the Holy Spirit was holy spit. So in the early stages, the missionary must establish a relationship with the people using their language and in their culture. After culture and language acclimation, chronological teaching of the Bible and New Testament translation begins and literacy classes are provided.
It was very exciting to hear how the tribe that was stealing from the missionaries and believing in holy spit, now has people who truly understand the gospel of Jesus, have worked with the NTM translator to translate almost 70% of the New Testament into their native language, have men getting the translated books not only for themselves but for their wives, have changed their methods of parenting and discipline, and have increased their literacy rates in their native tongue. They are following the Bible’s teaching on baptism and give tithes not only of money but also from the abundance of their gardens. Leaders will pray from a week to determine to whom the abundance of the garden will go. The money has been used to buy a chalkboard, chalk, and a clock for their church. A clock? (more on that below). This church is now sending their own missionaries to two other tribes to teach the Bible. The NTM missionary has moved out of the tribe and goes back one week each month for continued discipleship of the believers. The goal is for the tribal believers to be able to run their own church based on Biblical teachings after the missionary leaves.
One missionary has spent time assessing the country to see where NTM might start a new work. The assessment shows how things are rapidly changing in PNG. For example, time was not an important concept in previous days and now the church is buying a clock! The men are leaving the tribes to go to the areas where new industries are coming into the country. English is replacing pidgin in certain parts of the country and technology is being introduced at a rapid pace. While most of us lived through the transition from the bulky mobile phone in a big black box to the iPhone, this country has skipped the evolution and gone straight to digital cell phones. Some of these changes are good but along with the good will come the bad. While industries can provide an economic boom, there will be an environmental impact on a land that is so wonderfully preserved at this present time. NTM will be able to use this valuable information, while seeking God’s guidance, to strategically plan their next work in fulfilling their evangelical commitment to the Great Commission.
Our last speaker talked about the need to be an encourager and on humility. He put a great definition to encouragement – “to give heart to someone.” So the opposite is discouragement – “to rip the heart out of someone.” Wow. If I could only take back some of the discouraging words I have spoken.
I never realized that Jesus said John the Baptist was that greatest man that ever lived (Matthew 11:11). The speaker discussed one reason is because John the Baptist was a man of great humility. He knew that his ministry must decrease so that Jesus’ ministry could increase. The same is true with us. We must decrease in our self so that Jesus can increase in us.
“Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest. The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.”” John 4:34-38
Shirley Falls - Connecting You to Tribal Missions in Papua New Guinea
