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NEGROES ISLAND, PHILIPPINES (ANS) -- The Lord Jesus has continued to win again and again in the Negroes Island, Philippines in the Southeast Asia with the record baptism of 37 hungry souls amongst the Aeta tribal people.
This was made possible with the recent weekend mission embarked upon by the missionaries of South East Asia Mission Teams (SEAMIST), who have been doing church planting work among this unreached peoples group. SEAMIST started a missionary outreach in Aeta tribe a year ago through one of its missionaries Pastor Rodel Cordova, who has just recently gone to be with the Lord.
Prior to Pastor Cordova missionary outreach to the Aeta people there was no single church among them, but God used him to plant a church there and that singular effort has produced over ten worship centers in the area.
In fact Cordova's ministry in Aeta has given birth to what is known today as The Aeta Tribal Church of the Philippines and so the recent baptism there was the first ever for Aeta people.
Further to that, three Pastors and nineteen elders (the first ever also for Aeta) were also ordained by the team of SEAMIST missionaries, who spent the whole weekend laboring among the people.
Burning of idols and charms in Aeta
The Spirit of God was so manifest among the Aeta people who are mostly animistic, that they had to surrender all the idols they hitherto trusted upon and they were all burnt by the missionaries. Who says that Jesus is not winning the battle?
Speaking at the ordination of the new elders of the Aeta church, the Director General of SEAMIST, Pastor Richard Bartze, said the time has come for Aeta people to reach out to their neighborhoods with the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. He urged them to continue to put their whole trust on the Lord Jesus Christ not on idols that will disappoint them when it matters most.
He challenged them not to keep back what the Lord has invested on them through the ministry of the missionaries, "as soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to march on with the power of the Holy Spirit that is inside of you now and don't try to keep it back."
The Aeta is a little tribe of between five and ten thousand people, that are located in the Negroes Island among the Visayan speaking people in southern Philippines and they live on the mountain tops, with little huts that are scattered all over the places, with no social amenities that characterize the modern day cities.
The topography of the area (mountainous rocks) causes a natural barrier to meaningful development and that forms the reason why there's no electricity there-all so dark at night, no tap water, only a stream that meanders in all the valleys across different locations, no good health care facilities, modern markets or big departmental stores, good roads-only narrow and rocky roads etc.
SEAMIST is a mission agency dedicated to reaching the unreached people of the Southeast Asia, with their base as Philippine. Their philosophy is "preaching the gospel, planting the church in Southeast Asia." For more information about SEAMIST, log on to www.seamist.org
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Success Kanayo Uchime is a Nigerian missionary-journalist. He is the President of Kingdom Missions Outreach Inc.(KMO). He holds an Advanced Diploma in Mass Communication, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria, Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Christian Ministry and Missions respectively from Go Ye Christian University, U.S. A. At present he lives in the Philippines with his family preparatory to moving over to Thailand to continue his foreign mission assignment. He's the Editor in Chief/Moderator World Mission News (WMN), an on-line mission news service.
Used by Permission Assist News Service www.assistnews.net
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