Reconciliation in the Philippines

The Incarnate program, our major training initiative combining artist training and cross-cultural missions, ran from August through December 2022. The students spent two months in Budapest honing their artform, learning from artist mentors, and studying the importance of artistry in God’s Kingdom.

For November and December, they went to their placement locations, where they were able to put into practice what they were learning. We received a report from a team placed in the Philippines that a number of local pastors had attended a worship arts seminar, where they came to learn about using local arts in worship. The team and our local partner had been praying that God would give local leaders a renewed heart for the unreached in their area. They were astounded to watch that as the pastors created, God was stirring forgiveness, repentance, and intercession. Toward the end, one pastor came up crying, “We have to ask for forgiveness from the tribes. We have oppressed them and pushed them down. We have ignored them in the streets. We need their forgiveness.” Because it is a collective culture, the pastors were able to ask one of the tribal participants to represent her entire people group, and she sat in a chair and released forgiveness on behalf of her people to all the ministry leaders there. God released a rush of praying in the Spirit and tears of repentance flowed from their hearts.