Lae farewells Kingal

No public viewing after body ‘had been outside for more than 72 hours’

By RIGGO NANGAN

The casket containing the remains of Joseph Kingal at the funeral service in Lae, Morobe, yesterday afternoon

THOUSANDS of Lae residents flocked into the Sir Ignatius Kilage stadium yesterday afternoon to farewell evangelist Joseph Kingal, The National reports.

The people were not allowed to view his body because it “had stayed out for more than 72 hours” after he died when his Toyota troop carrier flipped over four times at Mutzing on the Highlands Highway on Oct 18, officials at the funeral said.

The Joseph Kingal Ministry’s board had kept him at their headquarters at Omili and “petitioned God to return his spirit or give them a sign”.

Church officials did not clarify whether they had received any sign.

His white casket was surrounded by his wife Susan and children Shekiana, 14, Jordan, 10, Joshua, 8, and four-year-old Elshadai. All the children did not show any signs of injury.

Shekiana climbed steadily to the stage and delivered a poem she had written for her father while her mother sat with her head in a scarf under a tent nursing a broken arm and a strapped ankle.

Dignitaries, including Morobe Governor Luther Wenge and Dei MP Puri Ruing, were allowed to lay wreaths along with hundreds of other mourners.

The funeral costs, from the staging at the stadium to the flights to Port Moresby today and then Mt Hagen on Wednesday, were met by the Morobe provincial government.

Wenge’s reason: Kingal had started and based his ministry in Lae.

“Even though he was a Western Highlander, he was a true son of Morobe.

“We, Morobeans, had taken the Good News to the highlands, but he had brought it back to us and taken it abroad.”

Wenge also delivered a cheque for K10,000 to Kingal’s wife to cover costs.

Kingal was born to Tengi Koka and Kimnistengi in Gumanch village, Dei council area of Western Highlands, on Nov 25, 1969.

While still a student at Unitech in 1990, he was baptised at the Bumbu River and was said to have received a prophetic vision to preach the Word of God.

From 1996 to 2004, Kingal moved between settlements in Lae preaching God’s messages. It was during the time in the settlement ministering that he started focusing on ministering abroad.

With help of business friends in Lae, Kingal made his first ministry abroad to Brisbane, Australia, in 1997.

His ministry bought off the old Tanubada Dairy Product facilities at Ngamli Street, Omili, in Lae in 2004 to become the base of Joseph Kingal Ministry.

Ruing said on behalf of the family that they did not know how effective Kingal’s ministry had on people until the funeral where they saw people from all parts of PNG attending.

 “We, the people of Dei and Western Highlands, are surprised to see all these people here today.

“We can see the impact our son’s ministry has had on people,” Ruing said.

He said the families of Kingal were thankful to the Morobe government and its people for their generosity.

Ruing said his families and tribesmen dressed themselves in PNG colours to the funeral, instead of the normal body paintings with mud and clay, because the late pastor was a patriot and a Papua New Guinean.