Baptisms, beatings and reconciliation in Papua New Guinea

New Christians wait to receive handshakes from their accusers in a remote village in the South Pacific nation of Papua New Guinea. Missionary Marcus Reese traveled five hours by boat and six hours on foot to reach the village. Ramukas, a recent convert from the village, requested the visit. The villagers listened to the message, and 13 were baptized.

“The next day, Sunday, our worship was interrupted by a summons to a village meeting,” Reese said. “There we were subjected to repeated interrogations, taunting and accusations. One leader said that we had turned the village upside-down.”

During the meeting one of the villagers ran up to a new Christian — his own brother — and started beating him. “The new Christian just held up his hands and said, ‘Kill me if you want. I died with Christ when I was baptized,’” Reese said. “He and some other Christians received a few more punches and kicks, but God protected them from serious injury.”

The accusers convinced the village magistrate to fine the Christians two weeks’ wages (about $80). Reese paid the fine. “Finally, they asked us to shake hands with them to show that there were no hard feelings,” he said.


‘Truth without compromise’

MEDAN, Indonesia — Recent bomb blasts in this predominantly Muslim nation highlight the need to preach the love of Christ — and the need for sensitivity, missionary Steve Cate said.

Cate, who works with a team of indigenous Christians in Indonesia, lives 15 miles away from the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, where two suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 53 in separate attacks July 17.

Authorities suspect a militant Islamic group in the blasts.

Indonesians generally take a grim view of such attacks, but in recent years the country’s Muslims have become “less tolerant of Christianity than they formerly were,” Cate said. Some view the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as “attacks upon Islam, and this causes an emotional reaction, which results in hardening their hearts against the gospel.”

“We continue to preach the truth without compromise — even on a prominent radio station in Jakarta, but we do make every effort to keep from offending our listeners,” Cate said.

Those efforts are producing fruit, Cate said. Minister Tuloasa Ndruru, who works with the missionary, recently performed two baptisms in Medan.

AUSTRALIA
DOUGLAS PARK — More than 60 Christians attended a recent youth and young adult retreat weekend at Cataract River Ranch, about an hour from Sydney. The Southwest church in Sydney sponsored the event, which included lessons on temptations and peer pressure.

Speakers included Andrew Burns, Craig Peters, Jonathon Frank, Stephen Males and Roberto Quintanilla.

BRAZIL
CAMPINAS — Eighty-five students graduated recently from a 15-week theology course sponsored by the Campinas church. Among the students were “people who were struggling with what they had been taught in the denominations where they were members and what the Bible is showing them now,” missionary Allen Dutton Jr. said.

Five students have been baptized, Dutton said, and church members are conducting Bible studies with 10 more.

CHAD
MOUNDOU — About 600 students in this central African nation have enrolled in World Bible School correspondence courses in the past two years, minister Daniel Feltoing Djonga said. Many of the students learn about the course through a church-sponsored radio broadcast, said Djonga, who works with West Monroe, La.-based World Radio Gospel Broadcasts.

This month church members plan to organize a conference for listeners of the broadcast and World Bible School students. George Akpabli, director of a ministry training program in Benin, is the scheduled speaker.

COSTA RICA
SANTO DOMINGO — More than 200 church members in this Central American nation attended the fourth District Fellowship of Women, minister Federico Martinez said.

“This year they named it Grateful Women 2009,” the minister said. “It is an event of utmost importance for our congregation since the women … can develop the gifts that the Lord has given them.”

ITALY
VICENZA — About 300 African Christians representing nine congregations in Europe attended the second biannual Ghanaian Churches of Christ lectureships recently, said Titus Robison, who works with the Vicenza congregation. The Vicenza church hosted the event, which included guest speakers from Ghana.

KENYA
NAIROBI — Former street children in this East African nation are learning business ethics, money management and job-finding skills through the Made in the Streets ministry, said missionary Charles Coulston, who oversees the ministry with his wife, Darlene.

The ministry launched a new course recently that includes classes in Bible, business and computers. “We now have 34 training in sewing, cooking, woodworking, auto mechanics, agriculture and computer operations,” Charles Coulston said. “The new course is called 4.30, because it meets each day from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.” Church members Francis Mbuvi, Moses Okoth, Joel Njue and Victor Otieno teach the classes.

MEXICO
CANCUN — “The apocalyptic riders seem to be galloping over this country,” said Gabino Rico, a minister in Torreon, Mexico, in reference to the drug-related violence, swine flu epidemic and economic downturn his country has suffered in recent months.

But in such times “the gospel needs to be preached,” he added.

That’s what Wayne Kilpatrick and Orlando Javier Whiteside of Florence, Ala., did recently, traveling to the Yucatan Peninsula to preach. Rico translated for the visiting ministers, who taught from the books of Acts and Revelation.