Keith and Angie Copley Keeping up with The Copley's Posted by email
May 29, 2011
Recently the Hewa people had a writing assignment – They were to write Jonathan a letter. Some wrote their favorite passages out – and some wrote more personal notes… I typed them into the computer and sent them out. It was fun. I asked if I could share a few excerpts with you all — this is the result: Faro – John 14:1 – 6 (Overall favorite – it is a passage of HOPE. Without hope, the Hewa have nothing) Faimbot – Romans 8: 38-39 – He additionally wrote – “Before we did not know of God’s love. We lived separated from God and in complete darkness. Now we understand the truth about Jesus and His blood washing away the penalty for our sin and we are so happy. We are so happy that we have to tell others in our sister villages.” Markus – Before I was a Pharisee – I did church, and tried to make others do church. I tried to live up to God’s rules, but I could not. I did not understand the really purpose of church. It was eating the leaves of the sweet potato plant and not the sweet potato. But now I know the root meaning – the sweet potato – and it is sweet food that fills me up. Eyaka – … We are now studying Ephesians and it is such good food. We are having our hearts strengthened by the talk in Ephesians.
Posted by email
May 16, 2011
After the first night of teaching Ephesians – here is an excerpt of what I wrote my co-worker Jonathan Kopf – ” I am PUMPED about Ephesians. Chapter one is a killer. After the teaching tonight we had a big discussion about eternal security. I really tried to hit it home that we did NOT save ourselves, nor can we keep ourselves. It seemed to go well and everyone was excited. pray for it all to be clear. Did verses 5-14 – the highlights being that we are God’s children, The Holy Spirit is His mark on us, the Grace of God is over the top. God promised that we are His children and that he would not leave us – and his promises always are true. Romans 5:1 was tied in. as was Romans 8:38-39. We are promised Heaven – and God will NOT fail to take us there. As you can see – this is why the eternal security question was fresh in their mind… obviously they had thought/talked about it before, but now they were hearing a clear stand… I think the question was to confirm their understanding that we are secure in Christ.
Take your kids to work?
I recently had the privilege of traveling with my 2 oldest daughters on a Church Plant Consultant visit. Angie stayed home with the 2 little ones due to there not being enough room on the plane, but the 2 older ones joined me for a time of traveling to see two different Church Plants in progress. The first destination we traveled to is called Siawi. To get to Siawi it only took about an hour and 15 minutes of travel via a small 6 seat plane. The Church we visited has had missionaries for 20+ years and the time is nearing when the missionaries will no longer be living permanently in the jungle location. The Siawi Church has seen men rise to the challenge of taking on the leadership roles in the church. We had a wonderful time of visiting with the leaders that will serve in the roles of Elders, Deacons, and Missionaries. These men are humble in taking the role of leadership because the know just how powerful and crafty their advesary is. In their humility, the church is displaying evidence of living in total dependence on The Word and The Holy Spirit. What a neat time to see this church reaching a more mature state in their growth process.
After a few days of visitng the Siawi church, we set out on a 3 hour river ride toward our next destination. The river was at flood stages and the first part of the trip felt a bit more like a roller coaster ride instead of canoe travel. The river flowed over log snags and around sharp corners as it marched forward through the deserted jungle. We finally arrived at our next location to consult with a Church that was in it’s earliest stages of growth. The Uliyai church just completed hearing the Good News in October of 2010. There are a small group of folks that have made a clear profession of faith in the work that Christ has accomplished through the cross and ressurection. What a great time of celebrating the joy of new found hope. Our hearts were encouraged with the depth of understanding and the desire to know more about the riches found in God’s Word.
