Report on a visit to the United Church of Papua New Guinea (UCPNG)
24 February – 5 March 2010
Partnership Coordinator Asia/Pacific – Steve Pearce
Aims
Accompany the President-Designate of Methodist church in Britain (MCB) and enable her to
 Experience the reality of the World Church and the nature of ‘partnership’
 Reflect on MCB’s understanding of itself as part of a worldwide Church
 Experience ‘Church’ and ‘Discipleship’ in a very different culture
 Find source material for the presidential theme ‘Listening to God’.
Develop the relationship between UCPNG and MCB.
Learn more about the United Church of PNG, its successes and challenges.
Explore ways in which the two churches have, do and might contribute to each other.
Spend time with the Moderator, Revd Samson Lowa, learn about his leadership style and prepare for his contribution to
the All Partners Consultation.
Meet the NMA, Stephen Madana, who is ‘National Research and Innovation Officer’.
Papua New Guinea
PNG is one of the largest Pacific island nations. 96% of the 7 million population is Christian with 11.5% belonging to the
UCPNG, the third largest after the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches.
After being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in
1975. It remains a realm of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Papua New Guinea. Despite vast natural wealth,
many people live in extreme poverty, with about one third of the population living on less than US$1.25 per day. Malaria
is the main killer, but PNG has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the Pacific.
MCB has had a good partnership with UCPNG since the beginning, Mission Partners have served there, a National in
Mission Appointment is in its first year, its charismatic moderator is known to many in the Pacific and in UK through his
Methodist and CWM activities and a UCPNG minister serves in North Lancashire on the World Church in Britain
Programme developing a link between that District and the UCPNG. One of the UCPNG Bishops was an overseas
representative at the Wolverhampton Conference last year. UCPNG has just celebrated its 40th anniversary as a united
church, those with Methodist, London Missionary Society and Presbyterian heritages having joined together in 1968.
Visit
One of the highlights of visiting a partner Church is the opportunity to worship together and on Sunday, the second day
of our visit, we joined a congregation of 2,000 and enjoyed worship along with an inspiring worship band and a
traditional choir. This was one of several occasions when both the visit of the President Designate from the Methodist
Church in Britain itself and the fact that she is a woman were the cause of deep pleasure for church members. Later in
the day we joined the congregation at George Brown Memorial Church who are mostly from New Britain an island in the
north of PNG with a strong Methodist heritage and congregations devoted to the unaccompanied singing of old
Methodist hymns. We sang many hymns in rich Pacific harmony in the open air as the sun set and the moon rose.
On each of the following three days we visited a different one of the eleven regions and met its bishop and staff, getting
a good picture of the different challenges facing the UCPNG and its impressive achievements, as well as its problems.
Urban Region covers Port Moresby and the seven other major towns, which are a flight or a very long vehicle journey
away. The regional office stands on the spot where the very first missionaries landed in 1872 and hoisted the London
Missionary Society flag. (Methodist mission work began further north five years later.)
Port Moresby is regarded as one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world and the number and severity of crimes
against people and property in the towns, violence between clans and within families, as well as corruption in
government, are a source of real concern. The Youth and Women’s Fellowship coordinators in each region set
programmes for the local churches and include such issues in their ‘four square’ programmes which balance study of
such topics with Bible study, prayer and social events.
Urban drift is a priority for the whole church. Money is the gateway to many of the pleasures and possessions which
young people everywhere find increasingly attractive. Money is acquired through education and paid employment or
through crime, all of which are drawing people to the towns and cities. The church is prioritising rural development to
counter this with better youth programmes, short training courses in vocational and life skills delivered rurally, the
training of rural health workers and sponsoring local people to train as teachers in their own rural area.
West Central Region has 7 circuits with 9,000 members in 60 congregations. In a mountainous country with 800
languages communication is inevitably a perennial problem. Outside the capital most circuits use at least three different
languages so ministers have to be adaptable, because while every church has a minister, they move every three years.
Mobile phone signals cover about 50% of the population but it may be necessary to walk some distance to get a signal to
make or receive a call.
Most people in PNG are subsistence farmers so raising finance to run the Church is difficult and this region finds this
overwhelming. Nevertheless each church has to pay its own minister and it is clear that sacrificial giving is a feature of
church life.
East Central Region is a very rural area where almost all villages are ‘UCPNG’ villages. The Church and its Bishop are
highly regarded, the President Designate therefore received a police escort to the regional office and was carried
shoulder high in a ceremonial chair to the official reception. The welcome ceremony included magnificent traditional
dancing, now depicting Christian themes, and a song written in her honour, entitled ‘Reverend Alison Frances Tomlin’!
The region is new, but having inspired support from local people, government and others, the bishop has built a thriving
headquarters committed to building the church and enhancing the livelihoods of rural communities.
Developments in UCPNG
Training Institutions have undergone a creative review, following which all training has united as a Church College of
Higher Education. Its four schools are theology and mission, training in skills and leadership, teacher education and rural
health sciences. Each builds on existing institutions largely unchanged since the founding of UCPNG in 1968 and the plan
lays out a governance structure and development plan together with the challenging cost implications.
A Development Unit has been created at the church’s national level and already runs a variety of programmes with
funding streams from the PNG and Australian governments as well as NGOs and churches. The unit is being careful not
to sacrifice its integrity as an arm of the church’s mission in the funding process (and is for example considering its
position in relation to current EU funding) and is seeking help to develop its own capacity.
The Revd Stephen Madana is an NMA and works as National Research and Innovation Officer. We discussed his major
initiative to document and register church land allowing good decisions to be made about its use. Land is increasing in
value as multinational companies move in to exploit PNG’s resources, resulting in a huge increase in (sometimes fatal)
disputes over ownership and lengthy legal battles, complicated by the lack of a systematic land registration process.
Some church land has already been lost.
Discussions with the Moderator and UCPNG officers covered many aspects of the partnership with MCB, responses to
the difficulties in Fiji, the All Partners Consultation, the opportunities for personnel placements and exchanges,
scholarships and the need for advanced training so that educational institutions can to develop and much more.
The exchange of personnel was a concern in several conversations. There is a clear desire and need for short-term
placements of 3-6 months to be offered by MCB for UCPNG ministers. It is a matter of concern to UCPNG that ministers
offered longer-term placements are tempted not to return to their home church. Scholarships for higher degrees are
also very much needed.
It is now seen as a good time for MCB to send personnel to PNG a) to support the teaching of lay ministers and at the
School of Mission and Theology, where 3 month placements (a sabbatical opportunity?) or a long-term Mission Partner
would be very warmly welcomed. b) to support the development of the vocational and life-skills courses, c) to support
church administration at national or regional level. Possible placements for Experience Exchange programme volunteers
were also suggested.
The UCPNG Assembly Office is a friendly, efficient and caring place and we are indebted to its members for the
generosity and friendship extended to us during our rewarding time in PNG.
Steve Pearce 4.3.10