Ini Kopuria
Sometimes, we think that StoryMakers have to do something totally new and different to be a part of God’s story. Our latest StoryMaker from the past proves that everything you do and everything you know can be used in God’s story.
Ini Kopuria was born around 1900 on the island of Guadacanal in the Solomon Islands, a chain of islands Northeast of Australia. Ini went to a Christian school and one year on Ash Wednesday, he arrived with a note for his teacher. He had decided that for Lent, he would give up speaking to anyone. He hoped it would get him out of classwork and discussion. Everyone was skeptical, but Ini kept his Lenten fast and did not speak to anyone for forty days.
After school, everyone expected him to become a teacher. But Ini became a policeman instead. He worked as a loyal policeman for a few years, traveling around the Solomon Islands. There are six major islands and over 900 smaller islands that make up the Solomon Islands. Can you imagine visiting 900 islands? Especially in a small boat?
But, Ini got sick and while he was resting, he felt like God was warning him that he was not doing the work he was meant to do. So, he went to the bishop and asked to start the Melanesian Brotherhood, a group of young men dedicated to sharing God’s story throughout the islands.
Ini wrote, “I sat and thought, how shall I begin to labor in God’s Kingdom? I thought of the Kingdom of God as a garden. There is only one garden and one Lord of the Garden, but the workers who are wanted in the garden are many. I thought, ``I need fellow workers besides myself to help me; it is too hard for me alone.’”
Because he had visited so many islands as a police officer, Ini was a natural at visiting these villages and sharing the story of Jesus. In fact, one of the first rules of the Melanesian Brotherhood was that they would only go to places where the story of Jesus had never been heard.
The Melanesian Brotherhood is still active today and helps lead peace-making efforts. The President of Fiji honored the Brotherhood with a Human Rights Award for their peace-making work during the conflict of 1999-2000
God used Ini’s knowledge of the islands and his understanding of the people of the Solomon Islands to take God’s story all over. Sometimes, God has us in certain places or roles to learn more that he will use to tell his Story. Even if we do not know how it will all connect, as Ini wrote…
“Your life is God’s and God can do as he wishes with his own [people].”
