What could two places that are as opposite as "right" and "left" possibly have in common? In my role as a missionary and the Director of Open Door Baptist Missions, I've had the opportunity to travel around the globe. I love visiting different places and experiencing the unique scenery, languages, food, and customs. Singapore is a well-known, high tech, beautiful city-state in Southeast Asia. Simbai is an unknown, remote, primitive region in Papua New Guinea. The common ground is found in the Body of Christ. Our standing in Christ, love for each other, and passion for the world is what unites us across the greatest spectrums.
Easy Question: Which photos are of Singapore and which are of Simbai?
Singapore
Boasting its cleanliness, safety, and modern beauty, Singapore can claim to be one of the world's greatest cities. It's a "must see" if touring Asia. It's a thriving, modern city showcasing some of the latest and best architectural feats (check out the Marina Bay Sands hotel). Unlike many American cities, it's clean and safe to walk around and explore. The Singapore Zoo is listed among Travel & Leisure's top 20 zoos in the world. Singapore's airport is consistently rated as the world's best. While it's a thriving Asian economic epicenter, it's quite expensive to live in. Singapore is actually an island-country and city-state, with the world's 2nd highest population density. The sense I got from some of its residents is that while they love living there, they also enjoy getting away to more quiet, open spaces.
A few of the amazing sights in Singapore
Simbai
If you're looking for a quiet, open place, then Simbai should be considered, but getting there is not easy. Simbai is nestled in the Highlands region of Papua New Guinea (PNG) on the border of the Madang and Western Highlands provinces. There are no roads that connect the Simbai with any towns in PNG. Its "airports" are simply grass, bush airstrips. The missionary bush pilots (including my nephew) that fly in PNG are some of the most skilled pilots in the world. There are no zoos but the rainforest is the real deal! It's safe and the Simbai people are some of the friendliest people you'll meet, but the rough conditions and potential for malaria, typhoid and dengue is serious. As far as technology goes, getting a cell phone to work is a big challenge and there's no internet access, so it's a great place to take a "tech vacation." Most of the people live off of the land depending upon their gardens and limited pigs and chickens to survive. While it is true that the people still live in grass huts, they are industrious being able to live completely off of the land. They make Survivor look like a "walk in the park." While being the opposite of Singapore in just about every way, a visit to Simbai is just as memorable.
Some photos from the Simbai region of Papua New Guinea
The Body of Christ
During my recent visits to both Singapore and Simbai, the contrast and differences were stark, but what impacted me the most was the shared bond, fellowship and passion with believers in both places. As Paul was encouraged and enriched by fellow believers on his travels, I was as well. No matter the location, language, food, and socio-economic status of a region, the Church is the Body of Christ. It represents and resembles Christ in all regions. Christ's Bride is to be gracious, kind, and loving in building up others. It should be truly counter-cultural in every worldly context, and boldly proclaim the Gospel. I experienced the same encouragement and fellowship around God's Word in both places. The churches in both Simbai and Singapore are living for Christ!
Great fellowship with Pastor Wong & Staff at Pasir Panjang Christ Church
A Common Passion
What stood out most of all to me was their common burden and passion to advance the Gospel and send their own missionaries to the regions and people groups who haven't heard the Good News. My opportunity to be in Simbai was a joint missions conference in which believers from over 20 churches came together to be challenged by God's Word to be more engaged in making disciples and reaching neighboring language groups. Even though my visit to Singapore was short (2 days), I met with the staff of a local church. It was great interacting with the different staff members throughout the day to discuss missions! Their passion came through as they peppered me with questions about developing their church missions program as well as the possibility of even starting a mission agency to better serve missionaries sent from Singapore.
Enjoying the fellowship and ministry in Simbai, PNG
What's the Point?
So why is this significant to our future ministry in Asia? Three key reasons come to mind:
Affirmation - Seeing firsthand the missions interest and desire by churches in both Simbai and Singapore is affirming that God is working among His Church to advance the Gospel, and has called us to serve and help churches in Asia to launch and grow their own missions efforts.
Connection - We've intentionally planned these trips during our deputation phase to lay the foundation and get "the ball rolling" for our future ministry. Establishing connections early and building relationships with Asian churches is key to the growth of our future ministry.
Interaction - The USA has been doing missions for 200 years. Over that time God has blessed in the development of many good mission agencies and there's been a tremendous amount of networking and strategizing to improve our efforts in advancing the Gospel. Through our new ministry, we'd love to develop healthy interaction between like-minded churches and mission agencies through Asia. When we partner together around the Gospel and sound doctrine, more can be accomplished for the glory of God.
We hope this helps you to grasp our vision to serve Asian churches by training national pastors, church leaders, and missionaries to reach the Unreached. Please continue to pray for the vast needs in Asia and for God's provision and leading in our lives. Thank you for your partnership and for walking this journey with us.
Praise the Lord with us,
Dave & Shawn
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