ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - OH , THE WHEEL NUT !
Following WWII , the first Baptist ministry began in Papua New Guinea in 1949 . Now , there are over 400 local churches with over 60,000 believers ! Global Interaction Consultant Geoff Cramb recently visited church leaders to support and encourage them in their striving toward their vision of ‘ Believing God and Serving Holistically ’. During this trip he also witnessed a very significant event .
During the drive into the Baiyer Valley I thought , “ could there be a more beautiful country than this ?!” It ’ s a spectacular journey down the Rugli gorge into the valley . I was on my way to a baptismal service on the site where many locals reckon the first baptisms had taken place in 1956 .
I knew this would be a special trip .
Half an hour into the trip I pulled over to the left on one of the sweeping right hand bends as I needed to “ go to the post office ” ( translating the local pidgin idiom ). When I returned to the 4WD I saw Ben , the National Youth Coordinator had a wheel spanner in his hand . “ It ’ s always good the check the wheel nuts ”, he called out . While not a totally bad idea , I ’ ve never done so early in a trip like this .
Well , he found a loose nut on one of the wheels ! Not only loose , but broken , so that it served no purpose ! We checked the others and decided they were good enough to carry the work and decided that on returning to Mt Hagen at the end of the day we ’ d get the mechanic to add a new nut .
The incident became a bit of a metaphor for what we were to observe .
Driving down that gorge always provokes an emotional response in me . I remembered my first glimpse of the lush , green Baiyer Valley 39 years ago when I entered as a missionary with my young family . Now , we drove past the Bible College at Kwinkya , through Kumbareta where a new hospital is being built and turned off at Munduwasa . We parked in school grounds after enquiring where the baptisms were taking place . It was not a long walk , but a testing one for a not-so-young bloke , down a steep slope to the stream .
I recognised a pastor I ’ d first met a dozen years ago . He ’ d left the Baptist fold for other spheres and here he was back again . The word was that he has been quite influential in the lives of many young people who were about to be baptised .
What a spectacle it was ! The 123 people who were preparing for baptism were seated in rows according to their clans . The men wore white shorts but no shirts , as they were emulating the service 60 years earlier and dressed to match photographs they ’ d seen . Mostly young people , they had come from four congregations in Manduwasa , Kulimbu , Mara and Pakela . About 500 people stood around the banks of the dammed-up stream to witness the event . Most protecting themselves from the midday sun , some with umbrellas , others under the shade of a tree on the steep inclines of the small gorge . They were all fixated on the baptisms , listening as names were called out .
10 GLOBAL INTERACTION