Papua New Guinea Adventists Empower Community to Grow Their Own Food

The Eastern Highlands Simbu Mission (EHSM) in Papua New Guinea (PNG) organized a 10-day life skills training program in late August to enhance self-sufficiency among locals. Thirty-three church members from EHSM, with skills in business, farming, and marketing travelled to Bougainville to train local church and community members.

The training focused on goat and honey farming, citrus growing, and organic farming of rice, potatoes, and round onions, all aimed at helping locals generate income from their land due to the high cost of imported vegetables in PNG.

Fifty years ago, Bougainville Mission was one of the wealthiest missions in PNG due to its copper mines and coconut plantations. The situation changed with the departure of mining companies, leaving many services nonoperational. While the Seventh-day Adventist Church provided health and education services, there was still a significant lack of skills training for self-sufficiency in farming and small businesses.

EHSM stewardship director Mathew Kamo emphasized the importance of growing food locally, “We should be encouraging and training local church members in farming many kinds of fruits and vegetables grown overseas, including nuts. Agriculture is what will save the community and the country, keep the population busy and engaged in utilizing their land to gain sustainable incomes.”

The training sessions also served as outreach opportunities and “were a blessing to all those involved from the local community,” Leslie Yamahune, PNG Union Mission stewardship director, said. “The team encouraged the people to serve God in their lives, homes, and businesses. As time passes, we will also see increased faithfulness in worship through tithe and offerings,” Yamahune said.

The initiative is part of a broader trend of mission-to-mission life skills training across PNG. These trainings contribute to the nation’s stewardship, discipleship, family, and youth ministries, supporting the government’s goals to help all citizens realize the benefits of economic empowerment. These activities also are preparing the soil for upcoming evangelism activities across the nation.

The Adventist Church in PNG is gearing up for the 2024 “PNG for Christ” evangelistic campaign. From April 26 to May 11, lay members, preachers (including young people and retirees), and ministers will hold at least 7,000 evangelistic meetings across the country.

Gary Webster, director of the Institute of Public Evangelism for the South Pacific Division, said the preachers will include General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson. “They will be coming from around the world and from throughout the South Pacific Division to help the church in PNG share the good news of Jesus and His soon return,” he said.

The original version of this story was posted on Adventist Record.