Costas Macris, Man of Faith

http://utmost.org/arguments-or-obedience

Immediately upon reading this writing by Oswald Chambers, Bryan and I remembered a wonderful Greek missionary family we met in Indonesia, Costas and Alky Macris.  

Bryan was working for World Vision at this time in his life and was the Relief and Development Coordinator for all of the Indonesian islands.  He would travel frequently around Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sumatra, and Irian Jaya also known as West Irian and now known as West Papua.  

World Vision was trying to assist in community development in the areas of Irian Jaya in a holistic manner which included economic development with the missionary outreach.  The missionaries in Irian Jaya located in several of the highland areas and were somewhat resistant to this development.  Through the vision of Dr. Jerry Powell of the Un-evangelized Fields Mission (UFM), there was a large project started to bring livestock into the area.  Also, Jim Sunda of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.The staples in the highlands was manioc and pork and the health problems were significant with malnutrition and disease from improperly cooked pork.  

Bryan also met with the RBMU missionary, Costas Macris.  Bryan fondly recalls what an incredible visionary Costas was.  He immediately saw the value of the community development and said, "How can I tell someone that God loves them and they are dying of malnutrition and disease?"  

Costas and his family lived in a very difficult part of Irian Jaya......the low lands.  Bryan and I went to visit them and I was shocked to see the area.  I wish I had my photos to share because it was really incredible. I did find this photo online of Costas and some of the tribes people. The area is a swamp full of mosquitos, malaria, dengue fever, water diseases and river flukes that can enter the body if you spend time in the water and permanently damage your body.  The local people found ways to earn money by poaching crocodiles and selling the skins.  

The village groups were very small and one tribe would live on one side of the river and another, with another language, on the opposite side.  The people were also not very friendly at this time......due to superstition....but Costas came with love and a real desire to reach through the fears of the people and present Jesus Christ.

I remember thinking how amazing this man and his family were to be in such a difficult place.  We had visited the beauty of the highland areas and this was a stark contrast.  Costas and his family were the only missionaries we met there except two delightful single missionary women.  He did tell us that there were Wycliff Bible Translators in the area also.

We went with Costas to visit different tribal groups where he was working some with only a few families.  We went by Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Cessna plane and would land in some of the smallest landing strips I had ever seen. I remember one place we stopped and a huge local man came and stood, resting his arm over the wing of the plane.  He was a alligator poacher and extremely fit.  The pilot kept saying....quietly, "Please don't break my plane.....don't break my plane".  There was no ill intent but it was very funny....

A man with his bow and arrows

At one of the stops there was a young man with his bow and arrows for hunting.  I had been collecting arrows of different types as a keepsake.  This man had a totally different arrow without a point...the tip was like a club and Costas said that the man would shoot the arrow and stun the bird.....then he could capture it.  I asked if I could buy this unique arrow and Costas asked the man.  I gave him a fair price of Indonesian Rupiah paper money.....and he sat down and just looked at it as we left.  I realized it had no real value to him at all.  There was nothing to buy in this area.  Costas told me later that a coin with the shine would have been better because it could be worn as jewelry.   

After we returned to the mission station I asked Costas to explain the markings on the arrow made in what appeared to be white paint......he said, this is were the witch doctor made markings to make sure the arrow would fly true and hit it's mark when used.  Now this caused me a great deal of concern.  How could I keep in my home something that had been blessed by the witch doctor?  Would this be wrong to keep? I decided to give the arrow back to Costas and when I explained why, he answered so directly....."So is your God not stronger than the witch doctor here?  If that is true, then you should give me the arrow but if God is stronger, then you should keep it."  After saying this and without pause he walked away and left me to think.   I still have the arrow in storage in the USA.   

Oswald Chambers writes, "Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey."  When I think of the simplicity of Costas' faith and his absolute trust in God no matter where it took him....I realize how blessed I am to have had a chance to meet and spend time with such a wonderful man.  And when I think of Alky, his wife, I marvel at her willingness to go to such a hard place with her children and live there for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.  