After a great time of celebration and strategic planning for the future, the girls and I boarded the dugout canoe to head toward the nearest airstip… did I mention the flood stage state of the river? Well the airstip was about three feet deep and since our plane does NOT have floats, we ventured back up the river cutting off the main river to smaller and smaller rivers that eventually became creeks. The girls and I had some good laughs as we pushed and pulled the 20 foot dugout canoe as far up the river as we could go. We all had a good time jumping in the water to cool off in one of the most beautiful crystal clear streams I have ever seen. We enjoyed seeing God’s handiwork in the flowers called “The Flames of the Jungle.” These flowers hang down from the jungle canopy as bright red streaks that can be 30+ feet long, slicing through the myriad of sometimes overwhelming green foliage. We could not help seeing that the bright flames of difference were a picture of the work God is doing through HIS church in the jungle of Papua New Guinea.
Small bundle of Jungle Flames.
We thank God for those of you that allow us to serve in this ministry. We pray that our kids will grow up and remember how forturnate we are to have so much access to the Best News.
We are adjusting back into life in PNG
It was a fast flowing 9 months on Home Assignment, but we really have felt like we were carried through the entire time. We are so thankful for the many of you that have taken the time to minister to us. Our only regret was that we did not make it around to see all of you. We are planning to be in The USA in 2013 and will try to make all of our visits during that time.
For now - we are back in PNG adjusting to the time-zone, heat, shopping challenges, etc. We are making contacts with old friends and trying to get back into the groove of life and ministry. Pleas pray for our adjustment and that we will be a blessing to our team here in PNG.
For now the best way to keep in touch is via facebook or email. Please Pray for the following:
- Pray for the Hewa Church. We hope to travel in and teach through Ephesians from May-June
- Pray for our travels and adjustment back to life in PNG. The first few weeks of adjustment always takes an extra dose of grace.
- Praise The Lord our return tickets have been covered and we are going back to PNG without that concern. Thank you for the many of you that have prayed and given generously to see us “GO”. Many say that sending us to the other side of the world is a good investment…………
- Pray for a dear friend in Hewa – Yanis’ wife is due any day and he is very concerned for her health and the health of his child. He really is a nervous new father – pray for him to continue to find God faithful.
Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement, and support. We count it a privilege to serve HIM with you all. We realize we are just a small part of what God is doing through your generosity. Please drop us a line and let us know how we can pray for you.
Deuteronomy 32: 3 & 4 -
The Copleys
Keeping up with The Copleys
Hey Friends,
It is so good to catch up with so many of you. We have been shifting gears and are busy speaking and sharing our ministry with many folks. We are also working hard to make contact with all of you that have faithfully supported the Hewa Ministry through the years. We recently had a wonderful time traveling to Eagle Bible Church in Colorado. This church is truly on the mission field. It is encouraging to see folks being faithful to serve HIM wherever they go. (Acts 8:4)
In the coming months we will be traveling and speaking in Maryland, Michigan, and all over Florida. We are starting to gear up for our return to PNG in January of 2011. Please pray for us as we desire to see as many of you as possible in this short amount of time.
We are excited to hear that the Hewa have sent several people to a medical training seminar put on by NTM. We know that simple medical care and hygiene greatly increases the welfare of the Hewa people. We are thankful for the many efforts that have been taken to help get the Hewa people the training they need.
Please pray for us as we continue to travel. Please pray that whenever we speak, people will be focused on what GOD is doing to build HIS church.
The Copleys
Ps. – check out some pix on facebook @
or http://www.flickr.com/photos/53506646@N02/
Tags: church planting, copley, hewa, missions, papua new guinea
Copley’s Return to America
Thank You
We want to say thank you so much for your prayers, generosity, and kind encouragement. We have been amazed at how smooth our transition back to The USA has gone. Many of you have worked hard to make it all happen and we are truly grateful. We have enjoyed living between Angie’s brother’s house and Keith’s parents. Eventually we will need a more permanent housing arrangement, but need prayer about what will work best for our situation.
