Active Participation, Not Passive Listening – Month 13

The Melanesian Institute

            
        

The clinic staff was invited to have a Sunday lunch with the Melanesian Institute’s administrator and his wife. We had a very nice meal and then toured the facility.

The institute, located in Goroka, was established in 1969 by the Catholic Church and has since become ecumenical with the addition of Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, and United Church members. The aim for their research is to understand what enhances and hinders the lives of the Melanesian people so the findings can be used to enrich daily life. The faculty members are of different nationalities and hold degrees and doctorates in theology, sociology, anthropology, education, history, and religion.

The institute works with churches, non-government organizations, volunteer organizations, and people in Melanesian society to conduct its research; to disseminate the research findings through teaching and publications; and to provide consultations as requested. Their research and publications deal with Melanesian life and culture; including issues such as customs, religions, churches, sorcery and witchcraft, land issues, marriage and family life, women's issues, environmental issues, AIDS, politics, languages, and education. The institute has a library containing over 14,000 publications, maps, and audio-visual materials relevant to Melanesia. The library houses a unique collection of research concerning Papua New Guinea.

Although their research findings and teaching are offered to other organizations, the institute is designed to help its member churches speak more clearly to the needs of the Melanesian people and to appreciate the Melanesian culture and values in light of the Christian gospel. From their brochure: “The Melanesian Institute’s primary goal is to help communities in the process of making the Gospel of Christ meaningful in Melanesian cultures…that the people of Melanesia may have abundant life in Christ, and give witness to that life within their own cultural context.”

I had a very enjoyable day touring the facility and visiting with the administrator and his wife. I have not personally seen what the results of the institute's research looks like in everyday life; however, it is important that people understand the culture of the people to whom they minister and structure the message so that the people understand what God is saying to them. I have heard that some teaching from various groups in past years have taught the people of PNG that it is okay to combine Christianity with their traditional beliefs. This teaching has led to much confusion. God's truth is in the Bible and He is not the author of confusion. My prayer is that His Word be taught in a manner and a language that makes sense to PNG people, but does not dilute its truths.

 Lapilo Annual Conference

The annual conference for the missionaries here at Lapilo was held this month and was led by a team from Mission Hills Church located in Mission Viejo, CA. The group led the praise and worship service, conducted the children’s program, and their executive pastor presented a series of messages, entitled Fuel for Spiritual Growth, on the book of James. James is a book that talks about Christian conduct in regard to trails, partiality, faith, works, sins of the tongue (yikes!), wisdom, worldliness, riches, patience, swearing, and prayer. The theme verse for the conference was James 1:22: “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” (Active participation, not passive listening)

Here are some of the pastor’s points that really spoke to me.

• The purpose of trials is to increase our faith so that our response to trials can bring glory and honor to God. [This reminded me of the Inapang woman, mentioned in my last newsletter, who said: “Now when we receive pains, we don’t worry about where they came from. We just give a thank you to God because we know that God gives it to us to strengthen our spirits and make us ready for heaven…we know we won’t be here in this painful world forever. So, we are just here on this ground happily waiting for our time to go to heaven.”]
• Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
• Don’t just listen to God’s word, but also obey it through your actions. (This is a witness of our love for God, not to earn our salvation.)
• If you think you are righteous but do not bridle your tongue, you deceive yourself and your religion is worthless.
• Serve the needy.
• We can have dead faith (an intellectual faith), demonic faith (an intellectual faith with emotion - even the devil believes in God and trembles), or divine faith (an intellectual faith with emotion and obedience). Obedience is our faith in action. Faith comes before works. Our works do not save us. Only the matchless grace of Christ can save us.
• Words show the condition of our heart.                                         
• Our lives are like a vapor that quickly vanishes.
• We can be caught up in the desires of the world.
• Humble yourself before God and He will lift you up.
• We are hard-wired for a relationship with God and prayer is a relational and honest interaction between God and us. “We must lay before God what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” cs lewis

One highlight of the conference was the update on our tribal works. NTM began in 1950 to ministry to the Gimi, Yagarian, and Hamtai language groups and has since established works with over 70 other groups.  NTM has four regional headquarters in addition to the field headquarter where I serve. There are missionaries serving 12 language groups within the Highlands region, 11 language groups within the Sepik region, 6 language groups within the Madang region, and 15 language groups within the Islands region.

The approximate number of believers resulting from these works currently is over 21,000 and more than 290 churches. One hundred forty-six (146) of these churches have recognized leaders. The first 3 people groups to which NTM began to minister in 1950 have a combined number of 139 churches and 89 established leaders. Each work can take 15 or more years to establish a mature church.

Over half of works started by NTM currently have active missionaries. We rejoice over the works that have resulted in churches with established leaders. Partnerships are typically between NTM missionaries and established works to conduct Bible translation or to assist with outreach planning. We pray for the discontinued, temporarily closed, or delayed works. The reason for these vary but in some cases the villagers lost interest and returned to their traditional beliefs or there could be issues with land owners since land in PNG is the number one consideration for any industry or ministry.

NTM missionaries have translated 100% of the New Testament for 26% of the language groups with which they have worked or are working.  For 59% of the language groups; NTM missionaries have translated various parts of the New Testament, the missionaries are still learning the language, or the work was discontinued before the translation was started.  For the remaining 15%, NTM is using SIL (another mission group in PNG) translations.  Parts of the Old Testament have been translated as well.  With over 800 language groups in PNG, there is still much work to be done!


"The only humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before God in prayer, but that which we carry with us and carry out in our ordinary conduct. The insignificances of daily life are the important tests of eternity because they prove what spirit really possesses us." Andrew Murray