About 200 church members, officers and directors from Madang Manus Mission (Papua New Guinea) gathered recently for a groundbreaking ceremony for a new church.
Mission president Pastor Garry Laukei said the church was needed to cater for a sudden growth in membership as a result of small group discipleship training by Dr Peter Roennfeldt and an evangelistic series by Pastor Gary Webster in Madang Town earlier this year.
Madang Town church has a membership of 993. According to Pastor Laukei, the church has 21 small groups “and they are making a lot of difference in the main town of Madang”.
“We do not want to lose members and therefore the local Mission gave the land to the Madang Town church to build another church to hold the members,” he said.
The new members are currently worshipping under an incomplete house.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Pastor Laukei challenged the church to continue making disciples using small groups, “as this is the real mission of the church”.
Small group ministry has also been pivotal in reaching the nearby village of Bilbil. Madang Town church elder Joe Anivoga, who attended Dr Roennfeldt’s training in Madang, started a Bible Discovery Reading small group in Bilbil. It created a lot of interest, leading to a recent evangelistic series in the village, conducted by Pastor Laukei. The series had the theme “Say yes to Jesus”, with a nightly attendance of around 300 people.
Village community leader Kubei Balifun has now given the community hall to the Adventist church to start worship services at Bilbil.