Angie’s Mom has been discharged from the hospital and is in a long term physical therapy center. Mom remains paralyzed on her right side. She cannot talk and cannot swallow. She has a long road to being at a point that she can come home, but we are confident in The Great Physician and appreciate your continued prayers. We are thankful that mom recognizes everyone and can communicate with us by shaking her head “yes” and “no”. We ask you all to pray especially for her encouragement as she is aware of her condition and must find it difficult not to be able to do all that she could do before her stroke and heart attack.
Current Plans
We are getting settled and are ready to assume our normal Home Assignment activities. We are ready to start scheduling our visits with all of you that have been involved in our church planting ministry to PNG over the many years. If you would like to get together, or arrange for us to speak to your church, Sunday school class, or small group, please contact us ASAP. We will be traveling this summer and fall. We would like to have all our travels done by January which is when our Home Assignment was already scheduled to end.
It is a pleasure to serve HIM together with you,
The Copley’s
Church Planters in PNG
Deuteronomy 32:3, 4
Tags: copley, hewa, papua new guinea
Thoughts on a Recent Workshop we Helped Host
Angie and I recently helped host a Curriculum Development Workshop with about 35 PNG nationals from 6 different people groups where NTM has planted churches. It was a wonderful time of challenging these men to continue to step forward and take the lead in their families, marriages, and villages. The time was a huge encouragement to us as we sat with these men and opened God’s Word. Here is an excerpt from one missionaries letter follwing the workshop – I thought you might enjoy hearing his thoughts. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of this team. It is a pleasure to serve HIM together with you – The Copley’s
I glanced at my mud encrusted watch and checked the hour as the prow of our dugout canoe swept in a shaky arc, circling back towards the distant shore. Four o’clock, Tuesday afternoon. The ten of us had been traveling since Sunday afternoon, homeward bound after a week long church workshop held at the support center for the Sepik region. Many memories and new friendships filled our hearts. Many experiences and new concepts occupied our thoughts. This time of teaching and fellowship was much more than a simple workshop for church leaders. It proved to be a time of challenge and encouragement for our young believers; young men still uncertain as to their own responsibility for the godly shepherding of other believers. The unsolicited testimonies and discussion coming from my tribal friends confirmed to me that God’s Holy Spirit was indeed working and molding their thinking to come in line with His Word.
And now we had almost made our way home. Martin’s steady hand on the tiller of the 40hp outboard guided our careful circle on the Sepik River, everyone suddenly alert and eager to check out the huge crocodile lazily sunning itself on the tree snag that reared out of the dark waters. Aching backsides forgotten, the men in front of me excitedly discussed the size and cheeky audacity of the reptile that was slowly rotating its toothy head in our direction. I watched and marveled how the weariness of the journey seemed to disappear from the bloodshot eyes of those before me. They were secure in the knowledge that we were only one more river point from home and family. The journey’s end was within reach.
I thought back a week and a half ago when we started out on this trip. My co-worker, Frank and I left the village with representatives from two different assemblies of believers. Travelling with five Siawi men and four Abau men, we had marveled how these traditional enemies were now learning to live in practical ways as Christian brothers. And here within the confines of this hollowed out log, Funwk, Nomo, Maikel, and Martin were eager to educate Samoliai, Malikai, Ofamo, Mabo and Steven on the ways of the river and of crocodiles and dugout canoes and village names. Maikel continued in his teasing of Malikai, cajoling him to sit exactly in the center of our unsteady vehicle; Malikai continued obliging him with a grin and a head tip from side to side in defiant compliance. I wished Frank could have witnessed the camaraderie on the return trip. But the Lord had allowed me to be a part of that journey. I licked my blistered lips, re-arranged the fuel jugs around my sunburned knees, lifted one wet and wrinkled foot from the sloshing water in the bottom of the boat and propped it over the side. As the hot sun warmed my bedraggled clothes and steamed away the soaking from the latest downpour, I looked at my dirty hands, caked with mud from the ongoing struggle to caulk our ship, scratched my scruffy chin and breathed a word of thankfulness. We were almost home.
