Pastor Len and Claire Tscharke were sent to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 1954. They stayed at Asaroka Lutheran Mission, then served at Ialibu in the Southern Highlands, where they started the Ialibu Lutheran Primary School. When back in Asaroka in 1960, they established the Asaroka Lutheran Secondary School. After spending 17 years in PNG, […]

Pastor Len and Claire Tscharke were sent to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in 1954. They stayed at Asaroka Lutheran Mission, then served at Ialibu in the Southern Highlands, where they started the Ialibu Lutheran Primary School. When back in Asaroka in 1960, they established the Asaroka Lutheran Secondary School.

After spending 17 years in PNG, they returned to Australia, where their love for the Papua New Guineans continued. They established a partnership with the schools in Asaroka, Ialibu, and with the Gama Lutheran Primary School in Goroka (now Gama Lutheran Day High School). Although Len and Claire have now passed, their family members and others (including Rosalie Hoklas and the Golden Grove Lutheran Church and Primary School) continue to support PNG. Len and Claire’s son Ken, together with Gavin and Lynette Luke, and Daniel and Allyson Dutschke reflect on their recent visit to PNG.

Through a simple invitation to support the schools in PNG, we became involved in building lasting relationships with our brothers and sisters who may be culturally very different from us, but who also share the same faith and belief in the same Lord Jesus.

Recently, we returned to Papua New Guinea to visit the schools we have felt distanced from during the recent years of border closures. Len’s gesture of encouragement to be involved in PNG planted a small seed in each of our lives. Daniel doesn’t consider himself a confident evangelist, and yet he shared the Word of God in PNG using images which those who were hearing from the Holy Spirit through him, could relate to. Gavin prayed for the awareness of the Holy Spirit’s guidance in his every conversation. While he was at the market, God brought a man along who asked Gavin to purchase a local PNG souvenir to pay for medication for his arthritis. Gavin purchased the item, but didn’t want this man to rely on the money of others. So Gavin invited him to put his trust in God. And as this man and Gavin spoke about his relationship with the Lord over several conversations, the man bathed in the gospel hope of a life with Jesus.

We travelled to PNG intending to reconnect, to reestablish relationships which were not as strong as they had been, to remind the schools that we are still here, and to encourage them in what they are already doing to share their faith. What we rediscovered, was that the best gifts of God are unearnable: the gifts of those people He puts into our lives who impact us so richly that our eyes well with tears when we remember them after they have passed.

We visited the grave of Himony Lapiso – a Papua New Guinean who was loved as a brother for Ken. When someone dies, friends and family pay their respects at the residence of the deceased person in an event which is called Haus Krai. Himony’s burial place is next to his family’s home, near the town of Goroka. The local area is named Iufi Iufa. He is buried and enclosed in a small outside building which can be entered through a door. Inside are flowers, photographs, words and lights. It is a place of honour for a person who was truly respected. Himony was very influential in the area. He knew how to manage and communicate with people. He understood the white people and the local ways. He was also very generous. He was blessed and wanted to share this blessing with others. He let go and rested in Christ and this flowed through him to his family and to his community.

While in PNG, we too learnt the blessing of letting go and resting in Christ, whose gifts were flowing in abundance for the schools while we were unable to travel to PNG. The schools have been filled with God’s glory during the times we have visited, and continued to be so after we departed. While we continued to pray and maintain limited connection here in Australia, God was working, and the schools were provided with internet connection for ease of learning. The strengths of Asaroka school were noticed by the government, who now wants to identify with students who are practical learners, by having a focus on agricultural technology.

God has been faithful in protecting our partnership with the schools and we have witnessed His presence by enabling us to provide physical items for ongoing work among the schools. Our focus is now pivoting to being more conscious of our relationships with God our provider. We are seeking God’s guidance to know how we can empower one another to preach the gospel to those He brings into our lives and to encourage one another in our spiritual lives.

This story was also published in the December 2024 edition of Border Crossings, the magazine of LCA International Mission.

If you, your school or your congregation, would like to know how you can connect to the mission of God through a LCA International Mission partnership, you are invited to phone Erin on (08) 8267 7300 or email erin.kerber@lca.org.au. For more information, go to www.lcamission.org.au/join-gods-mission/start-a-partnership/

Read more stories about congregational partnerships at www.lcamission.org.au/category/stories/local-partners/congregations/