During the swearing-in of Morobe’s Members of Parliament on September 6th, Governor Luther Wenge made a commitment to put all pastors in Morobe on the provincial government’s payroll.
Following that, the Babafi Trust Partnership Program has been tasked to identify and verify church ministers within the 10 districts of Morobe Province, regardless of denomination.
“Not only Morobeans but whatever pastors from any other province who came here to Morobe to work as a missionary, pastor or evangelist here, our good Governor is looking forward to put every man and woman, who is a pastor or missionary, on payroll,” said Babafi Trust chairman, Ps Siraah Sam Sabedi.
“Mipla hia lo Babafi Trust, mipla wok raun nau na mipla kolektim data as far as the 10 districts here.
“Em first-of-its-kind. Ol lain lo Anglican Church, Catholic Church, ol kam na ol excited lo lukim ol displa samting kamap.
“Babafi is not a word from the dictionary. It’s a native ‘Kotec’ language which means people who help and support pastors. Gavana em setim ap displa ofis lo mipla helpim ol misineri na pasta.”
Babafi Trust coordinator and survey team leader, Ps Setefano Kepe, said almost 1,300 pastors, evangelists and missionaries have been identified so far.
“Strategy weh mipla aplaim lo painim genuine pasta em tripla; namba wan em mipla yusim headquarters lo kolektim neim, namba tu, we’re going through the presidents and councillors. Each councillor from each ward collects the names and submits to us.
“Number three, we have a pastor on ground who collects names. When we have all the names, we analyse to see who is genuine and who is not.
“At the moment, we are just collecting data to create a budget for the pastors in Morobe Province.
“We have not yet come up with a salary (amount) to pay our pastors but I believe it will vary from senior pastors, evangelists and associate pastors. They will be paid differently.”
The four-man team of surveyors are working tirelessly to get the project off ground by February 2023, in anticipation of the province’s first budget.