Church of the Nazarene, Solomon Islands has NEW DS

Dickson Manongi, Named District Superintendent of the Solomon Islands

At the recent District Assembly (Nov 2016) of the Solomon Islands, Rev. Dickson Manongi was ordained and appointed as District Superintendent of the Solomon Islands District.  This is a significant developmental milestone for the Church of the Nazarene in this South Pacific multiple island nation.  As I travel around it is obvious many people, especially in the USA, have not heard of the Solomon Islands, but many have heard of the main island Guadalcanal from WW2 history.

This post is to introduce you to this new District Superintendent, but he is not new to the Church of the Nazarene as he joined the church in 1987, 5 years before the first church was planted in The Solomon Islands, his home country.   This is God's story and His providence in preparing someone to lead in such a time as this.  Please pray for those in the Solomon Islands.

I first met Dickson in Papua New Guinea while visiting the National Referral Hospital.  Within the first 9 months of our arrival in PNG, (1989) I took a trip to Port Moresby the National Capital to visit the hospital.   My purpose was fourfold: I wanted to 1) see the methodology available in the country's best equipped government hospital; 2) meet the staff and see if I could expedite turn-around time for referrals; 3) make contacts and build relationships to obtain supplies when our distribution center was out; & 4) visit with any Lab/X-ray student to recruit a graduating student to come to Kudjip.  I had limited success at best on all of the above but I did meet Brother Dickson Manongi, and tried to persuade him to come and serve his Nazarene Hospital.

Dickson and Doris

It was in 1987 when Dickson and some fellow countrymen were sent to Papua New Guinea, its Melanesian neighboring country, to study laboratory science.   Shortly after arrival Dickson began attending the Nazarene Church, liked it, and soon became an active member.  He was active in the Church of the Nazarene when I as the director of the medical lab at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, in the highlands of PNG flew down to Port Moresby (POM). Imagine my excitement when I discovered a devout Christian and Nazarene student studying laboratory science.  I just knew my prayers were answered.  I had a great conversation with Dickson in the hospital.   Dickson was engaged at the time of this visit.  Doris, the girl who soon became his wife, was also a Medical Laboratory student, and both were active in the church work.  Success in recruiting Dickson would give me two employees since his wife was also a trained tech.  What a deal!

I returned to Kudjip excited, but that excitement was short lived as Rev. Wallace White, the missionary in POM, got wind of what I was up to and called me on the phone and kindly requested me to keep my eyes and hands off of Dickson.  Wallace said, "I have plans for Dickson to help me open the work in the Solomon's."  Of course I respected my colleague's wishes and never mentioned it again.

Dickson and wife returned home from their time in PNG and in 1992 they established their first church in Dickson's home village of Nukukaisi, Makira Island, which is also the name of the Province. 

On one of our men's retreat, shortly following the opening of the Solomon Island's work and nearing Wallace's retirement.  Some of the men were asking if they could inherit his "boat ministry" or "island ministry" upon his retirement.  Isn't our God a God of irony, because I made the statement in jest, "You guys can have that ministry, since Nancy does not like to swim."  Who would have imagined that we would soon be appointed to the Solomon Islands? 

Dickson never served with me in Kudjip but I served with him for 15 years in the Solomon's.  When we arrived in the Solomon's Dickson told me, "I preach sometimes but I'm not called to be a pastor."  One time in Fiji, Dr. Louie Bustle, then Mission Director, said, "There (referring to Dickson) is your District Superintendent."  People both in the Solomon's and outside the country, saw the leadership skills in Dickson.  I think twice Dickson resigned from all the boards, because when he was on a board, the other members would wait until Dickson made a remark and then agreed with him.  So he voluntarily stepped down so they would have to say something.  However, even when he was off the board his influence was very much present.  Dickson was a serious Bible student and so enrolled in our Bible College so at the time of our move to the Philippines, he only lacked a few courses to graduate.

I remember one time Dickson invited me to accompany him to the Medical Laboratory meeting.   They were discussing Community Based Health Issues or something I was interested in.  Anyway Dickson's boss, the Medical Director of the Solomon Islands, began the meeting by requesting "Pastor Dickson" to pray before the start of the meeting.  I then began noticing a lot of people referred to Dickson with the title of "Pastor".

Dickson is a person of influence.  Dickson is a great Bible teacher and trainer.  I utilized his skill a lot when I served as District Superintendent, calling on him to teach training class, to recruit team members for the Jesus Film Team, and to head up the Community Based Health Care Program.  

There are many of my work mates and members of Solomon Islands Church of the Nazarene who are doing a great job in their various assignments, but in this post I wanted to highlight this one man due to his recent appointment as DS and because of his involvement in the beginning of the work.

Thanks for your prayers.