A Bridge is Built: a story of the United Church in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea

This book began as a record of the work of the pioneer Methodist Mission in the Southern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, written by Rev Dr A.Harold Wood as the fifth volume in his series Overseas Missions of the Australian Methodist Church. During the writing, Dr Wood enlisted the help of Margaret Reeson as she had personal experience in that region and had access to more resources.  The result of the shared work covers the beginnings of the work in 1950 with the early years of struggle and disappointment. It continues through the first experiences of Christian conversions and the challenges and dramas of a work that moved  from the Methodist ‘Mission’ to the Methodist ‘Church’ during the 1960s. An important aspect of this narrative is the significant contribution of Pacific Island co-workers and those who came to the unfamiliar Highlands from tropical coastal regions to share in this ministry. It takes the story beyond the Methodist era to the beginning of United Church of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in 1968 and on into the next decade.