NTM

How many times have you walked into church and wondered to yourself “people will think I’m a jealous husband if I sit next to my wife, perhaps today I’ll sit with the guys instead”?

This is a real question for Ruben, a Pai Tavytera believer from Paraguay, as he steps through the doorway of the church each Sunday and scans the scene that lies before him. On his right, he sees mostly men and boys seated intermittently on the back-less hard wooden benches, and to his left are the young girls and women with their infants. His feet kick up dust from the dirt floor of the church as he makes his way to the middle and decides that today he will sit next to his wife. He knows there will be talk among the people because what he just did is not considered the actions of a “normal Pai man.” But Ruben is not sitting by his wife because he is afraid that another man will single her out and run away to another village as is an all too common practice, but they are together because they enjoy one another’s company and he is proud that she is his wife.

The outward behavior of Christianity in an animistic society will look much different then what many westerners are accustomed to observing. Some form will take on similar and familiar traits, but genuine expression of Christianity takes place first at a worldview level and is observed through small yet significant choices made on a daily basis by husbands and fathers like Ruben.

As you step through the doorway of your church this Sunday, remember to pray for Ruben and other Pai men as they are faced with choices you can’t even imagine or comprehend, yet are significant to the furthering of the Gospel.