Papuan Council of Churches
On the event of the 166 Years Celebration of the Gospel entering the Land of Papua 5 February 2021
"PAPUA PEOPLE VIEWED AS MONKEYS IN THE SABANG MERAUKE INDONESIAN NATIONAL PARK"
A Peaceful Solution to 60 Years of Racist Conflict, Criminalisation and Militarism in the Land of Papua
Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Ephesians 6:10-20
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
1. On this day, from the home of our common life, we welcome the new challenges, new choices and new problems that have come with the New Year 2021. We give thanks to God who has been with us for the first weeks of this new year. The life that we live comes from the struggles and dreams of the generations of the Church and our society that have gone before us and brought us to this day on a pilgrimage "towards God" the source of Life. In the language of the Church's faith "we are moving forward towards a New Papua" in this Land, which has been fighting as hard as possible against "the ammunition of systemic racism" and criminalization from the early 1960s to today in 2021....
7.5.3. Through this letter, we also ask for people to stand in solidarity with us from anywhere in Indonesia, the Pacific and elsewhere (a) to investigate and monitor the situation of the Land of Papua... The practice of buying and selling weapons coupled with the increasing incidence of years of “racist speech” continues to make the Land of Papua “bloody” which has become a spectacle of social media... (c) We have been encouraged by the footsteps of the World Church that have visited us (thank you to the World Council of Churches and the Church in Asia & the Pacific for visiting and seeing the 'conditions of the Nduga Refugees in Wamena': a wonderful visit in 2020; not only at the grassroots level but also at the level of the Synod leadership.
7.5.4 … we thank the Prime Minister of Vanuatu, The Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and other countries who have called for UNHCR to visit the Land of Papua. We also express our thanks to those who stand in solidarity with Papua wherever you are.
These are the prayers, hopes and concerns for the situation of our Land, which we put forward to the churches and the people of the Land of Papua in order to celebrate 166 Years since the Gospel arrived in the Land of Papua. May the Lord Jesus bless us all.
Jayapura, February 5, 2021
Papuan Council of Churches
Pastor. Benny Giay (Moderator)
Pastor Andrikus Mofu
Pastor Dorman Wandikbo
Pastor Socrates Yoman
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pdf Papuan Council of Churches Pastoral Letter February 2021 PDF (299 KB)