Missions Message - Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) 

Papua New Guinea is located  just north of Australia.  It is the eastern half of the island of New Guinea.  The western half of the island is West Papua which is part of Indonesia and Muslim.  Papua New Guinea, on the other hand, is considered tribal.  PNG is right along the equator and is made up of high mountains, dense forests, lowland swamps and coral islands.  There are about one thousand people groups speaking over eight hundred languages which makes PNG one of the most complex nations in the world.  The economy is predominantly subsistence agricultural and fishing.  The average income per year is $930.  PNG gained independence in 1975 when it became a state in within the British Commonwealth.  The nation is governed by a democratic parliamentary system.  There is freedom of religion and almost every population has links to a Christian denomination but the old ethnic religions have a powerful influence and confuse what the true Christian faith is.  Out of the 816 languages only 8 have the complete Bible translation.  The New Testament has been translated into 150 languages.  So there is still quite a bit of work to be done.  Here are some prayer points:

Effective discipleship – many of the PNG church are confused and fear of witchcraft and evil spirits is widespread.

Lack of scriptures – there is a great need to translate scriptures into the many languages and to improve literacy.

Economic development – logging and mining have had such a great influence that there has been serious ecological damage and social unrest.  Pray for wisdom for the leaders in how to best help its peoples.