The Papua New Guinea Bible Church

A non-dependent national church - Alive and Thriving

Gerald Bustin

Introduction
Let me begin this article by introducing myself and the missionary
organization I represent. The Evangelical Bible Mission, Inc., (EBM),
was founded by my father, G.T. Bustin, in 1940 under the name,
Bahamas Bible Mission. The mission's name was changed to the
present one in 1959.

In 1958, as a teenager, I went with my father to New Guinea and

spent the next five years serving as a "teenage missionary" in that
very primitive country. During this time I learned three tribal
languages besides the Pidgin English trade language. As an adult I
went back to serve several more terms in Papua New Guinea,
spending a total of 20 years there.

In 1985 I was elected by the mission board to serve as the General

Director of EBM International--a title which was later changed to
President.

EBM is an evangelical, interdenominational, missionary-sending

agency of the Wesleyan tradition. We believe firmly that it is
incumbent upon all members of the Body of Christ to network together
wherever possible to advance His Kingdom.

Our ministries cover the full range of missionary activity including

church planting, medical, educational and philanthropic ministries.

While it is our goal to establish indigenous works on all fields, the

Church in Papua New Guinea, which chose the name, Papua New
Guinea Bible Church, is our most established work.

How It All Started

In the fall of 1948, my father felt led of God to pioneer a work in the
highlands of New Guinea (it wasn't until 1974 that it became known as
Papua New Guinea). The first mission station he established was at
Pabarabuk, which at that time was three trekking days beyond the

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most remote mission and government outposts. The people were truly
"stone-age" with no knowledge of the outside world.

Eventually seven main stations were developed in the Southern and

Western Highlands Provinces that became the springboard for future
growth of the church.

The remote areas in which we were working had no stores or supply

centers of any kind. We ordered supplies for the most part from the
Lutheran Mission Supply Center in Madang, on the north coast. Then
each mission station set up a trade store where the nationals could
come to purchase supplies. Trade goods included steel axes, shovels,
knives, matches, soap, cloth, salt, canned meat, fish and the like.
These were sold at a very low mark-up to cover expenses and provide
supplies as reasonably as possible.

In those days, since there was no outside business, and government

outposts were very few, the mission also supplied most of the paying
jobs in the area. At one mission station where we built an airstrip, as
many as 500 men were hired for about three months. The mission
stations sometimes offered other employment for carriers, grounds
and garden workers, construction teams, (using bush materials to
construct houses and churches), house help, water carriers, firewood
cutters, etc. At the end of each month when payday arrived, the
workers would line up to receive their wages. Then the line would shift
to a roped off area where we had boxes of steel axes, knives, spades,
etc. for them to buy.

Our mission stations also became a place where people brought food
from their gardens to sell. This was used to feed our station workers
and boarding students, but it put money into the hands of the local
people. Of course our mission station trade stores were the only places
where they could spend their money unless they were willing to walk
for three days or more to the other nearest stores.

Eventually these trade stores became an important source of mission

operating funds for each station. Then, when the nationals themselves
began to build small, one-room trade stores, we provided a wholesale
supply center to help stock their stores and enable them to become
entrepreneurs.

On one of our mission stations a large truck garden was established.

We bought pig manure and ashes from the local people to use on the
garden and then shipped the garden produce to the coast where it was
sold to grocery stores, hotels, and boarding schools. Because of the

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high altitude (7,000 feet above sea level) we were able to grow
wonderful carrots, cabbages, cauliflower, beets, strawberries, etc. This
brought money to the mission station and also into the hands of the
local people.

Today this mission station is the home of the Tambul Baibel Skul,
where 150 boarding students are able to subsidize their school costs
by working in the school farm. Several hundred pastors and Christian
workers have gone out from this Pidgin language Bible school to serve
in many parts of the country, and the school operates totally on funds
generated by school fees and farm projects.

As time passed and the nationals learned to operate projects

themselves, we encouraged them to begin their own businesses and
assisted them in the management and marketing of their produce until
they got their own forms of transportation.

Our Philosophy Of Mission

1. The Great Commission involves more than just scattering the

Gospel seed upon foreign soil. It includes:

a. Preaching.

Telling the Gospel Story of the God who loves., the Jesus who came,
died, and rose again, and the Holy Spirit who calls people to repent
and believe the Gospel. "He said to them, 'Go into all the world and
preach the good news to all creation.'" Mark 16:15

b. Teaching.

Training the new believers how to live godly lives according to the
word of God--teaching them to obey everything I have commanded
you. Matthew 28:20

c. Making Disciples.

