Saturday 28 November 2009

Kindergarten for a Hill Tribe

In November 2009 the Gold Coast Japanese Christian Church, Know Your Bible (Robina), and other individuals donated funds towards the construction of a kindergarten for an indigenous hill tribe on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.

Most of these mountain-top villages have no electricity or tap-water. Their ancestors have lived in the hills for generations. And most of the villages are animist.

But not too long ago one entire village believed the Gospel and were baptized.

The following is the remarkable story of how God revealed Himself through dreams to the village Chief, resulting in the conversion of the entire village.

It took our team five hours by bus, plus two hours on a motorcycle (with four of us on one motorcycle!), plus hours hiking on foot and crossing rivers on logs. It rained the whole time.

I was told I was the first foreigner ever to set foot in those mountains. So I expected the village people to look surprised when I arrived.

When we finally arrived, the Chief gathered the whole village together. But no-one looked surprised to see a foreigner.

So I asked my interpreter to ask the Chief if it’s really true that I was the first foreigner they’d seen. The following was the Chief’s fascinating reply:

“Many years ago we used to worship the spirits,” said the chief, “ The men used to spear each other, and had as many wives as we liked.

Then one day I had a dream in which somebody dressed in white appeared to me and said, ‘You better repent of what you are doing, and start worshipping the one true God in heaven’.

Then I was told in another dream to gather the whole village together and tell everyone to repent and start worshipping the one true God in heaven.

Then I was told in another dream to write down certain laws which the village was to live by.

And I was also told to build a building where the entire village could gather to worship the one true God in heaven.

The behavior of our village became so good that we gained the reputation of causing the least amount of trouble to the Government of any of the hill tribes. So much so that my name was changed to Datu Malinaw [which means, Chief Peace-Bringer].

"Then one day I got sick, and had to come down off the mountain into the lowlands to look for a doctor. And by chance, the first person I met happened to be a Pastor.
The Pastor took me into his house and showed me the Bible. I was amazed to discover in the Bible almost exactly the same words that had been told to me in the dreams. So I knew that the God who wrote the Bible is the same God who had revealed Himself to me in the dreams.

I invited the Pastor to come and live in the mountain, learn our language and teach us about God.

Finally I was told in another dream that someday white people will come from a faraway land and tell us more about what God wants us to do.

So no-one is surprised to see you - we’ve all been waiting for you,”
said the Chief.

Everyone gathered together, eagerly waiting to hear my message. We preached about Creation, sin and death, God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, Water Baptism and Receiving the Holy Spirit.

After I finished speaking, the chief dismissed all of the villagers from the house while the Elders had a closed discussion. Then after a short time he gathered everyone together again. The Tribal spokesman announced:

"The Elders have discussed the message which we all just heard, and have unanimously agreed that it is truly a message from God. Therefore, as of now, we all accept it."

In that way the whole village instantly accepted the Gospel and they also accepted the message about receiving the Holy Spirit.

But when it came to the message about water baptism, the Chief did not at first give permission for his people to be baptized.

"But if you'll help us build a new building for worship," he said, "then I'll allow the people to be baptized."

At first I felt unhappy with the Chief’s response regarding baptism - I felt that if his obedience to God was complete, he should be willing to submit to baptism irrespective of whether or not we agreed to help them with a new building.
But then the Lord softened my heart; He seemed to be impressing upon my heart:

“These tribal people don’t have legal title to the land which they’ve occupied for generations; they feel they are less formally-educated and less wealthy than lowlanders; and the Chief feels that by allowing his people to submit to baptism, he will be bringing his people into covenant with his visitors – so all he is doing is he is looking for a token of your sincerity – then he will feel sure he won’t be exposing his people to any risk of being exploited or driven off their land – and he will gladly submit to baptism”, the Lord seemed to be telling me.

So I shared my feelings with the others in our team, and one of our team immediately gave the Chief 100 pesos (which is only about five dollars). Then the Chief immediately gave permission for his people to be baptized. That was all it took – just a little token of our integrity, just five dollars. I was amazed!

We calculated it would cost only $1250 to construct a church-building, since all we'd need to do was buy corrugated roofing iron and cement and hire a chain-saw to cut wood from the jungle.

That seemed such a small price to pay in order to see an entire village baptized and following Jesus.

So when I got home to Australia, I told a Church about it, and while I was still speaking, the Pastor jumped up and grabbed the microphone off me, and said to the congregation:

"We'll take-up an offering on that straightaway – and whatever you give in the offering tonight, we'll match it dollar-for-dollar from existing church funds."


So in one offering almost the entire amount was raised.

We sent the money to the Philippines, and the new church-building was constructed – the whole building was made from beautiful Philippine mahogany.

Then the Chief came true to his word and he was baptized - he and his entire village – in one day, in the river.

At the opening Church service there were 1,300 people in attendance.

Since then, some of their young people have graduated from Bible College, and they have spread the Gospel to four neighbouring villages.

But there are many, many more villages in that particular Tribe which are yet to hear the Gospel. The total population of all the villages of this particular Tribe is approximately 25,000 people.

The total cost of constructing the kindergarten will be only $1500. Church-buildings can be constructed in neighbouring villages for approximately $2000. The reason it is so cheap is because land, wood and labour can be provided freely by the Tribe.

Through partnering with our Filipino workers in Christ, we could achieve seeing all 25,000 people brought to Christ.

But this opportunity won’t be there forever because, as roads and bridges are being built, the villages will become more and more accessible, and it may only be a matter of time before other religions seek to enter and proselytize.

So now is the time when we must walk through the open door which God has set before us before it is too late.

If anyone would like to contribute towards bringing Pastor Sinday from the Philippines to Australia to share the vision amongst interested groups, they may make a direct deposit at:

Name of Bank: Bendigo Bank
Account Name: Go and Serve the Lord (Go-Serve)
Account Number: 114585805
BSB: 633-000

Please include the reference: Tribe

For more information visit here or to view an English/Japanese video of this testimony visit here

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