Papua New Guinea

The history of Churches of Christ in PNG can be traced to pioneer efforts of the Australian Churches of Christ Global Mission Partners (formerly Overseas Mission Board). During the Second World War a number of soldiers had been in the islands and by the mid 1950s returned veterans were asking, “Why not begin a new mission field in Papua or New Guinea?” The Australian Churches of Christ Federal Council authorized an exploratory survey in 1957 and selected a suitable area along the lower Ramu River where there was no major Protestant mission and no schools or medical facilities. In June the following year Frank Beale and Harold Finger, both experienced cross-cultural missionaries, formed an advance party to establish a mission station. The first site was at Tung in the East Sepik region.

The goal from the beginning was for a self-governing and self-led indigenous church. Land was given to build a Bible College at Gandep. Today more than 100 national pastors share the task of evangelism and church building.

Profile

Population: 6.3 million (82% rural)
Language: English (official), Pidgin, native languages
Literacy: 40%
Average life expectancy: 55 years (men), 60 years (women)
Major religions: Christianity, Indigenous beliefs

Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern part of the world’s second largest island. It is mostly mountainous and covered in tropical rainforest as well as having large wetland areas. It is one of the world’s least explored nations, both culturally and geographically.

Linguistically it is the world’s most diverse country with over 800 native languages.

Agriculture provides a subsistence livelihood for 85% of the population.

Mineral deposits, including gold, copper and nickel are extensive, but the difficult terrain and poor infrastructure make exploitation slow. A very small proportion of the land can sustain cash crops including coffee and cocoa. Abundant rainforests provide the raw material for a logging industry, which is dominated by Malaysian-owned companies. Main exports include gold, petroleum, copper, coffee, palm oil, logs.

Papua New Guinea has strong ties with Australia which administered the territory until independence in 1975. AusAID’s substantial aid programme (almost 20% of the national budget) aims to relieve poverty and boost development.

The government has remained remarkably independent and its authority respected.

PNG is divided into 20 provinces which are the primary administrative divisions.

Churches of Christ Mission in PNG

The history of Churches of Christ in PNG can be traced to pioneer efforts of the Australian Churches of Christ Global Mission Partners (formerly Overseas Mission Board). During the Second World War a number of soldiers had been in the islands and by the mid 1950s returned veterans were asking, “Why not begin a new mission field in Papua or New Guinea?” The Australian Churches of Christ Federal Council authorized an exploratory survey in 1957 and selected a suitable area along the lower Ramu River where there was no major Protestant mission and no schools or medical facilities. In June the following year Frank Beale and Harold Finger, both experienced cross-cultural missionaries, formed an advance party to establish a mission station. The first site was at Tung in the East Sepik region.

The goal from the beginning was for a self-governing and self-led indigenous church. By 1970 leadership classes were being held to train pastor-leaders and by 1974 a pastor’s school was begun. PNG developed their own church and chose the name MECOC (Melanesian Evangelical Churches of Christ) to identify themselves.

Today there are over 6,000 Christians and 200 churches scattered along the Ramu, Keram, Sepik, Sogeram and Ywat Rivers in the Schrader Ranges and the land between. More than 100 national pastors share the task of evangelism and church building. Pastors are trained at Gandep for two years and attend at least one in-service training course every year after graduation.

Current issues

Rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure hampers travel and export. Communication and medical services are also limited. The capital, Port Moresby, is not linked by road to any other major town and many villages can only be reached by light aircraft or on foot. Travel in the Sepik region is typically by canoe.

The current government has brought stability to the national budget (inflation is 0%) but faces challenges in regaining investor confidence, restoring integrity to state institutions, promoting economic efficiency and privatization of public enterprises. There is also the challenge of balancing relations with Australia, formerly its colonial ruler.

In 2006 the UN downgraded PNG’s designation of ‘developing country’ to ‘least-developed country’ because of protracted economic and social stagnation.

The greatest socio-cultural challenge is the worsening HIV/AIDS epidemic.

PNG faces chronic law and order challenges and land tenure issues. There is virtually no freehold title and only 3% of the land is privately owned. Most is under 99 year State Lease or held by the State.

Gandep Bible College

Land was given in the 1970’s to build a college at Gandep but it wasn’t until the 1990's that this gift was utilized. The first students graduated from Gandep Bible College in 2003 and it continues to train church and community leaders. The college focus is to equip local pastors with diploma level Bible College certificates appropriate to the needs of very remote rural communities. Steven Yamok is the Principal and Anton Leloi (Dean of Studies) and John Inakuri (Dean of Students) also lecturer there. The centre has recently completed facilities for woman’s ministry training and will continue working to build facilities for other training programs needed in remote communities.

Women’s Ministry

Brin Tarat follows on from the faithful ministry of Cathy Fiam as the Women's Ministry Coordinator. This continues the legacy of the work Aileen Draney (former long term missionary from Queensland) was committed to in establishing Woman’s ministry and training in PNG. Cathy recently re-located to Gandep and is working with Melcorn who has graduated from CLTC (Christian Leaders Training College) to assist women studying at Gandep.

Revival Harvest Ministry in PNG

1. Ramu Retreat: 18-21 March at Tsumba
2. Sepik/Keram Retreat: 20-26 April at Anngisi

Literacy

Only 40% of people in rural areas of PNG are able to read and write. GMP funds Silas Gibe who is the Churches of Christ literacy director who has been encouraging education and literacy in pidgin (the PNG trade language) and Rao (the mother tongue of most people living on the Ramu).  He has also been running workshops to teach pastors and leaders how to read their Rao New Testaments (Rao is a very difficult language to read). Silas came to Australia in 2008 to work with Fay Christensen (a former long-term missionary in PNG) on translating the Rao Bible Translation from one dialect into another using a specially designed computer program.  The aim is to provide access for more Rao speakers to the Scriptures in their mother tongue.

Community Development

Frank Sanders (previous community development worker in PNG) has been looking into more appropriate technology to be used to maintain the airstrips.  This airstrip at Chungribu services 20,000 people in the Middle Ramu are and is a vital resource for medical evacuations, for other missionary and government personnel, for supplies, and general travel in the remote communities.

Sources: BBC News World Profile, World Convention of Churches of Christ, Oxfam, World Fact Book, Wikipedia
 

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