Elijah and Moira Hall TRIBAL MISSIONS - Reaching the unreached _img.jpg)
A missionary left on home assignment; while he was gone, the tribal group he worked in chose a new leader. Shortly after the missionary returned, the new “mayor” announced that he would be kicking the family out of the tribe. What on earth could the problem be?
The problem was that the missionary had unknowingly committed a major social offence. He hurriedly rectified it by sending a gift to the new mayor, introducing himself and his family – the next time he saw the mayor, it was as if they had been friends forever.
Whether or not we are aware of it, we are teaching someone who Christ is by our actions and speech.
Do they see Him when they see us?
Are we aware of our impact on those around us?
Awareness and effectiveness often go hand in hand; when we become aware of our actions and what they communicate to others, we can more effectively teach the Gospel message by our lives as well as our words.
Tribal missions entails a needs for cultural awareness so that we as missionaries can try to avoid being offensive to those we hope to reach.
For example, our culture generally values time and accomplishment over relationships. In a relationship oriented culture, being on time is not as great a goal as maintaining relationships along the way. A veteran missionary described to us how if you met a tribal person on the road, you could count on at least thirty minutes of greetings, inquiry about each family member, and exchange of information just to be polite – a minimum relationship maintenance before you could continue walking.
This aspect and many others have been brought to our attention, and it’s clear to us that we have a lot to learn. Then again – isn’t that true of all of us as we are conformed to the image of Christ?
May we live wisely so that others are pointed toward our Savior!
