Unshaken…in Tragedy

“When I first heard about the death of the men, I said to myself, ‘The cause of missions is going to be set back for an entire generation.’ I couldn’t have been more wrong,” David Jannsen, one of Jim Elliot’s boyhood friends, told me years later.

This coming January will mark the 70^th anniversary of the killing of Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, and Nate Saint at the hands of the Waodani tribal warriors in the jungles of Ecuador as they attempted to share the Gospel with them.

The story of their deaths was widely reported in the media and shook the known world. It was on the front page of newspapers across the English world. Life Magazine published a feature article on the event with an array of pictures taken by Cornell Capa.  Memorial services were held. Condolences were written…

But those closest to the story were unshaken. Grieving, yes. Missing their loved ones, yes. Questions, yes. But unshaken.

• Jim’s mother Clara was quoted in the local newspaper, “There is some reason for this—the Lord would not permit it to happen otherwise—and He makes it bearable for us. Jim felt God’s call and he answered.”
• Jim’s older brother Bert and his wife Colleen were home in Portland on furlough at the time of the killing after serving in the jungles of Peru for six years. They were thankful to be home with their family and share the grief but within four months they were on the ship back to Peru with a renewed zeal to expand their ministry to the unreached nationals.
• Pete’s brother Ken was a missionary in South Africa when he received the news. Although stricken with grief, he and his wife did not alter their course because they were assured that they were where God wanted them.

Two years after the killing, Nate’s sister Rachel and Jim’s widow Elisabeth along with her daughter Valerie went to live with the Waodani. Their goal was to translate the Bible into the language of the people who had killed their loved ones. They wanted them to know of God’s love for them. Still grieving, yes. Feeling the absence of their brother, husband, and father, yes. But unshaken.

As the story spread, many, especially young people, said, “I will take the place of those missionaries.” Rather than stepping back in fear, they stepped up in faith — unshaken.

As an example, in Jim’s home church in Portland, Claire and Arlene Wiley were discouraged because they couldn’t find a mission organization that would accept them and their six children.  After the incident, Bert encouraged them to just go and help where they were needed, and the Lord would take care of them. He did. They did construction work in Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador for forty years.

Through the years, I have met many missionaries, pastors, and faithful Christians who point to the sacrificial obedience of those five men as a pivotal influence in their decision to serve the Lord.

MCNW’s founder Bill MacLeod read the story as a college student and was moved to pursue missions. For forty years, he served as a missionary, a missions pastor, and is now mobilizing many towards missions through MissionConnexion.

Far from setting the cause of missions back for an entire generation, the deaths of the five martyrs actually catapulted mission-mobilization forward and it became the single greatest catalytic event launching missionaries in this generation. In a similar fashion, MissionConnexion Northwest was birthed out of the tragic events of 9-11, and MissionConnexion Southwest, out of the chaos of Covid 19. The gospel is unleashed especially in times of turmoil and God’s people are…unshaken.

 He alone is my rock and my salvation: he is my defense; I shall not be shaken. Psalm 62:6

Gilbert Gleason grew up serving with his parents among the Navajo of northern Arizona, attended Western Seminary and has been the pastor of Grace Bible Fellowship in Portland (the church where martyred missionary Jim Elliot grew up). Besides marrying Sue, Jim’s niece, he has served on the board of the Elisabeth Elliot Foundation, and authored a book about Jim’s less-famous older brother, Bert, who with his wife Colleen served the people of northern Peru. Gilbert interviewed Bert and Colleen, and recognized members present of the five families at the 50th anniversary at MissionConnexion Northwest, January 20-21, 2006, the same weekend The End of the Spear documentary was released nationwide.