Opportunities Everywhere!

Last weekend: Nate and Elias hiked Mt Wilhelm, the highest peak in PNG, with Elias' senior class. Every peak and valley that can be seen in this photo represents untapped potential for the Gospel here in PNG.

Church conference conversations lead to opportunities.

 

Friends, thanks for praying for us and supporting us in the work here. Because of you all, we are able to continue to serve believers and be a part of the growing church here in PNG.

Church leaders from 17 different language groups in New Britain met with us to talk about how to partner better together. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a gathering for national church leaders representing 17 people groups from the island of New Britain here in PNG. The 50 men and women that were gathered at our Hoskins Center came to talk about how to work together as churches, and to work with us missionaries to continue to grow the church in their area. We had great conversations that opened up huge opportunites for us to help the churches. The believers in New Britain are wanting to grow as partners with us and are asking for help to become more effective in:

• Their Marriages. "We know how to not hurt each other now, but how do we actually walk in good fellowship and unity as wives and husbands?"
• Bible Study. "We can read God's Word, and we know the basic story, but only a handful of us know how to read, understand, and then apply God's Word to our daily lives."
• Their Relationships. "We know that God's Word talks about forgiveness, unity, and peace, but we are struggling to be different from the unbelievers around us."
• Discipleship. "We see our young people willing to listen to us for a while, but, when we are not able to show them or help them to apply their faith to life in our changing (urbanizing) context, we are losing them."
• Outreach and Church Planting. "We know how to share the gospel, but we would like to know how to nurture new believers towards effective understanding of the gospel so that they can grow together and continue to be ambassadors for Christ in their communities."
• Practical Skills. "We need to know how to manage money, work better with the government, work with computers, do maintenence on our buildings and machines, and also how to use the biblical resources that are available to us."

 

Is this your opportunity to serve? This conference represented the self-identified needs of 11,000 current believers and further opportunities toward reaching the rest of the 515,000 Papua New Guineans on the island of New Britain! This is just one of the conferences that I have attended this year.  We are regularly offered a lifetime of work possibilities - please pray for us as we engage, and please pray for more laborers!

Sharing food together with Kaikou, a faithful shepherd and discipler of the Ata church.

 

"The target of this work is God leading His church!" - Kewaka

 

A Mesi Church Update:

Some of you may remember that our Mesi church Bible teachers have been doing an outreach (since May) to an entirely new area of Mesi-land. We have been happy for them to do the work and, at the same time, at least a little worried that they are taking on this new work in addition to the two churches and three literacy schools that they are caring for.

 

"Do you not care that if I die, I will go to the place of fire forever?"  - Mutuvav man that has begged for this outreach for the last 2 years.

 

Well, the evangelistic lessons are completed and, while there are still lots of questions, it appears that there has been good fruit. Our co-worker, Chris, was able to visit the place where the teaching has been happening two weeks ago. He was able to answer the people's questions alongside Metiu and Savalom (Bible teachers) and was encouraged by the progress.

 

Please keep praying for the new believers in Mutuvav, Kuangava, and Kokomasak villages. We recognize that it will take them time to absorb the truth that they have heard and to sort through how it contrasts with what they have believed. Pray that they will truly recognize Jesus as their place-taker and source of new life. Pray too for the Mesi Bible teachers as they shepherd those new believers, disciple the churches, and defend the gospel in Mesiland.

 

Lugumi, the wife of one of the Mesi bible teachers cares for her new baby. In 2023, she and Jos lost 2 of their children to illness over just a couple of weeks. 

Looking ahead

 

Since there is literally a lifetime of work for us here in PNG, we are planning on staying engaged here as long as the Lord allows. That said, we are looking ahead to a much-needed home assignment in 2025-2026. In May 2025 when Elias will graduate from high school, we plan to head back to the USA for a year. This is not a vacation - there are family and ministry related tasks that we will be working on that year. Here are a few of them:

• Connecting with our support team. Our last "normal" home assignment was in 2015. It has been 10 years since some of you have seen us in person. Not only do we miss you guys, we want to have the opportunity to share with you all that the Lord has done here in PNG in the last decade. And we want to share with you the continued opportunities that we have to make a significant impact for the gospel here.
• Developing materials and resources without being distracted by leadership responsibilities. For the last 6 years, we have split our time and attention between the Mesi church, other national churches, and the missionaries of NTM-PNG. While that has given us incredible opportunities to engage across the country, the responsibilities have also limited our ability to produce materials for the Mesi church and others.
• Serving our family and churches. Living at a distance from our families and churches means that we don't get to do practical things for you all from here. We'd like to do normal life things together with you all - to be united with and to be a blessing to you.
• Establishing ourselves for the next 20 years of work/life. We honestly don't know what plans God has for us for the next two decades - but we would like to put things in place for us to continue to serve His church here for as long as possible. This means looking to establish a home-base from which we can operate, serve churches on each side of the Pacific Ocean, and potentially be available to support our kids and also folks as their needs change.
• Developing our skills. Elizabeth is still working towards a Masters Degree in Curriculum Development (in support of the work here in PNG). Nate has been working some with the international team that is equipping folks all over the world for church planting in cross-cultural contexts. Being based out of the USA for a season will give him the chance to continue to learn and serve in that capacity as well.

Celebrating PNG's independence on September 16th. We were able to serve the community here by offering carnival games and sports competitions. 

 

With that in mind, would you be praying for us over these next 7 months? We will be looking to the Lord to lead and provide for us. We certainly will be looking for a reliable, fuel-efficient vehicle for May 2025. We are asking about where/if we should look into purchasing a state-side house (and how we might afford that). We are asking for opportunities to serve and encourage the churches that know us. We are looking for opportunities to share with others that would be willing to join in the work here as well. We are asking for the Lord's direction for how we should serve - we can't possibly meet all of the needs that we see so we are seeking to be wise in our focus.

 

Thanks so much for praying for us!

Grace and peace,

Nate and Elizabeth.