The Men’s Fellowship (PKB) of the Evangelical Christian Church (GKI) Metanoia Dekai, Yahukimo, undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to the congregation of GKI Agape Yenggarbun, North Supiori Classis, Supiori Regency, Papua, on Saturday, October 22.

According to a press release received by the Metanoia Editorial Team on Sunday, October 30, the PKB of GKI Metanoia Dekai carried out the pilgrimage, which included a series of activities involving both the visiting members and the host congregation.

In a phone interview with the Metanoia Editorial Team, Anes Salak, an elder of GKI Metanoia and one of the participants in the pilgrimage, shared that the journey began on October 20 and concluded on October 29.

He explained that the group departed from Dekai on Thursday, October 20, heading to Sentani, then continued by sea to Biak, where they arrived on Friday, October 21, and spent the night at the home of the Andi Rumbarar family. On Saturday, October 22, the group traveled to Supiori, where they met the GKI Agape Yenggarbun congregation. From Sunday, October 23, to Wednesday, October 26, they engaged in various shared activities with the host congregation.

The group returned to Biak on Thursday, October 27, and stayed another night at the Rumbarar family's residence on Friday, October 28, before heading back to Jayapura on Saturday, October 29, at 7:50 AM Papua Time.

Anes Salak further explained that the spiritual pilgrimage is an annual program within the congregation.

"This pilgrimage is held once a year, and each fellowship within the GKI Metanoia congregation proposes their program during the congregational assembly, where it is collectively decided. Initially, this year's pilgrimage was planned for Manado. However, due to financial constraints, we opted for Supiori instead. Each participant bore their own travel expenses," he stated.

He also noted that this year’s pilgrimage participants represented three tribes: Yali, Biak, and Serui, leading to the group being named Yabiser.

"We chose the name Yabiser because the participants were representatives of these three tribes—Yali, Biak, and Serui. Meanwhile, our GKI Metanoia Dekai congregation comprises members from 13 tribes. This pilgrimage program had already been agreed upon during the 15th congregational assembly," he concluded.