Turibia’s Story

Turibia was an old lady for as long as I can remember. She always wore a faded red ribbon of fabric woven through her two thinning braids to match her faded multi-colored dress. There were deep lines etched on her dark face, which, along with her calloused hands and leathery bare feet told volumes of her difficult life in the Chortí mountains of eastern Guatemala. Turibia had cautiously received the message of Jesus when the first missionary had arrived long ago, but she was always unsure if this foreign God was someone she could truly trust. After all, this was a foreign God, who spoke a foreign language, brought by a foreigner from a foreign land. And when God’s words were read aloud to her, he could only speak Spanish. How could she ever know his ways, and moreover, how could He ever know her and all of the sorrows that had deeply lined her face?

For twenty-five years my father went about the arduous task of translating the Scriptures into the Chortí language. Finally, after a quarter of a century the very first boxes of the completed and published Chortí New Testaments were opened in the main square of the central town of Jocotan. I remember that Turibia was one of the very first in the crowd of outstretched arms to receive a Chortí Bible. She clutched it tightly to her chest, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. Turibia could not read, but she understood the importance of that book. As someone on a loudspeaker read the Scriptures in Chortí, I remember her saying, “Coner nen inata que nidiosir ucanien, pues jaxir ojron niwojroner.” “Now, I know that God loves me, because he speaks my language!” She lived just long enough to see and hear the words of her God in the language of her heart. He was no longer a foreign God but the God of the Chortí. Very soon thereafter she went to be with her Lord.

I have heard similar stories from people all over the world. Not only do people feel loved when we make the effort to love them in their own language, but they also feel loved by God every time that we provide His words to them in their words.

Betsy Elliott

Now serving the Cusco Quechua people of Cuzco, Peru

Recovering the Culture for the Glory of God

"Musical expression is one of the most significant and characteristic expressions of the pattern of culture. An indigenous hymnody is one of the first signs that Christianity itself is truly indigenous.” – Dr. T.W. Hunt – Professor of Music in Missions, Southwestern Baptist Seminary.

We were recently a part of a praise and worship conference for our regional churches that stirred more interest than any other conference or event that has been held here in Cuzco, Peru.  On the last afternoon and evening of the conference we videoed each group in their traditional dress performing their best songs, with the promise that a DVD/audio hymnal would soon follow.  Most of the songs were in Quechua, many of them being original (check-it-out).  The joy and excitement generated during this conference and concerning the DVD project was overwhelming.  After the conference we had a discussion with the leadership on how we might be able to further develop this interest.  The result became a program called Recuperando Nuestra Cultura para la Gloria de Dios (Recovering Our Culture for the Glory of God).  We decided to make this an annual conference and event.  We expect the participation of our churches, and the interest of the community, to gain momentum. 

Why am I personally so excited about this particular project?  My wife Betsy grew up in a Wycliffe Bible Translator’s home in eastern Guatemala where her father translated the New Testament into Chortí, the local Mayan language.  For a time we also lived and worked in eastern Guatemala and often traveled to this area for ministry among the Chortí.  The music in the churches was terrible.  Even though the songs were in their own language, they were always Western hymns and modern praise and worship songs in a style and rhythm that simply did not fit the people.  Betsy’s mother would often exclaim, “No matter how much I work with them and no matter how much we practice, they just don’t seem to get it.”  I asked her one day, “How come the people don’t use their traditional instruments, like the flute and the drum?”  I was told, “The drum and the flute are used in pagan worship and we cannot bring that into the church.” 

Betsy’s family was well versed in the belief that people can understand God and His word more fully when He speaks to them in the language of their heart (see article “Turibia’s Story” by Betsy Elliott).  But there was little understanding about the fact that the people can more fully worship their creator with the music of their heart.    One day after a church service, the musicians began to play their instruments in their traditional style that was more familiar to them and their culture.  I was absolutely shocked and amazed.  The very people who seemed to have little musical ability now seemed to set their instruments afire with melodies filled with feeling and emotion.  I suddenly came to the realization of the obvious:  if a life created by God can be redeemed from paganism and sin, so can the music that He put in them and the instruments they use to express it.  But I was sadly unable to help implement change in this area.  That’s why this Quechua musical project means so much to me.

