Our Stories
Family Fun and Film Festival
CRMF team set up the white screen and projector for the film night.
Kid’s living nearby arrived early to watch Veggie Tales (Christian Cartoon).
If you happened to be a few meters down the road from Rotary Park you would’ve heard the laughter, sing-along to familiar Christian songs featured in the films and clapping of the whole community echo through the night as the audience participated enthusiastically throughout the movie night. It was a night to remember.
At the start of the month (July 1st to 5th), Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship (CRMF) partnered with the National Sports Institute (NSI), local churches and the Rotary Club Goroka to host our second consecutive Family Fun and Film Festival at the Rotary Park in West Goroka. This event coincided with the first week of school holidays with the bonus of it being free so it was perfect for kid’s, their parents and household to be a part of and to be blessed by it.
Children from our community join in on the fun activities organised by National Sports Institute (NSI).
Different children from around our community team up for fun activities.
The festival consisted of fun sports activities for kids to take part in during the day (9:30am to 12 noon) organised by NSI and at night-time (6:00pm to 9:00pm), a film display organised by CRMF. Prior to the start of each movie during the night we had the pleasure of having the Saint John Lutheran Church band play and sing praise and worship to welcome the Presence of God as well as tune the hearts and minds of people for the movie night in keeping with the heart of Christian ministry because, this event was more than just a school holiday program and more than just bringing the community together for a family fun-filled time. This event was an opportunity to minister to our community (West Goroka) through the inspirational Christian films and fun activities.
Representative of Goroka Rotary Club, John Onga.
Representative of National Sports Institute, Kylie Martins.
Pastor Bital from Saint John’s Lutheran Church.
The festival started off with opening speeches from respective leaders and representatives from the Rotary Club Goroka, the National Sports Institute, the Saint John Lutheran Church and CRMF. At the opening of the Family Fun and Film Festival, CRMF declared that the event was also in special memory of the former General Manager, Michael Wakefield, who had just recently left CRMF and Papua New Guinea with his family for new and exciting beginnings in Australia, after 14 years of Christian missionary service with CRMF for PNG and for God.
The turn-out each night was amazing. A lot of children, along with their parents or older siblings braved the cold nights with their mats and mugs to take part in the excitement of watching a movie outside, under the stars with family, friends and strangers alike. The supply of free coffee provided by CRMF kept all the mugs filled for the duration of a film with second or third rounds in-between.
During that week of Family Fun and Film Festival the community came together to watch a movie.
During the movie night our CRMF team and volunteers serve hot coffee to the community.
What was even more exciting was the fact that many individuals who had previously seen the movies featured during the film night said when they watched the movie again it was quite different from when they themselves watched it because, this time around they learned a different lesson to the first time they watched. Many of them went away with a different understanding of the way God works and what we, His people can do to make His work our own and carry it to every aspect of our lives – home, school, and place of work and in our communities to any and every age.
We know full well that God himself had revealed and placed these convictions in their hearts and brought an understanding to their minds through the Biblical principles portrayed in the Christian films, and for that we are thankful first and foremost to God. Our gratitude is also extended to all the organising committees from CRMF, NSI, our local churches and the Rotary Club who all contributed to make this event a successful one. We are excited for and are praying towards the next exciting and creative Family Fun and Film Festival as a way to continue ministering to our West Goroka community and bringing our people together.
The kids in the community team up for more fun.
Parents with their children turn up to participate in the fun activities.