NTM

First let me apologize for last week’s news article. One should not write a news article when he is dog-tired at midnight. Things will come out in a confusing jumbled mess…but let’s let bygones be bygones. You live and learn, and we are moving on today with the topic of animism.

I have already gotten an email this week asking questions about what Animism is. I should have done a better job of explaining the definition that I gave. The short definition of animism I gave is the practice of manipulation and appeasement of both good and bad spirits that control everything in life. SO: What Am I saying? Basically animism is a religious system, albeit informal in most cases. Now, if I am living in an animistic system (if I am myself an animist) I believe that there are spirits all around me. Some are good, most are bad, but all can be controlled by me. How can I control them? Depends, but most animists will try prayers, rituals, sacrifices, offerings etc.

So, I am an animist, and I am trying to manipulate and appease spirits. Why? What do I believe that spirits can do? This is the interesting thing about animism. Spirit beings, in the animist mind, control everything in the world that happens. If it rained, the spirits caused it. If it didn’t rain, the spirits caused it. If my crops produced amazing crops, the spirits did it. If the crops die, the spirits did it. If I am healthy, the spirits allowed it. If I am sick, the spirits planned it. This isn’t just superstition, this is 100% sincere belief on behalf of the animist. They are 100% that this is reality. This isn’t guesswork, to them this is truth.

So, if the spirits have power over everything from nature, to animal kingdom, to things relating to humans: what does an animist do? He simply tries to figure out how to keep the bad spirits from doing bad things through appeasing them, and tries to figure out how to get the good spirits to do good things through manipulation. This is a religious system that encompasses every aspect of reality. The animist doesn’t simply go to "animist church" once a week for Sunday school and church service and then forget it the rest of the week (like some Christians). The animist lives his religion out every second of every day. This system of animism must be understood by the missionary before he can expect to begin teaching ANYTHING about truth.

Let me back up my last statement with a real life example. I don’t want to mention the country or the tribe, but there is a tribe where the traditional animistic beliefs kept them from understanding God’s truth. This particular tribe believed that the spirit’s could be manipulated by complementing them. So they had these chants and saying that they would do to manipulate the spirits. They would compliment the spirits on how great they were, and how great they looked etc. When they had flattered the spirits on and on they would finally ask the spirit for what they wanted. If they got what they wanted they thanked the spirit. If they didn’t get it they concluded that they hadn’t complemented the spirit enough.

Ok. This tribe was then contacted by missionaries and they began to teach them "how to be Christian" (I am not going to critique what they taught this tribe, that is not the point of this example). They taught the people to build a church, go on Sundays, pray, and sing to do what God wanted. The tribal people saw how rich the missionaries were and because of their beliefs perceived that the spirit that the missionaries served was pretty strong. So they all "came to God". They came to church and sang their hearts out, and prayed telling God how great He was and how glorious.

After awhile people stopped coming to church. One by one they would leave and tell the missionary they were "quitting God." Why? To them, they perceived that they were supposed to "flatter God" by singing and coming to Church and tell God how great He was in prayer. But since God wasn’t answering their prayers to become rich like the missionaries, they perceived (since they were animists) that either God had unreal expectations of flattery, or God could only be manipulated by white people. These are sad conclusions, and they could have been avoided if the truth of God’s word had been taught understanding how the animist thinks.

This is only briefing touching on the subject of animism. It is important because almost 100% of the time, unreached people groups are animistic. In Paraguay this is also the case. The unreached people groups there are animists. Next week I would like to unpack the subject of Syncretism and Folk Religion (which is a category of Animism) since that is more specifically the situation in Paraguay.

By the way, you can’t become a "scholar" on this subject by hearing a couple stories unfortunately. We are studying this subject hard and will continue to study hard. Some books I am currently reading on the subject are "Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally", "Communicating Christ in Animistic Contexts", "Scripture and Strategy", "Contextualization and Syncretism", and "Understanding Folk Religion." "Building on Firm Foundations" is also a big help. I highly recommend all the above books, although I do not necessarily endorse everything in them.

