March 16, 2008
by Matthew Clayton
Praise the Lord, so far our adjustment to the region seems to be going well. There is, of course, always just a mountain of new things to observe and learn. As far as cultural exploration goes Rachel and I feel like we have just started to get a sense of the overall picture here and that some of finer details are just starting to come into focus. But the big thing going on this week has been the Sepik Regional Conference.
The Conference is a time when all of our NTM missionaries in the Sepik region get together for fellowship and to strategize on future ministry avenues. It has proved to be a fun and valuable opportunity for us to get a first hand look at what is happening in our tribal locations. It has been an exciting and busy time.
The Sepik region center is divided into two smaller centers, referred to as the upper and lower center, and both are heavily overcrowded this week. From Monday to Wednesday I have been helping our supply team gear up for their increased workload.
Each missionary team has to pay for every flight in and out of the tribe. If a plane is empty when it picks them up then that is a wasted flight. To avoid this waste the teams will order extra supplies to fly in when they are picked up. They will also send as much extra food and gear as they can fit on their return trip back. This process is normally staggered out but during conference all of our tribal teams come in at once. So in addition to supplying many more people on the center, the supply team also has to work to meet an increased tribal demand as well.
Conference so far has been great. It has been so nice to meet each of our tribal team members and hear from them how the works are progressing. What we heard was very encouraging. Many of the reports were of infant churches that God is faithfully brining to maturity through many struggles.
One pervasive struggle was the temptation to materialize the gospel, or to turn the message of redemption of sins and restoration with God into a religious prescription for attaining success and getting wealth. They think that by learning the right prayers and by making friends with God’s son that God will in turn impart material wealth and raise their social standing. It’s a good thing our churches in America know better than to do this, right? But the temptation seems to be so much greater here with a people who constantly have to think about how they will meet their bodies need for food.
One team is having a hard time because of a neighboring tribe who is invading their village and killing many people. Other teams excitedly shared how they were just months or even weeks away from sharing the gospel for the very first time.
After conference we will begin our official orientation and language study. We are excited for this time as we are already frustrated by our inability to communicate with even the nationals who come onto the center. But we are glad to have been able to participate in this conference right away and are very encouraged to hear all that God is doing through our mission here. We can’t wait until we can take off the label of orienteer and start contributing to the work. |
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