Most of you know that our passion is to empower tribal churches to send out some of their very own to reach unreached tribal groups - tribals reaching tribals. Our "pilot project" with this concept was mobilizing and equipping the Bugkalot tribe to reach the Agta tribe. We started that process in 2010 (with a consultation like this one), and over the last couple years, we have been gradually seeing the fruit of our efforts to work ourselves out of a job. Our Bugkalot partners are equipped to effectively reach the Agta as well as to train other Bugkalot tribals who are sent out to join their teams. It's not that they are doing everything perfectly (who of us are??), but they are asking the right questions and working strategically. We still serve as consultants for them, but they need us less and less; which means that we have time to consider replicating the paradigm.
On the island of Mindoro, there is a collection of 6 tribal groups that is known as the Mangyan tribe. We have worked with this tribe on occasion, and Steve has spoken at several of their conferences and trainings.
The Mangyan have been sending out their own people to unreached groups for many years now, but they have noticed some issues and are open to some input on how to send more effectively. One of the 6 tribes is called the Hanonoo, and they are the ones who stepped forward to be the 1st ones to have a Consultation done.
A Consultation is a meeting with the tribe to see what their strengths and weaknesses are. The idea is to determine what they have to offer and to identify the gaps that need to be filled in order for them to send effectively.
Ideally, the team who does the Consultation has experts in various different areas. On this team, we had some businessmen, someone with experience in linguistic services, some who have served in this tribe and know them well, several missiological strategists, as well as some who have had experience in helping tribals reach other tribals (two have experience in the Amazon).
We traveled by car several hours, then by ferry several more, then another 4 hours by car to reach the Hanonoo village where the Consultation was to be held.
The people were incredibly hospitable and put us up in a great little place that included some oinky neighbors. :)
Since we would be there several nights and needed to sleep as well as possible, we invested in some new inflatable sleeping mats. They were a blessing for sure!
The people took excellent care of us, and the we had a wonderful time getting to know these dear brothers and sisters.
The first step in the Consultation is to have them draw a map of their area, including the location of the towns, mountains, rivers, ocean, clinics, churches, and many other things. This map is used throughout the Consultation.
Then we spend MANY long hours asking questions about every aspect of life. From church health to medical access to economy to literacy...and everything in between. Again, the purpose is to determine where they are, in order to determine what they need in order to send out people to reach unreached tribes effectively.
In addition to the formal sessions (which went from 7:30am-9:30pm or later!), there was lots of informal time during breaks to dig a little deeper.
After several long days of questions and discussion, our team spent one full day reviewing the answers, tabulating the results, and determining our recommendations.
That evening, we met with the leaders to share our recommendations. That meeting went until after 10pm.
Now, keep in mind that this is an established church that is functioning well on its own. We have no desire - nor right - to go in and tell them what to do. We can only make recommendations (at their request); then it is up to them what they do with them. Several expressed interest in asking our help with implementing some of the recommendations, but we encouraged them to meet as a group without us and make those decisions.
Please pray with us as the Hanonoo process all that we talked about and make decisions about how they will be involved in spreading the Gospel, not only within their own tribe, but also to unreached tribes on other islands. Additionally, pray with us that the other 5 Mangyan tribes will also schedule Consultations like this one. We see amazing potential for these tribes to be even more effective at reaching other groups, but we know that it is something only God can do.
Steve will travel back there the 1st week of April to meet with the leaders.
Thank you for praying with us!
