More than 100 former members of the Abundant Life Church (ALC) at Puri Kona, Jiwaka Province, Papua New Guinea, were recently baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist faith.

Their decision was largely triggered by former ALC member Buddy Power who, after studying the Bible, came across texts referring to the Sabbath. Power, who had donated land to build the ALC church, asked his pastor about the different Sabbath passages in Scripture. Unhappy with the response, he decided to leave the ALC church and about 80 per cent of the congregation followed him.

Local Adventist pastor Elvis Topo shared the Adventist message to support the new group, who continued for a while to meet in the same building. However, due to the growing number of attendees they have now decided to erect a new building to cater for the growing number of attendees.

Solomon Paul recently conducted a week-long evangelistic meeting in the area, which concluded on the Sabbath with a presentation by South Pacific Division president Glenn Townend. About 115 people were baptized at the conclusion of the program on Sabbath, June 5, including the former ALC members.