Sanders Party of Five

Pastor Watty teaching in our class room (the living room of the old house at our station)

The second type of training involves all of the New Life Mission pastors and currently happens three times a year. If everyone comes there are around thirty men. This training has typically focused on a book of the Bible; we walk through the book together, developing basic Bible study skills such as observation, interpretation, and application. Last October, we departed from the norm and spent a week walking through basic Christian doctrines such as the attributes of God, the person and work of Christ, the nature of man and sin, the work of the Holy Spirit, and nature of the church. We also delved into some more practical issues such as communion in the life of the church and Saturday versus Sunday worship. During this week of training in October, it became apparent that our pastors were divided on many basic doctrinal issues. Then this year when we taught a Sunday School teacher training course we realized that those teaching Sunday School were even more unsure of basic Christian beliefs. This is not unlike many churches in the USA, but that does not mean that it is healthy or conducive to growth in understanding and applying the gospel in the life of the church.

The most recent training for all of the pastors was the week of June 29 through July 3. In response to the above issues, we decided to try to go back to the basics so to speak. The focus of this week of training was the work of the pastor. What is the work of the pastor? Who is qualified to be a pastor? What is this good news that we proclaim? How can the pastor be clear in his proclamation of the gospel? How can that teaching come through clearly in all of his sermons? And how do we teach the Old Testament (and parts of the New Testament) in light of the gospel? Over three and a half days of teaching, we tackled these issues.

I, Jeremy, have never been a pastor. So as I sought to help these brothers sort through these issues of the work of a pastor, I reached out to a friend of ours who works on the coast in Madang. We met Jim and his wife Joni in language school last year. Jim and Joni came to Papua New Guinea with Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT), but they aren’t Bible translators. Joni came to work in the finance department of PBT. Jim was a pastor for 33 years in the states before pursuing work in Papua New Guinea. He joined PBT to come alongside pastors in areas where PBT is working on Bible translation to disciple them and train them in Bible study. So, on incredibly short notice, Jim was able to come up to Goroka and teach morning devotions and then teach night sessions. His wealth of personal experience brought many stories to the table to illustrate the trials as well as the joys of pastoral work. It was a joy to work with him and to share meals with him in our home during the week of training. I know that the pastors were very glad to hear the voice of his experience as they considered the many issues we addressed.

Jim giving a devotion on Thursday morning

A few of the pastor’s wives were able to come to this training. They are eager to become better teachers of the Bible as well.

It would be naive to think that these issues are laid to rest after three and a half days of training. The last day in particular, “How do we apply the law in the life of believers?” brought out a variety of viewpoints among the pastors themselves. But we are confident that with continued prayer and study, the New Life Mission pastors can come to a consensus on how to approach these issues in the life of their churches.

Pray for these dear brothers

Pray that our pastors would be diligent in their study of the word, their pursuit of their congregation, and the proclamation of the gospel in their churches and communities.

Pray for us as we seek to help equip those who have a very different world view and environment than the one that we come from. We continue to learn much about the culture and beliefs of those in our place of mission.

You can read our other posts about pastor training here.