Through wind and wave, darkness and storm we had come. Drenched by driving rain for hours at a time, lost and ill at ease during the blackness of night, we committed ourselves to making it home before Tuesday night. Frustrated with our perpetually sinking canoe, frightened by giant whirlpools and oncoming floating debris, we nevertheless pressed on. It fell to my lot to navigate into the blackness of night, totally helpless and completely relying on Funwk and Nomo, silhouetted up on the bow by their roving flashlights. They somehow guided us past all the hidden oxbows and islands on that serpentine river. Teeth chattering in the ongoing tropical downpour, everyone huddled under plastic, and water streaming from Maikel’s beard as he kept me company in the stern… But we were heading home. And we sensed God in the canoe with us.
The crocodile gracefully slid into the water as we neared, the only evidence of its existence being the suddenly bouncing tree snag from which he had disappeared. Everyone cheered at the spectacle, everyone secretly wishing he had the means to bring the trophy meat home. Martin maneuvered the canoe back upstream. I motioned him to idle to a stop. All was suddenly quiet. Funwk latched onto some reeds on the bank to keep us from drifting downstream. Then Siawi’s Malikai grinned at Abau’s Maikel, and stood up in the rocking boat. He led us in heartfelt thanks to our Heavenly Father for protection and provision throughout the journey.
As I heard mummers of agreement around me I was reminded of Martin’s comment made to me an hour before. We were passing an Abau man and his family in their downriver bush camp. He had excitedly waved us over and passed on the news that Maikel’s wife had almost drowned the previous day in the flooding river. Frank, having already flown back to the billage for some other responsibilities, was the one who had jumped in and swam to rescue her. As we left that landing, Martin had quietly praised God behind me, that in His grace, God had made it possible for us to come home without grief waiting for us. And I too, silently thanked Malikai’s Heavenly Father as Malikai continued on, praising the Lord for His goodness in bringing us safely home. The Lord in His goodness will bring each of us safely home.
Through life’s storms, through the heat of conflict, rain of disappointments and the shadow of death, beyond discomfort and trials and distractions that threaten to drag us down, His grace continues to be sufficient for each daily experience. Though many fears and doubts assail us as we move through periods of darkness, if we look carefully, our spiritual eyes can make out the Lord’s moment by moment directing up in front. When we are unsettled concerning the unknown future, when we don’t feel in control of our journey, when we feel ourselves sinking under the weight of unfulfilled expectations or regret, He is more than able to deliver us. We are committed to the journey home. We look forward with eager anticipation to that great arrival. He and He alone is the One who can safely bring us home. He has committed Himself to do this. Come on, look away from your own feeble strength and hang on to the promise that He is giving us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Right now you may feel dirty and tired in your great journey home, but look up ahead! The last bend is approaching, and we are going safely Home, right where we have always belonged! Hang on… Home is near. (Kelly Luyendyk – Missionary to the Abau People)
Update from Kul
Now glory be to God! By HIS mighty power at work within us, HE is able to accomplish infinitely more that we would ever dare to ask or hope. May HE be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages! Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21 NLT
Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement during our recent visit to Hewa-land. As you know, we were able to spend 3 ½ weeks at the small hamlet we refer to as Kul. At this location there are about 40 folks involved in a church that was established in 2008. Our co-workers, the Kopf’s, shared the Good News with these folks at that time. Since then their appetite for The Word has been voracious. They have been taught through key Old and New Testament portions including Acts and Romans 1-3. On this trip, we had the opportunity to go in and share with them Romans 4-8. During this time they often sat with HUGE smiles on their faces, shaking their heads in amazement, and saying, “Momale*.” They were excited to hear just how secure their salvation is in Christ. The Hewa ancestors taught them that in the spiritual world, the spirits were always in need, and nothing was secure. Some of the other churches in the area teach that God is very much the same, always demanding perfect behavior, and nothing is secure. However, to now see clearly in God’s Word that Christ paid their debt and therefore they are declared “perfectly right (righteous)” in the sight of God, brought forth praise for all that Christ accomplished on the cross. (*Momale – Hewa term for “It is good, true, or amazing.”)
