Reports of stunning mass baptisms are coming out of Papua New Guinea (PNG), where one Christian leader revealed that more than 300,000 people have been baptized this year into the Christian faith.
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The baptisms were part of an event series known as PNG for Christ, with initial estimates apparently accounting for only a portion of the total baptisms that took place, Adventist Today reported.
The outlet went on to say the PNG for Christ campaign is a joint Seventh-day Adventist effort of the Papua New Guinea Union Mission (PNGUM), the General Conference, and Adventist World Radio, among others.
The effort was reportedly a two-week campaign tour featuring Pastor Ted Wilson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church. He and his wife, Nancy, spoke at daily events as the crusade traveled around Papua New Guinea to share the Gospel.
Wilson released a May 19 statement on Facebook detailing some of the incredible baptism numbers that reportedly took place during these events.
“The latest information from the South Pacific Division and the Papua New Guinea Union Mission is that 278,369 people have been baptized so far in ‘PNG for Christ’ with only about 52% of the over 2000 sites reporting,” he wrote. “This is a miracle of God! Many more will be reported.”
He followed up that announcement a week later, revealing that more than 300,000 had been baptized as reports continued to come in from around the country.
Wilson said the PNG effort carefully instructed people in biblical truth to help them understand the Gospel. He went on to say the baptisms were evidence of the “Holy Spirit power being poured out on Papua New Guinea.”
Just days before Wilson’s post, Adventist Record stated in a May 14 article that, with official numbers still being counted, the total baptismal count was already at 260,000.
With so many being immersed, some pools had to be made to accommodate up to 1,000 people — an incredible feat that shows the depths of new believers’ desire to express their faith.
The impact of PNG for Christ on individual hearts was apparently sweeping, with the Adventist Record noting reports of “drug lords burning their marijuana crops and being baptised, prisoners responding to calls, whole villages declaring themselves Adventist, healings and people understanding the Gospel presentations in their own languages.”
PNG for Christ was coordinated by Pastor Miller Kuso, personal ministry director for PNGUM. He oversaw 2,000 sites where events were held throughout the country, including in some remote areas.
“It is a great privilege and honor for me to visit different sites right across our country,” he told the Adventist Record. “I would like to thank [the almost 300 international speakers] for standing together, as a movement, with PNGUM to deliver the message of hope, the message of salvation to the people of this great nation of Papua New Guinea.”
Be sure to pray for the hundreds of thousands who were reportedly baptized during PNG for Christ and for the many leaders helping disciple people who are leaving behind other religious and faith systems to begin new and vibrant relationships with Christ.
CBN News has reached out to the Seventh-day Adventist world church to confirm final baptism numbers and will update the story when we hear back.
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