As a missionary, I have experienced moving to a land where I had never been, ministering among a people whom I had never met, and learning a language I had never studied. My experiences as a missionary kid (MK) in Belgium and then as a missionary in Tanzania prepared me for such an assignment at the gym that night, as hypothetical as it was. I could live among the people, learn their languages, experience and master their culture and customs, earn their confidence and right to share the gospel, and find a “redemptive bridge” to communicate the Good News.

In Don Richardson’s book, Peace Child, he recounts his missionary service among the Sawi people of New Guinea.¹ The Sawi people glorified treachery and identified the hero of their war stories as the one who gained the trust of hated enemies only to betray them in the end. Their custom was to broker peace with their enemies by exchanging two children, a “peace child” from one tribe to the other. As long as the children lived, there was peace.

After a long struggle, Richardson finally broke through when he learned of the “peace child” concept. He told them how God gave His one and only Son, His child, to the Sawi people even though they were like enemies. Yet, they did not receive His peace child. This was the “redemptive bridge” that the Sawi people needed to understand the plan of salvation.

What “redemptive bridge” could I find among the people in Dallas at the American Airlines arena that night? Obviously, they enjoy basketball on some level or they would not be in attendance. However, this would require more thought. Once I shared the gospel with the basketball fans, I would then need to begin the process of making disciples and building the church. In Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM), we would commence the “Indigenous Principles” missiological strategy.

Melvin Hodges, missionary to Latin America, popularized The Indigenous Principles as the main AGWM strategy in his book, The Indigenous Church (1953). The principles espoused the three “selfs”: self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. These were described as follows:

• “Self-governing: In a self-governing church, nationals, empowered by the Holy Spirit, provide leadership for the church, rather than rely on outside agencies for decision ”
• “Self-supporting: A self-supporting national church does not rely on outside funding to carry on its work, but rather encourages its people to give in devotion to Christ and the work of the ministry.”
• “Self-propagating: A self-propagating national church effectively evangelizes on its own within the surrounding region and A self-propagating church should by nature be self-missionizing. There may be no greater indication of indigeneity than when a national church establishes a sending structure to mobilize workers to reach beyond its own people.”²

The Indigenous Principles have proven themselves as an effective missiological strategy because they helped create mature Assemblies of God churches in the nations of the world.

These international churches are autonomous and participate in the World Assemblies of God as a cooperative fellowship.

Missionaries enter a nation to evangelize and make disciples. The core concept in these endeavors has been that missionaries do this by the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit.

The local people come to know Christ and grow in their relationship with Him by the same empowerment. Those who are called by God to serve in local churches and on a national level are trained, initially, by missionaries and then by their own trained ministers. Thus, ministry in a nation expands exponentially and effectively.

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1. Don Richardson, Peace Child (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1974).

2. John Easter, “The Indigenous Church: Advancing Our Missions strategy for the Next 100 Years,”
Enrichment Journal, http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201404/201404_086_Indigenous_Church.cfm.