Not a One-Man Show
By Jason Stuart
This year, we decided to base out of Australia so that my daughter could stay in one place to finish her last year of high school. This means that I have been “commuting” to my work with New Tribes Mission in Papua New Guinea. I have made three ministry trips to PNG so far this year and will do a couple more before the year is over. My last trip took up a little over two weeks of the month of July. Even this brief trip demonstrated the “mosaic” of missions. What I mean is this…
When we read about the work of “missions” in the New Testament, we are mostly informed about the work of the apostle Paul, who evangelised both Jews and Gentiles, started churches, defended the faith, wrote inspired epistles…and the list goes on. Yet even a brief look at Paul’s epistles shows us that he was not a one-man show. Paul always travelled with coworkers, and the lists of people whom he greets and recognises as co-labourers are extensive. As I work in PNG, I am involved in Bible translation—a work that many consider to be frontline ministry. But it would be absolutely impossible for me to accomplish anything if I were a one-man show. Let me share some examples from my recent few weeks in PNG.
My trip could not even have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for so many faithful Christians in the United States and Australia who pray regularly and give finances that enable me to do what I do. My 19-year-old son drove me to the station to catch the bus to the airport for my flight. Most of these people don’t think they are doing much for the Lord, but they are essential coworkers in the mission God has given us. They are just like the Philippian church working with Paul in a “partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” (Phil 1:5).
When my commercial flight arrived in the town of Goroka, I was met by a PNG citizen who is the driver for our mission organisation. He took me to the mission guest house, which is also staffed by PNG citizen ladies. Waiting for me were cash and paperwork arranged by PNG citizen employees in the mission business office. On Sunday, I attended a local church nearby that is pastored by PNG men who are also security guards and grounds workers on our mission compound. While not all the employees of our mission are fellow believers, they are an essential part in facilitating the practical side of missionaries working in their country.
The time came for me to travel to the village of Inaru, where our family had lived for 15 years doing Scripture translation. From the hangar at the airport, I was flown by experienced mission pilots (more coworkers) on the mission plane to the remote airstrip of Yembiyembi. There, I briefly greeted some of the Yembiyembi believers (more coworkers) who do an excellent job maintaining the airstrip in their village so that God’s work can continue on two different rivers.
In Yembiyembi, I was met by some of my favourite coworkers—the church leaders from the village of Inaru. They took me on the four-hour motor canoe trip upriver to the village, where I stayed for a week to discuss with them some of the current difficulties in the church and village (they are in the midst of a gold rush and also dealing with the local madman, who is violently unstable). Most of the current church leaders in Inaru were not yet teenagers when I first moved to their village, and now they are the shepherds of God’s people there. Without their faithful service, the church would falter and be led astray. They are like those whom the apostle Paul said “worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life” (Phil 4:3).
On returning to Goroka, I was involved checking translation for a people group in that province. A couple of “plain old” village ladies (more coworkers) came out to town to assist their missionaries (more coworkers) as we did a comprehension check of the books that had been translated into their language. Without faithful mother tongue speakers, the missionary translators would be unable to complete the work of Scripture translation.
During my time in Inaru, several people had given me money to purchase audio Bible devices in Tok Pisin (the trade language of PNG). There are still many illiterate people in the churches, and even those who read still like to listen to audio Scriptures in their homes. So, while I was in Goroka, I went to MAF Technologies to purchase these devices and some SIM cards that have Christian content. I also went to the Christian bookshop run by the Evangelical Brotherhood Church (a Bible-believing denomination started by Swiss missionaries to PNG) to purchase some pictorial teaching aids requested by a church leader. There are so many other Christian organizations in PNG contributing to God’s mission there. Even though we don’t know them all by name and face, they are our coworkers.
Fulfilling God’s mission to reach the world truly takes a variety of people doing a variety of tasks. As the apostle Paul himself said, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us” (1 Cor 12:4-6).