Who will tell them?

A baby hung in the rafters as the house burned around her.

Her mother had just died in childbirth. The Hewa people of Papua New Guinea believed that meant the spirits had claimed the house. So they set it on fire — as they always did.

No one moved to save the child.

Not because they were cruel. Because they were afraid. And fear had governed every hour of their lives for as long as anyone could remember.

All of the men were killers. It was the way they lived; avenge all deaths. Their neighbors near and far were always watching for a chance at revenge. Any man in the clan would meet their purpose. Their women were in perpetual danger. When someone got sick — they could be accused of being the witch who caused it and be condemned to die. Ninety percent of babies never survived birth. The spirits demanded constant appeasement: the right words, the right offerings, the right actions, or someone would die.

What they believed controlled everything. And what they believed was killing them.

In the two thousand years since Jesus rose from the dead, nobody had told them.

Then some Christians obeyed.

They learned the language. They built trust over years. They translated the Bible — word by word — into Hewa. They taught people to read it. They stayed when there were threats. They came back after they were forced to leave. One of them reached for the baby and worked to save her life. She was the door to the hearts of the Hewa women to hear of the God who loves them.

Today there are Hewa churches. Hewa pastors. Hewa men and women who can open a Bible in their own language and teach their other people what it says.

The baby in the burning house — that was the world as it was.

A Hewa grandfather reading Scripture to his grandchildren — that is what obedience produces.

On other mountains nearby, there are other people living the way the Hewa once did. Same fear. Same darkness. Same silence from the outside world.

They are waiting for someone to obey.

What part will you play?

[Learn more about the Hewa people →]