HOPE FOR THE PACIFIC: BWA HOSTS LIVING WATER CONFERENCE IN AUSTRALIA
By Tony Cupit
Baptists are a remarkable people. Many who attended the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Living Water conference in
Cairns, Australia, for leaders from the South West Pacific had a story to tell.
There was Amelia from Papua who was unjustly jailed for two and a half years in Indonesia; Mapusiya, an Enga from
Papua New Guinea, who was a key translator of the Kyaka Enga Bible; and Mathhias, a bishop who leads a large baptistic
group of about 65,000 baptized believers in the Solomon Islands.
There were a number of delegates from Papua New Guinea who, in recent tribal fighting, lost their homes, places of
work, and had to flee for their lives; a wonderful singing group from Samoa who live and serve in New Zealand but whose
music is heard throughout the South Pacific; and Rob and Win, a New Zealand couple who served as missionaries in Papua
New Guinea for 30 years.
There was Billy, an indigenous Australian who is a great advocate for his Lord and for his aboriginal people; a Samoan
pastor, Joshua, who has planted new congregations in the USA and New Zealand as well as five in Brisbane where he now
lives; and Rod and Helen from Australia who served in the remote and rugged mountains of Papua three decades ago and
are now retired and are back in Papua seeking to support the national churches.
The Living Water conference in North Queensland was the twelfth conducted by the BWA, this time in conjunction with
the Asia Pacific Baptist Federation (APBF), one of six regional bodies of the BWA, and the leaders of the Baptist unions in
the South West Pacific.
The conference was a beautiful, challenging and uplifting experience. The largest delegation was from Papua New
Guinea, with other large groups coming from Papua and Fiji and good numbers from the Solomon Islands, New Zealand
and Australia. Key indigenous leaders from New Zealand and Australia were in attendance.
A woman from Papua New Guinea sold chickens to raise her fare, another sold “meri” blouses. Delegates from Papua
New Guinea and Papua managed to secure visas
PHOTO: Members of the delegation from West Papua in Indonesia at the BWA Living Water conference in Cairns, Australia.
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