We are Project 3000 explorers and saw God work through tribal art!
My wife and I try to find and connect with an unengaged, unreached people group in South Asia. Unengaged means groups who do not have a ministry strategy for reaching them with the gospel.
One day, we met a painter from one of the unengaged people groups in a village. We’ll call him Mr. Day.
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His people group is known for their artwork. They paint on paper and fabric scrolls, and some even make their own paint out of stone and rock. Their artwork tells the stories of their history, religion, myths of the past and even afterlife. One of their favorite stories to share is their version of the creation story.
Creation
After meeting Mr. Day and looking at his artwork, we asked to hear about his creation story. He explained how his gods used the ocean to bathe, and the dirt they washed off became birds. There was no place for the birds to land, so from their nails they created trees. From the dirt they created fish, land and eventually man.
After he shared, we asked him if we could share our creation story. We walked through creation, the fall and the need for Jesus. Then we invited him to believe. Mr. Day said he had heard of this story before and was familiar with Christianity. He said, “You meet on Sundays to forgive your sins.”
We were able to explain that we did go to church on Sundays, but it wasn’t to cleanse us for our sins. Our belief in Jesus cleanses us of our sins. Mr. Day said he understood, but he believed there were many paths to God. As our conversation continued, we asked if there was any way he could paint a custom story for us. Mr. Day agreed.
We went through the biblical creation story, including how God made Adam and Eve in His image and then how sin entered the world.
We then shared about Jesus, who came to earth and died, bearing the weight of sin and rising again on the third day. We pulled out pen and paper. We drew simple doodles and wrote specific things we wanted on each square of the artwork.
Over the next several days we prayed that the Lord would soften Mr. Day’s heart and that he would think about what he was drawing.
A few days later we came to pick up our artwork. We had no idea what to expect. The artwork itself could have been terrible. He could have included his own beliefs in the painting. He could have asked for a lot more money. But something else happened.
Mr. Day welcomed us into his home and showed us his masterpiece. He painted a beautiful scroll for us! Trees in the creation story, a sword to represent the separation from God and man when they disobeyed Him. He even included a pregnant woman who was Mary (which we did not include in our notes, but he knew about it and added).
The scroll was beautiful, with details, colors and all done in the cultural artistry of the people.
Belief
Sharing tea in Mr. Day’s home, we continued to talk about the painting and the little details that were put into it. What fruit is on the tree? Why did you put a sword in between the man, woman and God? Mr. Day smiled and answered our questions.
He said the painting brought him a lot of joy. We asked him why? Mr. Day said, “Because I believe it.”
We continued to ask questions and explained to him what it meant to commit his life to Christ. We shared Luke 19:1–10 on how Zacchaeus repented and believed. We then shared Romans 10:9 and asked if he wanted to commit his life to Christ. We explained that it means he can no longer follow Hindu gods, and he said he did not want to follow them anymore!
We are rejoicing because as far as we know and have seen through our journeys, this is the first person from his people group who wants to follow Jesus!
We continue to go to Mr. Day’s residence and tell stories about the Bible. We decided to leave the scroll with Mr. Day for a little while longer for him to continue to practice the story and to share it with his family.
Our prayer is that this is genuine belief, that the Holy Spirit is moving in his heart, and that Mr. Day isn’t swept up by the wind or cast to the dry soil. We want him to continue to have a thirst for truth and take a step of obedience in following believer’s baptism.
We are also continuing to pray for his people group as a whole. They are still a UUPG with less than 2% professing faith in Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for the people in South Asia that the Holy Spirit will soften hearts and that they will be ready to hear the truth!
Some names have been changed for security reasons.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jude and Rocky Brown and originally published by the International Mission Board. Jude and Rocky Brown are missionary explorers with IMB’s Project 3000 strategy. More explorers are needed to serve at least two years finding those who have never heard the gospel. Visit IMB’s website for more information about serving with Project 3000.
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