South Pacific Division Thrilled With Results of 13th Sabbath Offering

The funds will be used for three special projects, including 30 children’s discipleship centers.

By Jarrod Stackelroth, South Pacific Adventist Record

Thirty children’s discipleship centers for Sabbath School classes will be built in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere in the South Pacific after the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s South Pacific Division received more than U.S.$815,000 in a Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.

Two other special projects will also receive funding from the $815,882 donated by Adventists worldwide during the offering in the second quarter of 2016: a family wellness education center, known as a center of influence, in Fiji; and Hope Channel in New Zealand.

Rodney Brady, treasurer for the South Pacific Division, said the amount exceeded expectations, noting that church members in the United States and Europe typically give less in the second quarter because they are in summer vacation mode.

“It's good to belong to a global church family where we can take turns assisting the church in select parts of the world with important, large-scale mission projects that may not happen without global support,” Brady said.

Eighteen of the 30 children’s discipleship centers — known as “lamb shelters" — will be built throughout the Papua New Guinea Union Mission, while eight will be built in the Trans-Pacific Union Mission and two in New Caledonia, part of the New Zealand Pacific Union Conference.

Many churches in the South Pacific have no shelter for children who attend programs such as Sabbath School and the Adventurers Club. The new shelters cost roughly $7,600 each.

Henry Monape, general secretary of the Papua New Guinea Union Mission, said the number of children in most churches in Papua New Guinea is equal to or even double the number of adults.

“The fact is we badly need lamb shelters all throughout Papua New Guinea so the children can have their own places of worship to conduct their Sabbath programs,” he said.

Monape said he expected church membership to grow because of the Adventist world church’s Total Member Involvement initiative, so the need for the discipleship centers would grow as well.

“Your assistance will be a great help to the children of Papua New Guinea particularly at this time,” he said.

The new My Family Wellness Center in Fiji’s capital, Suva, will be built at the site of a local church and run in partnership with the Suva Central church, the Fiji Mission and ADRA’s Fiji office. With rooms and facilities that can be rented to health professionals such as doctors, counselors, and physiotherapists, the center will also have a lunch bar and exercise club run by Adventists. It also will offer preventative health programs such as Newstart and the Complete Health Improvement Project (CHIP).

“The wellness center in Suva will offer a clinically recognized way of addressing the epidemic of non-communicable diseases,” said Fiji Mission health director Alipate Vakamocea. “It will provide an avenue to empower people to make changes to their lifestyles and enable them to take control of their health physically, mentally, and spiritually.”

The Hope Channel New Zealand grant will be used to set up a television studio to produce more local content. This is one point of difference that Hope Channel has in comparison with other Christian TV networks in New Zealand. Hope Channel New Zealand was recently announced as the highest rated religious broadcaster in New Zealand.

“The timing for Hope Channel in New Zealand could not have been better given the impact that Hope Channel is now having in New Zealand,” Brady said.