We have been pleasantly surprised by reports that we’ve stumbled upon of some local outreach efforts that are focused on the people that we moved here to pursue. We knew that some things were happening, and even now it is still far less than what they need, but it is nice to know that we were wrong and that there are some local believers who see the need and are acting on it. Even as recently as the last few months we know of several hundred who have heard a clear presentation of the Good News, some of whom have put their faith in Christ.
We are thrilled that there are local Christians who are also reaching out to our focus people. One of our prayers is that that would happen more and more so that our role here would be unnecessary. At the same time, we also pray for a few things to change as these groups continue to reach out to them.
· Many local people seem convinced that there is no need to reach out to our focus people in their own language. We are praying for a work that presents the Gospel in a contextualized way and results in a truly indigenous church.
· One of the challenges to the Body of Christ in this place is the temptation to be possessive and protective. Of course people need to be careful, because some of the church networks are not sanctioned by the government and it is a risk to partner with anyone. This can be taken to extremes, though, that are not always helpful. It also can create a temptation to be very possessive and speak of people as being “mine” or “our believers” as opposed to someone else’s. This has sparked a lot of reflection in my own life, and a desire to be very careful with the terms I use that would ever indicate that some movement or some group of believers belongs to me. Any results belong to Jesus. Period. Any believers belong to Jesus. Period.
Anyway, back to the positive note on which this post started…
There is more to the story than we were aware of and for that we are thankful. May that continue to be the case as we become more established here. May we find that He has been at work in many hidden corners without our knowledge.
