I want to tell you a story about a tribal group that lives deep in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. They are the Bisorio people. The Bisorio people once believed that Yage (the Bisorio word for sun) was the creator of the universe. When the Bisorio’s are asked where Yage came from the reply “he simple is.” One day, Yage created the moon to be his wife and they eventually had a son (The Bisorio people believe God has as son!). The Bisorio’s say that Yage’s son is the one who is shining when the day is cool. Yage eventually created man and after he created man he thought “who should eat man?” He then created the Yama, spirit beings who live there in the jungle with the Bisorio’s. They live in constant fear of the Yama. Whether they are walking along the trails, working in their gardens, or sleeping in their huts, they are ever mindful of him.
How in the world would you begin to tell these people the good news about God’s real Son? John 3:16? Let me show you how that verse would be interpreted by them…
For (Yage, the sun god) so loved the world that he gave (the one who shines when the day is cool), that whoever believes in him will (not get eaten by the Yama), but have everlasting life.
These people need more than John 3:16. They have a worldview in which they interpret the things around them and what they need is to see things the way God says they are. The only way that can happen is if someone physically goes there to tell them. When someone does go there, they need to start with these people in the beginning. Before they can believe John 3:16, they first need to bow to Genesis 1:1!
We are being taught here at the Missionary Training Center how to teach God’s Word in a foundational way (beginning in Genesis and working our way to the gospel) based on what we know they already believe. We need to know the way they believe so that we can steer them away from confusion or a mixing of what we are saying with what they believe (this is called syncretism).
Praise God that for the Bisorio people someone did come and teach them God’s Word in this way and that they now have a mature church who is discipling there own people and other language groups around them. The missionaries name is George Walker and he is one of our teachers here at the training center