Life in Kul – it was an incredible family time. We lived in a house that is 16X25. That means one bath, one Bedroom (8X9) and one other room that encompassed a kitchen, desk, dining table, and another bed. The kids slept in the bedroom in a 3 man tent (didn’t want critters to get them). We arrived in Kul in the middle of a drought. So, Keith carried water most every day – about 25 minutes, round trip. We were thankful for the strength and health to accomplish this. And as a bonus – Keith lost no weight but lost one belt notch in just 3 weeks. If you are interested in the Kul weight loss program I can send you the details (and it won’t even cost you 3 installments of $19.95). Angie and the girls carried the laundry down to the creek. It was a good time of working together to keep us all clean and healthy.
Psalm 139 was the passage God laid on my heart to study most every day during our time in Kul. We are 2 hours helicopter ride from anywhere, and sitting in a group of people that are different from us in most every single way. As I spent time in this Psalm I read the words, “…you chart the path ahead of me and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am.” When I struggled with how to say the deep truths of Romans in the Hewa language I read, “…You know what I am going to say, even before I say it…” When we were lonely and missing family I read, “…I can never escape from your spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” When I was exhausted from carrying water or from teaching 6 days a week twice a day I read, “your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.” It was wonderful to live in a beautiful rainforest in the heart of PNG and know that God was right there, looking over us, guiding us, and protecting us. What a privilege.
Our trip was fantastic and we are praying about when we should go back. Please pray for God’s wisdom and provision so that we can move in sync with HIS leading. We want to be where HE is working. We want to be tools in His hands that do HIS will.
Thank you for the tremendous part you play in our ministry through prayer, support, and encouragement. We are privileged to serve our wonderful Savior.
It is a pleasure to serve HIM together with you,
The Copley’s
Merry Christmas
Celebrate Christmas!
We have been “off the grid” a bit lately due to a trip to Hewa — In the bush we have NO email, internet, cell coverage, or TV. However, we seem to have better access to the One we NEED – Here is one scene we partook in during our time visiting The Church in Hewa.
Sitting in a church building without electricity… some folks are on benches, many are on the floor, the rain storm outside continues to intensify complete with thunder, lightning, blowing wind, and intense rain. It was nearly impossible to hear due to the rain on the metal roof sounding like the inside of a jet engine… Everything within me wanted to stop teaching wondering if everyone was even able to hear? Would my voice hold out as I yelled in competition with the elements? Was there something bigger going on? We had come to the highlight of our block of teaching in Romans — I wanted to cover Chapters 1-3. The people had met with us twice a day every day for the week. They seemed to notice that the teaching was building toward something. Now that we were reaching the climax in the teaching – the storm seemed to be working it’s hardest to push back against the intensity of the message of Romans.
I said “Guys, this is the verse that is going to knock the legs out of all other false churches and religions. These verses should be memorized and re-taught on a regular basis. I am going to write it on the wall of our church so that everyone can see what makes us different than every other church in our area. Do you want me to keep going? Should I quit and try in the morning when we can hear better? People leaned in, a few folks got up and moved closer so that they could hear God’s Word. Sensing that it would be wrong for me to back down at this point, we pushed on and read,
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Romans 3:20-22
One of our key guys nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement – several had a huge smile as they rested in all that Christ has done for us. This message cannot be held back – it will go forward because it is GOOD NEWS.
Thank you – We thank you on behalf of the Hewa People and we thank you from our family for the opportunity to do this ministry. What a privilege to share The GOOD NEWS with the Hewa people.
