OLD LOYAL PASTOR RETIRES

 

Reverend Gave (left) is decommissioned.

END of AN ERA for LONG SERVING PASTOR

BY LEIAO GEREGA

The 70-year-old man walked slowly. He was satisfied but sad.

After 38 years of pastoral service, he felt satisfied but seeing to the end had arrived without his partner, wife, Marama, the woman who sang and carried most of the Peroveta notes during church gatherings.

Losing his wife to a short illness months before the retirement ceremony they were looking forward to, was painful, but Rev Gave managed to go through his decommissioning with strength.

Embracing the photograph of his wife, he took the last step and then knelt down for his robe to be removed, a process signaling the finality of his pastoral service.

“I’m still thankful to God. You know without him my journey would have been difficult,” Rev Gave told those who gathered.

“But although I’m happy today I’m also sad because my wife and I had been looking forward to this day so much and she is not here now…”

A day before his ceremony Reverend Gave, a distinguished figure in his pacific shirt, had told me it had certainly been a long journey.

He served 38 years, enjoyed 43 years of marriage, had 10 children (two had passed away over the years), 6 grand children and now an elder son who will soon take his place in the ministry.

Pastor Gave has vivid memories, even a sturdy voice for his age but whenever he mentions his wife his voice would slightly tremble and he would often pause.

Rev Gave is the second born in a family of seven and was named after the first missionary to Gemo in the 1940’s called Gave Daniel from Keapara village.

While only a child he was testified to become the next pastor and ironically, 67 years later in 2015, Rev Gave, on behalf of his village would hold a reconciliation service dedicated to this first missionary who was killed in Gemo a few years after his arrival.

For someone predicted to be the next pastor, the young Gave in the 1960’s instead found himself knocking on the door of a company one day, desperate for a job.

“In those days we usually knock on doors to ask for jobs and that’s what I did,” he said.

“For the first six months I started off as a delivery boy until I was brought into the office to do sales where I worked for the next five years.”

But his sales job would be cut short when in 1975 his parents persuaded him to become a pastor instead and to also marry and settle down.

“So I obeyed my parents left my job, married the girl and took ministerial roles within the church.” In the years leading up to becoming a pastor, he would start off as a Sunday school teacher, a church secretary and then a layman in 1980.

Rev Gave recalled that his first send-off as a pioneer pastor had come with a lot of help from his small village.

“Everybody helped paid my fees, cooked food celebrated and sent me off, and even to this day I have always remained indebted to them and thankful for their help.”

In 1988 he attended Bible College, graduated in 1990 and returned six years later for an in-service training after his first postings in the Boku and Saroa Circuit left him eager to face more challenges.

“For two years in Boku, Rigo I would climb up and down mountains, one time my wife ended up sick for almost 6 months and almost died. We faced a lot of challenges…another time we had no food and went hungry for 14 days drinking only water. It was tough but God was always there for us.”

Fresh from his in-service training in 1997, Rev Gave then took up postings in the Dorobisoro and Sinavai Circuit and five years later was ordained and posted to Hula Circuit in Central Province.

In 2012, it become clear that Rev Gave would be on pool and he was forced to face four years staying at home until 2015 when he was posted as the pastor in his own village,  a final pastoral work which would lead him to his retirement in 2018.

“I look back at my life and God was there throughout my pastoral service,” he said adding that a pastor’s work comes with a lot of sacrifice.

 “God blessed us both so much. He opened my heart to open doors to strangers and to willingly help others. My wife on the other hand was gifted with a beautiful voice...she did everything a pastor’s wife would, humbly following my role wherever God called us. ”

The years he served as a pastor’s were difficult, but they were years he and his wife grew strong in the lord and served wholeheartedly.

Reverend Gave’s eldest son, Kendy Gave and the soon-to-be missionary also speaks of his parents with pride.

“My dad is a dedicated pastor and watching him face challenges was a learning point for me because my dad hardly complains. Both my parents always welcome people into our homes and always accept whatever little that we have.

“When my mother passed away it was real challenging for us but to see dad overcome his emotions and get back to work was truly something else.”

“My father has done greater and I will do greater things for my God,” said Kendy, dedicating his mission work to his late mom.

Rev Gave’s retirement as a pioneer although has ended, it has since opened new doors where a young man has been chosen and sent on his first postings while two more have been selected for mission work, including Rev’s own son.

East Central Papuan Regional Bishop, Rev Kora Taboro has described Rev Gave as a faithful servant of God and true to that description Rev Gave emphasised that his journey was far from over.

Announcing to his community during the decommissioning he said he would always be there to help in whatever ways he can and to carry on the role God had appointed him in the beginning.