Congregants and visitors to Hickory Valley Baptist Church on Sunday learned firsthand about missionary work happening thousands of miles away.
Scott Phillips, co-founder of Dao Ministries with his wife Jennie, spoke to the congregation about his family's decade-long work bringing Christianity to the remote Dao tribe in Indonesia.
The missionaries' work has brought Christianity to the secluded tribe that Scott said had prophesied the coming of white people with an important message.
"God's work in that place is changing and has changed everything for them," Scott said.
More than 87% of Indonesia's 260 million people are Muslim. Getting into the country with items such as Bibles translated into the Dao language or solar-powered audio Bibles is increasingly difficult, Scott said. Jennie Phillips translated the New Testament into the Dao language and is about a quarter of the way completed translating the Old Testament.
Around a decade ago, when Scott and Jennie began their missionary work, the Dao people did not have a written language, Scott Phillips said.
Getting the Bible translated into the local languages is important, especially because Indonesia features hundreds of different languages, he said. Almost none have access to the Bible, he said.
"I'm not talking about one people group," Scott Phillips said. "I'm talking about an island with 800 language groups. Not a single one of them except just one missionary family finished one translation, and we hope to be the second."
When Scott and Jennie and their sons travel to Indonesia to visit the Dao tribe, the people hike for days to visit them and learn more about Christianity, he said. They have trained local people to be pastors in their own communities and helped people learn with the translated Bibles and the new audio Bibles.
Seeing the Dao people's excitement about learning about Christianity is inspiring, Scott Phillips said.
"They don't have much but they realize they have it all with God's word," he said. "God's word is enough."
The Rev. Dr. David Kemp, senior pastor, said he had Scott Phillips as a student at Tennessee Temple University. Kemp's church has been supporting Dao Ministries for about three years, he said.
"I thought this church needs to hear this," Kemp said. "This one of the most outstanding missionary testimonies I've ever heard."
People do not need a special call to do missionary work, Scott Phillips said. The call is in the Bible and people just need to respond.
From the reporter
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