New Opportunities

A New Year and new opportunities…

While travel has been halted to many international destinations, we are thrilled that travel is opening up, though with restrictions and hurdles.  A large number of our co-laborers, numbering around seventy families, were able to return to their work in Papua New Guinea recently.  Other workers are preparing to leave for their respective countries of service in the coming weeks.  While travel security tightened after 911, heightened precautions and Covid-19 preparedness is bringing new challenges for travelers.  …And not just these challenges, but added safety measures and additional costs.

Meanwhile, there are a good number of our personnel who did not leave their locations when the pandemic shut down most of the world.  Their isolated areas in remote settings insulated them from the outside world, and life continued as usual with no outbreaks of the virus.  Some of those teams advanced their efforts forward and have now begun Bible teaching in their particular locations. 

But getting to this point in ministering God’s grace took many years of preliminary steps: doing people group & language assessments; building simple houses to place families in such locations; creating access, whether building an airstrip or heli-pad; delving into the people’s language, culture, & world view as a means of developing communication skills in the heart language; and preparing Bible lessons for such a time when they can begin teaching.  During these preparatory years the missionary teams develop literacy materials and provide medical care as part of establishing relationships with the people.  It’s a lot of hard work.

Ongoing ministry efforts…

One team, in particular, spent somewhere near five years to accomplish these goals.  The reward of their efforts is that they are now unfolding the Story of God –from creation to the cross, among a people group bound in fear of ancestral spirits.  More than five hundred people gathered on the first day of teaching.  They continue to meet daily in anticipation of hope to be free from their darkness although there have been many interruptions.

It is to this end that we serve to mobilize harvest workers all around the world.  We’re looking for those who will catch the vision of such ones in need.  We’re looking for those who will step on faith to join the effort of God’s desire in taking the gospel to some of the more than 2,000 people groups who never heard of Jesus.  We offer specialized training for the job that will equip you with the skills needed to impact lost people for eternity.  Will you pray with us for God to touch the hearts of such individuals who will rise to the task?  Perhaps someone you know… perhaps you.