"Case studies facilitate our understanding of others. Even more importantly, they assist us in understanding ourselves" -- Alan Neely
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It was after 11 o'clock at night. The missionary looked at the lifeless body in his yard and at the villagers milling around. What should he do? What was God's word to the Yan tribe tonight?
6:30 P.M. The calm of the evening in the southern highlands of Papua New Guinea is broken by loud, incessant yells. From one end of the Yan village to the other, the air is tense as people wait to hear the reason for the commotion.
"Singing Out," as the yelling is called, is a way of announcing emergencies, deaths, and other important messages from one village to other villages nearby. Such persistent yelling always gets people to asking: "What has happened?"
For the past few years, the Yans who lived on one end of the plateau and the Emsa people who live on the other end have been at war with each other. However, there has been a three-month lull in that fighting.
Churches have been planted in the tribal peoples living on both ends of the plateau. Now, because of the war, church buildings had been burned. Christians have been torn about where their loyalties should lie. Some congregations have even had to divide since their members came from both tribal groups.
At this point the Emsas have a 24-to-11 lead in the death toll. The Yans are eager to even up the score. In spite of twenty years of Christian teaching, it doesn't seem that most of the people are going to consider the war over until every single death has been avenged. The missionaries working in the area have tried to remain neutral and have encouraged people to apply Christian principles so that peace can prevail.7:00 P.M. The Singing Out becomes louder and more intense. On the road near the missionary home Yan villagers hurry to the local meeting ground.
Suddenly and mysteriously, the Singing Out stops. The only sounds to be heard are of feet pounding on the road. Then, there's only a muted muttering of voices. The gathering is apparently complete.
The missionary is a rookie. He has been in Papua New Guinea for just nine months and he's trying to figure out what is happening. He stops a hurrying late-comer who tells him that two Emsas had infiltrated a nearby village. Now the word is that they are hiding just outside the mission property. Their presence spells trouble: death, rape, or burning. The Yan villagers are assembling to devise a plan of action.9:00 P.M. The missionary hears a nervous, demanding knock on his door. It's the local pastor who is terribly agitated. He says one intruder is in hand while the other one has managed to escape into the night. The captured man is a friend of the pastor's from their younger days. He begs the missionary to go with him and plead with the villagers to deal kindly with his friend. Perhaps they can be persuaded to send the man home unharmed. If they do that, it might be seen as a peace offering. The war might come to an end.
9:45 PM. After the pastor and missionary present their case to the villagers, the missionary returns home. He feels frustrated and extremely concerned for the captured Emsa. Would the Yan villagers so quickly abandon their Christian teaching? Gathering his wife and three children, the missionary seeks God's help through prayer.
10:30 P.M. The low mutterings from the assembly grounds subside. Suddenly, frighteningly loud shrieks cut the darkness. They sound like shrieks of victory. Has a decision been reached?
In a few moments the missionary hears noises outside. Peering out his bedroom window he sees Yan villagers pouring into his front yard. Lighted torches illuminate two men carrying a lifeless form tied to a pole.
When the missionary goes outside, a jubilant Yan steps forward to say that the missionary should return the intruder's lifeless body to his home village. Stunned at the sight, the missionary is both horrified and grieved. The crowd insists that the axe-mangled Emsa deserved his end.
The spokesman says the body must be returned to the enemy side. If not, the man's dead ancestral spirits could cause disease and death among the Yans. Also, the Emsas will be further outraged because a fallen warrior's body has not been returned.
The missionary is perplexed. If he does what they are asking, will it look like he approves of their hideous act? On the other hand, to not do it may cause people to blame him for any future "curse" that comes upon the Yans.
The missionary asks about the traditional way of returning a dead enemy. He is told that the victors normally locate a woman in their village who has come from the enemy's village and has married into the other clan. The warriors will take her and the body to a previously arranged place. Because the woman is still free to mix with her own clan, she is left with the body while the others draw back. Her own clan then comes to retrieve the dead body.
The explanation doesn't make things any easier for the missionary. He wonders if the Emsas will feel gratitude toward him if he returns the body? Or will they simply view him as an accomplice of the Yans? Even worse, will they think the missionary is disturbing traditional customs and practices? Will he be seen as a peacemaker or simply as a Yan patsy?
Muttered threats against the missionary from the crowd pierce him like a cold wind rushing through a hole in the pit of his stomach.11:00 P.M. The villagers tire of waiting. They dump the lifeless body on the ground and begin leaving. The few who linger mingle nervously, awaiting the missionary's answer. He has a question of his own: What is God's word to the Yans tonight? Whatever the missionary does should reinforce and point to that, but what is that word? How can he be an effective agent of change in this situation?
This missionary case study appeared in its original form in Case Studies in Missions, Baker Book House, © 1987. It may be reproduced only upon payment of a 35¢ royalty per copy to Baker Book House, P.O. Box 6787, Grand Rapids, MI 49516 USA
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Howard Culbertson, Southern Nazarene University, 6729 NW 39th, Bethany, OK 73008 | Phone: 405-491-6693 - Fax: 491-6658
Copyright © 2000, 2001 - Last Updated: October 15, 2005 | URL: http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/patsy.htm
