Picture this: You are working with an unreached tribal group in Papua New Guinea. Your goal is to explain to them the message of the gospel. But they do not have a clue about the awesome Creator God who sent His Son to die for them. They lack the context to understand what you want to tell them. The gospel? A Savior? God? You need months of lessons before they’ll begin to grasp those concepts. Where would you begin?
Missionaries to the Pal people in Papua New Guinea face that challenge. So to pique their interest, the team working with the Pal people used a method that many others have found effective: a string of beads. Using 200 beads out of 6000, Chris introduced the Pal people to a history record that goes beyond the years of the stories which were passed down to them from their ancestors.
Chris started by showing a length of about 200 beads. He talked about what the beads represent. Chris wrote. “As they come to understand that each bead represents a year in history, we shift the talk to moving backward in time and see what they know or can remember from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, and so forth.”
“Before we get even 200 years into the past, their knowledge runs out. … We ask … do you know how old the ground is? When the sun was born? How about the moon and stars?”
The Pal reply, “We don’t know the truth. We’re waiting for you guys to tell us the truth.”
“We then pull out the 6,000-bead timeline and watch their eyes grow wide .... We say, ‘God has told us what happened at the beginning. God has told us about the middle. And God has told us about the future, all in His Word. And we’re going to share with you God’s Word so you can know it, too.’”
It’s not easy to teach the gospel to a remote people group who have absolutely no context for the message you want to share with them. Our staff at the Missionary Training Center are committed to the task of equipping students with the tools that they will need to effectively communicate the gospel message to those who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ.
Today missionaries continue to teach evangelistic lessons to the Pal people of Papua New Guinea. It is exciting to have had a small part in that work by training those missionaries for their current ministry.
I am so thankful for all those who have supported me with their prayers and financial gifts making it possible for folks like the Pal to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s pray that God will open up the eyes of their understanding as the gospel message penetrates the hearts of these Pal people for whom Christ died.
Bob
* * *
The Value of the Gospel
by Lance Latham (founder of AWANA)
Down through the ages of history, Christianity has been subjected to a multitude of influences. There have been creative ideas, new programs, fascinating personalities, fresh approaches to theology, evangelism, missionary activity, and a myriad of other diverse developments in the ongoing mission of the church. It is probably undeniable that, with true spiritual discernment, these developments should be viewed with guarded favor, and given the opportunity to have their part in the cause of Christ.
However, that special and changeless message called “the gospel of the grace of God” must never be subject to creative ideas or diverse developments. The hope of eternal life, the central message of divine revelation, is based upon the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s cross and the offer of divine mercy which issues therefrom. The death of the Son of the living God in space and time and the meaning of that sacrifice is what constitutes this glorious message called the gospel.
Should that message ever be changed, then the door to life is instantly closed and Christianity becomes a mere humanistic religion, fascinating perhaps, but valueless. The most valuable and sacred commodity, therefore, on the face of the earth is the truth of the gospel. This is a sacred message worth living for, worth sacrificing for, and worth gladly dying for. It is the only real value on earth today; it is the truth of all truths to which the church must be dedicated to propagate and protect.
