Send Off Date

    We hope to be in Papua New Guinea by March of 2012. We are praying about what tribal work God will place us in amongst the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea and are extremely excited about what team members we will work alongside to be a part of bringing unreached people groups the Gospel.  We will be doing our six months of in field training at the New Tribes base where we will be learning Tok Pisin and learning about the cultures of the people and country. Below is a church planting time line which may help you understand what the next years of our ministry will look like.

Church planting time line
Because of culture, language, and innumerable other variables no two church plants have the same time line. However, it is safe to say that the time needed typically takes anywhere from 10-20 years of one’s life.
  1. Initially, NTM surveys prospective people groups and prayerfully considers starting a ministry among them.
  2. After deciding on a people group, missionaries move into location, build their homes, and get established.
  3. Typically the missionaries now start language and culture study while continuing to build relationships with the local people.
  4. Around this time a literacy program will be created to teach the people to read and write in their native language.
  5. Once fluent in language and culture, the bible teaching begins. Starting form creation and working chronologically through the Old and New Testaments, a firm foundation is laid so that the truths of the gospel can be clearly understood.
  6. As the Holy Spirit works, some people accept Christ as their Savior and the church is born.
  7. At this point a major part of the focus turns to translating the Bible.
  8. As the new church matures and leaders are ordained, the missionary’s involvement decreases.
  9. Eventually local believers begin to go out from the church as missionaries themselves.