Evan Jeremy Paki was formally accredited as Papua New Guinea’s ambassador to the United States on Sept. 8, 2003. A 30-year old trained lawyer, he is the youngest head of mission of his country’s diplomatic service. Ambassador Paki had previously studied and worked in the United States and Australia, as well as Papua New Guinea, and he is a dedicated Seventh-day Adventist layman.

In an interview at his country’s embassy in Washington, D.C., Ambassador Paki spoke of his work, and of the need for the church to become more involved in the international community.

Ambassador Paki commented, “We as a church frequently miss the overall picture. For a successfully operating church, we need more interaction and more interface with society, and more involvement of the laity. We ought to be seeing more than we do. This world is not a utopia—we are looking for a better world to come—but we are still in the world, and should be working for religious liberty, education, health and humanitarian needs. Everyone, including those outside of our church setting, shares such concerns and Adventists need to be proactive with governments.

“We certainly should not shut out governments and ‘outsiders,’” he continued. “Church leadership sometimes is not welcoming of those involved in government and international agencies, and as a result they are not properly communicating the church’s needs and contributions. We need a transparent process,” he added.

Representing his country has meant Ambassador Paki recognizes how important it is to be engaged with society, particularly at the highest levels. “We need to develop an interface with government, church leaders, and professionals in the church,” he observed.

“Adventists are very successful and are contributing enormously to society, but are not well-known. Catering for people’s immediate needs paves the way for the spiritual approach. We must meet such needs as education and health before bringing the Gospel truth to them; otherwise the Gospel message does not get to where it needs to. We can help modify policies, obtain funding, information sharing, and so on. We can seek advice from and consult with Adventists who are also members of professional groups to help us in our work. There needs to be more interfacing and dialogue. We are not thinking strategically when we don’t see the bigger picture.”

The Ambassador says he is strongly committed to an Adventist presence internationally: “I support the church’s presence at the U.N. and at other international fora to which we are invited,” he said with enthusiasm. “At times our church leadership at its various levels is not effective in communicating problems, challenges and growth even to its own workers; even lay members. Meaningful leadership should be about taking constructive and useful criticism, being open to suggestions. All too often the church is detached from civil society. We should not be; we should be part of civil society.”