Ethnos360
The professed goal, however, is to establish fully functioning churches that operate independently of missionaries, which "in turn reach out to their own people and to neighboring tribes".
The second plane bought by NTM crashed in November the same year at Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park while on its way to bring missionaries abroad, killing all 21 aboard, including spouses, several children and founder Paul Fleming.
[11] In July 1953, 14 NTM members serving as volunteer firefighters died in what became known as the Rattlesnake Fire about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Fouts Springs, California in the Mendocino National Forest.
[20] It also lasts two years as candidates study advanced linguistic techniques, learning how to alphabetize unwritten languages and translate the Bible.
Formerly called "Boot Camp" this phase also emphasizes basic living skills necessary for survival in undeveloped areas of the world (e.g. constructing and cooking from clay stoves, building jungle shelters, etc.).
Several unwritten languages on the verge of extinction have been given new leases of life, because of missionary efforts to reduce them to writing and to teach their speakers in literacy.
[citation needed] After becoming proficient in the local languages, NTM missionaries initiate in-depth Bible studies with interested parties.
Rather than distributing tracts or showing the "Jesus" film (popular methods among many organizations), NTM focuses on teaching through the Scriptures chronologically.
Missionaries begin with the Genesis account of creation and follow the storyline of the Bible through to the story of Jesus Christ and the teachings of the New Testament.
[34] Critics contend that the New Tribes Mission and other evangelist groups "hunt down primitive Indians and destroy their culture in the name of converting them to Christianity".
[35] Paul Gifford, Professor of Religion at the University of London, accused NTM of changing indigenous cultures and representing US foreign policy interests in countries where they were active.
[36] Due to such claims, in 1989, NTM was investigated, and subsequently cleared, of any wrongdoing by the all-party Parliamentary Human Rights Committee in Britain.
[37] However, a letter of protest signed by Bishop Trevor Huddleston, Lord Avebury, Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group; Rabbi Richard Rosen; and Survival International President Robin Hanbury-Tenison, called on the Mission to halt its controversial activities and respect tribal religion and culture.
[38] According to Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International, some missionaries do an enormous amount of work to help indigenous peoples and defend their rights, while others do great harm.
[39] In 1986, indigenous Paraguayans of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode tribe were allegedly forced into trucks by another tribal group, driven to a camp set up by NTM, and subsequently endured years of unpaid servitude, leading to numerous deaths from diseases introduced by the missionaries.
[42] In October 2005, the BBC reported that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez had announced his intention to expel New Tribes Mission from Venezuela.
[citation needed] Although the Venezuelan constitution recognized their collective ownership of ancestral lands in 1999, "poverty remains acute among many Indian communities and many protesters said the missionaries were the only people who have tangibly improved their lives.
