Papua Missions By David Buskirk
		The province of Papua, Indonesia is on the western half of the island of New Guinea. Formerly called Irian Jaya, Papua is a province of the Republic of Indonesia (not to be confused with the independent nation of Papua New Guinea on the eastern half of the island). Indonesia itself is a vast country spreading three thousand miles across the equator. It is the world's fourth largest nation with more than 220 million people. It is also the world's largest Muslim nation. The population is 85% Muslim, 10% Christian, and 5% Hindu and Buddhist. Duane Morgan began the work in Papua in the late 1980s. At that time the government was phasing out all foreign missionaries. However, one government official advised him that if he would focus on remote tribal evangelism and establish a Bible school, then he could receive a visa as a Bible teacher. An agreement was reached and the Church of Christ Bible School was established in the town of Serui in 1988. The Bible school has been a great success. Many of our graduates are now strong leaders and evangelists in a number of churches. The Department of Labor initially agreed for us to have up to 17 families working in Papua. However finding people to come to Papua has been difficult. David Buskirk arrived in 1992 and has been there since. Duane returned to the States in 1994. Cesar Basantes, from Ecuador, joined the work in 2002, so now there are two missionaries in Papua. If we fill those four visa slots, then it is very probably the government would increase our visa quota. We need more missionaries to come here and help. This is a great opportunity, the door is wide open and there is much work to do. There are currently fourteen churches of Christ in Papua with a total of 260 faithful members. Most of the churches are indigenous, having been established by the nationals themselves, and all of them are self-supporting. Many of them are still weak in the faith and need continued teaching and encouraging. The largest congregation is in Santosa, about 80 miles inland from Jayapura. In the early 1970s the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), the largest denominational church in Papua, sent some evangelists to the village to start a church there; however, the villagers killed them. So the DRC shut them off. In the mid-1980s, after all the villages around them had churches, the people in Santosa also wanted a church and asked the DRC to establish the church there. The DRC refused because of the earlier killings. Late in 1989, our brother Oaud Tokoro was in the interior hunting crocodiles and met the people in Santosa. They asked Oaud if he could start the church there. So Oaud returned to Jayapura to inform the brethren of this opportunity. So they all went to Santosa, began to have bible studies, and many were ¬baptized into Christ. In a village of 400 including children, more than 100 adults have been baptized. Some have fallen away, but 75 adults are still faithful. The strongest church that we have is the church in Serui. At that time the DRC in Serui tried to shut us down. They were not successful as the government protected our freedom of religion. However, several brethren were physically abused by DRC leaders. The church in Serui has grown to about 50 faithful members today. They are currently trying to establish two new churches in villages to the east and west. The Serui brethren also built their own church building over a seven year period. The members themselves contributed over 80% of the funds. Many brethren had experience in construction, so they did most of the building. When they were nearing completion of the building in 2002, they submitted a request to the Department of Religion who gave them about $3,000 to finish the building. So they can rightfully call it their building. Despite having the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia has a secular government. The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and officially recognizes five religions: Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist. Although a small group of fanatics cause problems and persecute Christians, most Indonesian Muslims are friendly and peaceful. In Papua we have not experienced any persecution from Muslims, but we have experienced persecution from the DRC. Neither is the Indonesian government anti¬-Christian as many people think. I cannot speak for the rest of Indonesia, but in Serui and Santosa the government has given help on church buildings. In 2002 it gave the Bible School about $400 for expenses when I conducted a special course on the Letters of John. The government gives a small subsidy to one of our evangelists in Serui to preach the gospel, and another small subsidy to preach on the government radio station in Serui. We have a 15-minute slot once a week. Did you catch that? The government of Indonesia pays the church of Christ to preach the gospel on its radio station! (Edited, Shortened)
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