Church Growth Ministry

Over the years, elders from churches on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea, noticed that even though there are many churches in different language groups in the region, there are still major needs for discipleship and for less dependency on missionaries for help. Furthermore, there was not a lot of fellowship and unity among these churches.

Several elders and missionaries studied to see what the Bible has to say about how churches should function and then to help the churches grow to reflect that. Their focus is to develop leadership within the churches of New Britain and to equip them to address all spiritual, ministry and technical needs themselves. To do this, they are refining their vision for the national leadership team for the PNG churches, creating curriculum that the churches could use in addressing needs and equipping, and teaching and discipling the church leaders throughout the region.

So far this year, this ministry team has worked on leadership development in Central New Britain and the North Coast. They also facilitated church-building projects for the Bala and Ata churches. Many churches throughout the region helped with the finances and the building, fostering unity among the churches.

Iski New Testament

The New Testament translation for the Iski people of Papua New Guinea is progressing well! In early 2020, translators finished 50 percent of the New Testament. However, there was still a lot of proofreading, corrections and verifications to be done before publishing these portions — which is what the missionaries and their Iski translation helpers have been doing since then. Now, 200 copies of these translations have been printed and transported to Papua New Guinea. The translation is also available on an Android app so that the Iski with smartphones and tablets can access them that way.

Siawi Church Conference

Linda Krieg, retired missionary to the Siawi people of Papua New Guinea, shared that the Siawi church leaders have volunteered to host the next evangelical church conference for their region this September. In a world without nearby stores, this big meeting will require much planning. In preparation for meals for the influx of visitors, the sago starch packet supply needs to be built up and ready as well as several wild pigs and many fish killed and preserved. Wisdom is needed for setting the conference theme and for choosing speakers from the various church groups.

New Surprise Helicopter!

Recently, Ethnos360 Aviation promoted the need for three helicopters for Papua New Guinea (PNG). Through you, God has provided the first R66, and we are just over halfway to the second one. If you would like to give to the PNG project, go to: go.ethnos.ca/png-helicopters.

Meanwhile, the Asia-Pacific region also had a pressing need for a helicopter. A Canadian donor seeking a project to fund agreed to provide not only for the helicopter but also for the outfitting and shipping to the field. Rejoice with us at God’s downpour of blessing, as this helicopter will serve as an essential tool for the spreading of the gospel in Asia Pacific.

Guanano Outreach

Do you remember the evangelistic outreach the Guanano church in Colombia made to a neighbouring Cubeo village? The discipleship of new believers in that village was halted by the pandemic last year. Now, three Guanano believers — Orlando, Rey and Leoncio — will begin a Bible study through the book of Acts to help disciple the new Cubeo believers. Please pray for the growth of the Guanano teachers and Cubeo people.

Turu Literacy Workshop

Darcy Berglund, missionary in Asia Pacific, shared about the literacy workshop that her co-workers will teach to the Turu people. “The team has been working hard these past months both to prepare for and then to complete this overwhelming project. Imagine learning how to read Turu, with six vowels, each with six different tones equaling 36 vowels to learn! They will need prayer as they get everything printed, finish up translating the teacher’s guides and begin to figure out the logistics of teaching literacy to the Turu people and training literacy teachers.”