Beyond the Gates of Splendor

We went to evening church at the Atlanta Vineyard tonight. The kids went to children's church and we previewed a documentary in the main sanctuary called Beyond the Gates of Splendor. This is a short synopsis:

The well-known facts about this story are that five men, Jim Elliot, Roger Youderian, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully ventured to Ecuador in the mid 1950’s as missionaries, along with their wives, to share the Gospel with those who were out of reach of it. In the process, these five men lost their lives and the event became worldwide news. But in this account, the events begin fittingly with the backstory of the native Ecuadorians, the Waorani people, and sets up the history, culture and violence of their lives that led to the horrific event of the missionaries’ deaths. Following that is the backstory of the five men – their days together in school, getting married, their decision to go to Ecuador – leading up to the day they died. The film then takes us beyond that tragedy to show the fruit of the labor of these men, specifically through Nate Saint’s son, Steve Saint.

We just watched an abridged version that was about 40 minutes long. It was a powerful film. The widowed wives, instead of turning their backs on the tribe and returning to America, continued to teach the gospel to the Waorani people.

We broke off into small groups after the film for discussion. At one point in the movie when the men entered the jungle where the Waorani lived, they refused to bring guns to protect themselves. Their reason was that the Waorani were not yet assured a spot in heaven. They knew they would go to heaven, so they preferred to be the ones to die if anything happened. The question we discussed was, "Would you be willing to die for your faith?" and on the flip side, "Are you willing to live for your faith, wherever God leads you?" In my opinion, the answer should really be the same either way, but they are really difficult questions to ask yourself.

You can view the trailer at:

http://www.beyondthegatesthemovie.com/