“We’re going to burn your Church and School up!”

Aubrey and Andrew joined me December 27 – January 2 on a trip to Ndugu-Ndugu.   This is the place where we are helping the people by helping them with their Airstrip project.    They are building this airstrip by hand with wheel barrows, picks, shovels, crow bars and with their hands.   Some wonderful financial gifts have allowed us to deliver food that keeps them digging.   One day this air strip will benefit the Adventist's and many other Christian groups as they seek to spread the gospel.   This will also benefit the community with better assess to food and a way to sell food from their gardens.

After hiking 3 and a half hours up intense trails to the village of Ndugu-Ndugu in the Moni tribe to help organize their church and to see the update on their airstrip project they wanted to meet first.

First they greeted us with the top officials of the Adventist Church dressed in mostly traditional attire.   If you go to previous blogs on this subject you discover that this was once a big hill and is now a flat area of the airstrip.   150 meters long by 5 meters or more high by 45 meters wide has been leveled by hand.   But more has to be done.

The Moni tribe love to Yell!    In fact the Chief told me that that “the people don’t listen unless we yell at them.”   On Thursday afternoon when we arrived the whole village had been invited for celebrating the new church being organized.    Before we could organize the church they demanded (shouted) that we needed a meeting.    Their shouting was something like this. . .  in about 90 decibels or more.  “We’ve been here for years trying to build an airstrip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Now we need tools and we need rice for everyone, every month until we are finished.   Since it was your church who has kept us focused on this project you need to pay, NOW!!!!!!!!!    If you don’t pay, Now!!!!!!!!! we are going to burn your school down and we will burn your church down and kick your pastor out of the village.  We are going to bust you to pieces.”    This was the non-converts but the converts were only mildly different in their threats.  

I felt powerfully impressed that what they were seeking was not what they said but what they really wanted to know was how much was the Adventist Church behind them as a people and village.   So I practiced active listening.  Quiet response to the intense yelling.   Trust me it takes Heavenly angels to keep yourself from screaming right back when people are saying utter falsehoods but in the end if had I yelled back the relationship would have bee severed.   A long time ago I learned from a pastor friend who has since died, “When the people yell you whisper.   Then they have to stop yelling to listen to you!”      Keep in mind we had to translate this from English to Indonesian to Moni.   It was very intense – 4 hours intense.   Repeatedly I had to tell the speakers to translate even my body language and tone.   I had to tell myself listen well.

Culture here is to put up a lot of “smoke screen” before they get to the real issue.     The issues they argue with passion may not be the real issues in the Moni tribe.  

  But in the end the issue was that some of our Adventists members had become proud of our school and Student missionaries from 1000 missionary Movement  and our airstrip project and the school and more.     Because of the perceived pride in these few people, the pagans, and the Catholics and Lutherans and Pentacostals were going to insure that our church was going to be humbled as a result.   After talking all of this through we had to listen but reiterate that Money doesn’t grow on trees and we are sorry for portraying that we were a rich church.    “Each church should join with this airstrip project that blesses you whole village.   This airstrip will bless you and us too.   We will do what we can but don’t be unrealistic in demanding too much,” I told the people!  

Within many parts of Papua there is something we missionaries call the “Cargo Cult”.    Cargo Cult is the idea that “if your church can give better gifts than my church I’ll join your church.”   Of course we can’t fall into that trap because we are a small church in size in comparison to some of the churches in Papua, Indonesia.    The real issue was that some of the churches felt we were trying to bribe their members to join ours by building up a school, church and airstrip.

As we neared the end suddenly an illustration from the Bible came to mind.   “Silver and Gold have I non But such as I have give I thee.”   “We didn’t come to give you rice or tools or pans or airstrips or churches or new schools.   The reason we build clinics and airstrips is not to bring you economic success but rather so that we can more easily spread the gospel.    So that the Name of Jesus Christ can go faster, further and with more depth than ever before.    Suddenly that illustration from Acts 2 was the thing that caused the people to settle down.   Amazing what God’s word does to settle an issue!

A panoramic view of some of the ones who yelled and demanded that the Adventist Church had to pay them for absolutely everything.    One of them yelled, “I demand that I get paid to eat.”   In the end when they recognized that we were not doing this to be “Cargo Cultish” then they were much happier.