At the beginning of 1956, Americans were shocked to read that five American missionaries,
James Elliot, Pete Fleming, T. Edward McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian, had been murdered
in the jungles of Ecudar while trying to make an intital contact with the Indian people called
the Auca. The dramatic death of these five young men at the very start of their work made a deep impression
on American Evangelicals and over the next generation influenced many to become overseas missionaries
or enter other types of Christian work. Others were moved by the story of how a church was
started among the Auca (or more accuretely, the Huaoni) people through the efforts of Jim Elliot's wife Elizabeth and
Nate Saint's sister Rachael.
The Archives contains many collections with information about the five missionaires, their deaths, the work among the
Huaoni people and the influence of the stiry of these events on American Christans.
Click
to see a list of the collections of material on the story five missionaries, available
in the BGC Archives.