Pathfinders walk four days to a camporee in Indonesia

From July 7 to 11, 2026, Merauke, in the Indonesian province of South Papua, hosted a 2026 international Pathfinder camporee that brought together Pathfinders from two neighboring countries: the Arafura International Pathfinder Camporee. According to Adventist Record, the official news magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific, 191 Pathfinders from the Papua New Guinea Union Mission (PNGUM) attended, and part of the delegation arrived only after a four-day walk to the border. The camp ended with 24 Pathfinder baptisms, six of them from Papua New Guinea.

📰What happened at the Arafura camporee 2026 in Merauke?

The most complete report comes from Jacqueline Wari, in Adventist Record on August 12: almost 200 people from Papua New Guinea, Pathfinders and leaders, traveled to the camp, which was organized by the Papua Mission, a field of the East Indonesia Union Conference.

Ten days earlier, NBC, Papua New Guinea's national public broadcaster, was already treating the gathering as a milestone: according to the broadcaster, it was the first time young Adventists from the two countries had teamed up for evangelism on Indonesian soil.

🥾How did the Pathfinders from Papua New Guinea get to Merauke?

The trip was the hardest part. Pastor Moses Melua, PNGUM youth director, told Adventist Record that some of the Pathfinders and leaders made the first leg on foot: four days of walking, crossing rivers and rough stretches of road, to reach the border. Then came another five hours by truck to the campsite.

Others flew to Vanimo, in Papua New Guinea, and crossed into Indonesia from there. "Despite the hardships, everyone arrived safely," Melua said. The walk lasted almost as long as the camporee itself, which ran for five days.

📊How many Pathfinders attended, and how many were baptized?

The published figures cover only the Papua New Guinea delegation: 191 PNGUM Pathfinders, or almost 200 people counting the leaders, according to Adventist Record; NBC speaks of 191 delegates. The camporee closed with 24 Pathfinder baptisms, six of them from Papua New Guinea, according to the Record, which did not say where the other 18 came from.

Figures from Adventist Record (August 12, 2026) and NBC Papua New Guinea (August 2, 2026).

🏕️What did the Pathfinders do at the camporee?

The program followed the pattern of the classic activities of a Pathfinder camporee. Going by Pastor Melua's account, the schedule combined drills, honor classes and camping skills with worship, contact with the local community, cultural exchanges between the delegations and time for fellowship.

In Melua's assessment, the five days left the Pathfinders stronger in their faith and better prepared to lead. Friendships also grew between young people who live on opposite sides of the border.

It was a mission journey that strengthened friendships, built partnerships and opened new opportunities for God's work along the PNG-Indonesia border.Pastor Moses Melua, PNGUM youth director, to Adventist Record (2026)

🤝What partnership began between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia?

According to NBC, the camporee marked the beginning of a five-year agreement between the East Indonesia Union Conference and PNGUM, aimed at evangelism near the border. Melua told the broadcaster that the agreement gives PNGUM an unprecedented opportunity to mobilize young people to lead other young people to Christ.

According to the broadcaster, Melua presented the camporee as the foundation for Hope Indonesia Evangelism 2030, a national event similar to PNG for Christ, held in Papua New Guinea in 2024. NBC also reported support from the office of the Governor of South Papua. Adventist Record adds that PNGUM local mission directors met with Pastor Heshbon Buscato, representative of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD), and with their counterparts from the East Indonesia Union Conference.

The ties go back further. In May 2024, Adventist Review published a report by Tracey Bridcutt, of Adventist Record, on the mission partnership between the South Pacific Division (SPD) and its neighbor, the SSD, with PNGUM already working alongside the East Indonesia Union Conference. The contrast helps explain the effort: in the SPD there is one Adventist for every 70 people; in the SSD, more than 1,000 people for every Adventist.

🗺️Where is Merauke, and why does the region matter?

Merauke is the economic center of South Papua, an Indonesian province created in 2022, with a land border with Papua New Guinea and a coastline on the Arafura Sea, which gave the camporee its name. In the church's organization, that border separates two divisions: Papua New Guinea belongs to the South Pacific Division, and Indonesia to the Southern Asia-Pacific Division.

Both sides had already held large gatherings in recent years. The portal covered Indonesia's 2023 national camporee in Cibubur and the 2024 camporee in Papua New Guinea. The story of the movement in the neighboring country is told on the page about the history of Pathfinders in Papua New Guinea.

🌐When is the next international Pathfinder camporee?

The Papua New Guinea delegation went home with an invitation to a similar event in 2028, according to NBC. Dates, location and format have not been published yet.

There is also the North American Division International Pathfinder Camporee, in the United States. According to its official website, accessed in October 2026, the 2029 edition, with the theme Stand Strong, is going back to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on new dates: August 20 to 26. In South America, the guide to the Campori DSA 2027 brings together what has been announced so far.