Through role modeling and formal teaching, leading the believers to

become mature followers, disciples of Jesus Christ--not just passively
refraining from evil, but actively seeking to do good to those about
them.

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d. Equipping

Giving the new disciples the tools which will equip them to become
independent agents for fulfilling the Great Commission. Equipping
means to furnish completely the new saints for their own ministry.

In the Kingdom building battle against sin and Satan, Jesus Christ
does not take captives and make them prisoners of war. Rather, He
converts the "enemy" and conscripts those He has converted
immediately into His army to become fully commissioned soldiers of
the cross. Not only must these new soldiers be trained in the art of
warfare, they must be equipped with the weapons of our warfare and
be trained to convert, conscript, train and equip others.

2. The Great Commission is Self-Perpetuating:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matt. 28:19

Disciples evangelize/baptize and then teach new converts to be

disciples, which includes going, evangelizing, baptizing and teaching
their new converts to be disciples . . . and on and on. Disciples "Teach
them to observe all things" ...(including the Great Commission. New
Disciples take up the Great Commission which equals second
generation evangelism.

When any new generation of disciples becomes permanently

dependent upon the previous generation for support and
control, it short-circuits the self-perpetuating nature of the
Gospel and breaks the cycle. This means the growth of the
Gospel becomes limited by the ability of the previous
generation. The perpetuation of the Gospel can only be
maintained and accelerated when each successive generation
accepts total responsibility for their part in fulfilling the Great
Commission.

Illustration: Mr. Jones has a son, Brian, whom he lovingly raises and
supports. At age 21 Brian gets married and starts his own family. If
Brian has a job and is self-supporting at this point, his family is limited
only by his own ability to support them. But if Brian is still living with

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Mr. Jones, expecting his father to keep supporting him, his wife, and
children, technically, Brian's family size is limited by Mr. Jones' ability
to support not only his children but his grandchildren as well. Ethically,
Brian should get permission from Mr. Jones before having any children
since he is dependent upon Mr. Jones. If Mr. Jones cannot support any
grandchildren, then Brian and wife will not be allowed to have children.

In the same way, when a national church allows itself to remain

dependent on the sponsoring mission, it effectively gives control of its
well being, survival, and growth to a foreign body.

Note: In the Biblical model, the saints at Jerusalem did not support
Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, etc. Instead, Paul raised money among the
new "mission" churches to help the poor believers in Jerusalem. Also,
the new churches often assisted Paul on his way to evangelize new
areas. There is, however, no Biblical record that indicates pastors were
supported by other than their local congregation.

3. The Gospel teaches a strong work ethic = Self-Support

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any
would not work neither should he eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Paul's teaching concerning the care of widows shows this same

practical work ethic as seen in 1 Timothy 5:3-16

a. "Widows indeed" were those who were old and desolate with no
family to care for them.

b. Younger widows should marry and work to care for their own
children.

c. Widows with children or nephews should be supported by the

children.

d. Families who don't support their own family members are worse
than unbelievers.

4. The Gospel Teaches Us to Be Givers

"Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working
with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to
him that needeth." Ephesians 4:28

Even "poor" people can learn to give. Giving always brings ultimate
blessings from God which enables the giver to give more. Local

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Christians who learn to give will be able to support their pastor at a
rate equal to their average income. They can become self-supporting
at their economic level, and God will bless them with more.

Implementation of the Philosophy by the Parent Mission

From the very first, the new Christians in New Guinea were taught to
give. During the early days, before the nationals could read or do
simple math, they were paid with two packets--one containing their
money to keep and the other with "God's money," the tithe, to put in
the church offering. When they had no money they were taught to
give produce from their gardens; and the church offerings were often
piles of sweet potatoes, sugar cane, bananas, and other produce.

Many times we taught them to count their potato hills and set the
tenth one apart for God. On occasions, I took ten bundles of peanuts
and laid them on the platform, teaching them that the tithe belonged
to God and offerings began after the tithe was paid.

We never considered the people to be "poor," just under-developed.

Most of them had access to tribal land for farming and bush materials
with which to build their houses. Sometimes the children suffered from
malnutrition because there was no milk or protein source for them
after they were weaned, but hunger and starvation was not a problem
among young people and adults.

As the nationals began to desire clothes, blankets, and even shoes,

they were required to pay for what they got. If they didn't have
money, we would often provide them with work in the mission gardens
or on the grounds. Of course, some missionaries broke policy, but a
"hand-out" except on rare occasions to "widows indeed" was contrary
to official policy.

