Malang Church Dedication and Baptism

Crossing the stream on our hike to Malang.

It was a wonderful and blessed time by God as we attended the Malang Nazarene Church baptism and new church building dedication. Susan and I had been to Malang before we came home for this last furlough, to speak and worship with the people at Malang. At that time they showed us the new church they were in the process of building and said that in a few months they wanted to have a dedication service for the new church and would we come. We told them it depended on when they had it since 

Dr. Jim Radcliffe

we would be heading back to the States for Home Assignment soon. It took months for all to be ready and the dedication and baptism to take place and we did indeed happen to be back from HA so that we could take part in the service. Getting to Malang Nazarene Church is quite a little adventure. We drove about 20 to 30 minutes, parked the Land Cruiser and began the hike. This hike is about 30 minutes for us "White Skins" and it takes you across a stream, up and down some small hills, through gardens and some mud. But it was all worth the effort. When we arrived at Malang we did not have long to wait before the service started. A PNG service is a lively experience. The people are free in their worship 

A little girl being baptized, one of the 25
baptized that Saturday.


and they sing and pray with a lot of heart and this service was no different. Dr. Jim and Kathy Radcliffe were a part of the missionary representation that went along. Dr. Jim was the preacher for the event and delivered the message, "Is Anything to Hard for God." It was a great challenge to all to trust more in God. Susan ministered through flute and did a great job of concentrating when the CD player that was playing her background music started cutting out every so often. After the service we walked down to the new church and Jeff was asked to pray the prayer of dedication. Before the prayer Jeff read from Acts 2:42-47 and encouraged the Malang 

Four candidates at the baptism pool.

Church to be an Acts Church so that those people who live around the church would see Jesus Christ. After the church dedication we walked a few minutes down to the river. The people of the church had blocked the water to create a small pool of water that was probably about 3 feet deep. It was a very beautiful setting for the 25 people who were baptized that day including the pastor and his wife. People were seated and hanging on the banks surrounding the baptismal site. God was truly there that day and it was a wonderful time of His blessing.