Phil and Elin Henderson
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THE TRUNK AND THE BRANCHES

April 1, 2011 by Phil and Elin Henderson

There are two main religions present in the village here as well as several others that the locals are familiar with. When we first moved to the village we were asked which religion we came to represent. We said we came to teach God’s word and not to promote a specific religious group. One of the illustrations we have used from the earliest days in the village is that of the tree trunk and its branches. We said the Word of God is like the trunk of the tree, all the major religions here agree that the word of God started with the Bible (the trunk). After that many of the religions said that their religion was based on the teachings of a later prophet who had the final revelation (the branches). We told the community that we would try to avoid getting involved in the arguments between branches. Instead, we would stick with teaching the trunk of the tree that each of the branches came from. We said that since we all share the same trunk, we will just go ahead and teach and translate from those sections. If someone disagrees with us we will say, “What you are teaching comes from one of the branches, we are teaching what comes from the trunk.” Since those early days we have learned that the Mwinika have a proverb that says “the branch of a tree cannot turn itself into the trunk of the tree.” It is a great proverb for helping us be able to focus on teaching the word of God and to avoid being bogged down with the major controversies that exist between the religions in the area.

Filed Under: Ministry

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