Hearing the whole case
Every day before missionaries Phil Henderson and Francois Hattingh start teaching the Mwinikas they hang up a 33-foot long timeline of biblical history.
“The locals call it ‘the map of years,’” wrote Phil Henderson. “We use it as a tool to help orientate the audience to what section of the Scripture we are talking about and to develop the idea of a progression through a storyline.”
To emphasize the importance of teaching the Bible from the beginning, the missionaries use the timeline in conjunction with an illustration of a court in session. They ask the people, “What happens if one of the judges shows up at the court after the trial is nearly over? Will he be able to judge the case accurately? No! He didn't hear the case from the beginning.”
When the people ask questions that are more recent on the timeline the missionaries answer, “You are asking a question from this timeframe way down here at the end. We are talking about a timeframe way up here at the beginning. How can we answer a question way down there when we are still way up here? Just listen and we will get there. Don't judge the case until you have heard all of it from beginning to end.”
The teaching has been well attended and seems to be slowly increasing. The past two weeks a number of young people and some religious leaders have increased the numbers.
“It is quite a diverse group,” wrote Phil, “but we are encouraged to see the faithful attendance of so many.”
Last week they even had some friends from town pay a visit.
“We have several Mozambican leaders who have been meeting regularly with some colleagues in town,” Phil wrote. “They have been studying together through some material on how to teach God's Word chronologically. Since we are in the midst of teaching they wanted to come and see the work first-hand.”
This week the missionaries are teaching about Cain and Abel, Enoch and Noah. Please pray that the people will continue to attend faithfully and they will take to heart what they are hearing.