Church reps discuss social issues

Faith

MEMBERS from Evangelical churches and para-church organisations met in Port Moresby last Friday to re-consolidate and form an Evangelical voice to address and speak out on social and religious issues in the country. The re-connect luncheon was hosted by the Evangelical Alliance (EA) of PNG Port Moresby chapter at the Boroko Baptist church facility. It was a fitting occasion for the Evangelical voice to be re-launched in the nation’s capital and the country. Rev Don Doull, a Baptist missionary in Telefomin, West Sepik, saw the need for national Evangelical Christians to work together and have fellowship. He wrote the initial letter on June 10, 1963, that led to the inauguration of Evangelical Alliance of South Pacific on the Nov 14, 1964. Rev Doull was the secretary, who later came to serve as senior pastor at the Boroko Baptist church.The EA Port Moresby chapter hosted pastors and leaders from the Christian Leaders Training College Port Moresby campus, Assemblies of God, Baptist Union churches, United Church, South Sea Evangelical Church, Evangelical church of Manus, Evangelical church of PNG, Apostolic church, Scripture Union, PNG Mission Alliance, Youth With A Mission, Young Missionary Alliance and representatives of PNG Council of Churches. EA president Pr Matthias Hamaga said the idea of provincial chapters was to create sustainability centres that would address pressing issues of the day. EA Port Moresby chapter chairman Rev William Poiya said Port Moresby was the nerve centre of the nation so the chapter was important for an Evangelical voice.He said once they got all the denominations and para-church organisations together, their view on the issue of PNG becoming a Christian country, the Covid-19 and on other issues would be presented. Boroko Baptist church senior pastor Rev Dr Julian Kivori shared a devotional reflection from the Gospel of John 10:10-11 at the meeting and urged the leaders to be good shepherds. He said the “thief” referred to in the passage was usually taken to be mean the devil, but it was also a metaphor for bad leadership of that day.“If Jesus described Himself as the Good Shepard, then there were bad shepherds who were taking advantage of the sheep, killing, stealing and destroying the flock,” he said. Dr Kivori urged the leaders to study the Bible carefully and interpret scriptures in context and apply the message to a contemporary setting and issues. He said this approach made the Word came alive, but, when Bible passages were applied literally to today’s context, it lost its meaning and authority. Dr Kivori said it was time for the leaders to look at Christ and learn and be good shepherds to their flock by bringing out the Word correctly to them.