OUR MINISTRY
THE NEED
There are over 850 languages in Papua New Guinea, and a majority of them have yet to receive the Bible in their own language. There is a lot of injustice in our world today - slavery, hunger, racism, abortion, poverty - but we believe that the greatest injustice is that there are over 3 billion people in the world that will live and die without ever hearing the name of Jesus. We desire to play a small role in what God is doing among the nations.
THE GOAL
The goal is to plant a self-sustaining, indigenous church amongst an unreached people group in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. Throughout the process, we will learn their language & culture, translate the Bible into their language, and disciple the tribal people until they have a mature understanding of Christ's work on the cross.
THE PROCESS
MISSIONARY TRAINING
We completed training at Ethnos 360’s Missionary Training Center in Missouri from 2017-2019. Here, we learned all of the necessary skills to a plant church in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.
ORIENTATION IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Upon completion of training, we moved to Papua New Guinea and started a six month program for field-orientation. We learned practical church planting tools, and began to survey potential tribes.
ALLOCATION INTO A TRIBE
Once we decided on a people group and formed a team of two other families, we began shuttling all of our housebuilding materials via helicopter build our home. The entire housebuilding process took about 6-9 months, and once completed, we moved our families into our future home in Kuyu!
CULTURE & LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (CLA)
Now that we are living in Kuyu full-time, we are simultaneously learning their culture & language. This process can take anywhere from 2-10 years.
LITERACY CLASSES & TRANSLATION
Once we are fluent in the Kuyu culture and language, we will develop a written alphabet for the language and begin literacy classes to teach the people how to read and write in their native tongue.
CHRONOLOGICAL TEACHING
Once the beginning books of the Bible are translated, the next phase of the work is the chronological teaching of the Bible, from Adam to Christ. This is an exciting 6 months of teaching as we lead up to the Gospel presentation.
GOSPEL PRESENTATION
At the end of the chronological teaching is the presentation of the Gospel and the birth of the new church. After years of waiting, the tribal people will finally learn about Jesus.
TEACHING & DISCIPLESHIP
As the Gospel takes root and the church begins to grow and mature, our team will continue teaching and discipleship as we hope to see future leaders emerge.
CHURCH ELDERS ESTABLISHED
As the church grows, a team of elders, leaders, and teachers are appointed. Here, the goal is to establish a self-sustaining, mature, indigenous church that is more effective on its own to reach neighboring tribes than the missionaries.
BIBLE TRANSLATION COMPLETE
After phasing out of the tribe, we will continue translating the New Testament remotely from one of Ethnos 360's headquarters in the country. Once completed, we will hold a Bible dedication service and hand them God's Word in their own language.
WHAT DOES CHURCH PLANTING REALLY LOOK LIKE?
WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY FOR AN OVERVIEW OF CHURCH PLANTING IN PNG
