Genealogies open the door for the Gospel in Niger [Excerpts]
Niger (MNN) -- The people of Niger have a long history and deep family roots. One way you can get their attention is to tell a story. Another way is to show a genealogy.
This was one way it became apparent that genealogies would be a way to share the Gospel. Tom Dudenhofer with Audio Scripture Ministries says, "I've got to admit, I've never even thought about the book of Genesis as being an evangelistic tool."
Here's what happened: an ASM missionary shared that he met with an individual whose father was a qur'anic scholar -- someone gave him an Arabic Bible. Because he could read, he began to investigate Scriptures, starting with the book of Genesis.
When he finished, he began to tell people around him that "this book [the Bible] is True" because of the better record of genealogies and the accuracy of recounting historic events.
Then, he took the next four years and read through the entire Bible. He came out of that process and said "This Bible is Truth" and began to follow Christ.
Dudenhofer had a "light bulb" moment. "They understand the importance of the genealogies. To them, it's very significant. The thing that seemed to catch their attention was the accuracy with which God's Word recorded those genealogies. In other words, they were there with purpose."
http://mnnonline.org/article/15034
(Missionary Network News, 12/2/10).
