Imagine waking up, expecting a long day of work, but there’s no food for breakfast. In Papua New Guinea, this is the reality for many—rising early, heading out with empty stomachs. But in one village, something extraordinary began when a ministry saw this need and turned hunger into hope.

"Basically at 5 to 6, everybody rush to go to work. So yeah, that was the opportunity that we actually thought that we can actually minister through feeding. So we decided sharing meals for free during the Sabbath." —Sam

This is considered a low-income area, with many residents facing daily struggles such as food insecurity. At first, reaching people here seemed difficult. But as meals were shared, everything began to change. More people were reached, and new opportunities opened to build relationships and serve.

"So it started to build that interest so people came, we gave them food and eventually praying for them. And when we eventually went into praying for them, they actually requested if we can actually do Bible studies. That's the whole thing that actually ignited the discipleship movement here in Koki." —Sam

Seeing how effective this outreach was in early 2022, the team strengthened their efforts using the South Pacific Division’s Garden Model—a five-phase approach to disciple-making: preparation, seed planting, cultivation, harvest, and multiplication.

This led to more than 400 baptisms, and after PNG for Christ, another 700 joined, boosting the membership of Koki Adventist Church.

This church has a remarkable retention rate because of its discipleship hub.

"What we have here in the Discipleship Hub is to ensure that the members that are baptized during the harvest and during the PNG for Christ are kept separately from the church. But we provide the support and foster those care and love them that we can actually grow with them. The Discipleship Hub runs the program for only 1 hour, that basically covers only for nurturing and fostering on those new members. So here we have about 400 to 500 church members coming to Sabbath every Sabbath during our programs here." —Sam

Now, in this discipleship hub, five adult Bible groups and two youth groups meet every Sabbath at the local government basketball court. The church dreams of acquiring this land to build a discipleship hub with facilities for health, education, worship, and fellowship for more than 600 members, supporting church planting and disciple-making in the community.

Your prayers are needed.

"We would like the world to pray that we acquire this piece of land so that we can develop it and we can make a discipleship hub that can not only bring people in but also prepare people for heaven." —Sam

Thank you for your prayers, and thank you for supporting mission.