From Fear to Faith

The Higaunon people used to live in fear. They lived in bondage, worshipping their ancestors and sacrificing pigs and chickens to appease the spirits.

And then the gospel message changed all that. Fear turned to faith.

After hearing the gospel message, the newly saved Higaunons said, “All we could talk about was what Jesus had done for us and how we could now see the truth so clearly. … We were amazed at the darkness and depth of sin that we were in before. To think that we actually worshipped God’s enemy, thinking that we were on the right track! … It was such a joyful time in our lives to be set free from the terrible bondage that the spirits had held us under through fear.”

Then they took the message out.

Burdened for Others

The infant Higaunon church became burdened for their fellow Higaunons in other villages. They wondered why it took so long for the gospel to reach them.

“It seemed to us that 2,000 years was a really long time to bring the message to our place, and we didn’t want it to be a long time before it reached other Higaunon villages,” the Higaunon believers said. “We began to discuss and pray about how we could take the message of salvation to the rest of the Higaunon people.”

They didn’t just talk about it. They did something about it. And as a result, there are churches in over 20 other Higaunon villages.

The Work Continues

The Higaunon church began where they were and expanded the edge of the church beyond their village into neighbouring ones.

But the work is not done. Other villages are asking, “What about us? We want someone to come and teach us.” And the Higaunon church takes this responsibility seriously. Lance and Laura Ostman wrote that “one of the Higaunon church’s prayer requests is for more laborers.” Pray for more labourers from within the Higaunon church to expand the edge of the church.