learning from missionaries

i'm sure everyone i know loves listening to missionaries talk as much as i do so i have to share: i recently had the opportunity to listen to a former missionary to Chad (not retired as they are working in the states now).

you get so many interesting facts from missionaries.

i'm sure any cultural history book or geography class could tell you that the people of Chad speak french but did you know there is no word for love?

i didn't.

there is no word for love so, as Mark Seymour the missionary was saying, John 3:16 is rather lost on them culturally.  he had an interesting way to explain it.  as americans or europeans - whatever - a way of demonstrating love would be an act of kindness or an action of some sort.  in Chad that action places the recipient under obligation to the giver.  they have to pay you back in some way to release themselves from obligation.  an act of kindness could almost be seen as an act of manipulation (mr. seymour had a great story about someone giving him chickens and then sitting with him and talking while dropping incredibly strong hints about providing money for a trip to a capital city and then becoming very offended when it wasn't given.)

so to a citizen of Chad love in John 3:16 would be placing the recipient under obligation.  and Christ's love is not an obligation, it's a gift.

so the way to explain was to look into the culture.  Chad is all about relationships and fellowship.

everyone shakes hands.  to not shake someone's hand is quite literally and act of punishment or ostracizing.  it's a form of discipline.

  meals are eaten out of one bowl.  6 to 8 people will sit at table and eat from one central bowl.  it's fellowship. people do not eat alone.  he said it is incredibly common to see deep friends (male and female) walking down the road holding hands.  it's all about relationships, fellowship, communion.

so to tell the good news to the people of Chad the first missionaries would go to the beginning.  our God, our Creator, our sin, the break of the relationship, Christ died to bring us back into the relationship, the healing of the relationship.

so cool.

mr. seymour then looked at I Corinthians 1:9, I John 1:3, Ephesians 1:6.

key word: fellowship.  everything about the gospel is indeed relational.

to get even more interesting mr. seymour told a centuries ( i mean centuries plural not just 100 years but plural) old story about from the region.

the story is the 'great god creator' was visiting the region of Chad (or central africa because the story is found in other countries) and he was visiting the beautiful land and he heard that someone stole a chicken..

this is a big offense in Chad (today it represents a weeks wages and is something only served to guests).

as punishment the great god cursed the people but told them that he would send messengers to tell them how to restore the relationship.  

how cool is that!  insert missionaries telling the gospel and the God's redemption of His creation and whole villages were saved ( i believe this was around 1920 and before/after).

God had prepared the hearts of the people of Chad to hear the good news before his missionaries even arrived.

i sit here and think, genius, you shouldn't be surprised that God can do anything, but it still is just amazing and wonderful to hear and ponder.

note: the people of Chad created a word for love after they were saved.  it requires a direct object.

(note: the centuries story left out what the curse was because i could not find a way to explain it without getting someone very mad at me and since i'm not the expert on Chad i'll tell whoever wants to know personally but i'm not going to land myself in a boiling vat of hot soup by posting it on the internet)

aren't you glad that i heard missionaries speak this weekend?  otherwise i would have had zippo to share.  must. call. nikkon.