The young missionary and his wife settled down into the long dugout canoe. The craft, skillfully oared by area tribesmen, would transport them to their new home deep in the swampy jungles of Indonesia. The young couple, Don and Carol Richardson, had no idea of the unknown dangers that lurked in the dark recesses of the swamps. But they knew that their omniscient Lord was fully aware of all that lay ahead.

As the tribesmen began to propel the canoe upstream, the wife pulled her seven-month-old baby, Stephen, close to herself. Was it folly to bring an infant into the jungles where cannibalistic headhunters still roamed? What about the tropical diseases that took a heavy toll upon even the strongest? What about the dangerous poisonous snakes, prowling beasts, and biting insects? Would their baby survive to see his first birthday?

The Richardsons could not see the future, but they served the One Who does. As surely as God knew the path that had led them from Canada to the jungles of Dutch New Guinea, He also knew the strange, watery path that led ahead through the swamps. God had brought them here, and He would accomplish His purpose, either by life or by death.

Don Richardson was born on June 23, 1935, on Prince Edward Island in Canada. He gave his life to the Lord Jesus Christ at a Youth for Christ rally he attended when he was seventeen years old. Wanting to serve the Lord in some capacity, he enrolled at the Prairie Bible Institute, a Christian college in Alberta, Canada, where the motto “To know Christ and make Him known” was lived out in daily life by the graduates. The school was widely known for its emphasis on foreign missions, and approximately one out of every three graduates entered the mission field.

Don Richardson remembered very clearly the day that an elderly English missionary stood in the pulpit in the large auditorium at Prairie Bible Institute. The white-haired veteran of the foreign fields of harvest spoke to an eager assembly of young people, laying before them the importance of a new field.

The veteran missionary relayed a fascinating find! American military pilots and crew members stationed in New Guinea during the war against Japan had observed, while flying over the mainland of the island, hundreds of isolated villages tucked into the mountains and swamps of the vast interior. That vast domain covered 110,000 square miles of swamps, jungles, mountains, and isolated valleys. These sighted villages were completely unreached by western civilization.

There, tribesmen still lived in the stone age: hunting pigs, eating sago, and practicing the animistic worship handed down from previous generations. They wore very little clothing, if any. They practiced cannibalism and other unspeakable orgies. They were afflicted by dozens of diseases.

The elderly missionary extended his hand to the students before him with a passionate appeal, “How much longer must those lost tribes wait to hear of Him who died for their salvation and rose again nearly two thousand years ago?” Don Richardson had an unmistakable feeling that he was one of those that God was calling to this needy field. He was twenty years old when he heard the call.

In the same auditorium, a young lady from Cincinnati, Ohio, named Carol Soderstrom heard the same appeal. She too was moved as she heard about the isolated tribes who lingered in spiritual darkness.

United by a common burden, Don and Carol were married in 1960. Don had completed his training as a missionary while Carol had completed training to become a nurse, a skill that would be needed in Dutch New Guinea. God blessed them with their first son, Stephen, in November of 1961, while they were preparing to go to the Far East.

The mission agency assigned the Richardsons to a tribe known as the Sawi. They were a mysterious tribe. Not much was known about them other than that they practiced headhunting and cannibalism. Aerial observation had revealed that some clans of the Sawi lived in treehouses along the banks of the Kronkel River. Their language had never been studied, and their customs were unknown.

Nevertheless, the Richardsons boldly accepted the task that God had placed before them. Trusting that He knew the unknown, they embarked with their baby boy in a dugout canoe for their new home in the swampy jungle.

Richardson marveled at the trust and confidence of his wife. At sunset on that first night, they were welcomed to the Sawi village by a host of armed, semi-naked warriors who were decorated with outlandish paint and feathered headdresses. The warriors whooped and danced, welcoming the white man and his family to their village. Baby Stephen took it all in with perfect confidence and fell asleep that first night in his mother’s arms, despite the loud sounds of drums and dancing.

Soon, the moral ugliness of Sawi customs and culture began to reveal itself. The tribe valued treachery above all things! They admired the man who could “fatten his enemy with friendship for the slaughter.” The tribal people practiced witchcraft. Sawi children venerated the tribal elders who had killed men in combat. In fact, the skulls were given to small children to play with as toys!

The Richardsons tried to explain to the Sawi about the love of Jesus and His sacrificial death for them. But the language barrier seemed impossible to surmount. Richardson would spend ten long hours a day trying to comprehend the Sawi language. His wife would spend her days treating the indigenous people of fungal infections, malaria, dysentery, and other tropical diseases.

Through trial and error, the couple slowly learned the Sawi language, word by word. Richardson discovered that the Sawi had a daunting verbal system of nineteen possible tenses for every verb!

By God’s grace, Don Richardson learned the Sawi language. He began to tell the tribe the message of the Gospel. He told them about the life of Jesus as best as he could. When Richardson eventually came to the story of the betrayal of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he thought that finally he was making progress in communication!

The tribesmen listened to the story of Christ’s betrayal, their eyes glowing with rapt fascination. But to Richardson’s horror, he found out that the Sawi saw the hero of the story was the traitorous disciple, Judas Iscariot. In the Sawi minds, Jesus was foolish enough to be duped by a master of treachery!

Frustrated and almost in despair, the Richardsons were on the verge of giving up their work and returning home to Canada. But a war broke out among the tribal villages, and the couple was compelled to stay.

One day, during the hostilities, they were amazed to witness an astonishing action. One of the warring tribesmen ran onto the battlefield, carrying an infant boy! They watched as the little baby was offered to an enemy warrior. The little baby, they discovered, was a “peace child.”

Suddenly, Don Richardson realized that this was an analogy that he could use to explain the Gospel to the tribe! Perhaps this was the key the Holy Spirit would use to open their hearts and minds to understand the Gospel? He told the Sawi that Jesus the Son of God was the “Peace Child” that came to bring peace between a holy God and sinful man.

This idea totally reversed the Sawi mindset. To betray a “peace child” as Judas had done was an unspeakable crime! With this redemptive analogy—a term coined by Don Richardson—the eyes of the Sawi were opened to the great gift of God’s Son.

In a few short months, over half of the Sawi tribe had forsaken witchcraft and paganism and had embraced the Peace Child! They began to wear clothing, covering their nakedness. They ceased their abominationable practices. The tribe built a church building with their own hands. To this day, the Sawi are grateful for the gift of the Lord Jesus, their Peace Child.

Don Richardson went to be with his Lord on December 23, 2018. (Carol preceded him in death in 2004.) Richardson spent the remainder of his life as an advocate for global missions. He used the story of the Peace Child to explain how our all-knowing Lord has placed redemptive analogies into every culture. As bearers of the Good News, we should seek to find these analogies and use them in our explanation of the Gospel for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Sources and Further Reference:

Richardson, Don. Peace Child. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2005.

Richardson, Don. Eternity in Their Hearts. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2006.