Honouring a Colleague in Faith
January 15th, 2023
One of the reasons I am posting this blog, is to honour the life of my colleague and friend Robert Andrew Spence, who at 96 years is nearing the end of his life’s journey.
The Bible says in Psalm 116:1 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
As of today Sunday 22 January, he is still with us but it won’t be long before he leaves this world to go to his eternal reward.
I suspect if he could arrange things, he would like to fall asleep on his birthday, February 8th. 2023.
Knowing Bob, Im sure he was thinking of the scripture in Philippians 1:23 “I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me”. ESV
He would be 96!
The Bible says “Our times are in thy hand.”- Psalm 31:15.
As Bob was waiting for his departure I had some personal conversations with him.
One was, “Bob, what are you thinking about most of the time as you sit waiting?”
His answer “My Children”!
As I continue to write this blog a day later, Judith has just informed me:
THAT HER DEAR FATHER PASSED AWAY AT 5.40PM ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON TWENTY SECOND OF JANUARY 2023.
It feels so surreal that just one hour before this, Ps Michael Rafferty & I had the privilege of praying with him and pronouncing the Fathers blessing and benediction over his life!
Missionary Bob Spence has run his race and finished well.
He epitomised to me how to live life & serve God without pride or prejudice.
With a nod and a smile, Bob gave me permission to capture this last photo to post online.
His last smile wearing his signature white cap!
He leaves a legacy of three Children, many grand and great Grandchildren, a School he founded with his wife Aileen and named in his honour at Kusambuk and countless Sepik people who he introduced to Jesus who lovingly call him “Papa”.
Bob Spence is a person who without fanfare or celebrity status, left the fare shores of Australia in 1956, to join the missionary campaign in New Guinea to share the good news, plant churches and make disciples.
In 1948 the first Australian Assemblies of God missionary families arrived in New Guinea to plant what is now known as the “Assemblies of God of Papua New Guinea”.
It was the first pentecostal church in the nation of New Guinea.
Today it is larger numerically than the Church in Australia, which planted the first seeds of the Gospel in the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea in 1948.
At the time of filming the documentary below, the country was known as the Territory of New Guinea.
At the age of 21 I had the privilege of joining the campaign as a single Missionary in 1961 and thus began the adventure of my life!
I considered it a huge honour to be ‘called’ to serve the Lord along side a man like Bob Spence who was 12 years my senior.
Robert & Aileen Spence were among some of the first Missionaries to serve with the Assemblies of God Mission and served for 19 years from 1956 -1975.
On one occasion I travelled with Bob Spence to a remote village off the famous Sepik river, hoping to get some rare footage on my 8mm Kodak Movie Camera of a ‘lost tribe’ some of whom had never seen a missionary before.
It was a wonderful opportunity to record our adventure on film along this vast waterway of the Sepik river for posterity.
He was very photogenic and always neat & tidy in appearance.
He was usually impeccably but suitably dressed for the overbearing tropical climate and stifling humidity that we battled with every day.
On the way we visited a few villages and discovered some fascinating people who had never heard about Jesus.
We travelled by dug out canoe and on a boat called the “Sepik Evangel” which was donated by Australian christians from North Queensland, for the Missionary cause.
Some of the waterways were almost impassable with long water grasses blanketing the surface, which made for hard work in the stifling heat.
Bob & I had the privilege of taking the gospel to a remote village situated on the banks of a tributary in the far northern jungle reaches of the mighty Sepik river.
Many of the people in the village had never seen a ‘white man’ before let alone hear the gospel for the first time.
I remembered with excitement the possibility that we may meet up with people who had never heard the Gospel story of salvation.
Despite the stifling heat, oppressive humidity and plagues of mosquitos, we cruised carefully along the Crocodile infested waterway in our boat.
It was eerily silent as we made our way dodging fallen trees across the tributary.
The jungle was dense and dark on each bank of the waterway.
The Cicadas, a large homopterous insect broke the silence with their shrill droning noise as they vibrated their transparent wings on their abdomen.
It was as if we were intruders and they were warning the people we were coming.
I didn’t have the movie technology to capture the sound of the jungle but at least was able to capture the vision.
Fortunately this particular silent movie was preserved and when I converted it to a digital format the memories of that adventure came flooding back!
I am grateful to my brother Ps Andrew Evans who also served in New Guinea from 1963 – 1969, for paying for the cost of this Digital conversion.
Here recorded for prosperity and produced hopefully for the archives of Assemblies of God World Missions or “Australian Christian Churches International” (ACCI) is the silent video I was able to put together from footage taken nearly 60 years ago.
The Missionary Adventures of Robert Spence & Freddy Evans.