Emily's Words from PNG

Today the Gospel was presented in a village not far from here! The missionary has been teaching chronologically through the Bible since September, and today he taught on the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. One of the women who attended the teaching told the missionary's wife that this is the first time she truly understood what Jesus has done for us.

That is why NTM works so hard to learn the language and culture of a tribe before they present the Gospel. You see, there are churches all throughout this area, in many different denominations. Many of the people here attend church, and have heard of Jesus. But all of these churches teach in Pidgin, the trade language of PNG. It is easier and faster than spending years learning a complicated language. But Pidgin is a very "shallow" language, meaning that it is designed to help people communicate about simple things. When spiritual truths are presented in Pidgin (if they can be expressed at all) much of the meaning is lost.

Here is an example we've heard about: In the local culture, blood is seen as something unclean. If a person is sick, they shoot tiny arrows at them, to "let out the bad blood". Therefore the idea that Jesus "shed His blood for us" has a very different meaning to them, unless the idea is fully explained in their language.

NTM missionaries spend several years in a tribal culture learning about the people, the customs and the language before they attempt to present the Gospel, hoping that it will be clearly understood the FIRST time it is heard, rather than causing false beliefs to take root among the people.

It's exciting to be here while that work is going on. Please pray for the new believers in the village, and for those who are still thinking through all that they have heard.