Metikau Ektabi – Serving God for Over 50 Years

Ps. Metikau Ektabi has been preaching the Foursquare Gospel for over 50 years. He gave his life to Christ at a crusade held by Dr. Mason Hughes, the original Foursquare missionary to Papua New Guinea. Currently he is working with younger pastors encouraging them in the work and sharing his experience as a missionary, evangelist and pastor. Here is part of Ps. Metikau’s story in his own words.

“I was saved in 1958 when I was about 10 years old. I can remember it was one special morning that brother (Mason) Hughes was preaching, I remember one of the older men and myself went forward and gave our hearts to Jesus. After that I attended Sunday School under Mama (Virgene) Hughes. I learned all about Jesus in Sunday School. From there it was really something how God worked in my life.”

Ps. Metikau first went to school in 1961. In 1966 he went to high school. “After 1966 I went straight the mission field acting like a pastor. Now they make pastors quickly, but back them we had to work with other ministries first. I traveled around with a missionary interpreting for him.” Metikau says he speaks 13 dialects. “When I go to these provinces I speak and preach in these languages and interpret for others. It was an exciting life.

In 1969 he attended Bible school for a year. After Bible school he continued in the ministry. “In 2017 I celebrated 50 years of ministry,” he said with a big smile.

When asked what he considered the biggest miracle he ever saw, he responded quickly. “People turning to God. The biggest miracle is someone turning their heart to God and seeing the excitement on their faces because of the savior and new life they have. We have also seen so many families healed. Broken mothers mended together and restored. Families are important, and we have seen many families touched by God and many lost sheep coming back.”

We also saw many healings, but I had a question. I wanted to see a big miracle happen. In 1970 I was coming home in the rain and my motorbike slid off the road into a drain. It was stuck, and I could not get it out no matter how hard I tried because it was so slick. With the motor still running I prayed to God to give me strength and I lifted the motorbike up like it was a bicycle. I don’t know how many kilograms it weighed, but it was stuck before, and I couldn’t get it out. God supernaturally gave me the strength the lift it out of the drain by myself. That experience always gave me the strength to serve God.”

Today Ps. Metikau has stepped out of his pastoral role into an apostolic one. God spoke to me to help other pastors because of my experience in my earlier years. You can look to your own ministry, but it is important to consider the ministries of others and help them succeed, because we are all part of the same Body of Christ. “God called me to help other pastors and that is what I have been doing for the last 15 years.”

(Author’s Note: Pastor Metikau would love to hear from anyone who would like to visit with him for encouragement in your Christian life or ministry. He asked me to share his phone number, so you could contact him. +675 7479-6316. Why not bless this faithful brother with a call and thank him for his years of faithful service to God in PNG?)