The President of APBF, Rev. Dr. Ross Clifford, Dr. Les Fussell, the Acting APBF Treasurer and Dr. Miyon Chung, Chair of Theological Committee visited the Vanuatu Baptist Churches (VBC) from September 28 – 30th to follow up on initiatives raised from the Pacific Baptist Forum in February 2016.
Pastor Kalo Kaltabangand, his wife Mary, leaders of VBC shared with them about how the Vanuatu Baptist Churches came into being. Kalo and Mary had a desire to form a Baptist church which came into being in 1989 and they were encouraged by Baptists from Queensland. Currently, the VBC is made up of 4 churches, about 10 home group which comprise of 100 members and are spread across a number of the islands of Vanuatu.
The delegation also had a three and half days training for the Vanuatu Baptist Church leaders on “The Biblical Images of the Church”.
Later, a meeting was held with the leaders of the head of the Vanuatu Christian Council (VCC) to appreciate how the funding that APBAid provided had impacted the VCC disaster relief projects after the super cyclone Pam (March 2015). Also to understand the arrangement between VCC with the Vanuatu Baptist Churches for engaging in disaster preparedness and response in the future.
