When anyone hears the word and does not understand it…

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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Matthew 13:19 relates how Jesus, in his Parable of the Sower, said, ” When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.”

This is one of the many passages in scripture that mention the need for understanding of the message, not just “hearing” it.

There were five of us from three different mission organizations in Paraguay, who attended the ICLL7
There were five of us from three different mission organizations in Paraguay, who attended the ICLL7

With this in mind, the end of September I had the opportunity to attend the 7th International Congress on Language Learning, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  It was an encouraging and helpful time getting together with other Language Consultants and Coaches to learn form each other how to best help and equip missionaries that are ministering cross-culturally and in other languages. If missionaries are going to teach the Bible in a way the people understand it, the missionaries themselves must first understand well the people’s language and culture.

I headed back a few days early and attended the 50th Anniversary of our home Church in Cardwell, Montana, and then was able to spend four days with Ryan in Wisconsin.

We have received word that another missionary family is heading to Paraguay and should arrive in October of next year.  That will bring us up to a total of 19 new missionaries that we will be continuing to equip for future ministry among the tribal people of Paraguay.

The work load with teaching/guiding all the new missionaries at present, plus Ithie Jackson’s ministry of guiding missionaries in the interior of the country who are learning tribal languages, has been pretty heavy.  Praise the Lord he has provided help for our consultant team in the person of Luciane Klassen, one of our coworkers who has been working with the Pai Tavy Tera people.  The Pai Tavy Tera work she has been involved in, recently appointed elders in the church and is approaching the phase of itinerant missionary involvement, instead of resident missionaries.

For the last few months I’ve also been filling in covering some of the ministries of our coworkers Mike and Trisha Goddard while they’ve been on home assignment. One of those areas is the monthly ACERCATE a las Tribus meetings we hold the first Tuesday of each month as a time to fellowship with pastors and believers from the local churches teaching on and discussing what is involved in world missions and cross cultural ministry, emphasizing individual believer’s and the local church’s involvement and responsibility. We use this time to look at what NTM and other missions are doing in Paraguay and around the world.

Some of the topics we’ve covered in ACERCATE a las Tribus over the last few months include:

  • Culture Shock
  • Are those who’ve never heard the Gospel lost?
  • How Urgent is cross-cultural ministry? (looking at what the Bible teaches about Hell)
  • The Gospel or “Another Gospel”?
  • The Importance of Clear Communication, and
  • “Tribal Evangelism” – What does that mean? .


Thanks for partnering with us.  Your prayers and faithful support are so very much appreciated.  The lives we are able to touch for Christ, and the lives they in turn touch, are eternal results of your ministry.