Friends and supporters, as you know we are currently in South Africa for a few months and will be returning towards the end of the year or beginning of 2024. While we are here, our co workers in Papua New Guinea are continuing with the work amongst the churches. And we are very much encouraged once again by the value of a team, both in Papua New Guinea and with you. So, I would like to dedicate this newsletter to the importance and reason for our partnership with you.
YOU ARE PARTNERING WITH US IN THE GOSPEL
When Paul starts his letter to the Philipian church he says the following:
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Paul thanks the believers from the church of Philipai for their partnership in the gospel. And we ask ourselves, how did they partner with Paul? We know that the Philippian Church supported Paul from the beginning of his relationship with them till the end of his life. The church sent Paul several financial gifts (Philippians 4:15–18), and when they heard that Paul was in prison, they sent Epaphroditus to support him (Philippians 2:25). Additionally, Paul encouraged the church in Philippi to give famine relief to the church at Jerusalem (Romans 15:26; 2 Corinthians 8:1), thus training them to support others. And so, in 2 Corinthians 8 Paul writes a letter explaining the kindness of the Macedonians who helped him in his missionary journeys, that though they were poor, they begged Paul to allow them to share in the mission by giving.
Paul recognizes that he was but a small part of larger team, and that he would not have been able to plant many churches and minister the way he did, if it was not for the way he was supported by them.
In the same way, Marie and I, are part of a team and you are part of that same team. And we are working together towards achieving the God’s commission to reach the unreached in Papua New Guinea.
HOW DOES PARTNERSHIP ASSIST MISISONARIES IN REACHING THE UNREAHED
As I mentioned earlier, the New Testament church and believers supported the ministry of their elders and missionaries, through prayer and through both monetary and non-monetary support. We can compare the team to a chain, with many links, and each person represents a link in the chain. The missionary is working on the front end and each person supporting Paul forms a link in the chain, but the chain is only as strong as each link.
In our case it functions in the same way. We also have people praying for us and supporting us financially and physically. On the front end, Marie and I, are working in the field of Papua New Guinea as missionaries, at the back end we have financial supporters and people who are praying for us. And in between we have many who are supporting us through some form of physical; support, such as doctors, dentists, mechanics pilots etc. Each of you are functioning like a link in this chain reaching the unreached. But this work can only succeed if each person contributes faithfully, if not the process is broken and the work on the front end fails.
WHO IS ON YOUR PARTNERSHIP TEAM
We have various local churches and many individuals who are part of our team. Any believer who are interested in supporting the work we do, can become part of the team. Some have been part of teh team since the beginning, 16 years ago, and some joined over the years. Some have also dropped out and we needed to find more to join the team and assist us
HOW DO YOU FUND YOUR MINISTRY?
Financial support is one of the more sensitive topics yet its a great need, and without financial support we will not be able to minister in PNG. So here is a few typical questions people ask us about our funding.
– Does New Tribes Mission pay you? No, New Tribes Mission is a Faith mission, which means that New Tribes Mission does not give us a salary, or paycheck, nor do they cover any of our ministry expenses.
– So how is your ministry funded? Our ministry is funded through our partnership with you. We trust God to provide what we need both personally and for our ministry. We then make our needs known to people like you, who then trust Christ to guide you on stewarding your own funds and making contribution as God leads you.
– What kind of expenses do you need to cover? We cover all personal expenses for example, medical insurance, housing, food, education, travel, recreation, furloughs, retirement etc. And we also cover all our ministry expenses for example, flights, building projects, printing costs,
– Does your support come form churches or individuals? Most of our support comes from individuals, who make up about 80% of our monthly support, with churches covering the other 20%. God has given some people more and some less, and how you choose to involve yourself is between you and the Lord. We have people donating towards our ministry anywhere from $10 per month to several hundred.
– What is the status of your support currently? God has been faithful over these last 16 years to provide what ever is needed and we keep on looking to Him and resting in Him for what we need. Due to Covid and various economic difficulties in South Africa especially we have lost some of our financial support over these last 4 years. And we are constantly battling a weakening exchange rate from South African currency to US dollars. At this stage we are at about 70% of the financial support we need to be able to function and minister in Papua New Guinea.
Here is an example of how this shortfall can be covered:
- 20 people can contribute 100 USD per month.
- 40 people can contribute 50 USD per month.
- 80 people can contribute 25 USD per month.
HOW CAN I FINANCIALLY SUPPORT YOU?
There are various ways you can contribute towards our work, either through once of donations or through regular monthly donations.
– If you’re from South Africa you can make once of donations or monthly donations into the following account.
- Lourens Laureti
- Standard Bank Savings
- Account number: 238403122
- Branch: Cresta
– If you are from another country you can contribute directly into our organisational account by clicking on the following link: Supporting Lauretis in PNG – and if you like you can specify how this donations should be used.
– If you’re in the US, and would like to set up an EFT, you could click on the following link “Donations through EFT.” To find out more, contact our Finance Department in the US at (866) 547-2460 or financeUSA@ntm.org.
HOW DO KNOW FOR WHAT TO PRAY FOR YOU?
The best is to read our newsletters and follow us on Facebook. This is where you will get updated information on what’s happening. And so you could pray with us in an informed way.
– Click on the following link to send us an email and ask to be subscribe to our news, “Laureti Newsletters”
– Click on the following link to join us on Facebook and YouTube “Lauretis Facebook” and “Lauretis Youtube“
WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF NON-MONETARY SUPPORT
In our case most of our non monitory support (support not related to money) comes from our support team back in Papua New Guinea, where we have mechanics, doctors, teachers, pilots etc. These people provide us with allot of the physical and practical support we need on the field. When we are back home you help us through providing housing, vehicles, food, dental care etc.
New Tribes Mission has various options for you to join our team on the ground in Papua New Guinea, to provide physical support. You can join short term or long term. If you would like more information, please send me an email at lourens_laureti@ntmpng,org
THANK YOU
Thanks again for your partnership! We very much appreciate your participation over many years, and we recognize your role in bringing the gospel to the unreached in PNG and seeing a sustainable church planted and growing in Papua New Guinea.
Lourens and Marie Laureti
Blessings
Lourens for the church in PNG.