Elijah and Moira Hall TRIBAL MISSIONS - Reaching the unreached _img.jpg)
In the small, cramped room sits a man dressed like one of the Dobu people of Papua New Guinea. Six of us are crowding around his “tribal house” meeting our “language helper” for the first time.
It’s a little tense. We are all trying to make a good impression (will he know that we really want to be his friend?) and communicate well the reason we are here.
No, we’re not in Papua New Guinea. We are still at the Missionary Training Center, but this is the Culture/Language Acquisition Practicum – our chance at a hands-on learning we will not experience again until we reach a field.
Elijah and I (with our missionary “partners”) make conversation with the man, learning about him, his family and their people. How should we greet? Show appreciation? Strange words and a strange atmosphere make us all nervous. About halfway through I have figured out which staff person is playing the role, but my senses trick me into feeling as if this whole scenario is real.
As we try to explain our purpose to “Gosiana”, we realize how limited we are to explain the treasures of God and the greatness of the salvation He offers! “We have come to learn your talk and the way you live. We bring a very important message – God’s talk. We want to tell you this message from God, and we will do that as soon as we can speak your talk well enough.”
As we are learning, “well enough” means very well indeed. Not just the language, but what they think when they are saying the words and all the implications that could pose a barrier to a tribal group understanding the Gospel.
More importantly, what about relationships? We need to show the love of Christ to them in a living way, however imperfectly.
Only God saves. Please pray that He will send us to a people longing to hear and recieve His salvation.
