Reaching ‘satan’s last stronghold’: the fatal mission of John Allen Chau

In 2018, American John Allen Chau bribed five fishermen to take him to Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean. A new documentary tells the story of his ultimately fatal mission to share the gospel with one of the last ‘uncontacted’ tribes who were living there.

‘My name is John. I love you and Jesus loves you. Jesus Christ gave me authority to come to you. Here is some fish!’ These were John’s first words to the North Sentinelese as he approached in his kayak. The two tribesmen strung their bows and moved towards him aggressively.

In what would be one of his last diary entries, John reported feeling ‘some fear, but mostly disappointment’ that they hadn’t accepted him. Later that day, he would attempt to reach them again, and have an arrow shot at him, hitting the Bible he was holding just in front of his chest. His third attempt would end his life.

But how did a 26-year-old American ‘quintessential millennial’ (The Telegraph) find himself trying to share the gospel with one of the most isolated tribes in the world?

This true story is the subject of new documentary The Mission, produced by the National Geographic and released in the UK on 8 December. Made using a mixture of real-life footage and animation, it tracks John’s growing passion to reach the North Sentinelese, his training by mission agencies, and his perilous journey.

A long-term dream

Born to Patrick Chau and Lynda Adam-Chau in Alabama in 1991, John was an enthusiastic adventurer and outdoorsman from an early age. Reading books like The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Robinson Crusoe helped spark his lifelong love for adventure. Later, he was later inspired by stories of Jim Elliot and David Livingstone.

Coming from a family who were members of a Pentecostal church, John’s personal faith grew in strength as he attended Vancouver Christian high school – which was also where he first heard of the North Sentinelese. When he was 17, his father overheard him telling his friends he would be the one to bring the gospel to Sentinel Island.

The North Sentilese people, however, are known to aggressively defend their territory, which they’ve inhabited for over 60,000 years. In recent years, they killed two crab fishermen who washed up on the shore, and after the 2004 tsunami a lone tribesman shot an arrow at an overhead helicopter. While they had some contact with curious anthropologists in the 1960s, they are now considered ‘extremely isolated’, and the Indian government have made it illegal for anyone to visit.

John’s final attempt to share the gospel with them took place on 16 November, nearly 10 years after he first discovered who they were on a computer in high school. He convinced the fishermen to leave him in the water on the edge of the island, his diary entries revealing he was painfully aware that he may not survive. Later, these fishermen saw John’s body being dragged across the beach and buried. There were multiple attempts to recover his body by Indian authorities, but none were successful.

Martyr or madman?

There was a media frenzy following his death. The mission agency who trained him, All Nations, posted on their website hailing him as a ‘martyr’, but the majority of responses were unfavourable. John was mocked on late night TV shows and scorned on Twitter as ‘delusional’.

The Mission, however, paints a more rounded picture. In its attempt to understand John, the documentary interviews a wide range of family and friends. The result is a picture of John not as a mindless zealot, but as a ‘normal’, sociable and ‘intelligent’ man. His actions were premeditated and his motives clear.

One friend said, ‘He was brave…I hope one day I can be that brave.’

Others have argued that the only way to understand John’s actions are if you understand his faith. That from a Christian perspective he didn’t die, but was saved. That his mission wasn’t a colonial ego-trip, but a fulfilment of the Great Commission.

The arrow that was shot at John by a young Sentilese and pierced John’s Bible stopped on page 933. Poignantly, the last verses on the page were Isaiah 65:1-2, which read, ‘I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, “Here am I, here am I”.’