Pray for Micronesia

I don't want to name specific islands or people, so as not to cause any trouble for the ministries there, so forgive that little issue. Micronesia is a system of small islands scattered across a broad area of the Pacific Ocean, roughly between the Pillipines and Hawaii, but not including either of them. Several islands or archepelligos are their own nation, several are territories or protectorates of the US. All or most are well-connected to the US and depend on the US to varying degrees for funding and other resources and services. Island groups include the Marianas, Carolines, Marshalls, and GIlberts (Kiribati) and a few others. A number of battles were fought in some of these islands during WWII, and most of the islands were occupied by Japan up through the end of the war, or near the end of the war. Most of the islands were under the control of the Japanese since the end of WWI, and before that many of them were under the control of Germany. Before that many of them were controlled by Spain until the Spanish American War. Consequently, the Catholic faith is prevalent in many of these islands, and still very active. It is highly syncratic with the local spiritist, animistic, shamanistic, demonic jungle cults indigenous to the region.

On this particular island (which has several smaller satellite islands), in addition to the jungle Catholics, there are also a number of cult and false-teaching Christian sects at work (I do not wish to grace them by name for the sake of internet trolls) and these false-teaching groups, including the Catholics, have held sway over the island since after WWII. Then Baptist missionaries started a church there a generation or two ago. When my friends were preparing to go to the mission field but didn't yet know where to go, they met these veteran missionaries, who invited them to consider going to their island. The older missionaries were ready to retire. Shortly after this, another couple my friends knew became aware of the needs on the island. The first couple went there maybe about fifteen or so years ago, and the second couple maybe a year or two later. One couple took over the original Baptist church, which was doing moderately well, and worked with it to cause it to thrive even more, and to raise up indigenous pastors to begin new ministries. The other American couple began a new church on a different part of the island, basically from scratch. Over the years, these two churches have blossomed into a total of five churches on both the main island and the satellite islands, three of them led by indigenous pastors.

Micronesia is geographically, culturally, and ethnically distinct from Melanesia and Polynesia. There are some things all three areas share, but the language groups and cultures are considerably different. Micronesians (unlike Polynesians, for instance) tend to be quiet, bashful, and restrained around foreigners, valuing their privacy and personal property and possessions (meager thought they may be at times). However, if someone shows genuine interest in them and their beliefs and culture, and interest in them as a person, Micronesians will often warm up to you over time and once they like you, they can be very generous and personal with you.

As is the case in many tropical areas, Micronesians tend to not plan ahead very well, since fruit grows well year round, and fish and crabs are readily available at all times, and the weather is never cold enough to freeze to death. They tend to build bungalow style houses with a raised platform off the ground, and thin walls and roofs of various materials, natural or store-bought. Most houses are open-air, and it is not uncommon for children or teenagers to sleep on an outdoor platform exposed on all sides. They do grow gardens and busy themselves with various projects, but their houses tend to be very temporary in nature, due to the fact that a serious cyclone (hurricane) can destroy nearly any structure, so it doesn't do to put too much effort into it.

Some of the islands have caste systems, and some have different languages or dialects between different castes or classes of people within the same culture. Sometimes there is significant prejudice, abuse, and strife between different tribes, villages, or castes. Some islands are far more commercialized and culturally influenced by the USA and other countries than other islands. Japan, China, Indonesia, Australia, and the Phillipines exert a significant influence on some of these islands. Some islands are much more rich in resources than others. Coconut palms are highly valued sources of food and building materials on practically all the islands. Many other tropical fruits are found, including many introduced from elsewhere. Pigs and chickens are raised for meat (along with the occasional dog!). Dogs seem to be a weird cross between pets, guards, pests, and edible livestock. There is a distinct landrace of dogs on the island I went to, and they tend to be semi-tame, semi-feral.

In the last few years, my missionary friends have had some major breakthroughs in working with the nationals. Many souls have been saved, and the people are finally beginning to take a real stand against immoral, anti-Christian practices in their culture. This is a great thing. The government on their island has stated that ". . .the Baptist religion is now the fastest-growing religion [on our island]."

Having said that, way less than 10% of the people could articulate a genuine salvation testimony at this time, probably less than 5% of the adult and teenage population. Satan still has a massive hold on many of the people, and his influence is very tangible.

I actually have other friends who are missionaries or natives on other islands besides this one island. Another couple I know is in a totally different island system, and are pioneering a church plant on an extremely remote island with extremely few modern facilities of any kind. They have had a good deal of success on this island too, maybe 1,000 miles or so (give or take) from my other friends. The population on their tiny isolated island is, I think less than 1,000, and never had a gospel influence of any genuine kind before.

So please pray for these works-- I really sense that God has major plans in store for Micronesia this summer. Pray it through!