“What do I do when my husband doesn’t help me with my housework or with the kids?“, or “What do I do when my wife does not respect me and doesn’t listen to me?” Questions like that were part of this last weekend’s marriage seminar here in Dinangat.
We invited Suke and his family to teach on biblical marriage principles and what that looks like in a PNG culture. We asked them to use their own experiences and example. Both of them are believers from PNG. Suke works at the NTMA hangar and pastors a church there in Goroka where they live. His wife Ana works on the NTM Center in Goroka.
Using the Scriptures from Ephesians 5:22,25 “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,” Suke spoke to the whole church (including the neighbor village believers) on Saturday. After that, Ana met with the women and talked about the women’s responsibilities in the marriage in more detail. She used examples out of her own life and made it very practical for the women. In the afternoon the ladies met again to ask questions to Ana. Suke did the same thing for the men on Sunday. It was very good for the people to hear a PNG citizen believer talk on those things since he is so much more able to relate to the people’s lives and speak with detail and example into their experiences.
It was also just very neat to see how the believers here have a desire to live according to God’s Word. We thank God for that!!! But it is a challenge especially for the older generation who as couples have not lived their marriages well and therefore are still hurt from the past. Unfortunately, it is still very common for PNG culture to fight not only verbally but physically as well. And so it will take a long time for those wounds to heal before those couples can start fresh again. We would covet our prayers for them in that!
Thank you for all your prayers for the Dinangat church, we treasure every one of them!
In His service Together, Ralf & Elli with Naomi, Rebekka and Mirjam.