I appreciate the work being done in the area of Christian Ethnomusicology (see article: Ethnomusicology and Missions: An Understanding of the New Role of Music Missionary) encouraging indigenous peoples to discover God and how to worship Him in the context of their own culture.  For years, anthropologists have accused missionaries of destroying cultures, and in many cases they would be right.  In the case of the Chortí, part of their culture was lost when the people were led to believe that the music God created within them was not good enough to worship Him.  We as missionaries have the opportunity to lead the way in preserving cultures.  We can help the people recover their culture for the glory of God by encouraging them to express their love for Him in the cultural arts and music that God himself placed in their hearts.  Just because the enemy stole and distorted what God created does not mean that it cannot be redeemed once again. 

In 1989, I read Bruchko, an autobiography by missionary Bruce Olson.  It was my first missions book ever.  A few month later I had the privilege of attending one of his first missions lectures after his release from a 9 month communist guerilla captivity.  His book and lecture were the beginning of my missionary journey and helped form the foundation of my personal missiology.  He made a statement I will never forget.  Paraphrased, he expressed: 

Jesus can fit into any culture, anywhere.  He did not come to change culture but to redeem it.  Our job is not to bring Jesus as an import along with our own version of Christianity.  Our job is to help the people discover Jesus within the context of their own culture, so that they discover Him as their own true God and not a foreign God brought by foreigners.

Darrell Elliott

Working with the Cusco Quechua people of Cuzco, Peru

What is "Ministry to Indigenous People"?

For those of us who are a part of Assemblies of God World Missions, the most common use of the word “indigenous” can be found in the title of Melvin Hodges’ book The Indigenous Church, where he spells out through biblical principles or "The Indigenous Church Principles," the type of national church and individual churches that should be planted around the world.  The indigenous church should be 1. Self-governing 2. Self-propagating and 3.Self-supporting.  I believe whole-heartedly in the principles laid out in that book and do my best to gauge every ministry work and project against them.  Indigenous church missions theory is a widely held and respected view, however for our purposes this is not exactly what we are referring to when we say, "Ministry to Indigenous People."

Melvin Hodges’ book suggests that each country is its own indigenous people with its own unique culture, values, language, etc.  This, of course, is true and the term is used correctly.  But for our purposes here in this blog, the term "Ministry to Indigenous People" refers to ministry to indigenous people groups.  An extended explanation of this term can be found in Wikipedia under the article title “Indigenous peoples.”  A more concise and widely accepted definition can be found in the National Geographic Society book, Peoples of the World, which states:

The term “indigenous peoples” can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number.

Most secular organizations such as the United Nations and others agree with this definition.  I believe my colleagues in AGWM, as well as other missions organizations and the missions community at large also agree with this definition of indigenous peoples, although this term is often interchangeable with “people groups” or “language groups,” depending on the emphasis of a particular ministry or organization. 

Through personal experience and the experience of others, I believe that ministry to indigenous peoples is unique in its challenges and applications.  For example, an indigenous people group in Latin American may have more in common with an indigenous people group in China than it has with the Latin Culture in their own backyard.  I do believe that the same principles that apply to the practice of missions as a whole also apply to the practice of missions toward indigenous peoples.  However, sometimes we find it necessary to apply these principles in a very different way when it comes to indigenous people groups, than we might apply them in the "capital city" just a few hours down the road. 

That is the purpose of this blog: to discuss how the application of missions theory and principles concerning ministry to indigenous people might differ from other types of cross cultural ministry.  And as we engage in discussion, sharing in one another's successes and…not-successes, we all might better understand, more strategically execute, and surly accelerate the task at hand.  What do you think?

Darrell Elliott in Cuzco, Peru, working with the Cusco Quechua People