Sometimes I feel we are getting somewhere, sometimes not. They can do excellent work if they want to do it, but sometimes their behaviour is very bad. Margaret Higman, letter to parents It started with complaints. Someone was stealing from the rooms of some of the mission workers at Tende. Sometimes it was money andContinue reading “32. Trouble in Mendi Mission School 1962”
Tag Archives: John Hutton
31. Education in Mendi, 1962
I have had the feeling for a long time that we are spending too much time and energy on schoolwork and not enough on spiritual work and pastoral work. John Rees April 1961 The annual report of the Methodist Highlands District told one story about education. Perhaps it was true for education in Tari. InContinue reading “31. Education in Mendi, 1962”
30. The church begins to grow in 1962
The year has seen a remarkable increase in the number of our people coming forward to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This is due largely to the witness and personal evangelism of the converts themselves… sometimes we are perplexed by what may happen if the number increases very much faster. Highlands DistrictContinue reading “30. The church begins to grow in 1962”
29. Moving to Tende and other changes, 1962
Here at Mendi each person is trying to cope with more work than one can possibly do… This work which God has sent us to do has outgrown us. John Rees, July 1962 The year has seen a remarkable increase in the number of our people coming forward to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their LordContinue reading “29. Moving to Tende and other changes, 1962”
27. First baptisms, 1961
‘This was the day. It was the climax of months of preparation by many people and the fulfillment of years of work by others.’ Joyce Rosser, writing of the first baptisms at the Methodist Church in Tari, 1961. ‘The preaching has led to no hasty decisions of belief in God, but rather to a gradualContinue reading “27. First baptisms, 1961”
26. First signs of Christian conversion, 1960s
1960s ‘Little did we dream what was to happen’. Sister Edith James, Tari ‘In a service at Tari nineteen people have made a public confession of faith. A medical orderly at Mendi also accepted Christ’. Annual report 1960 There was nothing to warn them that something important was about to happen. In Tari, it wasContinue reading “26. First signs of Christian conversion, 1960s”
24. Practical ministries of education and health, 1960
We did not understand the meaning of school, so many of the boys left and went back to the village, only a few of us continued. That doesn’t mean we knew the meaning of it either, but we wanted to stay with the mission because it was better than living in the village. Dabuma, 1970Continue reading “24. Practical ministries of education and health, 1960”
23 Hope, disappointment and new hope, 1960
Our missionaries are doing a great job but, if their numbers were doubled, they would only be touching the fringe of this field. Rev Harry Bartlett, visitor to Highlands on behalf of MOM 1960 The cutting edge of the church’s advance is the witness and work of the island missionaries. Missionary Review March 1958 TheContinue reading “23 Hope, disappointment and new hope, 1960”
22. Slow progress, 1957-1959
1957-1959 District Report 1957. Seven years of work among one of the most isolated and primitive peoples in the world has not yet reached the stage when converts can be listed. In the persons of the missionaries, European and Pacific Island, the church is there. But it is there in order that an indigenous churchContinue reading “22. Slow progress, 1957-1959”
19. Progress in Tari, 1956
1956 New interest in church activities By 1956, the work of the Methodist Mission in Tari was becoming well established. The staff team was a strong international group with pastors from New Guinea, Papuan Islands and the Solomon Islands and ministers, teachers and medical workers from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Germany. The ministers wereContinue reading “19. Progress in Tari, 1956”
Margaret Reeson 