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Papua New Guinea – Ministry
Pastoral Training
Ten years before we arrived the National Church began praying for the opening of a bible school and purchased a piece of land twelve miles from Mt. Hagen in the Western Highlands District of the church to build this school. Our responsibility was to finalize the curriculum and start up a three year program for training pastors. This would involve teaching and administration of the program.
Nancy worked on developing and directing a two year training program for the Pastor’s wives.
Lay Leadership
The national church had started a lay training program. Perry helped to revise this program to include seminars and correspondence courses based on locally resources that were written in Pidgin. Over the four years we were in PNG seminars were held in Takuru, Fugwa, Mt. Hagen, Woposali, and Port Moresby. Over two hundred people were enrolled in this program.
Field Work
The goal of assisting churches without pastors and of planting new churches was included in the program of the school. Five of the local churches were helped and four new churches were planted. Each Sunday the student and family will travel to one of the sights and spend the day in ministry.
During the third term break a second field work experience was organized. This involved sending groups of students to the districts to assist in evangelism and church planting. Students would spend two weeks assisting local leaders in a key area of ministry. As a result of this program at least four new churches were begun.
Music Ministry
A special opportunity was given to Nancy at the International school where our children attended. She was asked to take over the music education program of the school. She served in this capacity for two years teaching grades k-8.
Along side of this developed a children’s choir ministry sponsored by the local missionary fellowship. Nancy organized and directed this choir and they presented six different performances. It became an outreach to a number of children and family of the international school as well as the community.
Perry directed a small choir which did two cantatas during the Christmas season as part of a community wide religious service.
Construction
Perry assisted Don Floyd (field engineer) in the construction of the new bible school campus. Perry’s main work was in doing the concrete work for each of the buildings. During Don Floyd’s furlough he supervised the construction of a married student dorm and kitchen. The other key area of work was the landscaping and drainage of the property. The land was near a river and very damp. So over a period of two years the land was leveled and drainage provided for. Two acres were developed into gardens and various trees and shrubs were planted.
Country Information
Papua New Guinea,
independent nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, located north of
Australia and east of Indonesia. Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern
half of the island of New Guinea, called the mainland, and several hundred
smaller islands. The western part of New Guinea forms the Indonesian
province of Irian Jaya. Most Papua New Guineans live in rural villages
along the coast or in the rugged interior. High mountains and rain forests
isolate many villages, although a network of roads and airstrips serves
mines and plantations. Since the country’s independence from Australia in
1975, town and city life has expanded as villagers have migrated to urban
areas in search of employment. Port Moresby, located on the mainland’s
southeastern coast, is Papua New Guinea’s capital and largest city.
Papua New Guinea has a total area of 462,840 sq km (178,704
sq mi), of which nearly 90 percent is on the mainland. The smaller islands
of Papua New Guinea all lie to the east and north. Among them are the
Bismarck Archipelago, which includes New Britain, New Ireland, and Manus;
the northern part of the Solomon Islands, including Bougainville and Buka;
the Louisiade Archipelago; the Trobriand Islands; and the D’Entrecasteaux
Islands.
The mainland, which is wide in western Papua New Guinea and narrows in the southeast, has a rugged, mountainous interior. Steep slopes and jagged peaks stretch across the entire island from east to west. In Papua New Guinea, the mountains rise to a maximum elevation of 4,509 m (14,793 ft) at Mount Wilhelm in the Bismarck Range.
Papua New Guinea lies along the so-called Ring of Fire, a belt of frequent tectonic activity in the Pacific Ocean caused by the collision of several continental plates (see Plate Tectonics). The country often experiences earthquakes and there are about 40 active volcanoes along the north coast of the mainland and on the smaller islands.
The climate of Papua New Guinea differs from place to place and from season to season, and is moderated by the mountains and seasonal monsoons. The lowland areas are generally hot and damp, while temperatures are cooler in mountainous areas. Temperatures average 27° C (81° F) in the lowlands and 20° C (68° F) in the highlands. Precipitation is generally heavy. Annual rainfall totals nearly 5,080 mm (200 in)
Nearly the entire population belongs to the diverse Papuan or Melanesian ethnic groups, which are closely related. There is a small minority of whites (mostly Australian) and Asians (mostly Chinese). Most Papuans live in the mountainous interior and the southern section of the mainland. The Melanesians primarily live in the north and east of the mainland, and on the islands. The largest cities are Port Moresby, Lae, Madang, Wewak, and Goroka, but most of these are relatively small (only Port Moresby and Lae have more than 50,000 people). The population is predominantly rural, with only 17 percent of the population residing in urban areas.
More than 700 different languages and dialects are spoken among the Papuans and Melanesians. Melanesian languages belong to the Austronesian language family, which includes most of the indigenous languages of the Pacific Islands. Papuan languages belong to a distinct language family called Papuan. The geographical distribution of Papuan languages is limited to New Guinea and the easternmost islands of Indonesia. Enga is the most common Papuan language and is spoken in the central highlands of mainland Papua New Guinea. English is the official language and the language of instruction in schools, a legacy of colonial rule. It is widely understood, but only a small proportion of the population can speak it fluently. The principal lingua franca, spoken by more than half the population, is Tok Pisin, a pidgin language based on English, German, and Melanesian languages.
Most Papua New Guineans hold traditional beliefs, which are generally based on ancestor and spirit worship. About two-thirds of the people profess a Christian religion, but many of them also maintain traditional beliefs. Of the Christian faiths, Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism have the largest followings.
Most people in villages follow a traditional way of life
that revolves around subsistence agriculture and fishing. Extended
families are the basic social unit. There are also many tribal groups,
subdivided into clans and subclans. These groups help families preserve
and transmit the store of traditional knowledge. They support clan members
through major events such as birth, marriage, and death. Most villages are
led by men, called “big men” in Tok Pisin, who win leadership positions by
their own efforts. Hereditary chiefs are rare. The most experienced men in
the village normally form a body of decision-makers, and no important
actions are taken without their consent. Women typically do the planting.
They rarely have much voice in village affairs. In some groups, however,
people inherit land through the female line. Villagers live in small
houses with frames built of wood, walls made of plaited bamboo strips or
leaves, and roofs thatched with grass or palm leaves. Often there is a
larger men’s house and separate small cooking houses.
The unit of currency in Papua New Guinea is the kina, which is divided into 100 toea (1.44 kina equal U.S.$1; 1997 average).
Copyright © Perry J. Hubbard