I have attached a short history of Costas Macris from Helienic Ministries.  It will describe the incredible journey that Costas lived as he followed the Lord.     

"In 1962, Costas and Alky became the first Greek couple to become foreign missionaries, serving under the auspices of Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU).  Their assignment: Irian Jaya-a lush tropical wilderness with dangerous, craggy mountains, cannibalistic Stone Age tribes and a breeding ground for tropical diseases.   

Despite these hardships, their years in Irian Jaya were fruitful for the Lord.  Overcoming the dangers, God allowed them to see spiritual breakthroughs and the church was planted in 12 different tribal groups.  Their accomplishments also include the establishment of 22 nationally staffed settlements with homes, airstrips, clinics, schools and other facilities.

In 1979, after 16 years of ministry in the primitive culture and wild surroundings of Irian Jaya, disaster struck! Costas contracted a deadly form of hepatitis, complicated by the tropical diseases of amoebic dysentery, malaria, and filariasis. He was rushed to a St. Louis, Missouri hospital where the doctors found extensive liver damage. The prognosis was imminent death. God, however, had other plans. Through the prayers of concerned friends, God healed him of every trace of all four diseases and he experienced a complete recovery, to the glory of God.

At this time Costas began seeking God earnestly for new direction, as the doctors had forbidden him to return to Irian Jaya. Throughout this year of intensive prayer, God reminded him of the spiritual needs of his own country-Greece. Costas understood then that he must return to his own people to rekindle the light of Christ's saving gospel. Why? In this ancient land of proud heritage, hardened hearts and superstition, Greek Orthodoxy had all but lost the true message of the Gospel. In obedience to God's challenge, Costas and Alky returned to their homeland. In 1980, the first national Greek evangelistic and missionary organization, the Hellenic Missionary Union (HMU-now HM) was born under Costas' able leadership.

The work grew quickly during the first five years. Costas immediately began doing large open-air evangelism programs, something that had never been done in modern Greece. Many in the tiny and marginalized evangelical community assumed he would be locked up for trying, as the Greek Orthodox Church exerted seemingly monolithic control over society, and the State of Greece has restrictive laws against proselytism. Against all expectations, the Summer Campaigns were not stopped-in fact, their blend of loud contemporary Christian music, street theatre and passionate preaching drew huge crowds and proved to be an effective means of communicating the gospel to masses of people.

Initially relying on large numbers of short-term foreign volunteers, Greek evangelical youth soon came forward to join Campaigns. Since the objective was not just evangelism but to change the course of a nation, this opened the second phase of HM's ongoing work-discipleship and training.

However, as the fledgling mission saw some fruit being born, 'disaster' struck again. While doing an open-air program with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) in 1984, Costas handed a 14-year old boy a New Testament. His mother, a fanatical atheist, used the anti-proselytism laws to press charges and Costas, along with two YWAM directors, were sentenced to three and a half years in prison!

What Satan intended for harm, God used for good. Freed for a year pending his appeal, Costas used the time to travel the world to let people abroad know of the spiritual conditions in Greece. By the time the appeal came to court, international media attention was focused on the trial, and the sentences were overturned. In addition, Costas had also been given a 17 meter (55 ft) steel-hulled sailboat to use in ministry to the islands, new workers had been recruited, and God's people on several continents were praying."

http://www.hellenicministries.com/pages/en/AboutUs/OurBeginnings.html

Costas died in 2006.  His life touched so many in Irian Jaya and Greece and around the world.  Oswald Chambers writes, "Bring all your “....arguments and . . . every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you (2 Corinthians 10:5). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing (see Matthew 11:25)......when our natural power of sight is devoted and submitted in obedience to the Holy Spirit, it becomes the very power by which we perceive God’s will, and our entire life is kept in simplicity."