Not quite ready to be home alone
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We felt as if we were leaving small children to fend for themselves.
Our co-workers were on home assignment, and most of the Western Tarahumara believers had a long way to go to maturity. And now -- suddenly and unexpectedly -- we had to leave for seven months to treat my wife’s cancer. We had little time to prepare the believers, so our hearts were heavy.
In the months to come, we were able to make only two short visits. When we finally returned we found it a challenge to assess the believer’s maturity.
Several issues soon became evident.
Their old animosities and their difficulty trusting others hadn’t just gone away upon trusting Christ. Social, religious and economic ties are strongly interwoven, making it difficult for them to change their ways.
We are realizing it takes time for the new believers to see how God wants to transform their lives from the ways that bound them together in the past, to the new, healthy, interdependent relationships by which they can glorify God as redeemed Tarahumaras. We continue to encourage them to view one another as family.
Nacho, one of the men who we believe is showing great promise for future leadership, was left in charge.
He agreed to lead meetings at his ranch -- teaching, singing, and praying with those who attend the believers’ meetings, usually numbering between ten and 20. He expressed sadness that even though a few met initially, most did not. Since then, he has confessed to the church that he himself was not faithful to lead and encourage the others and publicly asked their forgiveness -- a big step for the shy Tarahumaras and a definite sign of God working!
Toribio is a new believer who trusted Christ after love and care was shown him. He continues to struggle with a broken arm that will never fully heal this side of Heaven.
Despite the difficulties he faces in a society that defines work only as hard physical labor, Toribio continues to grow and witness to many around him. His wife has come to trust the Lord because of his witness and concern. He has shared with his elderly grandmother, and his sister and mother are hearing the teaching of God’s Word due to his encouragement. He has been helping with translation and is now very faithful in coming to the believers’ meetings (as least when we are here).
However, because the believers were not meeting regularly in our absence, it has taken a steady diet of encouragement from God’s Word to see him built back up to where he was spiritually when we left. Hearing him recently review the lesson from a previous believers’ meeting gave our hearts a lift. From memory and in great detail, he retold the biblical accounts of Cain and Abel and Noah and the Ark, including good personal application. He is starting to demonstrate God’s spiritual power even as he learns to live with his own physical weakness.
Lucasio has said he wants to trust Christ and is a fairly regular attender of the believers’ meetings but has continued to go back and forth, not wanting to separate from the former ways. It seems evident he had some problem with Nacho and did not want to attend meetings at his ranch while we were gone.
When I questioned him about his behavior and challenged him from the Word, he finally acknowledged that his behavior was not "obedience of faith." Since that confrontation he has been more faithful, openly helpful, and attentive to the Word.
Juana, an older single woman was one of the first believers. She has been like a daughter to us and has been faithful to obey God’s Word -- clear to the point of turning down multiple opportunities to marry because the men were not believers. While we were gone, though, she allowed her unbelieving parents and the enticements of sin to draw her away from the community of believers. After being lovingly confronted, Juana has come back. In her words, she had become walome (weak) because of neglecting to read God’s Word and regularly meet with other believers. She wants to turn from her sin and get back on the "new road." She constantly faces much opposition from her mom who greatly opposes her new faith.
In teaching and visiting with the believers I am stressing the importance of unity and body life from Scriptures like John 17 and 1 Corinthians 12 to help the young church see the importance God places on His people getting along and valuing one another. This is both for their own growth and for outreach to the watching community.
One step that I feel will help advance this interdependency is for the men to begin meeting for prayer during the week in their various houses. In this time before they have a church building, I hope and pray such meetings will help move them from meeting at the missionaries’ houses to being more comfortable meeting in their own homes -- making the whole church more indigenous.
These meetings could also give incentive for the different men to take steps in leadership training. During these times, key Scriptures from 1 Timothy (now being translated) that lay out the qualifications for leadership can be discussed.
We trust all that happened -- or didn’t happen! -- in our absence will be a very personal object lesson to the Tarahumaras as to what happens when we, as believers, do not function as a family. May this give them incentive to love and encourage one another in Christ, even when we can’t be with them, thus making the new church truly theirs.
