Are Missionaries Using Secret Devices to Evangelize Uncontacted Tribes?

Solar-powered devices playing Bible verses were recently discovered in the territory of a remote, largely uncontacted tribe in the Amazon. 

The devices were found in Brazil’s Javari Valley, located on the border between Brazil and Peru. The 32,000 square mile territory is home to the Korubo people, colloquially called “clubbers” for their fondness of warclubs. 

Brazilian law forbids missionaries from interacting with the Korubo as well as other uncontacted tribes for both safety and privacy reasons... so why are some missionaries breaking the law to reach them?

Contacting the Korubo

The Kurobo people are believed to be one of the few Indigenous tribes left on earth who live primarily in isolation from the outside world. Throughout the 20th century, organized expeditions to make contact with them routinely resulted in the deaths of explorers, and in 1987 the Brazilian government made it illegal to enter their territory without permission.

Now, a group of missionaries has seemingly found a way to illegally evangelize to this small tribe – possibly without putting their lives at risk. A recent investigation found at least seven solar-powered, pocket-sized devices reciting scripture in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as sermons by American Baptist Dr. Charles Stanley. At least one of the small yellow and grey devices is held in the possession of a Kurobo elder.

How Did the Devices Get There?

The durable devices, called “Messengers”, are produced by a group called In Touch Ministries and specifically designed to bring the gospel to the most remote parts of the world. According to their website, the devices are intended “to make sure the message of salvation in Jesus Christ is accessible to those who have never heard.”

How they got deep into the Amazon remains a mystery. Were they secretly hiked into the remote village by a team of dedicated evangelists? Or perhaps a chartered flight air dropped the devices over Korubo territory?

In Touch Ministries’ CEO Seth Grey says he doesn’t know how they got there – but he says he had nothing to do with it. Grey stressed that he’s fully supportive of missionary work, but stated his group would never facilitate illegal activity. “We don’t go anywhere we’re not allowed,” he said.

But someone did. Authorities believe the devices may be the work of three missionaries linked to groups who previously attempted to contact the tribe in recent years, including during the COVID pandemic, when the Korubo would be especially at-risk of annihilation by infection – and it seems likely Brazilian authorities will launch an investigation soon.

Is Evangelizing to Remote Communities Ethical?

The case has renewed the discourse on the ethics of proselytizing to uncontacted communities. 

You may recall the case of John Chau, a Christian missionary who was killed in 2018 by a remote tribe after illegally chartering a boat to their island to proselytize to them. Though some lamented Chau’s death as a tragedy (and some even called it murder), much of public opinion was on the side of the North Sentinelese people.

Chau, they argued, was an invader in their lands, and also put the tribe at risk of extermination by possibly bringing pathogens which they have no immunity to. 

It’s a risk pro-Indigenous groups say isn’t taken seriously enough by missionaries, and they argue that contact itself is harmful beyond the possibility of spreading disease.

“We are extremely concerned about evangelical missionaries approaching uncontacted peoples – no matter how they do it,” says Survival International spokesperson Cailín Burns. “They bring diseases for which uncontacted peoples have no immunity, they open the way for land-grabbers and other criminals, and they erode the culture of those communities.”

Yet missionaries say it’s their God-given duty to evangelize to these communities – no matter the cost. As John Chau wrote in his journal just days before his death, “Lord let your will be done. If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow, then so be it.”

What do you think of missionaries proselytizing to these remote communities, and missionary work more broadly? Should missionaries be allowed into these remote locations to bring Jesus to little-contacted tribes like the Korubo?