Why A lewai village needed a church: Some reflections on C hristianity, conversion, and male leadership in south‐east P apua N ew G uinea

In the V ula'a villages of south‐east P apua N ew G uinea, the experience of more than a century of C hristianity has been incorporated into local understandings of identity and tradition. Church‐building (in both the architectural and ideological sense) is at the centre of village life. Even though it was a general policy of the L ondon M issionary S ociety to build a church in every village in which conversion was undertaken, they did not build a church in the V ula'a village of A lewai. In 2001 the fact that A lewai did not have a church initiated a chain of events that draws attention to a situation of current relevance for P apua N ew G uinea, as evangelists no longer work to convert the ‘heathen’ but to convert C hristians from one denomination to another. As a case study the article is focused on the pastors and deacons of the U nited C hurch and thus also serves to document some of the changes that have occurred in male leadership since the early colonial era.