A story from a nomadic Muslim people group in the mountains of South Asia
By Jimmy
In a remote region of northern India, four men hurriedly drove a tractor down a winding mountain road, en route for supplies. In a flash, the tractor tipped over, killing one man and injuring two others.
Soon after, the driver was thrown in jail and a group of men assembled to decide his fate. The incident created uproar in the small, rural community. Should the driver have to pay for his mistake?
In this people group of India, very few are literate, and as result they almost exclusively communicate orally. Information, such as religion and traditions are passed down by word of mouth. Solving such dilemmas as the tractor incident would require intense discussion.
The council sought the wisdom of three influential brothers of the village. The youngest brother, whose name is Yaqub, has been learning to tell Bible stories though his family members are conservative Muslims.
Yaqub was trained by a Pioneers worker and his teammate who are working with the OneStory partnership, a group which seeks to communicate the gospel in a way that oral people groups can understand. Over the past year, Yaqub has learned to tell 40 different Bible stories. Though he has not yet committed to be a follower of Christ, he sees great value in telling the stories and his outlook is starting to change. For example, he now treats his wife with more respect.
As the men met to discuss the incident, Yaqub spoke up. He told the story of the unmerciful servant from Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18, including how Jesus told his disciples to forgive their brother “77 times”—especially with a clean heart. Though Yaqub isn’t literate, his retelling of the story was completely accurate.
The men were struck by his words. In turn, they decided to forgive the driver of the tractor, and he was let out of jail. Yaqub and his family took the deceased man’s widow and children into their home.
This is a village that previously did not have the opportunity to understand Scripture. The people are starting to hear the word of God in a means they can understand. They are seeing forgiveness in a completely different light; their worldview is starting to change.
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