Pioneered by CLC missionaries from Australia and New Zealand, CLC opened in Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 1959. Now, 60 years later, the CLC ministry in this country has closed down. David Scouler outlines some of the history of the work, the situation that led to the closure and, importantly, plans for the future of the bookshop.
“From the outset, CLC in Papua New Guinea served a people who were hungry for the Word of God and Christian books. In the 1980s, there was brisk trading at the CLC bookshop as the local currency was strong with the US dollar. It was during this period that Ross and Heather Campbell managed the CLC work until they returned to CLC Australia in 1997. The management was handed over to local nationals, Ako and Lily Arua, and then to Vere and Maraga Babona. During the years that followed, the local currency in PNG rapidly devalued, and the price of books escalated. As a result, Christian books from the United States became too expensive for most people.
At this point, CLC Australia started Christian Booklink, a ministry to supply second-hand Christian books to PNG. This provided a great resource and was a ministry-saver for CLC at the time.
For over 20 years, Vere managed the bookshop but increasingly he carried the burden of keeping the work functioning during hard economic times and without, at times, much administration help, especially after CLC closed in Australia in 2014.
Early in 2019, a CLC evaluation team visited Vere to see what could be done to turn the work around. It became clear that the most obvious and logical initiative was to talk to another Christian literature ministry operating in PNG: Christian Books Melanesia (CBM). After several weeks of discussions regarding the future of the bookshop ministry in Boroko, Port Moresby, and the best way to serve the local people, all parties felt God directing us to ask CBM to take over the bookshop from CLC. This took place in September 2019.
CBM will bring to Boroko the benefit of 50 years’ experience and its operations in other towns in PNG. The ministry also has a range of its own publications written specifically to meet the needs of churches and communities in Bible teaching, evangelism and literacy. Relationships with other Christian ministries and educational groups, including publishers, will bring additional benefits.
We praise God for the team that has served in the CLC ministry for all these years and trust that, as a new season begins for each member, they will look forward in faith to their future endeavours. Meanwhile, CBM is looking forward to continuing their legacy to serve the community in Port Moresby.”
David Scouler, CLC International Office