SOVEREIGN GRACE BAPTIST MISSION

International – Papua New Guinea / Malawi Africa

P.O. Box 60150 Ndirande Bt. 6 Blantyre Malawi /

P.O. Box 233 - Mt Hagen (WHP) Papua New Guinea

Missionary / Evangelist:  Peter A. Halliman

Email: panagioite04gmail.com / Website:  sgbm-malawi-africa.com

 

 

Date:   12th May 2022

 

Dear Pastor, Church, and All Supporters:

 

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

 

I arrived here in Mt. Hagen on the 15th of April, with having spent eleven months in the USA, most of that time was spent in visiting supporting churches, family, and friends.  I was delayed some in returning to PNG simply because of the covid19 restrictions.  I left here my old Land Rover vehicle that was being nursed along almost every day in order to perform, this is the same vehicle I have returned to, of which, I shall now deliberate on how things are.

No vehicle does well,  sitting for long periods and this is more so true for older vehicles, and add to this the ultimate tropics, heat, humidity, and rains.  I didn’t have a covered garage to house the vehicle, sitting out in the elements as indicated takes its toll again.

I spent four days working on the vehicle, it has two batteries, of which, both needed to be recharged, this took the better part of three days. All the fuses, relays, and battery cables, wires running to the main components were corroded, they had to be cleaned (by hand-sanding) – The fuel system was gelled and had to be flushed, the starter motor was seized, this was removed and the eight miles hike to the workshop, was necessary to take apart clean, and rebuild.  On the ending of day four I had the vehicle ready to start but got rained out.  Day five I started the vehicle, and prepared it for transporting food etc., for the Bible Conference.

 

This report shall begin with the first Bible conference of the new year here in PNG, the conference which was scheduled for December, whilst I was still in the USA, I gave advice to the church that if they wanted to go ahead without me they had the liberty, but they voted to wait for my return and so it was 25th April (Monday) which, I started working with church members transporting, animals, (chickens, pigs) and veggies, cabbages, sweet-potatoes – (100lb bags),  bananas (stalks) to the conference venue site. When this was finished, I loaded and delivered a truck load of river stone for the cooking.

All day Monday and Tuesday I was engaged in transportation and getting things set up for the food and hosting of the conference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was able to purchase a tarp (40’x 30’) to set up with a bamboo structure in order to shield the people from the sun and rains when they would come, (Its PNG) it rains every day here, count on it!

 

On Wednesday 27th April, at 09:00 am I opened the Bible conference, there were some three hundred in attendance, many had travelled from the villages to Mt. Hagen by public transport and we had several visitors from Mt. Hagen. I have in the past few years taken these Bible conferences (timeline) to do a lot of Baptist Doctrine preaching and teaching, I do use some of the local pastors in-between to rest my voice as it is all outdoor preaching, which is much harder on the voice than indoor.

 

The timetable went from 09:00 to lunch with an hour and half break, then resumed at 1:30 pm and continued to 4:00 pm. For the day, this schedule continued through Sat, with Sun closing the conference at mid-day 12:00.

 

In past years whilst I was in Malawi Africa there was a system developed here by many pastors, that I have all but done away with, that is, long invitations, almost to the point of pressuring someone to make a decision.  This is unbiblical and I find nowhere in Scripture that this is warranted.  I do NOT believe the H.S. is short-handed nor is GOD’s hand shortened to save.  I further believe that many of our Baptist churches have many goats in them, and as a result the internal conflict, fighting’s within and without continue. 


I simply preach, and if the LORD’S H.S. does HIS initial work, there will be evidence and an “outcry” of one’s salvation.  This being said, in the five days of preaching there were no outward signs of salvation, however I am convinced that GOD’S Word was preached without fear or favour.

We know not how the LORD will use HIS Word preached, but I do know, the Gospel is NOT my power, and does not belong to me, rather it is the (Gospel belonging to Christ) and it is GOD’S Power that HE uses to save!

 

Each evening I would return to my quarters and having preached most of the day (several messages in a day), being spent I would retire for the evening and start the new day all over again. 

 

On Sunday at the close of the conference, announcements were made as to the calendar of events for the year, which are as per the following:

  1. First week of June I will make a trip to the old mission station and prepare for a week’s Revival meeting with the Tanggi Baptist Church, located on the mission station.  I will be out there no less than then days.  Communications will come to a halt as no network is available.

 

 

  1. First of July I will start the Preachers Academy training, this will be conducted here in Mt. Hagen, two weeks on, two weeks off will be the timetable.  I cannot conduct my life, ministry and work any longer on a full-time basis where there is no network, besides, the locality of the old mission station does not allow for me to purchase food of any type except local markets, (which mostly is sweet potatoes) I like them, and eat a lot of them, but my diet consist of more than just that.

 

  1. The pastors will travel from their villages to Mt. Hagen, and I will use a local church building to do the teaching in.

 

  1. Whilst the Preacher school is two weeks off, I will continue teaching a (Bible School) – not just for preachers, rather for any bible student who wants to further their Bible knowledge.

 

  1. August Bible Conference will be conducted in Lae, a Port city, the only city of PNG that connects the Coast to the Highlands.  A new local Baptist Church was organised there two years ago in Dec. 

 

  1. December Bible conference will be conducted at a village church in the Levini Valley (five hours hike) from the old mission station.

 

 

This concludes the mission report at this time; however, I will have another report forthcoming to bring you (the reader) up to date.

 

In His Name,
Missionary Peter A. Halliman