Members of the Two Mile Adventist Church in Lae, Papua New Guinea, are building a special relationship with their local secondary school, most recently taking an evening worship service and distributing 40 Bibles to students.
Bugandi Secondary School is in the heart of Lae and, like the city itself, has a reputation for being rough, with student fights breaking out regularly and disrupting classes. Recently there has been reconciliation, which has contributed positively to students’ general attitudes and resulted in an increased number turning up to spiritual programs.
The school dining hall was filled to capacity for the worship service, with some students sitting outside to listen to Two Mile’s singing group and a short, sharp message on Revelation from street preacher and past student Michael Kuya.
“We are very grateful for this opportunity to come and share the word of God with you students,” said Lewis, who leads the singing group, “The 7/8s”. “We look forward to another such time in future if we are invited back.”
An active Adventist student association operates at Bugandi. The school also supports the operation of regular Religious Instruction (RI) classes. Many of those in attendance are not from Adventist families. Two Mile church members got a very positive response from RI students early in 2016 when they donated 40 Bibles. With the support of Australian ministry Volunteers in Action, they were able to donate a further 40 Bibles later in the year.
“I am really overjoyed for this new Bible and am so thankful to the Adventist Church through the Bugandi Adventist students for giving me this precious Book,” said Hetty, a Grade 12 student.
The Bible donations are part of an ongoing project; Two Mile church hopes to make Bible correspondence courses available to students to make their RI lessons more educationally and spiritually enriched.
“We encourage sister churches to continue to uphold Bugandi Secondary School in your prayers,” said Mr Kongragle, a Bugandi teacher. “God is moving and we are seeing positive changes.”
