My Uncle is a Papua New Guinean National. His Dad was the village chief. My Uncle was trained to succeed as village chief too. His firstborn son, my cousin, was destined to become the village chief one day. They lived deep in the PNG highlands in a small village as warriors. They had no clocks, no technology and no birth certificates. They hunted pigs, bush fowl and deer, ate root vegetables and cooked in underground ovens called mumus. They are tough men. They lived in a dark spiritual world, but one day, a Western Christian Missionary told my Uncle about Jesus, and he believed.
His cousin believed too, and he was called to be an evangelist. He walked over the mountains and highlands of PNG to spread the good news, and he would often walk 2 days to preach and teach at remote villages. Effectively, he took the mantle of local evangelism responsibility from the western missionary.
When I did my pilot training, I was fortunate to train with the first PNG national flight instructor who was planning to take the gospel to the far parts of Papua New Guinea by training more bush and mountain pilots in his own country, language and culture.
In Acts 1:8, we read Jesus words dispatching the church to reach the world as His witnesses:
"... and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."I have not focused on the start of the verse, although that too is relevant to our mission - here I want to focus on the context of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the "ends of the earth" parts of His statement.
It's great to ask questions of the text! Why did Jesus jump from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and why did He then jump straight to "the ends of the earth."? There are a lot of places between Samaria and the ends of the earth that he could have mentioned!
There is a specific relevance in the order of place names that Jesus mentioned: His disciples were familiar with Jerusalem. It was their native habitat; they were comfortable there; they knew the language and the customs. They had to cross a cultural boundary to enter Judea and Samaria though. Notice that "Judea and Samaria" are grouped together as one. Google it: it's still grouped together 2000 years later as the "Judea and Samaria Region"! The Samaritans were not liked by the Jews - the Jews looked down on them due to historical differences, and the Samaritans despised the Jews and their religion. It was hostile. Things were different in Judea and Samaria, but Jesus was sending His new church in that direction to be His witness!
"The ends of the earth" refers to places further away - this involved crossing into a new culture and a new language or languages. It was two steps removed from Jerusalem: culture and language. How uncomfortable the disciples must have felt - and here's where the start of verse 8 becomes so relevant:
"but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses ..."The church was not going in its own power. The Holy Spirit provided and still provides the power for the church to go!
This brings me to my musings, and my purpose for this blog. What happens when the sending culture doesn't fit in to the receiving culture? What happens when the receiving culture doesn't see the sincerity of the missionary for various reasons, even though the missionary is very sincere?
In his book, "Revolution in World Missions", Dr. K.P Yohannan discusses the conflict between cultures, and the best way for the Western Church to help spread the Good News in a cross-cultural context. Although he spends several chapters discussing this issue, one striking comment he makes is this:
"Have Asians rejected Christ? Not really. In most cases they have rejected only the trappings of Western culture that have fastened themselves onto the Good News."Yohannan emphasises the great work of national workers (that is, Christians who have been called by God to minister in their own or nearby cultures) and how there are better ways in current times of church history for the Western Church to support them than actually trying to do the face-to-face evangelism.
If you've never watched this famous 6-minute video clip from New Tribes Mission (Ethnos360), entitled "Each Stick Had a Name", a story about Papua New Guinea Nationals, please follow this link.
But be warned, it may change your view of cross-cultural mission and unreached people groups.
It's not a modern video, and it's not high-resolution, but the Message of the Good News of Jesus is timeless.
"... we don't have enough people." But God does.
How will you support cross-cultural mission?
References:
Photo 1: PNG PTA, https://www.papuanewguinea.travel/about-pngtpa, 16/10/2019
Ethnos360 videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiaWpULoxSAyuuUl2KBw9Kw 16/10/2019
Photo 2: Each Stick Had a Name, Ethnos360, https://youtu.be/0K7CNF4ywDY, 16/10/2019
Revolution in World Missions, Dr. K.P Yohannan, 16/10/2019. Download a free ebook here: gfaau.org/freebook