Allocation

Moving into the Tribe

Prior to moving into the tribe, we want to have confirmation from the tribe elders that our team is welcome there. In Papua New Guinea, there are many tribes open to missionaries coming in and living among them "Appendix IX". We do not want to go to a tribe where our team is not welcome and end up having to leave due to miscommunication after potentially years of hard work.

After initial contact has been made with the tribal elders, we will communicate four things we wish to accomplish during our time living in the tribe: First learn the tribal language, second develop a literacy program, third translate the Bible and fourth teach the Bible. After this is communicated to the tribal elders, time is given to them to make a decision as to whether they would like to accept our team and if we are to allocate to this location. If they agree, the village will make the necessary arrangements in order to receive our team. The team likewise will make necessary arrangements to move in and build our homes within the tribe.

Pre-Evangelism

Pre-Evangelism takes place between allocation and starting to learn the tribal language, up until we are able to communicate God’s Word. This is a period of several years prior to the communication of God’s Word. During this time we will be learning language, culture, linguistics, develop an alphabet, teach literacy, develop lesson that contain foils between their culture and the Bible, translate portions of scripture to be used within lessons, and much more. We believe there are two main goals to be accomplished during this period.

First, while learning the tribal language we need to gain a position of influence and trust in the community. We will embrace a learner mentality as we are exposed to an all new ways of life, from learning language and culture to how to hunt, build etc. A good platform is key for modeling the life of Christ publicly, wooing, and attracting others to Christ, through living the Christian life as a foil to their own culture. It has been said that this is where you win people or lose them. One day we want to preach the message of God and must have a platform and people to listen to the message. Without trust and relationships in communal culture, no one will listen to the message we have come to share. If we have no audience who will hear?

The second goal is modeling. Everything we do must be done in light of one day bringing believers and the church to a place of maturity. This goal affects and influences every decision and action we take. Pre-evangelism is a good time to start modeling concepts we would like to be in place in the mature church. For example, discipleship needs to be present in the church. We need to model this from day one, not after the church has been established. Teaching people how to use machinery on the house build,

showing people how to use certain tools, and teaching them certain skills). This is an example of modeling that can take place years before the church. We need to model Biblical concepts that the target culture may not have or have a distorted view of, such as what it means to be a generous person, how to give, what is love, grace, mercy, forgiveness. When the time comes to teach, we want to be able to reference back to how we lived as an example. If we did not model then, we have lost a precious opportunity to draw upon experience to help define these concepts and show examples of how they can be lived. Our actions must line up with our teaching. We aim to be good ambassadors of Christ, representing him accurately. Waiting to model a Christian lifestyle only after a church is established is too late, we must be faithful to live that are in line with Biblical maturity.