Papua New Guinea: God is doing wonders in the Middle Ramu District in Papua New Guinea. Before the year 2022 ended, the district organized a 5-day youth crusade at Gebau Valley, Kovon Local Level Government. The Middle Ramu District is the largest district in Papua New Guinea composed of 5 circuits – Arame (Singapi) Gevrau (Ulamil) Kaironk, Simbai, and Tagul. The biggest number of believers are youth ages 12-30.
The district is also the remotest in the country and is not connected by roads, as it is cut off by the Ramu River to the North and Jimi River to the South. It is mostly rugged terrain with vast rainforests, grasslands, fast-flowing rivers, swamps, and floodplains. Many pastors and leaders spend hours or even days walking to visit local churches or attend district gatherings.
But in spite of these challenges, there is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Middle Ramu district. Young people are flooding the local churches. They are hungry and thirsty for God’s Word. That is why during the youth crusade, over 5000 young people from all five circuits gathered and attended.
The crusade theme was “Sanctify yourselves today, for tomorrow God will do wonders among you” from Joshua 3:5. Pastor John Laule, the crusade speaker, shared the following sermons during the five-day revival.
- Cross Over and Take Over (Sanctify yourselves today for God will do wonders in your midst tomorrow) Joshua 3:5
- Transition and Transformation (Time to See God) Isaiah 6:1-8
- The Call of Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1-10, 18-19, 5:14)
- Holiness Highway (Luke 3:3-5, Isaiah 38:5 and 40:3-5)
- Unity and Later Rain (Deuteronomy 11;14, Psalm 104:14-15, 133:1-3, Isaiah 43:19)
- New Wine and Blessings of the New Wine (Joel 3:18)
- Do Not Leave Your Jerusalem until you catch the fire (Acts 1:4-14, 2:1-15, Isaiah 4:3, 40:30-31)
Aside from the services, there were also workshops and training offered focused on the following topics:
- Youth and Education
- Corruption and the government’s law reforms in fighting corruption
- Severe penalties for corruption, bribery, abuse of dangerous drugs, and the criminal justice process
- Uncontrolled clearing of rainforest by villages and conversion to gardening, climate change, global warming, and the prospects for carbon credit trade and ecotourism.
In every worship service, as the word is delivered, the Holy Spirit begins to point out to every youth in attendance what their weaknesses are. He brought conviction to everyone. People begin walking to the altar even before the sermon was finished. God’s miraculous power was at work.
Brother John D. Laule wrote, “Many stood outside the walls and participated in praise, worship, and hearing of the Word. [The number of attendees] increased to 5000+ in the final days. On average, 1,300 [young people] broke down at the altar every night/day after the message. A second altar was required outside the church because the inside was full. [About] 1000+ young people, including backsliders, and drug addicts, recommitted their lives [and] 50+ [young people] received Jesus Christ for the first time. It was the most amazing moment of fire. As someone took the first step, everyone else fell in line, individual by individual, family by family, clan by clan, and tribe by tribe.”
The revival did not end during the five-day gathering but continued to other circuits afterward. God is truly doing a marvelous thing in Middle Ramu.
