Papua New Guinea is the land of the unexpected, the least explored country on Earth! It has 1,361 islands - 291 of which are inhabited - 800 known languages, and 7 million people. 84% of the population live in rural areas and villages located in mountains, jungles, rivers, and along the coast. These beautiful landscapes can make it extremely difficult to receive adequate healthcare as islands without airports and shorelines with no roads or bridge access make it nearly impossible to get in. In Papua New Guinea, 5 women die in childbirth every day, one of the highest rates in the world. Other public health stats demonstrate the concerning effects of the lack of access to quality healthcare such as 1 in 13 children die before the age of 5, someone dies of tuberculosis every two hours, and there is only 1 dentist for every 100,000 people.
One ministry has pioneered an innovative solution to meet this need in the name of Christ. This ministry uses medically equipped ships to reach isolated islands and remote shoreline villages through healthcare and the gospel of Jesus. Along with medical services, their medical ships also bring hope, mercy, and God's love. They desire for these isolated communities to know they are not forgotten; they are seen and heard by a loving God.
After a few months of initial training, Goers will live on board the medical ship 6-8 months at a time and spend 2-3 months resting, recovering, training, and serving administratively at the Hawaii home base in between outreach trips. During the travel season, the ship makes transformation visits to different isolated communities every 1-2 weeks.
The community ministry leader is a key team member of what we do! They are organizing and leading the young people doing their missions training to engage the community through worship, bible stories, gospel presentation, Jesus Film presentation, clean water projects, health education sessions, sharing testimonies, visiting local schools, organizing bible distribution and prayer. This role is vital for our teams to engage every person who comes to the clinics to receive more than medicine to have an encounter with Jesus!
On board the ship, Goers have responsibilities from Monday through Friday. In addition to fulfilling the role and job duties, the Goers will also carry God's presence on board and in every interaction with our national volunteers. There are ample opportunities to minister and disciple others, through prayer meetings, community meetings, devotionals, and supporting the leadership team on board.
People skills, ability to organize and delegate tasks, ability to be a team player, ability to communicate cross culturally, leadership, adaptability, flexibility, problem solver, self motivated, comfortable to work with children and youth teams.