FUNERAL PRESENTS OPPORTUNITY
May 26, 2005
It was a different type of funeral for the Kuman people -- the first death of a believer.
Maria hadn't been a believer very long. She placed her faith in Christ within the past two months after her son, Umba, shared God's Word with her.
"As far as we know," wrote missionary Ken White, "she is the first person to be led to the Lord by one of the believers."
The death of a believer gave missionaries an interesting opportunity to be involved in the funeral proceedings.
A Kuman funeral is more than a one-day affair, and Ken and his co-worker Will Tallman were asked to speak four times to the mixed audiences of believers and unbelievers.
"Our experience," Ken wrote, "has been that the unbelievers have so much baggage and wrong thinking that they cannot grasp the Gospel if we try to present it to them in one shot, so we used those messages to try to generate interest in the upcoming teaching."
The believers were encouraged throughout the funeral proceedings to see an interest in the Gospel developing in the community.
The missionary team wants to start new outreaches next week to teach evangelistic Bible lessons and begin training Kuman men as Bible teachers.
Pray that many Kumans will desire to hear the Gospel. And pray that those being trained to teach will gain skill and confidence in communicating God's Word.
|
WORLDWIDE UPDATES
_img.jpg','John, a Kuman believer', 200, 230))
_img.jpg)
