About Pacific Island Ministries

PIM's purpose can be stated in a sentence with key words emphasizing its seven aspects: PIM TEACHES and TRAINS for OBEDIENCE to GOD'S WORD that believers SERVE in a HOLISTIC manner to fulfil NEEDS in obedience to CHRIST. In each of these areas PIM tries to make a special contribution. Two texts providing guidance for this approach are Matthew 28:19-20 and Ephesians 4:12-13. They are the Great Commission and Apostle Paul's directive to "Equip God's people for the work of Christian service."

A. TEACHING AND TRAINING. Discipling is teaching. God created man with the drive to become more than he is. PIM tries to foster this motive to help the Christian become what God wants him to be. Numerous short courses, teacher training classes, leadership and management seminars, elementary schools, a Sunday school program involving production and distribution of materials, and on-the-job training attest to this pursuit.

B. OBEDIENCE is the call of Scripture. Jesus says, "He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me..." (John 14:21). PIM aims to help the believer mature by learning to love Christ's commands. Though the mission is evangelistic and works to this end, its primary concern is that the Christian grow in conformity to Christ so he becomes a productive member of the Body and an asset to the community.

C. PIM's focus is on GOD'S WORD. To obey Scripture one needs to know it. PIM's courses, elementary schools, Sunday schools, church development program, and devotional activities teach the Bible as the foundation of all knowledge, authority, and conduct.

D. PIM's goal is to SERVE. It aims to aid individuals, churches, the government, and other missions. PIM is not a mission in the usual sense of the term. It is not a church or denomination. It does not baptize, perform ecclesiastical functions, or conduct communion. In all its activities, however, the mission's object is to train God's people to develop their gifts and talents for service to others. One of the objects of this service is to prepare disciples for local church development who look to the Word of God for direction.

E. The mission is HOLISTIC in method. It aims to respond to all human need, not just spiritual. Man being body, soul, and spirit, we believe sound development comes when his physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs are met.

F. PIM responds to NEED. PIM pioneers at the ends of the earth. It does not have any prescribed method. It aims to determine need and try to respond to that need in the particular locale. PIM's motto is: "Working WITH the needy in their development." With this hands on approach PIM entertains requests for assistance, analyzes the need, and then responds to it as it is able and appropriate in the specific milieu from a biblical perspective. We believe this is in line with Christ's statement, "The Son of Man can do nothing except what He sees the Father doing."

G. PIM works in obedience to CHRIST. He is head of a kingdom in which men recognize authority, responsibility, gifts, and rights of each other. The aim is to develop effective, innovating working teams with each member submitting to Christ's rule and all to each other.

PIM operates largely in rural northwest PNG, specifically, in the upper Sepik River basin and the Central Range, though it has limited activity in the Waria Valley in the Morobe Province. The mission's headquarters is located on the Sepik River at Ambunti about 45 river miles above Pagwi village on the river and 60 air miles southwest of Wewak.

Since PIM's policy is to respond to need, it is involved in many activities not normally taken on by missions or other groups. Since the Sepik swamps are very much like the Everglades, where the water, however, fluctuates 25 to 30 feet, the communities are in most cases accessible by water transport. Because of the isolation, the nature of the environment, and the large expense involved, other groups and the government have not undertaken to be involved in uplifting the livelihood of the people.

A. Training and Discipling. PIM takes the command to disciple very much to heart. Experienced PIM nationals conduct courses at Ambunti and other areas to train leadership personnel in pastoring, teaching & administration, Sunday schools, community guidance, as well as village personnel in specialized areas such as health and marriage relationships.

B. Church Development. PIM promotes indigenous local church establishment and growth by training pastors and teachers in its short courses. It also sponsors an active Sunday school publishing program for various churches in PNG.

C. Elementary Schools. PIM conducts K - 3 classes in Melanesian (PNG Tok Pisin) to assist primary age children's adjustment to the English-oriented classroom of the community school to learn the basics. Highly successful and in great demand, the village schools, with hundreds of students coordinated by experienced supervisory national personnel, focus on teaching knowledge of the Scriptures. They foster God's law, principles, memorization, and Bible stories, along with achieving literacy in Melanesian.

D. Service Activities. PIM's purpose is to serve the community. It operates a mechanical repair shop, a joinery for woodworking, small sawmills, an air agency, and communication and transport services for the sick. In addition, PIM construction crews aid communities by building service centers, health care facilities, water systems, schools, community facilities, and churches.

E. Sunday School. Teaching materials are produced in PIM's USA office and Ambunti for distribution for over 300 Sunday schools serving 10,000 students in different areas of PNG. Training courses are regularly conducted by national personnel in various centers to prepare teachers in the use of these materials.

F. Village Health Care. PIM supports medical and health care services. Volunteer health workers are trained by PIM (developed in conjunction with the Stanford Medical School and the government) to provide service in many Sepik basin villages. Health training courses are conducted on PIM's Ambunti premises.

G. Water Systems Installation. For twenty five years PIM has been erecting and maintaining rain catchment water systems. Over 185 systems have been completed. Other installations use springs or clean stream water. Corrugated galvanized tanks are currently being replaced by polyethylene containers when funds are made available. Much appreciated by villagers, the water systems improve village health and ease the subsistence living conditions of the people.

A PROFILE OF PACIFIC ISLAND MINISTRIES

Pacific Island Ministries (PIM) was incorporated in 1977 as a nonprofit organization in the State of California, to promote education and development in Papua New Guinea. It was established through the leadership of Orneal Kooyers by a group of USA West Coast Christian business people.

Orneal's educational background is in science, mathematics, teaching, and school administration which led to a position of a school district superintendent in Northern California before going to New Guinea in 1961. His wife Martha was a teacher for six years in California elementary schools.

Kooyers worked for 16 years translating the New Testament into the language of the Waskuk people in the Sepik basin before forming PIM in 1977. Literacy courses led to the formation of a school called the Ambunti Akademi which taught Melanesian, English, mathematics and morals. Many Akademi students later became staff members of PIM while others realized employment in other areas of PNG, some as teachers, foremen, managers, clerks, bookkeepers, and workers in construction.

PIM (USA) is governed by a sixteen member Board of Directors that meets semiannually. Its Executive Committee meets regularly to conduct business in conformance to the laws of the State of California and the Internal Revenue Service of the USA. It's books are audited by certified auditors by standard accounting practices. It is a charter member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability.

PIM (Canada) was formed in 1988 and has a five member Board of Directors. It also was established to further training, education, and development in PNG. PIM(C) conforms to the laws and regulations of the Province of British Columbia and the national government of Canada.

PIM (PNG), formed in 1978 with headquarters at Ambunti, East Sepik Province, is governed by a Board of Managers of whom six are nationals and two are expatriate.

Since PIM's purpose was to establish schools and conduct courses in rural areas where none existed, PIM pioneered in setting up Christian primary K-3 schools in the rural regions of the Sepik. Currently it sponsors 42 schools along with its short courses in leadership, management, ethics, specialized education, and training on the job.