Ese Ejjas see spiritual awakening
God is encouraging Ese Ejja believers to grow, and giving leaders insight into obstacles to the spread of the Gospel among their people.
“I believe we are seeing a spiritual awakening among the Ese Ejjas,” wrote Mike and Cher Riepma. “Our prayer is that this movement will continue to grow.”
NTM’s leadership team in Bolivia recently visited the village where Mike and Cher live to evaluate progress and help set goals for the coming months. Mike invited all the believing men in the village to fellowship with and learn from the NTM leaders.
“All 16 Ese Ejjas present gave personal testimony of their faith in Christ, and many shared of their desire to grow strong in the Lord,” Mike and Cher wrote.
More recently, at a conference for leaders of churches among Bolivia’s ethnic people groups, five Ese Ejja church leaders gained new insight into “the challenges they face in sharing God’s Word with their peers,” the Riepmas wrote.
As the men heard animism described, they better understood the belief system of their people, and how it contrasts with the Word of God.
That description included “no sacred texts or writings, no organized meetings, no supreme Spirit (God) interested in their individual lives, no specialized institutions, no felt need to worry about issues of morality, where they originated from and where they will spend eternity,” Mike and Cher wrote.
“Their general focus is to try to live in harmony with all the spiritual forces or beings that surround them. They follow oral codes and rules passed on rather informally that give success or solve problems in their daily lives with the emphasis on the now.
“This describes very well the religion of the Ese Ejjas: animism.”
In contrast, the Bible teaches that “there is an all-powerful, loving God very engaged in our personal lives. He has revealed Himself through His written Word. He sees everything in light of what is right and just and what is wrong and sin. What we believe and trust in now will determine our eternal state,” Mike and Cher wrote.
“These basic principles go directly again the mindset (world view)” of the Ese Ejja people.
Pray that the desire to learn and grow in Christ continues to spread among the Ese Ejja believers, and that leaders apply what they have learned to effectively reach others with the Gospel.