James Ayong

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**James Simon Ayong**
Image:Ayong.jpg

Denomination	Anglican
Senior posting
See	Aipo-Rongo
Title	Bishop of Aipo-Rongo and Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
Period in office	1996 — present
Consecration	1995
Predecessor	Bevan Meredith
Successor	incumbent
Religious career
Priestly ordination	1984
Previous bishoprics	Bishop of Aipo-Rongo
Previous post	Bishop of Aipo-Rongo (incumbent)
Personal
Date of birth	1944
Place of birth	Kumbun, West New Britain, Territory of New Guinea

The Most Reverend James Simon Ayong, born in a cave in Kumbun, West New Britain in 1944, has been the Anglican Archbishop of Papua New Guinea since 19 June 1996. He has served as a parish priest in rural and metropolitan Papua New Guinea and — unusually among indigenous Papua New Guinean clergy — studied overseas, in England.

Archbishop Ayong is the first prelate in the church of Papua New Guinea to come from elsewhere in the country than the eastern Papuan heartland of the country's Anglican Church.

At the time of his birth Australian New Guinea (the northern half of eastern New Guinea and the New Guinea Islands) was under occupation by the forces of Japan during World War II and Japanese forces and Papuan tribesman sympathetic to the Japanese cause had recently executed the New Guinea Martyrs.

1 Education
2 Summary of Career
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Education

Diploma in Theology, Newton College, Papua New Guinea, 1982
Bachelor of Theology, Martin Luther Seminary, Lae (a joint clergy-training venture of the Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea)
Master of Arts, Chichester Theological College, England, 1994

[edit] Summary of Career

Local Government Officer
Purchasing Officer and Radio Operator for the Anglican Diocesan Office in Lae, 1976-1980
Ordination training at Newton College, 1980-1982
Assistant priest, Lae, 1982-1987
Lecturer in Old Testament Studies and Theology, Newton College, 1987-1989
Principal, Newton College, 1989-1993
Chichester Theological College, England, 1993-1994
Parish Priest of Gerehu, 1994-1995
Bishop of Aipo Rongo, 1995 to date
Archbishop of Papua New Guinea 1996 to date