Church grows through walk of faith

Papua New Guinea Bible Church has been in the country for seven decades.
Tomorrow marks the church’s 70th anniversary, when Rev Green Tolbert Bustin, in 1948, arrived in a country that was still primitive and protective of its cultural values.
The focus of the 70th anniversary celebrations is to challenge the young generation to see beyond and to expand God’s work and to encourage people to ‘give, go and pray’.
PNG Bible Church’s mission is to expand the vision ‘One more Church, One more District and One more Soul’ to reach the unreached.
PNG Bible Church started when Bustin arrived in Port Moresby on Aug 24, 1948.
He travelled to several villages until he got to Pabarabuk, Manai Jipa and Kitipa where he was warmly accepted and given land to settle.
It was at Pabarabuk, the church’s current headquarters, that he began his work of evangelism.
In the 1950s, Bustin organised the arrival of more missionaries to build the mission stations.
Kaupena and Tambul were the two pioneer mission stations after Pabarabuk and they opened in 1950 and 1953 respectively.
Bustin spread the gospel throughout the Highlands and Lae.
Church expansion work continued and more local churches were established in various areas in the coastal regions of the country.
In 1989, Bible Church branched out internationally with missions established in the Philippines, Solomon Islands and West Papua.
The Church plans to expand to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
The church has children’s and youth programmes, men’s fellowship and women’s ministries.
It has a radio station called Wantok Radio Light broadcasting 24 hours a day from Port Moresby. It is heard throughout the world.
Bible Church has 800 local churches, 24 church districts, two seminaries, Tambul Bible School and Pacific Bible College.
Tambul, which started in 1972, trains local pastors.
Pacific Bible College started in 1982 and offers a degree in theology and trains missionaries.
The church also runs vocational centres, schools and health centres throughout the country.