SPD: Church Dedication
SPD: On March 5 a new Seventh-day Adventist church was dedicated to God in Tambo, West New Britain Provence, Papua New Guinea. But there is something extra special about this church opening. The church began in 1968 in a family home. It has grown over the years and been a huge blessing to the community. It is close to many large palm oil processing mills and palm oil plantations that employ much of the community. Despite the church having many responsible leaders and growing in size, the congregation and its communities could not afford to build a church. There were many pioneer families who prayed and dreamed and dreamed and prayed. Many families and church boards over the years put plans in place, but the resources to build were simply not available.
But here is where the story changed.
Newman drove me to the church dedication, and it wasn’t until we were halfway there that it was revealed that he was the funder and project manager of the church building we were about to dedicate, and the story slowly opened up.
Newman Bito is a humble man from a remote island off West New Britain. He started life with no resources, but he served a big God and possessed a big vision, and clearly has the gift of entrepreneurship. He opened a street-side small trade store with only one bag of rice, which he divided up into smaller packages to sell to families, and 12 cans of tinned fish. This was his starting inventory in his humble roadside trade store. The trade business grew, and before long he had purchased a boat to take passengers and cargo from the remote island to the mainland and the town of Kimbe Bay. He now owns and runs three boats. Newman put God first and gave generously for God’s kingdom from the beginning. He now has three trucks and operates a transport business for both passengers and cargo. The bank says he is a non-typical client and an unexpected businessman with very surprising results. Newman didn’t have extra profit in his business to set aside for the church building. Instead, he dipped into his daily cash flow to buy materials and pay carpenters, even though technically on paper the risks were high. Newman puts God First in his business and his investments, and the dedication was a celebration of the amazing things God does through families that partner with Him and believe His promises of provision and protection. Newman has been generous to God’s purposes every step of the way, never waiting for the business to be successful first. Praise God for Newman’s faith, and more families can enjoy the adventure of a lifetime by partnering with God and putting Him first. Jacinta, Newman’s wife, is fully supportive of this adventurous life, and the children are also watching what God is doing. One daughter wants to be an accountant so she can someday help her dad, and Junior Newman wants to go to business school to become a future manager for his dad. Their oldest son is studying Management Accounting in Port Moresby, and Dad can’t wait to have his help in the business. (However, maybe the lack of financial visibility in the business is helping Newman take brave steps for God!)
Many parts of the community were represented at this church dedication, which includes a beautiful campus, a lamb shelter (three Sabbath School rooms for children), a pastor’s house, a kai kai house (which is a grass-thatched, long picnic table for large combined lunches and celebrations), and an elementary school.
The dedication was conducted by the general secretary of New Britain New Ireland Mission, Pastor Lua Bobore; and the mission area supervisor, Pastor Nelson Gah, for West New Britain Provence. The local government ward councilor, Jimmy Ninda, and the governor’s office representative Patrick Trenien also participated in the opening. The president for the Mosa oil processing plant took part, and representatives from the Catholic, Salvation Army, and Baptist churches celebrated this great achievement with us.
