Gorari the priest speaks Kaina Ke. At Saga the priest-in-charge is an Ewage-Notu speaker and the assistant priest is a Kaina Ke speaker.
16
The Anglican Church is probably still the biggest denomination in the area. Most Anglican members attend their parish church. There are a few chapels
17
in villages further from the parish church. People in a village with a chapel may still choose to attend the parish church. The villages within the parishes are
listed below: •
St. Francis parish church Sairope – Sairope, Putembo, Warina, Fambe. •
Asafa sub-parish
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under Sairope is made up of mountain villages, which are not part of Hunjara; they may be part of the Ömie language.
• St. David parish church Eiwo – Ilimo, Papaki, Asisi, Sirorata, Evasusu, Bouru, Hamara, Haki,
Hojavahambo, Hojaki. There are chapels at Sirorata and Evasusu. •
St. Bartholomew parish church Gorari – Waju, Sisireta and Sauni. There is a chapel at Sauni. •
Holy Trinity parish church Saga – Botue, Amada, Kokoda, Kokoda Station and Kanga Biage. There is a chapel at Kanga.
• Holy Name sub-parish under Saga church Kebara – Perive, Kanandara, Felai Biage, Sengi and
Kamondo. •
People living in Ombisusu go to Waseta parish church in Orokaiva. The parishes of Sairope, Asafa, Eiwo, Gorari, Saga and Kebara, along with Emo River parish Ömie
language form Kokoda Deanery. Priests are required to occasionally preach at different churches within the deanery. The Mothers Union has monthly deanery meetings. The dean is currently the priest of
Sairope parish. He has been dean for the last four years and will probably continue for another two years.
3.1.2 Seventh-Day Adventist SDA
The first SDA missionaries arrived in PNG in 1908, setting up a mission station at Bisiatabu, Central province 50 kilometres east of Port Moresby in 1909. In 1924 the missionaries advanced inland over
the Kokoda trail, establishing a mission at Efogi Jones 2004:26–31. Local Christians reported that the mission followed the Kokoda trail into Oro province, reaching Kokoda in 1961.
The church in Sirorata was started in 1976 by a local man who went to work in the highlands; when he returned, he started an SDA church. From Sirorata he went out to Bouru, Asisi and other villages. The
church in Waju was started in 1992 by a man from that village who married a lady from Wawanga Ese language, Oro province and joined the SDA church there. Similarly, the church in Sairope was started
by a man from that village who went to work in Popondetta. The church was started in Sairope in 1996. The congregations listed below are part of Kokoda district.
In the Hunjara-Kaina Ke language area there are currently SDA congregations at Kokoda Station, Sirorata, Asisi, Bouru, Hamara, Sairope
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and Waju. There are also congregations in the neighbouring Biage language at Abuari, Felai, Alola, Hoi, Hagutava and Isurava, and in the Ömie language at Asafa
and Enjoro.
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Anglican priests usually serve three years in one parish, after which they may be transferred to another parish, usually within the same diocese. Currently the Bishop is trying to send priests to their own language areas. In the
other denominations the leaders are usually from the villages in which they are serving.
17
A chapel has no resident priest. The parish priest visits to administer the sacraments.
18
A sub-parish is a group of villages which used to be part of another parish but are in the process of establishing themselves as a separate parish. They function as a sub-parish with a parish priest for a while, before becoming a
parish in their own right.
19
The SDA congregations in Sairope, Waju, Hoi and Felai are “hand-churches,” meaning they have no resident pastors.
3.1.3 Covenant Ministries International CMI
