January 2005
Page 1 - Making the Most of Failure By Graham Cooke
Page 2 - The Land of the Unexpected By Pastor Henoma Ttopoqogo
The Land of the Unexpected
By Pastor Henoma TtopoqogoIn October 2004, the Lutheran Renewal leaders in Papua New Guinea had the privilege of having a visitor from the United States. He is Rev. Mark Marxhausen, the pastor of New Vision In the Word International in Rosemount, Minnesota. Some commentaries refer to Prophet Jeremiah as "the Weeping Prophet." Prophet Jeremiah, we know, is dead, but the Spirit that moved him to weep over the people and the city of Jerusalem is not dead. Those of you who know Rev. Mark Marxhausen would agree with me that he has a very soft heart like that of Jeremiah-he weeps very easily.
We had nine, three-hour sessions spread over four days, three sessions a day. Rev. Mark Marxhausen took the morning and evening sessions, and I took the afternoon session.
Renewal Within a Renewal
It is true that the workability of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in any one society very much depends on whether the culture and the social systems of that particular group of people are compatible with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, or not.I personally believe that if you use a computer you can get a lot of things done in a short period of time, and with greater ease, if the different programs installed in your machine are compatible with each other. Otherwise it can become a time-consuming headache trying to get in and out of the different programs to do one small thing.
Now what has that got to do with the Lutheran Renewal here in Papua New Guinea? Well, everything! We are a nation with over 800 completely different languages and with the different languages come completely different customs, cultures, and social systems. And yet, by the grace of God alone, we have existed as a nation for the last 29 years. We are known as "Papua New Guinea-The Land of the Unexpected."
The renewal movement within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea has suffered great blows because of some of these things that I have highlighted above. We do not want to totally submit to one another because we all belong to different tribal and ethnic groups.
A very exciting and dramatic thing happened during the time that Rev. Mark Marxhausen was teaching. Upon the prompting of the Holy Spirit, he began to wash the feet of the two leading men in the group. They were Pastor Henoma Ttopoqogo and Evangelist Wilson Mark who is also the National Lutheran Renewal President. He then had those two men go and pick two other leaders in the group to wash their feet. Then those two went and picked two other leaders and washed their feet. The process went on like that until all of the leaders had washed another's feet. The atmosphere was different. The Spirit of God began to move amongst the leaders in a very real and tangible way. What happened during Rev. Mark Marxhausen's visit here was that, He (God) is causing renewal to happen again within our renewal!
This is not to say that the people who have come and gone before Rev. Mark Marxhausen have not done anything. Not at all. What I am saying here is that Rev. Mark Marxhausen is seeing the fruit of what others have sown and watered. We are seeing renewal to start to break through the dry group again.
Thank you. With this, on behalf of all the Lutheran Renewal leaders and congregations across the country in Papua New Guinea, I would like to thank every person-the leaders, the congregations, and the individuals-who have given Rev. Mark Marxhausen the green light to come here. You also went the extra mile in supporting him financially and also upholding him in prayer while he was here. A special "Thank you" to his wife, Julie, and his four children, and the members of New Vision In The Word, Int'l. Shalom!
Pastor Henoma Ttopoqogo is answering the call of God for Lutheran Renewal in Papua New Guinea."
