NTM

Our first week in Papua New Guinea was quite a learning experience.

After a very long trip, we were met with welcoming arms and we felt loved and appreciated upon our arrival. The first few days were designed as a basic overview of the country and more specifically the Highlands region where our ministry is located. During this orientation period we were able to visit a tribe located about 500 yards from our location, visit the “city” of Goroka, and be introduced to the many offices and responsibilities of the center. While I would love to share all the details of our various excursions, due to time and space, I will share one now and the rest over the next few weeks.

The experience that impacted me the most during the first week was simply walking across the street and visiting some homes in the local tribe. My initial response was a typical one in that I was struck by the level of poverty. Things that were in our garbage the day before were being used as part of a fence to hold in pigs. Most of the people are without shoes – resulting in a massive callous on the bottom of their feet that extends beyond the back of their heel. The obvious absence of health care, plumbing and schools was immediately revealed as a normal way of life.

When the shock of the lack of “things” had passed, my mind shifted to realize these people are not lacking in water, food, or shelter. This country is plentiful in her ability to explode year-round with harvest. Our purpose here is not to increase their wealth or standard of living. Their real need is to hear the gospel. We are here simply because these people are presently part of “the ends of the earth” as charged in Acts 1. Although PNG is a hugely missionized country, it is the epicenter of spiritual confusion. Our mission, as we partner with you and the others here with us, is to bring the light of truth.

My family and I cannot thank you enough for the prayers, emails, and support. We truly count it a privilege to be your representatives in this beautiful country. We look forward to sharing our experiences and the news of biblically based churches being planted in this remote part of the world. In the meantime, we invite you to enjoy the pictures of our tribal visit by clicking on the photos tab above. As you look at them, please pray for the challenges that New Tribes Mission has in reaching people for Christ.

Our "day" began leaving the hotel in Boston at 5:00 in the morning.  Our "day" ended by arriving in our new house in Goroka, Papua New Guinea 44 hours later.

After leaving Boston, we switched planes in Chicago.  This was followed by the 15 hour and 30 minute flight over the North Pole to Hong Kong.  After a 4 hour layover, we then boarded a plane (operated by Viva Macau – I had never heard of it) to Manila.

In Manila we had to disembark (with all our stuff) and wait in their airport for about an hour.  This then was followed by a 5 hour flight to Port Moresby PNG.  After two hours of standing in line through customs and tracking down our 10 pieces of checked luggage, we were met by NTM representatives at the airport (Praise God!).

We were scheduled to leave about 2 hours after meeting the reps but we were informed our flight had been changed so we had an additional 4 hour layover.  Our last leg of this journey was a one hour flight over the gorgeous mountains of southern PNG to the Highlands of Goroka.  There we met another NTM rep, gathered our luggage again and drove to our house.

All things considered, the whole process went better than we expected.  We did not get charged as much as we thought for neither our itinerary changes nor our excess luggage.  What a tremendous blessing that was to us!

Before I give more details on the church planting process, I must mention two important points. The first is – each church plant is different. Secondly, I have never planted a church. This basic timeline comes from conversations with two couples who have been church planters that I had the joy of getting to know during our Pre-Field Orientation.

The first 2-7 years are committed to language acquisition. The large time difference is due to many factors such as secondary language availability or the balance of time translators have to translate as opposed to just surviving in the culture. This process starts by writing down everything using a phonetics alphabet and determining vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, and parts of speech. It also includes teaching a small group of tribe members to read and write, along with some biblical translation and teaching.

The next phase is the Gospel presentation phase. The first few months begin with the missionaries asking some of the tribal people the "big questions" in life. "Where did this whole world come from?" "What happens when you die?" "Are we humans any different than goats or other animals?" The purpose of this is to generate some interest and excitement in the tribe as the missionaries will promote a series of meetings where the whole tribe is invited to attend. These meetings can last six weeks to three months where the missionaries will teach the Bible in chronological order. At this time, the gospel is presented and the tribe is invited to respond to what they have learned. This is such a crucial piece to the church planting work and is a time that must be supported with our prayers.

When this is completed, the actual translation of the Bible into the native "heart" language can begin. Now the tribe members are motivated to know everything in the Bible and are willing to assist with the long and difficult work. This process is often where you will hear stories of missionaries taking years just to find suitable cultural words to express concepts such as "belief" or "atonement" or "forgiveness". This can take an additional 10 to 15 years.

The final stage overlaps significantly with the translation stage. It is the church planting phase. During these last two phases missionaries are looking to train pastors, equipping them to lead a local church. Once a church is established and mature enough to send out their own missionaries to reach others is the work considered finished.