South Pacific Ministries - Facilitating Mission & Ministry in the South Pacific
 

OUR OBJECTIVES

  • Sending, and keeping, Workers in the Harvest Field

  • Providing a place for Biblical Training and Ministry

  • Equipping Men and Women for areas of Service

  • Church Planting

  • Youth Internships

  • Faith Development via Short Term Involvement in Missions

  • Ministering to Needs of Pacific Island Communities

EVANGELISTS

  • Fiji
  • Graduates from the South Pacific Bible College (SPBC) have gone home to Fiji and under the umbrella of the Otumoetai Church of Christ's missions program (South Pacific Focus Program), have engaged in successful ministry within FIji.

    Graduates have planted at least six new churches, and it is our desire to keep key graduates in full time ministry.  Others are encouraged to find ways to provide an income for themselves within five years, as they continue to provide the teaching, preaching and evangelism for their local congregations.

    The church in Fiji has the potential to be a strong hub for evangelism and church planting for a number of South Pacific nations.  They need our help to continue to train, equip and support the right workers to enable this to happen.

    New Zealand  

    Less than two thirds of our churches have full time evangelists.  Half of these are on a salary that enables them to be able to sustain their family needs, and this is ususally dur to some USA help.

    The other half are on substandard incomes ranging from US $15,000  -  $20,000, and struggle immensely to provide for themselves and their families.  Others have given up, discouraged and disenchanted,because churches are either small and cannot provide or there has not been the right atitiude within churches to provide for those who desire to "earn their living from the gospel".

    These are good men who love the Lord and want to serve.  They devote themselves wholeheartedly to ministry, but often find themselves being forced to "become entangled with the affairs of the world" in order to make ends meet.

  • Tonga
  • This Pacific Island nation has had two indenous workers trained at SPBC.   One remains supported and one has become self-supporting.

    The church in this nation faces an uphill battle with established / traditional forms of Christianity that have a powerful communal / societal influence.  However, where such forms of Christianity tend more towards external expressions of faith, there are people searching for substance.

    The Church in Nuku'alofa has just recently built their first building.  This is vital in their culture in order to be recognised as 'credible' within society.  Now they desire to grow and also for others to be trained and return to help with evangelism and church growth.  A new very small congregation has just been planted on an island offshore.

    Papua New Guinea

    Praise be to the Lord for the great work done originally by Joe Cannon and others since the early 1970's.  Their mission efforts established a thriving work, and this country is filled with national evangelists working in numerous small village congregations,a nd some larger town congregations.

    Our involvement is normally only with those few indigenous workers who require additional training, and return home in more recognised leadership roles, especially to work with their own National Bible college.

    However, there is still much work to be done with only seven of the 19 provinces having a healthy church presence within them.  The church there needs our assistance to help stimulate them to rech out and again develop mission strategies for these regions.  In addition to this, Papua New Guinea has the potential to reach out to some surrounding nations and take the gospel to them.

    Australia

    Australia, like New Zealand, has had a history of mission work and now has a number of nationals working within their churches.  However, there are still many congregations without support e

    vangelists and there has only been one trained from within Australia in recent years.SPBC, at the request of several churches in Australia, is beginning to address these needs and once trained, they too need some assistance to go into full time ministry.

    Like New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Thailand, it is becoming evident that Australia too is experiencing a renewed interest in church planting.  We want to begin preparing men and women for this call of God upon our nations. 

    SOUTH PACIFIC BIBLE COLLEGE

    The South Pacific Bible College (SPBC) began in 1982 as a means to help prepare workers for New Zealand.  It quickly became the training hub for Fiji workers as well.  In addition to these two countries, indenous workers have also been trained for Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, Philippines, Australia, Thailand and Malaysia.

    In 2002 the SPBC moved to new premises as part of its growth strategy.  The new premises can easilyhandle double and perhaps even triple the number of students.

    The SPBC is becoming recognised as a major training centre for the whole South Pacific / Asian region, and needs our help to continue to grow and provide a solid environment for Biblical and Ministry Training.

    In 1984 the operating budget was US $50,000 (90% from USA and 10% from NZ).  In 2010 the operating budget will be US $340,000 and NZ resources now provide nearly 75% of this.  But, we still urgently need your help to keep this vital core ministry thriving.