M&T Updates: The Cultural Redemptive Analogy that God showed us

When the apostle Paul was teaching the Athenians, he used an aspect of their culture as a door opener to present to them the living God.

In Acts 17:22-23 we read:
So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows:
“Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.”

Back in the early 70’s…

…after I was recently saved, and after I was challenged at a Mission’s Conference to give my life to reach one of the many Unreached People Groups of the world, I began to cut my missionary teeth by reading books by Don Richardson.  He and his family gave their lives to reach the unreached Sawi nation that lived in a remote jungle location in Irian Jaya, Indonesia, which today is known as West Papua.  They lived among this dangerous group of cannibals, learned their language and culture, built relationships with them, and began to teach and translate the Scriptures into their language.  God honored their efforts and in time, many came to Christ.  And the cool thing was that the Lord provided them with a wonderful redemptive analogy from the culture which greatly assisted them in giving a clear Gospel message that really hit the nail on the head in the hearts of the Sawi people.  (Read the exciting account of what happened!  PEACE CHILD by Don Richardson)

And in the same way, God has also wonderfully blessed us in providing a beautiful cultural analogy which brought great clarity to our presentation of the Gospel to the P people.  To hear all about it and see a corresponding PowerPoint, listen to this recent report given in one of our supporting churches at the following link.  Forward the video to around 32 minutes.
https://www.sbcommunity.org/sermons-archive/new-year-missions-report/

Suggested Additional Reading:
LORDS OF THE EARTH, by Don Richardson
ETERNITY IN THEIR HEARTS, also by Don Richardson

A Season of Trials and Testing

During the last year and half, our extended family (the Dyck Clan)  has been permitted by our Lord to go through quite a number of trials.  Our dear sister-in-law Brenda left us to be with Jesus, (victory for her!), our brother Vern had a stroke followed by heart surgery, our brother Murray died, our other brother Howard has suffered from encephalitis causing him to become an invalid for  4 months already, unable to do anything for himself, and in Nov our daughter Jodi suddenly had a small stroke in her left frontal lobe.  As we face these and other challenges, we continue to reflect on different verses, like these ones from James, which at times can strike us so strange  Rejoice!?  Really??!!

James 1:2-4  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  And let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

SOOO forward we go, choosing to rejoice and rest in God’s bigness, his faithfulness, his immeasurable love, and his sovereignty.  Truly we are in good hands!!

More Challenges

• Our daughter Jodi, pictured above, who works with her family up in the Yukon Territory to reach one of the 14 different ethnic groups up there, had a stroke back in Nov. The MRI she got on Jan 3rd clearly showed it! Thankfully it was a small one which occurred in her left frontal lobe. She has had multiple medical tests since the stroke, but nothing conclusive has been determined as to the cause of the stroke. She is on aspirin each day and is on the plant-based diet to lower her cholesterol. She has been having times of brain fog, periodic dizziness, along with occasions when she can’t fully process a thought or task. She has requested getting an echo-sonogram with a bubble test, so we’d appreciate your prayers that that can be scheduled. So yes, here we go running to God yet again and giving our daughter over to his love and care. Thanks so much for joining us in praying for her.
• On Thursday of this week, February 9th, I will be going in for surgery to have a RALP procedure done. Thanks so much for praying with us about this too. For about ten days after the surgery my plumbing might present some challenges. However, after that period of time I hope things will go better. It all DEPENDS!! 😉 Anyway, your prayers are much appreciated!
• Thankfully Teresa’s wrist continues to heal after a titanium plate and screws were inserted three weeks ago. We are so thankful for this. In the meantime, I’m her sous-chef.
• Please be praying for our national team as they will be heading out to P-land to hang with the believers out there once again. Pray for a real profitable time, for advances in the language, for ongoing growth among the believers, and for God’s name to be powerfully glorified among the P churches.
• Praise God that some of the radios we purchased to beam radio broadcasts into P-land should be arriving in the country around the end of February. Pray for their protection and for a safe arrival out to where the people are.
• Thanks for your continued prayers as we work on Bible curriculum for the P brethren. Our hope is to get out a couple of more books this Dry Season.

Resting in the One who is the Alpha and the Omega,
Merrill and Teresa