In 1964 the people of the Tambul District needed a new church

building since the old one made of "bush" materials was falling down. I
told them I would not raise any money from overseas for the building
until after they had done their part. With some teaching and
encouragement I convinced them to give a pig offering to God for the
building fund. When the offering was taken, pigs were staked out all
over the churchyard. These were sold and the money put into the
building fund. Then assistance was given from donors in the States;
and the church, seating 1,400 people, was built debt free.

In 1974 as the country of New Guinea moved toward independence,

national mission leaders began working closely with missionaries to

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develop a constitution for the national church. The national leaders
themselves chose the name, Papua New Guinea Bible Church, and the
church was organized on three levels: local, district and national. A
national Chairman and Church Executive Committee were elected by
the new national church conference, and national leadership began to
take on more and more responsibility for the church operations.
Districts took responsibility for the support of their pastors and
eventually began raising "missionary offerings" to send national
missionaries to plant churches in new areas.

The Policy Pays Off!

In 1980 my wife and I personally felt led to begin planting churches in
the cities. The national church appointed me to serve as Evangelism
Officer of the church and put me in charge of city evangelism. With
their blessing I toured the existing church districts and met with local
pastors, asking them to raise offerings for city evangelism. We were
able to raise $10,000 from the village churches to use to begin
planting churches in the cities.

I took most of that money to buy land and built a parsonage in the city
of Lae. We built the house on tall posts so we could conduct church
services under the house. After the congregation reached about 300
and we were running out of space, I raised an offering from the local
church which came to over $10,000 to build our new church building.
This eventually became the pattern for starting works in the city. The
national church would raise money to build the parsonage first, with
space below for services. Then the new congregation would be
expected to give the money to build their own church.

Then the established church would be responsible to help raise money

for other new church-planting endeavors. In the city of Lae we also
opened a Christian school which, from the first, was self-supporting. I
used a simple budget plan to figure how much school fees to charge.
First we established total projected operation costs for one year. Then
we divided that figure by the number of students we could handle and
that became the school fee cost per student. The school took off, and
after one year the parents were so pleased with their children's
progress that others stood in line to get their children in school. Today,
almost 20 years later, that school is still operating with all national
staff. It is completely self-supported.

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The Lae church became the model for city churches. It not only
became immediately self-supporting; it began to sponsor students in
Bible College. We sponsored one of our church members to spend a
year doing missionary work on the Dulos Gospel Ship.

From that point on, the national church began to explode with true
missionary zeal and fervor. The following are just a few of the
accomplishments over the last twenty years.

- Churches have been planted in most major cities and towns in the
country.

- 1989, the national church raised $45,000 to send and support their
own missionary to teach in a Bible College in Nigeria. Rev. Pilipo
Miriye and family served one three-year term in Nigeria. Upon their
return to PNG he was elected foreign missions secretary for the
PNG Bible Church. Since then he has been instrumental in working
to plant churches in Vanuatu and Irian Jaya.

- 1991--I went to PNG to raise money for starting a work in Ukraine.

The people gave approximately $20,000 for reaching people behind
the Iron Curtain.

- 1993--I raised money in PNG to assist in building EBM's

International Headquarters in Summerfield, Florida. The church
gave around $5,000.

- 1995--I raised money in Papua New Guinea for helping to build our
World Conference Center in Summerfield, Florida. Around $4,000
were raised.

- 1995--The PNG Bible Church raised $6,000 to assist the William

Fish family in planting a missionary work in Vanuatu.

- 1996--The PNG Bible Church in Lae, (the church we personally

planted in 1980) budgeted $20,000 to put on a citywide crusade.
They paid for fares for my wife and me, chartered 45 buses,
covered all costs of advertising and did all the preparation for the
crusade. The last service had around 20,000 people in attendance
and hundreds were saved. Early the next year the Lae church
chartered two buses to take the crusade converts to attend the
yearly church camp meeting in the Highlands.

- 1997--The PNG Bible Church in Port Moresby paid my way to

preach for a crusade in that city.

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- 1998--Without any outside support, 67 new churches were planted
in Papua New Guinea by the PNG Bible Church. Over 5,000 new
people were saved.

- 1999--The PNG Bible Church of Mendi paid my way to travel to PNG

and preach for a citywide crusade in that town. Again, they covered
all expenses for the crusade, which cost them around $10,000.

- 1999--There are approximately 500 local PNG Bible Churches

throughout PNG, and all of them are totally self-supported.