I have to admit there is not much to write tonight. The week has been completely jammed to the top, but not with things that make fun news articles :) We have been having class from 8-5 monday – thursday this week, and still keeping up with life as normal when we are normally in class from noon. We had a group in teaching a course for a couple days which required all day classes because of their limited availability. The class was great and we really appreciate those guys.

Which brings me to what I’m going to barely touch on tonight. Who trains us missionaries at the Missionary Training Center? The answer is two-fold. For most classes we have a group of trainers who live here full-time with the full responsibility of preparing us for the mission field. The other answer is on occasion professional help is sought from outside of New Tribes. We have many former overseas missionaries who live here with us at the Missionary Training Center. They come from Asia, Africa, South America, and even North America (some former Greenland missionaries). They all have what we don’t: experience. They have seen first-hand what it is like to be overseas doing the ministry that New Tribes does. With that experience they know what things they are glad they knew when they were overseas, and they also know that which they wish they knew when they first went overseas. That experience helps the training center be shaped into what it is, a training center that really prepares us for the great unknown. We are very appreciative of the literally HUNDREDS of years experience these missionaries collectively have.

On occasion however, a subject comes up that not all missionaries are prepared to teach, for which professional help is sought. These subjects involve things like a Medical Class, a Legal Class, or an overseas safety class. We have had classes such as these from professionals in these fields (although most have a new tribes background, they just aren’t with New Tribes anymore) to come and teach us.

We are privileged for the next couple of weeks to have such a man with us named George Walker. George taught us last semester a class on Worldviews, and this round he is teaching us on the religion of Animism. A short definition of animism is the practice of manipulation and appeasement of both good and bad spirits that control everything in life. This happens to be the religion (whether blatantly or subtly) of most of the world, and definitely in the situations that New Tribes finds itself in. George has served over 30 years with the Bisorio people of Papua New Guinea with New Tribes Mission, and has seen the power that this religion has over people’s lives, and without a proper understanding of it as a system can never be addressed correctly to fully bring down that power.

While this "news update" doesn’t have alot of material, we look forward to sharing next week some of the issues we are working through in the class.

There is one thing that is pretty scary as we jump head-first into tribal missions.  And it’s not the food.  It’s not the spears.  It’s not being isolated from civilization, and it’s not missing my favorite tv show.  And believe me, I’m not scared of going years without having to be concerned with American politics.  A scary thing for me is, having never been to an unreached people group personally, can I really be sure that they are there? Maybe a better question to ask is can I be sure of the need that exists?

The reason I am talking about this right now is because it has been on my mind for a couple weeks, and I have spent a lot of time this week doing some research, emailing missionaries, and talking to New Tribes leadership.  Not that I haven’t researched this unreached people group thing before and was clueless, yet it seemed to me to be an important enough issue to make sure that you know what you’re talking about.

First let’s talk about what an unreached people group even is, because I have found myself of late, a little confused on this definition.  A people group is simply an ethnic group who have the same culture and language history and who share the same set of beliefs and behaviors.  Therefore when I use the term "unreached people group" I mean that it is a people group who, do to isolation, does not have access to the Gospel either in written form or verbal testimony.  In a nutshell these people have no chance to know or understand anything about Jesus, unless someone from the outside gets it to them.

But there are some things that this does not necessarily mean.  It does not mean that there aren’t necessarily any believers in that people group.  Sound like double talk?  Let me explain:  If a person from a people group comes out of isolation, comes out to the city, learns a language that does have a Bible, hears about Jesus and gets saved…that does not mean that his people group now have access.  The access still is not there because there are so many things left to consider.  Is this person going to go back to his people and share the good news?  Would he explain it right, or would he distort the truth?  Would his people ever get a Bible in their language so they could learn how to grow in their relationship with Christ?  All these things have to be considered.

I found out about an unreached people group in Paraguay that has a church.  When I heard this it shocked me…that doesn’t sound like an unreached people group to me.  When dialoguing with some missionaries from the field I came to find out that there is a church in one of the communities in that people group.  However that people group has over 100 communities that are all isolated from each other.  Not only that the church that is there doesn’t have a Bible that they can read.  In a situation like that how can believers grow?  I wonder what the preacher teaches on Sundays…He doesn’t have a Bible himself!  How can a church hold to truth, when truth is not being defined by God?  With that in mind, how can this one community reach the other 100+?  Odds are stacked up against them.  This people group as a whole is still unreached.

