For the last six years, our local missionaries at 26 Tribes outreach center have been traveling to a Lahu tribal village. This village was completely unreached. There were no known Christians and no access to the Gospel message. Their homes situated in China’s mountainous, South-western terrain. The roads wash out during monsoon season, and landslides tear down mountainsides until the pathways are nearly impossible.
After years of missional labor, the hearts of a few locals opened to spiritual things; but without any form of Christian background, the Truth of the Gospel remained challenging to comprehend.
The Lahu people are animistic. Fearful of the spirit world, they worship animate objects, seeking to appease the wrath of the “hungry ghosts” who torment their families.
Because of their fear of the spirit world, they gravitate toward every kind of “god” out there, hoping that one might protect them. This causes difficulty for our local missionaries. When explaining Gospel truth, they readily “accept Jesus,” but merely as one more of their many gods. The cultural hurdles the must be overcome are superfluous and extreme.
In July, we traveled to 26 Tribes with a visiting American team. We joined Within Reach Global local missionaries on a day trip to the Lahu village.
A remarkable breakthrough occurred! Eyes opened. Hearts warmed to Jesus. Salvation arrived.
A young woman in her mid-thirties told us that her daughter had never stood or walked since birth. Doctors could not find a solution. She did not have the money to pursue other medical avenues. This pressure caused her husband to leave her after months of physically beating her. She was at her wit’s end. Seated on small, wooden stools, we gathered around her as the smoke of the fire pit billowed around the room, creating an inky atmosphere that perfectly portrayed her mental, emotional, and spiritual state. She began to cry. We hugged her and told her of a Father’s love—an unconditional affection she had never noticed before.
Suddenly, it seemed as if the shackles on her heart cracked in two and fell to the bamboo floor in her stilted home.
Her eyes closed and heart wide open, she asked Jesus to save her, to be the Lord of her life!
Her friend also gave her life to the Lord. The advent of salvation permeated the Lahu home, replacing sadness with joy, hurt with healing, powerlessness with potential. After reiterating the Gospel in detail, we baptized her and her friend, singing and praising God for the incredible breakthrough among an unreached people group.
As we write, our local missionaries continue to follow up on her, disciple her, and walk with her in her newfound Christian faith.
The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time, they say.
God arranged a providential sequence of events that led to the salvation of a family in the forgotten hills of Southwest China, and we rejoice that her name was penned in the Lamb’s book of life.
To support the ongoing ministry efforts of our local missionaries at 26 Tribes outreach center, please give here. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to soften hearts and open doors.