Our co-workers were on home assignment, and most of the Western Tarahumara believers had a long way to go to maturity. And now -- suddenly and unexpectedly -- we had to leave for seven months to treat my wife’s cancer. We had little time to prepare the believers, so our hearts were heavy.
In the months to come, we were able to make only two short visits. When we finally returned we found it a challenge to assess the believer’s maturity.
Several issues soon became evident.
Their old animosities and their difficulty trusting others hadn’t just gone away upon trusting Christ. Social, religious and economic ties are strongly interwoven, making it difficult for them to change their ways.
We are realizing it takes time for the new believers to see how God wants to transform their lives from the ways that bound them together in the past, to the new, healthy, interdependent relationships by which they can glorify God as redeemed Tarahumaras. We continue to encourage them to view one another as family.
Nacho, one of the men who we believe is showing great promise for future leadership, was left in charge.
He agreed to lead meetings at his ranch -- teaching, singing, and praying with those who attend the believers’ meetings, usually numbering between ten and 20. He expressed sadness that even though a few met initially, most did not. Since then, he has confessed to the church that he himself was not faithful to lead and encourage the others and publicly asked their forgiveness -- a big step for the shy Tarahumaras and a definite sign of God working!
Toribio is a new believer who trusted Christ after love and care was shown him. He continues to struggle with a broken arm that will never fully heal this side of Heaven.
Despite the difficulties he faces in a society that defines work only as hard physical labor, Toribio continues to grow and witness to many around him. His wife has come to trust the Lord because of his witness and concern. He has shared with his elderly grandmother, and his sister and mother are hearing the teaching of God’s Word due to his encouragement. He has been helping with translation and is now very faithful in coming to the believers’ meetings (as least when we are here).
However, because the believers were not meeting regularly in our absence, it has taken a steady diet of encouragement from God’s Word to see him built back up to where he was spiritually when we left. Hearing him recently review the lesson from a previous believers’ meeting gave our hearts a lift. From memory and in great detail, he retold the biblical accounts of Cain and Abel and Noah and the Ark, including good personal application. He is starting to demonstrate God’s spiritual power even as he learns to live with his own physical weakness.
Lucasio has said he wants to trust Christ and is a fairly regular attender of the believers’ meetings but has continued to go back and forth, not wanting to separate from the former ways. It seems evident he had some problem with Nacho and did not want to attend meetings at his ranch while we were gone.
When I questioned him about his behavior and challenged him from the Word, he finally acknowledged that his behavior was not "obedience of faith." Since that confrontation he has been more faithful, openly helpful, and attentive to the Word.
Juana, an older single woman was one of the first believers. She has been like a daughter to us and has been faithful to obey God’s Word -- clear to the point of turning down multiple opportunities to marry because the men were not believers. While we were gone, though, she allowed her unbelieving parents and the enticements of sin to draw her away from the community of believers. After being lovingly confronted, Juana has come back. In her words, she had become walome (weak) because of neglecting to read God’s Word and regularly meet with other believers. She wants to turn from her sin and get back on the "new road." She constantly faces much opposition from her mom who greatly opposes her new faith.
In teaching and visiting with the believers I am stressing the importance of unity and body life from Scriptures like John 17 and 1 Corinthians 12 to help the young church see the importance God places on His people getting along and valuing one another. This is both for their own growth and for outreach to the watching community.
One step that I feel will help advance this interdependency is for the men to begin meeting for prayer during the week in their various houses. In this time before they have a church building, I hope and pray such meetings will help move them from meeting at the missionaries’ houses to being more comfortable meeting in their own homes -- making the whole church more indigenous.
These meetings could also give incentive for the different men to take steps in leadership training. During these times, key Scriptures from 1 Timothy (now being translated) that lay out the qualifications for leadership can be discussed.
We trust all that happened -- or didn’t happen! -- in our absence will be a very personal object lesson to the Tarahumaras as to what happens when we, as believers, do not function as a family. May this give them incentive to love and encourage one another in Christ, even when we can’t be with them, thus making the new church truly theirs.