“Do not bring us the Gospel as a  potted plant. Bring us the seed of the Gospel and plant it in our soil.” - Mr Murthi (Indian evangelist)

Bara men with guns

We’ve mentioned before that the time seems ripe for the Bara. Doors that were closed for generations are beginning to open. People are hungry for change and open spiritually. We’ve asked you to pray for more workers to go out. Please also pray that these workers would have a desire to teach the Bible and not simply impose their set of doctrines and practices that sometimes cloud the Good News.

Sadly, the current methods of evangelism here often focus only on conversion in order for numbers to be added to a church, instead of making disciples. Nominal Christianity is rampant in the urban areas where so many don’t have even a basic understanding of their faith. This often leads to syncretism with their traditional animistic beliefs. Pray that this would not spread to the unreached areas as well but that a real, living, and radical faith would take root.

We’re grappling with a number of questions as we seek to support and encourage local outreach:

• What is the “seed” of the Gospel (the irreducible core of our message that must be shared)?
• What should outreach to the Bara look like?
• What should a Bara Christian look like?
• What about a Bara church?
• Are education and literacy necessary for the development of the church?
• How can Bara people worship God in culturally appropriate ways?

Clearly, Bara believers need to answer these questions. Pray that those reaching out to the Bara would be both Biblical and culturally sensitive. Some are finding that their traditional methods of evangelism are not very effective and slowly, people are looking for better ways to share the Good News with the Bara. Pray that God would give the church wisdom in reaching out and sharing the “seed” of the Gospel. And pray that it would grow and develop in culturally appropriate and sustainable ways, that an indigenous Bara church would take root and flourish.

PRAYER POINTS

• Continue to pray for the church that François & Florence are leading in the Besakoa area.
• Pray that the Bara translation of Luke would be finished soon so it can be used.
• Pray that the economic hardships in the Bara area would turn people to God.
• Pray for continued openness among the Bara in the least reached areas, such as Andriry.