Lutherans need help to rebuild church
By ZACHERY PER
THE Membi-Tamba Lutheran church circuit affected by Gera landslide in Simbu has appealed for assistance to rebuild the church.
Circuit president Wisky Karagol said they do not want monetary assistance but would like the Government through the National Disaster Office to assist in rebuilding their mother church.
He welcomed assistance from church members serving in both PNG and abroad.
Mr Karagol said the Membi-Tamba circuit looks after nine smaller outstations in the province, adding the circuit office building was also destroyed by the landslide.
The church was constructed in 1963 and opened in 1968.
Senior church member James Aramba said the initial construction of the church building began in 1959 by German missionary Rev Bergmann who arrived in Simbu in 1933. Building materials including roofing iron, timber, paints and the cast iron bell were flown into Kundiawa in a small Cessna aeroplane.
“These were then carried by church members for seven kilometres as there were no roads those days,” he said.
Meanwhile, a PNG Bible Church pastor and his family are now seeking refuge in the church building after their house was destroyed.
Pr Raphael Gaima and his family with other displaced families are now living inside the church five metres away from the new by-pass road.
Senior public servant at the Southern Highlands works division Wamile Bal, his wife and their children have also sought refuge in the church.

Prayer opens heart to God, SDA women told
PRAYER should be seen as the opening of the heart to God as to a friend, Seventh-Day Adventist church pastor Rex Koi told its women members.
Pr Koi told women from the Waigani congregation at a prayer retreat last month that prayer was more than the movement of the lips and sounding of words.
“Prayer is communicating with God in the heart. It is the breath of the soul. It is also through prayer that the devil can be resisted,” he said.
Pr Koi also urged the women to be specific in their prayers and bring their petitions one at a time.
With the help from three women, he demonstrated the steps in prayer–adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.
Natalie Misikaram told the women that while men were looking for methods to improve evangelism and other church programmes to expand the Gospel, God was interested in empowering people who were praying for his work.
She drew the lesson from the Bible in Mathew 21 which spoke of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Mrs Misikaram said when Jesus was on earth, He became powerful in his ministry everyday as He was a man of prayer.
“He taught the disciples the dynamics of prayer and was a model to them,” she added.
The women also discussed the times of prayer and were urged to follow Jesus’ example where he prayed in the early hours of the morning (Mark1:35), in the evening (Mathew 14:23) and all night (Luke 6:12).
Miriam Etete spoke about the myths that surrounded the raising of children in a Christian home.
More than 50 women and eight young men attended the one-day retreat held at the Institute of Public Administration.

SDA church gears up for centenary event
THE Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) church in the Bisiatabu district in Central province is gearing up to celebrate its 100th anniversary in June.
Members from the local churches on the Sogeri plateau recently converged on Bisiatabu to clean up the celebration site.
Work at the site included grass-cutting and the division of camp sites and building of a mess, a museum, the Koiari tree house and a chapel.
Bisiatabu district director minister Lonol Winie said power supply would be connected soon and the church members were working hard to make preparations before June.
Bisiatabu is a historical site for the SDA church. The first missionaries arrived in 1908 and began spreading the Gospel from there.
The celebration at Bisiatabu is the first of a two-fold programme that will begin on June 13.
The celebration will begin with the running of the torch which signifies the Gospel, from Ela Beach to Bisiatabu by 60 youths.
It will be given a traditional Koiari welcome.
Other activities will include a march past and hoisting of the 19 provincial flags, holding a memorial service, unveiling of a plaque, baptism ceremony and a feast.

Largest crusade held at mine town
LAST week the Porgera community witnessed the largest mass denominational crusade in the mining valley’s history.
The April 26 event aimed to initiate peace and harmony in the community through the Word of God.
Members of the Paiam and Suyan communities comprising a total of 10 clans spanning a 4km radius in three council wards with over a thousand people flocked for the weeklong crusade at the mining township of Paiam.
The crusade ended with the largest ever declaration and dedication programme in the valley for the Anga-Kiyo, Kungirin, Paiam, Timaini, Aipakan, Puyeto and Yami clans with a call for Government agencies and private enterprises in the valley to join the churches to create a better community.
Councillor Mark Aliana and his two counterparts representing the three ward councils told the faithful at the dedication that there had been lawlessness stemming from alcohol and drug-related uses that needed to be brought under control.
“There are so many things happening right now in the community which are not right; there’s too much social disorder so we’ve made a decision to come to God,” councillor Daniel Wakape said during the proceedings.
“Today I’d like to dedicate myself, my family and everyone in the Paiam council to God,” he said.
Guest speaker and acting general manager of the Porgera Joint Venture Dennis Hoof thanked the pastors and community leaders for organising a “very important campaign”. He also thanked law-enforcement agencies.

Sandaungovernor promises to fund churches
GOVERNOR for Sandaun province Simon Solo plans to commit one-tenth of the K250,000 discretionary funds as tithes to the work of God in the province.
The funds would be distributed equally over a period of four years to all churches in the province.
Mr Solo announced the policy in Vanimo last Sunday when he met members of the PNG Revival Church.
He said paying one-tenth to God was one of his election promises he was about to fulfil.
Mr Solo, an elder of the Assembly of God Church, has been spending time with various church denominations and groups over the past months, thanking them for their prayers to help him win the seat.
He said the win was a God’s blessing and it was right that his office paid the tithes to God according to His commandment in the Old Testament in Malakai 3:10.
Mr Solo also announced plans to ensure that West Sepik comes out from being tagged as the ‘least developed province’ to one of the most developed in the country.
He urged the church leaders to work with his government to ensure the province is developed.
“West Sepik is a sleeping giant blessed by God with vast untapped natural resources but lacked the right leadership with wisdom to develop these resources,” he said.

Salvos adopt strategy to fight HIV/AIDS
THE Salvation Army in Papua New Guinea is taking a holistic approach towards addressing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country by adopting the AIDS competency process (ACP).
According to them, the ACP is a step forward in the fight against HIV/AIDS which strives to tackle the issue form a different angle.
The process helps faith-based organisations to build a supporting environment for the communities and work alongside the Government and other interested partners.
It also helps by mobilising community leaders through the ACP approach and addressing stigma and discrimination among the people.
The process is currently on trial in selected communities with the help of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF along with international non-governmental organisations known as Constellation for AIDS Competency.
Captain John Kerari, an officer serving with the Army, is involved in this project which aims to get to the bottom of the issue.
According to Capt Kerari, HIV/AIDS is not the enemy; rather, it is the mindset of the people who lack self-discipline and self-respect.
He said HIV/AIDS is the result of the problem and not the root cause.
“People need to know that they have the willpower to overcome the issues that force them to give up and lose hope, because when they give up hope, the killer disease can claim their lives,” he added.
Capt Kerari said the HIV/AIDS issue could only be minimised if people acknowledged their weaknesses and held themselves responsible for their behaviour.
“The ACP, however, offers a holistic approach that enables people to look at their own capacity to respond,” Capt Kerari said.
He said the response from provinces such as Morobe, Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands, NCD, Bougainville and most recently Manus Island was encouraging.
Key players in the fight against HIV/AIDS including Red Cross, Hope Worldwide, Tingim Laip Programme and all major churches have shown interest in the ACP approach and have indicated their willingness to adopt it.
More similar projects are being planned for other provinces in the country.

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Men from the Vesulogo SDA church building the Koiari tree house for centenary celebrations. – Nationalpic by JACQUELINE KAPIGENO