“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself
a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible… I have become all things to
all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that
I may share in its blessings.” 1 Corinthians 9: 19, 22-23
Through the heavily scented ylang-ylang fields and not
far from the main town, truthfully named Hell-ville, a team of new missionaries
makes their homes. They live tucked away
deep in a forest and nestled on a hill and others overlooking the sea, living
with local Sakalava people – learning the dialect by living amongst the people
and hoping to one day share the gospel message in Sakalava ways.
After surveying the island of Nosy Be, helping the team
leader develop a strategy, and seeing ground cleared and rough huts built, it’s
incredible to now see people living in those huts and interacting regularly with
the villagers around them. What was just
an idea, a vision for lasting change in the hearts of people, has now become a
reality and it’s a treasure to see.
Sharing the gospel by living among the people and
learning and using their dialect is a relatively new approach to church planting
ministry in Madagascar. Typically,
church planters learn French or the highland dialect before engaging in
evangelism in rural areas. The churches
they plant are most often peopled by those from highland tribes and the gospel
is generally considered part of the ‘Merina” highland culture, not meant for
the coastal people groups. Our vision
and hope is that the Sakalava people would see the gospel as truly “Sakalava,”
meant for them, and carried by people who live among them and speak like
them.
Pray for this TIMO (Training In Ministry Outreach) team
as they struggle to adjust to rural life – thatch huts and long hikes to fetch
water – and build relationships that will bring deep and lasting change to the
lives of people who have not fully heard Christ’s message of hope.
