First Presbyterian Church
Las Cruces, NM
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First Presbyterian Church |
BEYOND OUR WALLS
January 2003 Missions Bulletin of First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, N.M. Vol. 5, No. 1
WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU WASTING ALL THAT TIME AND MONEY ON THAT TINY, REMOTE TRIBE? WELL, I MIGHT ASK YOU WHY YOU KEEP ON WORKING WITH THOSE OBSTINATE PEOPLE YOURE WITH, SINCE YOU HAVE HAD ONLY A COUPLE OF CONVERTS DURING THE YEARS YOUVE BEEN THERE?
So, we do wonder at times, dont we? The world-famous linguist and Bible translator, Ken Pike, who attended John Polings church in Duncanville, Texas, faced those kinds of questions. Dr. Pike was an intelligent man. He had to be to become a linguistics professor at the University of Michigan, to gain recognition as one of the worlds top theoretical linguists, to contribute a major theoretical concept to social anthropology, and to be nominated repeatedly for the Nobel Peace Prize. So, why would he waste all that time and talent translating Scripture into the language of a remote Mexican Indian village and training others to analyze and translate the languages of still other small communities around the world?We might also ask why John and Gwen Haspels have been working in a remote Ethiopian tribe where, out of a population of around 30,000, there are little more than a hundred or so Christians. Why not invest our resources in groups like the Bhangi Dalit people of northern India where, during the past year, close to 10,000 a month accepted Jesus as their Savior and joined the rapidly growing Rural Presbyterian Church-India. This church counted 578,649 members at the end of June 2002.
Its interesting that the two groups our session adopted in 1996 for special attention by our congregation are so different. There are 200 to 300 million Dalits comprised of over a hundred sub-outcaste groups, the lowest sub-group being the 20 to 30 million Bhangi Dalit. So, some 100 out of 30,000 Suri of Ethiopia now know Christ and nearly 580,000 Bhangi Dalits of India know Him. Quite tiny percentages in both cases, but much more productive among the Bhangi in terms of absolute numbers!
The Bhangi church is growing by thousands per month, while the Suri church is hardly growing at all. There may be several reasons, but one is that the Suri are less open to religious change than the Bhangi. The Suri are among the Nilotic tribes of East Africa, who are known for their pride in their ways of life and the country in which they live. In general, they like their customs and do not feel especially downtrodden. By contrast, the Dalits feel downtrodden and demeaned, and they, therefore, are more apt to consider alternatives. Philip Prasad and his colleagues present Christ to them as Dalit Avatar or Suffering Incarnation. They tell them of how Jesus suffered humiliation, loneliness, insults, injustice and cruelty and, because of their own humiliation and suffering at the hands of the general society, the Bhangi (excreta-handling Dalits) understand Jesus, "deep in their souls," as Philip says, and readily accept Him to be their true and only Savior.
Is it possible that we feel that our resources are going farther when we
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