In a changing world where in some cases "tribal people" wear American Eagle clothing and like to talk on their cell phones with relatives (I’m not exaggerating), the tribal scene looks different than 30 years ago.  The lines for tribal and unreached can become fuzzy.  The world is shrinking, but even though it is shrinking people still remain isolated from the gospel.  No matter how you look at it, unsaved people in the United States have access to the gospel.  You can buy a Bible at Wal-mart, and I wonder what the farthest distance is that I’ve ever driven without passing a church.  There are unsaved people here as there are unsaved over there, but as I am presented with the facts we are convinced of the existence of people  isolated  from the gospel in Paraguay.  Do you see the need and the urgency of the task before us as we do?

What has convinced us is the process by which New Tribes Mission establishes whether or not there is a need.  Things are considered such as are the people bilingual in a language that has the gospel?  Is the people group going to last?  (People groups either die off, or are absorbed into another people group all the time) The last question that is asked is key:  Is anyone making a viable attempt to reach them?

When all the questions have been asked there are 8 people groups in Paraguay who are considered unreached.  One of these groups has missionaries in right now just getting started!  In another group, mature tribal believers with access to the gospel are starting the process of reaching 2 tribal groups near them with the gospel (although they will need assistance with logistical stuff)  There are 4 couples, and 4 singles in route to Paraguay hoping to be arriving over the next couple years.  There are also a few more couples and singles who are looking to God as to whether they will serve in Paraguay.  God is giving New Tribes Mission the laborers for Paraguay to reach these who remain unreached.  It is my prayer that in the next 20 years we can see the expanse of the Gospel reaching to every corner of Paraguay!

Well, it’s Friday night and it’s time for another news article.  When it comes to news, sometimes I’m not 100% sure what to write about when I sit down at the computer.  I want what I say to not be boring and to not force myself to write something just because it’s Friday…but that being said I do want my correspondence to be regular.  So while I have spent the last several articles talking about the training, I again am going to bring out a certain aspect of the training again this week.

How is training different from schooling?  Why Missionary TRAINING center and not Missionary COLLEGE?  In a nutshell I would like to suggest that a college is a school that you pay to go to because you have to to get a good job these days.  Most employers don’t care what you majored in, so long as you major in something.  A college degree is obtained by being correct 70% of the time and shows employers that you got what it takes to commit to something for 4 years.  However, training to do something implies that you are going to do what you are training for.  It is what you actually want to be doing.  When you know that you are going to be using something you could care less what your grade is, you just want to know how it is done.

For example, let’s take lifeguard training.  Anyone sitting in on a lifeguarding class has intentions of being a lifeguard.  It’s just that simple.  As someone who went through lifeguard training in high school, I could care less than what I scored on my CPR test.  My main concern was wether or not I would be able to perform CPR to save someone’s life it the situation presented itself.  An "A+" or a "D" was irrelevent at that point compared to knowing and feeling confident on how to perform the operation.

The same is true of Missionary Training.  No one is twisting our arms to be here.  Quite the opposite, many people encourage us not to take our family overseas.  We want to be here.  We are going through so many training modules.  Missionary Technology, Effective Parenting, Child Safety, International Health and Wellness, New Testament Church Principles, Romans…these are all training modules we have experienced so far since Christmas.  And I cannot honestly say I know what my grade is for any of them :)

Why?  Am I lazy?  Do I care to be here?  The simple answer is I do not know what my grade is because I know what I have learned.  I did not simply score some right answers on a test.

That being said, there is a lot of information being thrown at us all at once.  Not to mention things going on in our daily lives, church lives, any books we may be reading, and the things that God is teaching us in our personal lives.  As I start to summarize I would like to say that my desire is to never let any of these be idle discussion any longer, I want everything I learn to be incorporated into my life when I learn them.  Maybe what I’m saying is I’m striving to be a learner, rather than a scholar.

That’s why our news has been focused on training.  It is the biggest aspect of our lives right now.  God is preparing us to reach the unreached.  To cause those to hear that have not heard.