AUDIO BIBLES AND THE WAIÃPI TRIBE: GOD’S WORD IN THE AMAZON RAINFOREST
For many of us, the idea of eating monkey meat, finding tarantulas in our kitchens, and living without cell service is unthinkable. For the Schurings, however, this is everyday life in the Amazon rainforest.
The Amazon rainforest covers 90% of the state of Amapá in northern Brazil. In this beautiful and unforgiving terrain, the Waiãpi tribe lives on a protected reservation, with minimal external acculturation or contact. Missionaries were kicked off the reservation decades ago and activist groups continue to spread misinformation and suspicion regarding missions work in the area.
Despite many geographical and political obstacles, Jason and Kristyna Schuring have made their home on a missionary base outside the reservation since 2015. Their team is among the first outsiders to live alongside the Waiãpi. As tribal church planters, the Schurings are working to establish a self-sustaining Waiãpi faith community. Their base also provides medical care and maintenance services to the surrounding area.
‘BROADENING ACCESS TO SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T READ’
Like many indigenous tribes, Waiãpi is an oral culture and a majority of the tribespeople do not read. In the past, this was a major barrier for missions work in the area. However, Jason and Kristyna have recorded eleven books of the Waiãpi…