Recently, my friend Dale Goodson told me the story of how, as an AFM
missionary, he shared Christ with a man from a village deep in the
jungles of Papua New Guinea. The man had no written language, couldn’t
count higher than two and had no concept of history other than a
knowledge of his parents, his ancestors and their traditions.
As Dale struggled to think of a way to explain the biblical account of
creation, man’s fall, the history of God’s people and Christ’s
incarnation, life, death, resurrection and second coming, his eyes came
to rest on the rough floorboards of the man’s hut. Pointing to one of
the boards, he said, “This is you, and the board next to it is your
parents. The next board is your grandparents.” Continuing the floorboard
analogy, he told him it would take most of the floorboards in the
village to count the generations back to creation. Then he told the
story of man’s fall and God’s promise of redemption. He recounted the
stories of God’s people. He opened the mystery of Christ’s incarnation,
life, death and resurrection and concluded by saying, “Here we are in
the last board before Christ’s return.”
The man began to weep inconsolably, deep sobs shaking his whole body.
Finally, as the man began to regain his composure, Dale asked him what
the matter was, and he replied, “Here we are in the last generation, and
my people do not know. We are the last to know. Why has no one told us
before this?”
For decades, the Ama people have waited for Seventh-day Adventist
missionaries to return and complete the work our first missionaries
began. This is the work God has laid on our hearts. Please, won’t you
help us proclaim the gospel among the Ama people in this last
generation?
