Saturday 6 September 2008

Saturday evening we watched a film called End of the Spear. It is a 2006 docudrama film that recounts the story of Operation Auca, in which five American Christian missionaries attempted to evangelize the Huaorani (Waodani) people of the jungle of Ecuador. Taking a unique spin on actual events from the 1950s in which five male missionaries were speared by members of the Waodani tribe, the movie tells the story from the perspective of Mincayani, one of the tribesmen who killed the missionaries, and Steve Saint, the son of one of the murdered missionaries. The two eventually form a bond that continues to this day. Here is a little more …
Philip James Elliot (known as Jim Elliot) (October 8, 1927 – January 8, 1956) was one of the evangelical Christian missionaries to Ecuador.
Elliot professed faith in Jesus at the age of six and grew up in a home where obedience and honesty were strictly enforced. He used every opportunity to grow spiritually, develop discipline and prepare for future missions work. Elliot was a good speaker and used his speaking ability regularly, always ready at a moment's notice to discuss Christianity or defend his moral beliefs. He followed the pattern of other "faith missions" by not seeking to be sponsored by a denomination.
Elliot's burden for missions solidified during his years at Wheaton. Elliot also spoke to an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group on the role of the Holy Spirit in missions.
During the summer of 1947, after his second year of college, he and his friend Ron Harris did missions work in Mexico. He stayed there for six weeks, working with and learning from a local missionary family. At the end of the following year, he attended the International Student Missionary Convention, sponsored by InterVarsity. There he met a missionary to Brazil, and this encounter led him to more firmly believe that his missionary calling was to tribal work in South America.[8]
At the beginning of Elliot's third year at Wheaton, he decided to pursue a major in Greek, believing that it would both help him in his personal study of the Bible and make it easier to translate the Scriptures into the language of a people group unreached by missionaries.
Elliot practiced the skills necessary for writing down a language working with a former missionary to the Quichua people. The missionary told him of the Auca people, an indigenous people group in Ecuador that had never had friendly contact with the outside world. Elliot remained unsure about whether to go to Ecuador or India until July, when he became convinced that God was leading him to Ecuador. His parents and friends wondered if he might instead be more effective in youth ministry in the United States, but considering the home church "well-fed", he felt that international missions should take precedence.
Elliot and Fleming arrived in Ecuador on February 21, 1952, with the purpose of evangelizing Ecuador's Quichua Indians. They first stayed in Quito studying Spanish, and then moved to the jungle. They took up permanent residence at the Shandia mission station. While working with the Quichua Indians, Elliot began preparing to reach the violent Huaorani Indian tribe - the Aucas.
Phillip James Elliot, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint, made contact from their airplane with the Huaorani Indians using a loudspeaker and a basket to pass down gifts. After several months, the men decided to build a base a short distance from the Indian village, along the Curaray River. There they were approached one time by a small group of Huaorani Indians and even gave an airplane ride to one curious Huaorani whom they called "George" (his real name was Naenkiwi). Encouraged by these friendly encounters, they began plans to visit the Huaorani,without knowing that George had lied to the others but their plans were preempted by the arrival of a larger group of 10 Huaorani men, who killed Elliot and his four companions on January 8, 1956. Elliot's mutilated body was found downstream, along with those of the other men, except that of Ed McCully.
His journal entry for October 28, 1949, contains his now famous quotation, expressing his belief that missions work was more important than his life:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”