Murukanam village community in Sumkar District, Madang Province, is currently hosting a six-day church rally. The rally began on Monday June 26, 2023. The rally is purposely to raise funds to rebuild their village church, which is in a run-down state.
Cohesively, the rally is to seek divine intervention for youth in an area who are involved in violent crimes including killings, cult and other anti-social behavior.
Chairperson of the St. Peter’s Fundraising Committee, Thaddeus Suam, stated that upon consultation with professional builders, the community will need K150, 000 for maintenance work. If they opted to renovate, the amount is bound to increase.
Built in 1981, the Murukanam church building is quite a big structure. However, Mr. Suam said the people, at that time, underestimated the number of believers in the future. Today, the church is most often full to capacity during worship. Many churchgoers tend to sit outside during service.
The committee is expecting more people to attend the rally because many people from neighbouring communities also attend church there. They even expect people to come from as far as Middle Ramu and Rai Coast districts. They have also invited the Madang Governor to join in the closing ceremony this Saturday.
While fundraising has been slow, the people remain optimistic.