Christian Group Going Native in Gospel Outreach to Tanzanian Tribes
by Allie Martin
August 10, 2005
(AgapePress) - Some of the most unreached people groups in Africa will soon have a chance to hear the gospel, thanks to an extreme team organized by Book of Hope International that is now on its way to Northern Tanzania. The mission team will spend nearly two weeks in Africa's Serengeti Plain, one of the biggest natural game preserves in the world, in an effort to bring God's Word to two tribes indigenous to that region. Jason Hall of the Florida-based Book of Hope ministry says the team members will be taking certain steps to identify with the lifestyle of the people they are trying to reach.
"During this trip we get to go completely native," Hall says. "We'll be living in the communal huts of the families that are there, possibly in tents at times, on grass floors, even in hammocks, and taking part in the common community activities. Then [we'll be] ministering through the use of drama and music."
The Christian group's objective, the Book of Hope spokesman says, will be to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the native people and to demonstrate "that the Creator God of the universe loves them and sent us there to show them that love." The plan, Hall says, is to hand out copies of the gospels and to conduct a number of outreaches.
"The Masai people live in the eastern parts of the Serengeti Plain and are herders," Hall notes. "And then, further to the west, the Hadzabi tribes, being nomadic -- we'll be ministering with them as well in the more barren areas of the Serengeti." He says his group will be spending about five days with the tribal people, living alongside them, moving amongst their communities, "and showing them that Christ loves them."
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
