Foundational Bible Teaching
Assuming that you have learned the heart language of the people and have gained a good understanding of their culture and a firm grasp on their worldview…now what? It’s time to teach! But where do you start? Many people might naturally gravitate to the gospel of John, which is the most evangelistic book. But let’s consider what your tribal friends might be understanding as you are teaching.
They might be interested in who this powerful Jesus person is. “Is He a human? Or a powerful spirit? He heals sick people just like the witch doctors! Who is this “God” that He keeps talking about?“ They would be confused. Imagine them hearing right in the beginning, John the Baptist saying, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” They might wonder, “What is a ‘Lamb of God’? What is ‘sin’? How does a lamb take it away?”
All of the Bible is true. But the Bible isn’t intended to be picked up right in the middle of the story line. If you have ever watched the last half of a movie where the beginning was of utmost importance, you were probably confused. The movie ended and you were left wondering why it ended without concluding the story. The beginning of the Bible is of utmost importance as well. The story of redemption doesn’t start in John, it starts in Genesis. In the first book of the Bible, God promised the “Seed” of the woman would crush the snake’s head.
If you start teaching them from the beginning, it will answer a lot of the questions ahead of time. It will give them a good foundation to build on. They will get to see God as the Creator and see how He owns everything and has authority to throw people out of the garden. The listeners also see the consistency of God’s character as He is holy and just in throwing man out of the garden, the same as He is in giving the Law. People need to realize that they are lost before they can get saved, just like a doctor must convince a patient that he has a tumor before the patient will agree to surgery. But throughout the whole redemption story, there is the promise of a Deliverer who will come one day, the one of whom Isaiah said, “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all”
The people will see God’s faithfulness in freeing Israel from slavery in Egypt. They will also see the concept of atonement as it was vividly portrayed before the Israelites in the Passover. This way, when Jesus comes on the scene, the tribe will be better prepared to understand why He truly is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. They will likely already realize their own sin and their desperate need for help. If you do a good job developing and teaching lessons that address their worldview, they should also realize that the spirits are of no help to them. In fact, if there are real spirits behind some of their beliefs, they are actually evil. The people should realize that God cannot be appeased. He is just. What else is there to do? At this point, each person will be faced with a decision to either trust in Christ for salvation or to continue in the ancestral beliefs.
One of the sad results of teaching without building a good foundation from the Old Testament is syncretism. Syncretism happens when the animistic beliefs are not replaced, but the forms and rituals from another religion become incorporated as part of them. Sadly, this happens all too often. Missionaries sometimes encounter villages that have churches and religious meetings. They use crosses on their graves and sing Christian songs in the trade language. But these are all simply rituals to appease the spirits or God. They don’t understand the true gospel or the meaning behind those activities. One such story can be seen in this video about the Dinangat people.
Clearly communicating the gospel is difficult and takes much time, resources, and effort. But in the end, it is always worth it. People need to hear the gospel in a way they can understand: in their heart language, in a way that is culturally relevant, in a way that addresses their worldview assumptions, and in a way that builds firm foundations for them to understand and trust in the saving person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ alone!