Ilincho Bible study
Their father is a shaman. Their mother worships idols. Mormons frequently knock on their door. Yet God is drawing three sisters to Himself.
This family is representative of the majority of households in Saraguro. After generations of conflicting traditions of Incan traditions syncretised into Roman Catholicism, now disrupted by the introduction of the internet, the result in the younger generation is spiritual confusion and apathy. Discontent with seeing the religious authorities teach one thing and live another, and unable to keep up with the exorbitant costs of rituals, Saraguros are increasingly looking elsewhere for spiritual truth.
The key: the Bible - God's own Word. The barrier: the Saraguros have been told by their religious authorities, ‘you’re not good enough to understand the Bible, you need to come to the priests to interpret it for you’. As a result, most Catholics around Saraguro do not read the Bible, preferring instead to rely on what the priest teaches at local mass. These teachings at are usually fairly limited, restricted to a handful of topics all centred on the veneration of the Virgin Mary.
But when people are given the opportunity to know God for themselves, He keeps His promise: You who seek Me will find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13). It’s a privilege to sit with people, have them read the Bible for themselves, and then engage in the passage through basic comprehension questions.
The results: people are discovering that God can talk to them personally through the Bible, and that maybe the view they’ve had of God and religion is different to how He reveals Himself in His own Word. And the wonderous realisation that they can come to Him, can know Him, and He can bring true change to their lives.
This happening in a few communities around Saraguro region as local believers are empowered with accessible tools to open the Word of God with their families and neighbours. Like this family in Ilincho. These three sisters got connected to the young adults Bible study group through their cousin who attends our church. But it was clear they wanted more. So together with their cousin, we began to meet at their house. Their cousin was trained up with these basic discipleship tools to lead the study.
And so, among the children, the chickens, and the beans, we sit to read the Bible together. Despite comments from family, and competing activities. To our surprise, their mother even joined us! After the study she exclaimed how exciting it was to be able to receive from God through His Word, and that she’d love to participate more.
Although I’m not able to meet with this family while I’m away on home assignment, I’m delighted to hear that since I left, they’ve continued meeting together to study with their cousin. May God continue to reveal Himself to these young women and bring transformation to their lives!