Socio-economic Factors
There are many factors that have favored the growth and maturity of
the Papua New Guinea Bible Church.

A. Social factors.

For the most part the people of Papua New Guinea are a very proud
and independent people. They are not carrying the baggage of past
slavery, nor do they have a slave mentality. They have relied on
themselves in the past to plant their own gardens, build their own
homes, fight their own wars, and raise their own families. They have
not seen themselves as poor, helpless, dependent people.

At one time, the City Council in the town of Mt. Hagen, Western
Highlands Province, printed a pamphlet to be given to tourists visiting
the city. The gist of the message was, "Don't give money to people
who beg. We are not beggars and do not want to be treated that way."
This attitude has resulted in begging being almost non-existent in
PNG. (They may rob you at gunpoint in certain areas and demand your
money--but you won't be harassed by beggars!)

B. Economic Factors.

Papua New Guinea is a land rich in natural resources. There is

normally an abundance of rain so gardens grow easily. Coffee
plantations, first started by foreigners who saw potential for making
money, began to spring up all over the Eastern and Western
Highlands. Soon nationals began planting and harvesting coffee as
well.

Copper, gold and then oil were discovered, bringing work as well as
royalties to the national landowners. Of course the landowners who

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benefited from these finds were relatively few in number; but large
mines called for many workers and suppliers of food, etc., so the
wealth has been spread around, at least to some extent.

As I have already mentioned, most of the people had tribal land

available on which to plant gardens and build their bush houses.
Therefore, in terms of a place to live and food to eat, they were not
poor.

Another economic factor was the financial status of Evangelical Bible

Mission, Inc. As a relatively small "faith" missionary organization, we
have not operated out of large reservoirs of cash. Often, missionaries
have had to discover self-supporting projects that would fund local
ministries. The nationals have seen these necessary efforts and have
been trained to carry these projects on.

But more important than the project itself was the "spirit"of self-
reliance which the nationals saw exhibited in the missionary. It was
easy to see that the missionary was doing these fund-generating
projects for the sake of ministering to the needs of the nationals and
not for selfish reasons. Many of the nationals caught this same spirit of
selfless service and saw their personal businesses as tools to use in
serving others.

Fred Tulia - Typical Case In Point

Fred received his education in an EBM school on a mission station in
the Wiru valley. He became a Christian and felt God was leading him
into business. With the help of friends and fellow tribesmen he was
able to accumulate cash to begin. Today Fred owns two service
stations with attached fast-food stores in the town of Mendi, Southern
Highlands Province. He also owns a construction company that was
awarded the contract to build the airport terminal at the Mendi airport.

Fred is also a leader in the Papua New Guinea Bible Church in the town
of Mendi. He was appointed chairman of the crusade committee for the
citywide crusade I preached for this year.

On the day after the crusade, Fred picked me up from the pastor's
house and took me to one of the services stations and fast food stores
where his family and employees were gathered. With tears in his eyes,
Fred shared his burden for the souls of his workers and wept openly
that some of them had not made decisions for Christ during the
crusade.

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He went on to declare that all he had was the result of God's blessings
and he wanted to give it all to God. Fred then asked me to pray and
dedicate his business to God in the presence of all the workers and
friends gathered. I stood and held hands with Fred and his wife as we
prayed together, formally dedicating all the businesses to God for His
Glory. After the prayer, Fred clearly stated for all to hear, "God owns
this business. It is all for Him to use as He directs."

Fred is typical of a number of former EBM students who have caught

the vision of being God's servants. As God has blessed their
businesses and investments, they have been enabled to give and have
done so joyfully.

But it is not only the "rich" businessmen who are givers. I cannot
count the times I have had subsistence farmers, little old women, or
even young people come up, take my hand and slip a wad of money
into it. Sometimes they add, "This is to buy yourself a soft drink or
lunch."

One government employee gave me an envelope containing his two-

week pay packet in cash. With it he enclosed a letter telling me to use
the money to spread the Gospel around the world. This man was
personally supporting a national pastor and had given the money to
build a village church.

Conclusion
Without doubt, God is blessing the Papua New Guinea Bible Church as
it not only supports itself but also has become a sending missionary
organization helping to fulfill the Great Commission. I believe the One
who began a good work among these wonderful people will continue
His blessings upon their ministries until the day of Christ.

Gerald Bustin is the president of Evangelical Bible Mission International

and has served for many years in the field of Papua New Guinea. You
may contact him at GTBII@prodigy.net

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