When not in Hewa, we have been very busy in our ministry at the regional support center in town. We have had a lot of personnel passing through our regional support center and always enjoy ministering to fellow missionaries. Here are a few of the things we do when we are not preparing for, or teaching in Hewa land;
We are arranging all the logistics for a Bible Dedication into the Iwam Language Group in February. We are working on planning and coordinating a Regional Conference in March. Included in this time will be a series of strategy meetings that we will assist in leading. We have also had the opportunity to help in evaluating Current Church Planting efforts in our region and assist these churches in planning their course. We have had some folks go through some very difficult circumstances and we have spent many hours visiting and ministering to these dear friends. We fill in all our free time with whatever needs to be done to “keep the lights on” at our support center.
Overall – We are doing very well. We miss you all dearly. We reminisce about how nice it was to be home last year.
However, we know this is where God has us and we are thankful for the opportunities we have here. THANK YOU for joining with us and making this ministry possible. Your prayers, encouragement, and faithful support have been a huge blessing. Please drop us a line and let us know how you are celebrating your Christmas and your plans for the NEW YEAR.
With His Love – The Copley’s
Deuteronomy 32: 3-4
Faith in the Jungle
New believers baptized in “Kul”!!!
Yanis and Ken have done a fantastic job with the church planting effort for the people of the “Kul” village. The Lord has blessed their efforts tremendously over these last 12 months with village wide interest. Attendance for the daily Bible teaching sessions have held steady the entire time at almost 100% from young and old alike (approx. 45 people). Many are now professing Christ and recently ten of these people took a bold step forward, demonstrating their faith publicly through baptism!
The testimonies of faith that we heard prior to the baptism were rich and deep. Alimpu, the village elder said with deep conviction, “Satan had me all tied up, trapped on the trail of sin. Now that I have heard God’s story from the Bible, I understand that God had a right to be angry with me and pronounce a severe judgment/payment for my sin. I realized that I was helpless to pay for my own sin debt. I heard the story of John the Baptist, and how when he saw Jesus coming he said, ‘Look, that’s God’s Lamb that takes away sin’, and when I heard that I realized Jesus had come to the ground to take away my sin debt. When I heard later that Jesus died and rose again, I realized that He died for me, so that I could be clean in Gods eyes, and so that I could be His very own child. Now God isn’t mad at me for my sin debt, but instead has made me His own child. He rescued me from Satan’s trail and has now put me on the trail of Jesus. That’s why I want to be baptized. I want everyone to know that I am tired of the old trail. I am now on the trail of Jesus.”
There were many other testimonies that warmed my heart like never before. Fato said, “Once a long time ago, some men came to our village and told us to build a church. We worked hard to make the building, and then when it was finished, the men told us to kill our pigs so they could eat them, and they told us to give them our money. We did everything they told us to do, because we thought it would make God happy with us. They later explained God’s ten laws to us and told us to obey them. Then, after we heard God’s ten laws, they told us to get baptized so we did. We thought we had done everything right. But now we see that the trail that they had us following was just as bad as the trail we had been on earlier when we were trying to please our ancestral spirits. Now that you have come to live with us however, we have been able to hear God’s words in our own language, and we have been able to read His book with our own eyes. Now we can see the true trail from start to finish, and we have come to understand clearly that Jesus has made it possible for us to be God’s children. Thank you for showing us the trail of Jesus.”
Praise and Prayer
Praise; Keith Copley was able to teach Romans 1-3 for the first time in Hewa and the response was terrific! It was so cool to see the believers get excited over Romans.
Praise; Jonathan has made steady progress in translation and now initial drafts of both Ephesians and I Timothy are finished
Praise; Jonathan was able to make steady progress working on the house in Kul- indoor plumbing and electrical are mostly finished!
Prayer; The Hewa believers need real wisdom as they make plans for an outreach. Pray for wisdom for best timing.
Thank you so much for your continual love and prayers and sponsorship that have made it possible for us to reach out with the love of Jesus to our Hewa friends. These new testimonies of faith are a direct result of your faithfulness in prayer, thank you so much!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!