President 111 Looks to the Future —6 Introducing the Church of the CPUM Report From o begin to understand the church in the Central Pacific Union Mission (CPUM) you have to think ADRA in Tyoung. Seventy per cent of the church members are youth. You cannot talk about the youth being the church of tomorrow. Not in the islands of the CPUM. Cambodia 11 Think youth, think enthusiasm. Now you are beginning to understand the church in the CPUM. In area, the CPUM covers about one-and-a-half Australias, but 98 per cent of it is Pacific Ocean. Within its borders are the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Island, Secularism Samoa, Tonga and Niue, and Tuvalu. This week begins a series of reports on the area that will continue for a number of weeks. In this and the issue you'll find an interview with the president of the CPUM, Dr Stenio Gungadoo, and a brief report Christian —9 on the CPUM's tertiary institution, Fulton College.—Bruce Manners The CPUM? It's About People sports stadium on Friday night, and then about the girl I asked while walking t would be marching on Sunday as part of a street across the campus of College Adventiste Ieasy to pre- parade. They far outnumbered any other du Pic Vert (Tahiti) whether she could pare a report on group in the parade. speak English. "Of course," came the the Central Pac- It's about the laughter of youth on a matter-of-fact reply. ific Union Miss- Friday night in Western Samoa at my It's about the church elder on the Cook ion (CPUM) that attempts to use their language. (I discov- Islands who pulled strings so we, an emphasised the ered later the translator was having his Adventist group of transit passengers, sometimes stun- fun too. At one point where I referred to had permission to race through the early ning beauty of myself as "a crazy European," using a morning darkness (5.00 am) and visit a these islands, the church buildings, insti- local word for "European," he substitut- newly completed church building on tutions, evangelism, the financial situa- ed a similar-sounding word and I Rarotonga. (The plane was on the ground tion and so on. As important as these became "a crazy watermelon.") for only a little more than an hour.) things are, it's the people who make the It's about discussing theology with And the Adventist Church in the church in the CPUM. CPUM began with an individual, John And there are 27,000 stories that could Tay, who worked his passage to Pitcairn He substituted a similar- be told. Island in 1886. Within a few weeks the sounding word and I be- The CPUM is about the pastor on islanders unanimously agreed to keep the came "a crazy watermelon." Vava'u (Tonga) who pointed out where Sabbath. he regularly used to swim three kilome- The story of these new Adventists tres across a deep ocean channel and Marcel, my guide in French Polynesia, aroused considerable interest in the back just so he could visit the girl he on Moorea. The fact that we were actual- United States when Tay returned. In would marry. (Yes, there are sharks. No, ly swimming in a lagoon off what some 1890 the Adventist missionary ship he never saw one.) He's also pastored a call the most beautiful island in the Pitcairn sailed from San Francisco with church on either side of the channel. world added a new element to the dis- Tay and his wife among those on board. It's about the elder of the church in cussion. They arrived in Fiji in 1891. Nadi (Fiji) who tells of how his family It's about the Adventists running an Unfortunately, Tay died five months became Adventists because of a dream outreach program in Suva (Fiji), where later. His grave in the Suva Cemetery his uncle had. His uncle dreamed a the churches help provide food as a core overlooks the harbour. stranger would offer him a paper when group reach out to street people. Their As I said, it would be easy to prepare a he asked for cigarettes. The stranger he success has captured the attention of the report on the CPUM that emphasised the asked happened to be a Seventh-day government. beauty of these islands, the church build- Adventist pastor who was attempting to It's about the young pastor teaching ings, institutions, evangelism, the finan- begin the work in the area. His uncle and 50 people sitting on the floor of his cial situation and so on. You will read his family became the first Adventists in church (there were no seats). I watched about those things, and the joys and the area. as he gave a Bible study. A couple of challenges faced by the church, over the It's about the four Adventist journal- weeks later 30 of them were baptised. next few weeks. ism students at the University of the It's about the Adventist businesswom- But the church of the CPUM is peo- South Pacific (Fiji) who want to make a an who runs her own computer teaching ple, people remarkably similar to you difference in their world. And they want school, and the Adventist businessman and me. The church, as always, is people to help their church. who gives unstintingly to the church. on a journey with God. We must never It's about the energy of 1200 It's about the boys at Mizpah school lose sight of that fact. Pathfinders meeting in Papeete's (Tahiti) playing touch rugby with a coconut. And Bruce Manners Manuscripts Should be sent to The Editor. Official Paper Record, Signs Publishing Company, South Pacific Division Warburton, Victoria 3799. Manuscripts or Next Week: SEVENTH-DAY computer disks will only be returned if accom- ADVENTIST panied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Editor Bruce Manners CHURCH Phone: (03) 5966 9111. Fax: (03) 5966 9019. Assistant Editor Lee Dunstan E-mail: CompuServe 74617,726; Internet When the bell tolls on Editorial Assistant Brenton Stacey [email protected]. Copy Editor Graeme Brown Subscriptions South Pacific Division, Editorial Secretary Lexie Deed $A40.00 $NZ73.00. All other regions, Pitcairn Island. Senior Consulting Editor Laurie Evans $A70.00. Air mail rates on application. Order from Signs Publishing Company, Warburton, Victoria 3799, Australia. Printed weekly by Cover Photos: B and M Manners Signs Publishing Company. A.C.N. 000 003 930 Vol 102 No 31 2 RECORD August 9, 1997 A Saviour on Dirty Streets by Nathan Brown eve of the crucifixion, the Master could he history of our world is the story have seen what He would look like when Tof a search by humanity for a taken from the cross, would He have saviour. The Bible says a Saviour can be mounted the cross and died as He did?" found. Yet God did die, and He rose again. This should be reasonably straightfor- And the answer to our search for a ward. However, the difficulty faced by Saviour in these dirty streets, where we these searchers has been where to search. are, is that this is where He can be found. The human mind in this spiritual quest And He wants to be found. tends to point the would-be seeker to the This true story of salvation reaches to high and mighty, to the halls of power or all. There is no human condition so low the realms of popular acclaim. as to be beyond the possibility of deliv- The glory of the story of salvation is erance. that a Saviour can be found, even on our In Dostoievski's Crime and dirty streets.* Our God is unquestionably Punishment, a prostitute and a murderer great, but He made the incomprehensible are brought together through various cir- step of lowering Himself to walk the cumstances and together they read the dusty roads in an inconsequential corner story of the raising of Lazarus. The of this speck in the universe. majesty and hope of this grand but sim- If we fail to appreciate this all-tran- ple story is able to touch these apparent- scending marvel, it can only be because ly lowest of people: "The stub of candle we're unable to grasp the enormous had long been guttering in its crooked chasm between the heights of the utmost candlestick within that wretched room, glories of heaven and the depths of our shedding its dim light on the murderer sorry little existence. and the prostitute who had so strangely If God had come to our planet as an encountered each other in the reading of all-powerful king, living in ultimate lux- the eternal book." ury while enjoying the adulation of all, This is what the gospel is about. We this would still have been a sacrifice can argue our apologetics and doctrine in beyond measure. But God lowered an endless circle of pseudo-intellectual- Himself to the depths of human exis- ism and still miss heaven. We must face tence. And He overcame sin through the our human wretchedness with the glory ultimate degradation of His brutal death. of salvation and the glory of God. There In The Idiot, Dostoievski has one of is so much of God that is infinitely his characters confronted by a painting beyond our comprehension, but in Jesus of Christ being taken down from the we have been provided with a human cross. It is said that this was an autobio- face of God—someone who meets us graphical account of an instance when where we are.