We had been at May River for three weeks when the 12-day camp meeting began. Between 1,500 and 1,800 May-River-area people attended daily. Considering that most villages along the May River have only 100 to 200 people, this was a major gathering. For weeks, the May River church members caught and dried hundreds of fish and pounded sago palms into 27 bags of sago flour to help feed the expected crowds. Most of all, God’s people were looking forward to the huge baptism planned for the end of camp meeting.
It was a seven-week journey for Edie and me from the United States to the old AFM house at May River. The last leg of our journey from the town of Wewak to May River was a nighttime ride in a large truck followed by 15 hours in a motor canoe in the blistering sun. We slept the second night at the mouth of the May River in a house full of mosquitoes. On July 8, we arrived at the house the Kent and Lello families had called home. The house is at least 25 years old now and has many termite and animal holes, and a colony of honey bees occupies the bedroom walls, but we are happy to call it home until we move to Ama.
Pastor Gerry, a PNG man, came to May River as an unpaid volunteer two years ago, not long after the death of AFM missionary John Lello. When he began his work, all but two churches in the May River area had died out, and their church buildings had fallen down. Using his own savings, Pastor Gerry began to travel to the villages on the May River and give evangelistic meetings. Hungry for the word of God, the people responded. In a matter of months he had five churches in places where AFM student missionaries had lived and worked back in the 1990s, including the two villages where I labored at as a student missionary. At the suggestion of the Sepik Mission President in Wewak, Pastor Gerry began a laymen training course, which AFM had pioneered, and taught a dozen men to be soul winners. Last year, with the help of the laymen, May River had a baptism of 116 souls. The accompanying camp meeting had a daily attendance of about 900. The Sepik Mission hired Pastor Gerry, and he now receives a salary.
This year the work along the May River has expanded to some of the bush villages including Ama. Pastor Gerry has now trained 23 lay workers. With 23 laymen and five volunteer missionaries (unpaid pastors) preaching along the May River, 12 churches were raised up, and many men and women joined the baptismal classes. The stage was now set for the largest baptism in the history of the Sepik Mission and the East Sepik Province.
Sabbath morning, August 1, 2015 dawned with black clouds and heavy rain. May River has no church building yet, so the meetings were all held outside on a grassy hilltop. As the rain finally ended, the bell for church sounded, and the people began to come. 308 baptismal candidates dressed in white and black crowded near the grandstand. Hundreds of family members and friends surrounded the group. I know heaven’s angels were near. Soon the candidates were divided into four groups, one for each of the four pastors who had come to baptize them.
I was one of the first to walk down to the river. When I looked back, I saw a line of candidates dressed in white shirts as far as the eye could see, marching down to the river in single file. Soon everyone was present. Families crowded the riverbanks, and the candidates lined up in front of their baptizing pastors. The four pastors baptized their candidates in unison, taking turns to pray for each group of four before submerging them in the brown water. Each newly baptized member was met at the water’s edge with a towel, a lei of flowers, many happy handshakes and a shower of presents.
Ten precious souls from Ama were among those baptized. More were ready but couldn’t find a ride to the camp meeting. Ama is nine hours from May River by motor canoe during low-water season.
Most of the newly baptized members don’t have a Bible or songbook. After the baptism, the laymen and missionaries came to me privately and begged for Tok Pisin Bibles for their new churches. The work is progressing so rapidly that most of the churches don’t have a church building. They long for a few sheets of metal roofing and a box of nails so they can build.
There was a solemn service in which about a dozen elders and two dozen deacons were ordained. Most of these are members of the new churches. Ama now has one elder and two deacons. Without a pastor, these new converts will preach and minister to their village. They were instructed at their ordination that they will be held accountable for the sheep God has placed under their care.
Please pray for the 12 churches of May River and the newly ordained elders and deacons. The Spirit of God is truly being poured out here. I began praying for May River and Ama two years ago, unaware that God was already answering my prayer through Pastor Gerry. AFM missionaries sowed the seeds by God’s power, and now the time of reaping has come.
The church members, lay workers and pastors all asked me to relay their outpouring of thanks to each AFM missionary family, each student missionary, and each AFM supporter throughout the years for the parts they played in this spiritual harvest at May River.
