The elderly man couldn’t understanding what he was seeing. His neighbours already had two missionary families living among them, and his people had none. Why was this new family there?

An Invitation

“You should come live with us, learn our language, and teach us God’s talk,” he told Seth Callahan.

Seth is in the village as part of his family’s orientation to Papua New Guinea. “I’ll be leaving again in just a few weeks,” he told the man.

And then things got serious.

Then a Threat

“I’ve been to one of the churches near here and they only teach from Pidgin or English Bibles,” the man said. “They told me that if I don’t believe God’s Talk then I’m going to the place of fire. I don’t understand God’s Talk though. … If you don’t come live with us, then I’m going to cut off my finger.”

Seth thought perhaps it was a figure of speech, but the man was serious. Cutting off a finger is a sign of deep mourning. That’s how desperate the man was to hear God’s Word.

It took three tries, but Seth convinced the man to keep his finger on by promising to tell others of the need for missionaries.

Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.” Luke 10:2

Is God asking you to be an answer to prayer? You can learn how to go, share God’s Word, translate the Bible and establish a church in a cross-cultural setting.