Five Crosses in the Jungle
"Five Crosses in the Jungle" is the name of a well-known mission story from Ecuador. Five Christian missionaries (Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian) were willing to give up everything in order to proclaim the gospel among the then-unreached Huaorani people in the rainforests of Ecuador. The Huaorani are an indigenous tribe (they still exist today) who at that time were known for their violence, both among themselves and toward outsiders.
The group of five missionaries sensed that God was calling them to make the gospel known to this people. To that end, they began making regular flights from Shell-Mera and dropping gifts over the settlements of the indigenous population.
On January 2, 1956, the missionaries landed on a small stretch of coast and set up a narrow camp on a sandbank, a few kilometers from the settlements. There they carefully made contact with the Huaorani people. Their efforts came to a brutal end on January 8, 1956, when the five missionaries were attacked with spears by a group of Huaorani warriors and killed. The cause of the attack is still unclear. Local Ecuadorians say it happened because they refused to accept a gift that the missionaries did not realize was meant as a gift.
News of their death spread around the world, partly due to a major story in Life magazine, illustrated with photos showing the missionaries in the company of the Indians. These photos were found afterward.
A few years after the missionaries' deaths, Elisabeth, the widow of Jim Elliot, and Rachel, the sister of Nate Saint, went to Ecuador to work as missionaries among the Huaorani for the Summer Institute of Linguistics. As a result, a large part of the tribe—including several of the killers—converted to the Christian faith.
The death of these men had far-reaching consequences. The extensive attention led to a new mission awareness within the churches of the United States and still inspires many missionaries worldwide today. In 2005, a film about this event was released titled End of the Spear. It can be watched below with Dutch subtitles.
End of Spear
Watch the film "End of Spear" below. Please note: this film is not suitable for young children.
