Hagen Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, Mount Hagen, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea (PNG)
05-07-2024
At Hagen Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mount Hagen, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea (PNG), church members are keen to arrive early to church every Saturday (Sabbath) to ensure they find seating so that they can participate in worship inside.
Continual growth of the congregation necesitated remodeling, and on May 2, General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson, GC ministerial secretary Ramon Canals, and pastoral spouses and families ministry director Aurora Canals, among other church leaders, attended the dedication of the completed remodeling of the sanctuary, and participated in celebratory music and prayers.
Wilson, who was one of many speakers leading evangelistic efforts in PNG at that time, briefly visited on May 2 and shared a meal with speakers leading evangelistic meetings in the third most populous town in PNG.
In addition to the rededication of the church, Wilson and other church leaders inaugurated the adjoining Hagen Park Inn, an initiative of Adventist Possibility Ministries. When the last furnishing details have been completed, the center will be opened to provide services to people with various disabilities, local church pastor Richard Jacob explained. He said that a shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence would be opened on the second floor, and that they would be able to stay there until they can find a way out.
This outward-looking initiative might be a reason the Park Hagen church continues to grow, and might also account for the faithfulness of its members.
“After an opening program, members are dedicated to study the Sabbath School lesson of the week,” Jacqueline Wari, PNG Union Mission communication director, said. “And that’s just the beginning. Then comes praise and worship, and a divine service. Then many stay to eat their lunches under the trees. And by 4:00 p.m., those who stay participate in another program that ends with a closing-of-the-Sabbath worship. Going to church is a full-day enterprise here.”
Adventist Possibility Ministries (APM) is a General Conference-sponsored initiative that views those with disabilities through the transforming lens of possibilities — what they can do and what they can become because of God’s grace. It is a movement that focuses on seven groups including those with physical/mobility challenges. APM affirms that people go where they are welcomed and stay where they are valued, and that all are gifted, needed, and treasured.
This story from Papua New Guinea illustrates the global Adventist Church’s priority of “increased church member involvement in fellowship and service, both in the church and in the local community,” including individuals with disabilities in their community (KPI 6.1). Learn more the Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” Strategic Focus at https://www.iwillgo2020.org/kpis/
Original article by Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review, published on Adventist World on 05-07-2024 at https://www.adventistworld.org/assisting-people-with-disabilities-and-sheltering-victims-of-domestic-violence/