PNG Apostolic Church serving the purpose of God
By DERRICK KII REUBEN
THE PNG Apostolic Church has a remarkable history since its first foreign missionaries set foot in 1954 at a slippery hilltop - a place called Mamale over looking the Laigaim town in the Enga province.
The early missionaries came from as far as Australia and New Zealand where the seed of the Apostolic Church Worldwide was first planted. Fulfilling God’s remarkable plans for His people the early apostles or missionaries as referred to in our time - came with one aim and purpose and that was to spread the Word of God to all people in union with Christ as the head.
By then throughout Enga the other mainline churches like the Lutheran, Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) have already taken root and were well established by moving into other community care and support services such as schools, hospitals, vocational centers and many more.
For the PNG Apostolic Church, never seen itself as a rival to any of the church denominations, they walked right into every remote villages as far as Kandep, Porgera, Mulitaka, Wapenamada and Kompiam in spreading the word of God before expanding to other provinces throughout PNG.
It wasn’t until late 70s the indigenous leaders were entrusted with the leadership task both in pastoral duties as well as administratively. Great local leaders in the likes of Pastors Piuk Lasala, Paul Wanoko, Thomas Marle, Kopen Yanda, and many more played a leading role in taking the church forward until 1982 when autonomous rule was left in the hands of indigenous leaders while still working alongside their foreign office or missionaries.
Sadly in 1991 the unexpected event took place when the PNG Apostolic Church split into two with one group left to work independently without the control of the foreign office and the other group though autonomous still regarded themselves to be working under the principles of the earlier PNG Apostolic Church that was first established in Enga, however, they finally called themselves Christian Apostolic Fellowship (CAF) - a move seen by others to distinguish themselves from the rest.
Nevertheless the both groups still exist to uphold the principles of the early church under one umbrella - the PNG Apostolic Church through different groupings and maybe names but working towards serving the same God and purpose.
Never shaken by older leaders’ different views leading to divisions within the Church, there has been a handful of young, well educated and great men of God raised by the Church to fulfill God’s original purpose and one such leaders of the 21st Century this writer met was Pastor Peter Luke, the senior pastor of Agape Church (Apostolic Church Morata) and director of the Agape Apostolic Ministries International and Chairman of United Apostolic Leadership Conference 2008 organizing Committee.
“Though whatever groups we may form, all-in-all our main purpose as Christians is to serve God’s interest. Names can change, time must pass-by but the purpose must remain the same.
“We must not seen as competing against each other. As born-again believers we must serve God’s purpose and not ours” says Pr Peter.
He further said Christians must forget the past and learn vital lessons but must work towards the changes of the 21st Century Church Ministry inline with God’s call.
A man seen by most as radical and always have greater visions for the church of today to move forward; after completing his bachelors degree in Christian Ministry at the Harvest Bible College in Melbourne - Australia in 2000, and upon his return he established Agape Church at the heart of Port Moresby’s biggest settlement - Morata 4 with bigger plans are underway to build a care center for the orphans as well as a Bible college which will be known as PNG Apostolic Ministry Training Centre.
In October last year (2007) the people of all denomination witnessed one of the huge international leadership conference held at Morata 4 with guest speakers from as far as Australia, New Zealand and Cook Island.
The conference organized by the AGAPE Apostolic Ministries International under the leadership of Pr Peter was a great success that saw a lot of the people from different ethnic backgrounds who call Morata Settlement their home gave their lives to Christ.
The church recently concluded a successful international conference in Lae from March 10-15.
The conference themed ‘United Apostolic Leadership Conference 2008’ was attended by a large number of Christian leaders and believers.
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