We should have a tremendous respect for those early missionaries, those who pioneered God’s work among the jungle peoples. In many cases they were the first to blaze the trail. No one had gone before them, no one could help them with the huge challenges they faced. They either sank or swam on their own! They were totally committed to the task they had undertaken. Such was the reputation of the ‘green hell’ of South America my Father never expected to come out alive once he and his family had entered that infamous place. Though the missionaries had received some training in language learning and other so called essentials the experience of living and ministering in the jungle among jungle peoples was an experience that literally made or broke the individual missionary.
In time things got a little easier for the singles and families who came to the jungle. There would be someone to meet them as they came into the country and someone to meet them at the last little town before they headed off to the jungle. It was a huge encouragement to be met by a smiling face, a person who had been there and done that who could help with the required paper work. In time too, better and more efficient methods were introduced to expedite the church planting effort.
It was in the Spiritual oversight of the missionaries I believe things could have been much better. Those who came for the purpose of providing that oversight in the church planting effort were faithful in admonishing us to keep going, to be dedicated because of the absolute importance of seeing the work through to the end. They were right to do so. Truth is most of those missionaries were already very dedicated. What the struggling missionaries needed was affirmation, a clearer understanding of being loved and gently, tenderly cared for by God. So many of us did not grasp the fact that a big part of our many struggles came about because we didn’t know how to live by Christ Himself through understanding identification truths. It was there all the time waiting for us to take it but we either didn’t know about it or we didn’t understand it properly. Yes of course God honored His Word and multitudes of those precious jungle dwellers came to Christ and many many churches were planted. To be fair to our leadership and to ourselves, even a much clearer understanding by all of us of what God means when He declares us to be “IN CHRIST’ would not have eliminated all our struggles and solved all our problems. I’m absolutely certain however that we all could have been blessed and positively impacted personally and as a fellowship and community through a greater emphasis and focus on the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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