November 01, 1990 by

News from Agencies Collaborating With the U.S. Center for World Mission

Contact any of these organizations at 818/797-1111 or address 1605 Elizabeth St., Pasadena, CA 91104 USA

TRIBALS

Intitute of Tribal Studies
Dave Sitton, who has been a missionary in Papua New Guinea, plans to multiply his years of experience and his burden for tribal peoples by reviving the Institute of Tribal Studies on the USCWM campus.

Dave, his wife Tommi and three children have just recently returned from Papua New Guinea. Dave has been interested for several years in working here at the U.S. Center for World Mission.

In their ministry among tribal people over the last thirteen years, they have formulated plans, set goals and had dreams of what God would do there in Papua New Guinea. A beach-head work was established in the north coast town of Wewak, where there is now a church of about sixty adults. Also being established in Wewak, is Leadership Training Center which will serve as a base of operation for evangelistic thrusts into the interior.

Initial outreach has been done in several isolated villages. One bush church, Rabiawa Village Fellowship (a congregation of 130), is reproducing itself by further evangelism among their own people as well as making regular "Gospel patrols" into surrounding areas.

Dave's philosophy in Papua New Guinea has been to "convert, equip and thrust forth," with the ultimate goal and dream being complete evangelization. This philosophy and goal will likely influence his current ministry through the Institute of Tribal Studies. The difference is that the scope will be broadened to include tribal groups all over the world and the participation of many more laborers among these people groups.

Along with the Apostle Paul, Dave says, "It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already known, that I might not build upon another man's foundation; but rather as it is written--They who had no news of him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand" (Romans 15:20-21).

PHILIPPINES

Gospel Recordings
An audio cassette in the Tagalog language encouraged a Filipino to ask God's forgiveness and seek deliverance from evil spirits. This report comes from Gospel Recordings International.

Pastors of a church in the Philippines were asked to rush to the home of a man named Romeo who had been possessed by evil spirits. The pastors dealt with Romeo using the Word of God, and prayed for him.

The next week, the pastors gave Romeo a Tagalog cassette with a message entitled "Fear Not," which explains how to overcome evil spirits. After listening to the tape and considering the verbal witness of the pastors, Romeo renounced the evil spirits which had confused and deceived him for years. Immediately after the Lord delivered him from this bondage, Romeo asked for God's forgiveness and invited Christ into his heart as Lord and Savior. Now, he says, he is "free at last!"

INDONESIA

Zwemer Institue
According to the Zwemer Institute located here on-campus, the island of Sumatra has been largely neglected by Christian missionaries. Sumatra is the northernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago, straddling the equator. Its people are predominantly Muslim.

Attempting to explain why Sumatra has been so neglected, the Zwemer Institute says Christian evangelism among the Muslim peoples was forbidden by the Dutch government until 45 years ago. So Christianity was totally unknown to  85-90% of the population. Even in recent years, without the restrictions of a colonial government, Christians have found Muslims to be initially resistant to Christian work. On top of that, the extremely rugged terrain and the difficulty of travel and communication pose additional problems for potential missionaries to Sumatra.

Zwemer adds, however, that none of these problems are any excuse for our neglect. The Indonesian government is open to Christian workers. Now is the time for Christians to break out of the past inertia of inaction regarding Sumatra and to reach the neglected peoples of this island.

Following are ten of the major clusters of unreached people groups of Sumatra yet without the Gospel:

Minangkabau--6 million people in west central Sumatra or nearby, including the large city of Padang. Considered 99% Muslim.

Gayo--202,000 people living in the highland area of north Sumatra. 100% Muslim.

Rejang-Lebong--800,000 people in the southwestern highlands. 100% Muslim.

Kerinci--300,000 people southeast of Minangkabau and northeast of Rejang-Lebong in the west Sumatra highlands. 100% Muslim.

Aceh--2,500,000 people at the northern tip of the island. 99.5% Muslim.

Alas-Kluet (Batak)--75,000 people living just south of the Gayo in the North Sumatra highlands.100% Muslim.

Ogan-Pasemah--250,000 people living in south-central Sumatra. 90% Muslim.

Lampung--1,500,000 people near the southern tip of Sumatra, with many more closely related language groups nearby. 100% Muslim.

These peoples are still waiting to hear of Christ's love for them. And He is waiting for us to tell them.

ADOPT-A-PEOPLE

AAP Clearinghouse
Denominations, churches and mission agencies are showing increased interest in the Adopt-A-People program.

The Baptist General Conference denomination now has 'Adoption Packets' for thirty different people groups. The groups can be adopted by various churches who will commit themselves to pray for the establishment of a strong church among their adopted people, to provide support for missionaries to that people group, and possibly even to send members of their own church to work among the unreached group.

Churches adopting people groups are also encouraged to use the Global Prayer Digest, the daily prayer guide for unreached peoples (see page 10). The GPD has been included by the Baptist General Conference in each adoption packet.

Also included in each packet is a profile of one of the unreached people groups. An example of one of these profiles has been reprinted on page 9 of this issue. It describes the Fulani /Fulbe of Cameroon.

This initiative by the BGC is apparently raising keen interest in the Adopt-A-People program among representatives of several other denominations.

SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA

International Outreach Inc.
Mobin Khan, director of International Outreach, recently traveled from Pasadena to the Muslim republics of Soviet Central Asia. Mobin is himself a former Muslim, descended from the famous Khan family of Central Asia.

Having taken a refresher course in Russian three years ago and recognizing the present openness to Christianity in the Soviet Union, Mobin realized that this was the right time to explore the possibility of ministry in the area of the world which his ancestors once ruled.

He took with him 500 cassette tapes with Gospel messages in various languages of Central Asian Muslims, along with some Russian Scripture portions, and personally distributed all of them in Uzbekistan and Kazakhastan.

Muslims there were very responsive, says Mobin. After he had completely run out of tapes and Scripture portions, a Muslim merchant came running up to him and offered him money for Christian materials. But there was not even one copy left for this man. Mobin wept that Muslims of the Soviet Union are open to the Gospel call and yet he did not have enough tapes or booklets for everyone he met.

In one city, a Muslim couple were very interested to find out why Mobin himself had decided to become a Christian. After spending three days with this couple and telling them about Jesus, Mobin saw tears of joy in their eyes as they gave their lives to Christ.

CALIFORNIA

A revival has come to Whittier Christian High School in California. Students were stirred to increased prayer and commitment of themselves to God as they were exposed to material from the Perspectives Study Program.

Those working with the students have been preparing curriculum of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement for high schoolers, and are almost ready to go to press.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST

A spiritual renewal movement among pastors in the Pacific Northwest has received national attention and sparked hopes among a growing number of leaders across the U.S. that a genuine "revival" of authentic Christianity may soon be ignited. Some pastors in Oregon and Washington say that it has already begun. What will be the impact of this renewal be on the U.S.? What will be the impact on the world?