The United Church of Papua New Guinea (Highlands Region) recently held their 14th Children & Youth Ministry Convention under the theme: I HAVE COME TO RESCUE MY PEOPLE, in Mendi, Southern Highlands Province. The weeklong program started on Tuesday 2nd of January and ended on Saturday the 6th, which included guest speakers from various parts of the province and a peace march within the tribal fighting zone. An approximate total of one-thousand young people who attended had come from many different highlands’ provinces including Simbu, Western Highlands, Southern Highlands, Enga and Hela. Regional Coordinator, Reverend Sam Topsy, further elaborated on the program’s theme and its message on the lives of young people. “Our theme was taken from Exodus 3:8 (ESV) [... I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey...] where it talks about God rescuing and delivering his people.” “The message to the youths was that we are part and parcel of the Lord’s rescue mission – wherever you go you must be involved, and we also encouraged young people to get into institutions that enable them to partake in the Lord’s rescue mission.” “The Lord is here now to deliver his people, so he needs a vessel to be used, like Moses in the Bible. We are valuable in the Lord’s work both here in the country and in other parts of the world.” Rev. Topsy related the message back to the circumstances that people in Southern Highlands have faced regarding tribal fights which contributed to a lack of development and services. “The location where we hosted the convention is a fighting zone, and they have been fighting for so long, and because of this conflict there are no education and health services reaching the people – people clash over trivial matters –they do not know or understand the gospel well, therefore they need to be to be rescued from spiritual death.” “Once that happens, we will see services reaching the people.” He also thanked the Member for Mendi Munhiu, Hon. Raphael Tonpi for his financial support and provisions towards the program and says his actions perfectly captured the convention’s theme of rescue. Meanwhile Superintendent Minister and Convention Host, Reverend Sao Tapun commented that in spite of costs gained from the program, the rainy weather and walking distance, the people enjoyed the event. “We started off well and we finished off well, there were no accidents, no deaths – people opened their hearts to receive God’s word and souls were saved.” Notable speakers mentioned included Chaplain of the University of Goroka, Rev. Daniel Paraide, Regional Evangelist, Weston Kuling, and National Evangelist, David O’Paki.