The Yagaria believers are passionate about getting God’s message to those who’ve not yet heard or understood it, because God has used His message to change their lives, and they want to share the blessings they’re enjoying, with others.
To facilitate this, the church leaders have planned to teach two courses in the capitol city, with representatives from 16 of the Yagaria churches. The first course is to build up God’s people and equip them to do God’s work; and the second course is to share the Good News about Jesus Christ with those who have not yet understood that Jesus died for them, or why
There are no roads connecting the Eastern Highlands to the capitol, so the delegates from all the highlands churches will have to fly. Since air travel is much more expensive than road travel, many of the delegates are not able to fly from their home area, and will have to drive 200 miles to the coastal town, and then catch a flight to the capitol from there.
- Pray for safety and sufficient funds for all those traveling too and from the capitol.
- Pray that the speakers will give God’s message clearly, and that the leaders will have God’s wisdom and as they deal with the problems that will inevitably come up.
- Pray that God will prepare the hearts of all of those who will be attending the meetings, that they will hear, understand, believe and obey God’s messages for them.
Click the following link for a 2 minute glimpse of the Yagaria people’s passion for God’s Word.
http://usa.ntm.org/videos-pics/videos/yagaria-people-new-testament-dedication/
This video was taken at the New Testament dedication in 2007.
We are particularly excited about these developments among the Yagaria, for even though we were not part of the Yagaria church planting team, we’ve had close connections with this group for many years. I first met the Yagarian people in 1958 when I was a boy and our family lived in the Gimi tribe. The supply center was located in the Yagaria tribe so we spent time there on our trips to and from the Gimi.
Later, I was in high school in 1966 when NTM started our school for missionary children, and the school was (initially) located at that supply center. We hung out with the Yagaria church planting team, and got to know the Yagarians who lived in nearby villages and worked at the school.
Over time, many Yagarians moved from their home villages, to the Highlands towns and to the capitol city, to take advantage of the work opportunities there. The church leaders followed their people to the towns so that they could teach the Bible to them, and others in the communities where they now live.
In 1992, when Gay and I moved from the Metaxofiyo tribe to the NTM PNG mission center, I taught a weekly Bible class at Bena High School. One of my students was Tama, the son of a Yagarian pastor named Hagan. Their family had moved into town in 1985 so they could teach God’s Word to their people who had migrated there. It was while Tama was in my class that he understood the gospel, trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, and became a member of God’s family.
After graduating from High School, Tama worked with my father, Dave Lawrence, in the ministries of orientating new missionaries, and overseeing the outreach ministries. Later, he joined our office staff, and eventually became my right-hand man. Tama considers me to be his older brother and my parents to be his parents. He named his two children Althea and David after them. Tama is one of the leaders of the upcoming meetings. We’re looking forward to spending time together when we return next year.
Thanks for praying for the Yagarian churches as they meet together to glorify God, motivate one another to acts of love and good works, and share God’s message with those who are not yet part of God’s family.
Your co-workers in Christ – Steve and Gay