In 1950, a Dutch atheist sailed to the edge of the known world with 22 family members. He had no faith, no church, and no interest in God. Within seven years, he would be ministering to a mountain tribe in Papua — and documenting miracles that still defy explanation.
His name was Henk Lit. He was my grandfather.
This study guide is the first of six sessions based on my book Miracles in Papua. It covers Henk's origins: the family he was born into, the beliefs he inherited, and the world that shaped him before God ever entered the picture.
I wrote this guide for small groups, book clubs, and missions committees — anyone willing to sit with a story and let it do its work. There are no right answers. Only honest questions.
What you need: A copy of Miracles in Papua and 60–90 minutes with your group.
Henk was born and raised in Dutch Indonesia, on the island of Java. He was not raised in the church. His father Johan was a free thinker and an atheist. His great-grandfather had left the faith and become a Freemason.
Henk grew up without God. Not by rebellion. By inheritance.
This is an important distinction. Henk did not reject faith. He never encountered it. The spiritual trajectory of his family had been set generations before he was born. Atheism came through his father.
Java in the early twentieth century was a world of colonial hierarchies, tropical heat, and communities where the Dutch lived alongside — but apart from — the Javanese majority. Henk grew up in this world. He built a business. He married Johanna. He started a family.
Nothing in his life pointed toward what would come later. That is precisely what makes the rest of the story remarkable.
What did you inherit from your family — beliefs, habits, assumptions — that you only recognized later in life?
Take a few minutes. Let each person share briefly. No need to solve anything. Just name it.
1. Henk inherited atheism the way many people inherit faith — without choosing it. What beliefs or assumptions did you absorb from your family without questioning them? When did you first notice?
2. The book documents a spiritual direction set across generations. Henk's great-grandfather left the church. His grandfather followed. His father was an atheist. Henk was born into the pattern. Where do you see generational patterns — for better or worse — in your own family?
3. Henk's story begins in colonial Java, a world most Western readers have never encountered. The historical photographs in the book show a society that no longer exists. What surprised you about the setting? What assumptions did it challenge?
4. If someone grows up without faith through no choice of their own, how does that shape the way we should think about conversion? Is there a difference between someone who lost their faith and someone who never had it?
Think about one belief or value you hold today that came to you through family — not through personal decision.
Is it still yours? Or is it borrowed?
Write one sentence. Share it with the group if you are willing.
Pray for the generations in your own family.
For what was passed down well. For what was lost along the way. For what might still be reclaimed.
If your group is comfortable, name one family member — living or dead — whose spiritual legacy you carry. Pray for them by name.
This is Session 1 of a 6-session study guide. The full guide covers:
Each session builds on the last. By Session 5, your group will be discussing documented miracles — healings, a drowned child revived, a river that subsided after prayer. These are not myths. They are testimony, verified through archives, family records, and eyewitness confirmation.
But they only land if you understand where Henk started. And he started here. In Java. Without God.
Miracles in Papua contains the complete story — the historical context, over 60 family photographs, and the documented testimonies these sessions can only summarize.
Bulk copies for your group: Discounted pricing for orders of 10+.
Contact info@kingdomcampus.com
Tim Lit is Henk's grandson. He spent years gathering, verifying, and preserving the family's testimony from Papua — working from his father's recorded conversations, his uncle's independent memories, Dutch archives, and mission correspondence.
Tim is not a pastor or a missions executive. He is a family steward who believed these stories were too important to lose.
He lives in the Netherlands and works at the intersection of faith, technology, and education.