Daring to Believe
29/10/2019 9:38:20 AM | Andrea Fleming
Around this time last year I read Daring to Believe by the late Norm and Sheila Draper, just one of several books written by Global Interaction intercultural workers documenting the pioneering spirit of Kingdom building ministry in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Seton Arndell, who wrote the foreword to the book notes, “The editors have performed a great service to the people of New Guinea and their friends in the wider world by recording these stories…” Those words stuck with me as the book progressed. I too felt a great sense of gratitude that those compelling stories had been documented for generations to come, perhaps as a reminder that as we dare to believe, God can move mountains through the faith of His people.
At the time of my reading, Global Interaction was promoting an appeal to raise funds for the publication of the revised translation of the Kyaka Enga Bible. The article ‘Hearing and Reading the Word of God’ (Vision, Winter 2018) received a generous and heartfelt response and soon after the project was on target and print production was in full swing! Hot off the press, the Bibles sailed across seas and journeyed over mountains headed for the Western Highlands of PNG. Against the odds, that precious cargo arrived right on time and the dedication of the Kyaka Enga Bible was a highlight during events that celebrated a history spanning 70 years of Australian Baptist witness.
Along with thousands of Kyaka Enga people, 24 people from Australia, mostly former workers, joined together to give thanks to God and to honour the legacy of the first Baptist intercultural workers who ventured into the Western Highlands in 1949. The significant contribution of Australian Baptists since then, continues this legacy of work today.
The early Australian Baptist intercultural workers touched the lives of many individuals in the name of Jesus; together these individuals touched the lives of families, communities and eventually we have witnessed a movement of empowered followers of Jesus. Seventy years later and we celebrate that the Kyaka Enga people have the Word of God in their hearts and the Good News in their hands!
Download - Daring to Believe
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