REDEMPTION
Missionaries to other cultures must study the cultural background of the people to better find a way to communicate the gospel. A missionary in West Africa was trying to convey the meaning of the redeem in the Bambara language. So he asked his African assistant to express it in his native tongue. “We say,” the assistant replied, “that God took our heads out.” “But how does that explain redemption?” the missionary asked.
The man told him that many years ago some of his ancestors had been captured by slave-traders, chained together, and driven to the seacoast. Each of the prisoners had a heavy iron collar around his neck. As the slaves passed through a village, a chief might notice a friend of his among the captives and offer to pay the salve-traders in gold, ivory, silver, or brass. The prisoner would be redeemed by the payment. His head then would be taken out of his iron collar. That’s what these Africans understood by the phrase, “God took our heads out.”
Look for a way to describe redemption to your co-workers.
Tags: missions, redemption, rescue
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