When I first came to Papua New Guinea (PNG) I was gifted with some advice from a former missionary, to try and return home to Australia about every six months. This would help me stay connected with my roots and to take rest from the intense experience of living in another culture. But the seasons […]
Rev Dr Gottfried Martens is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Berlin-Steglitz, a member congregation of Germany’s Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK). Over the past 12 or so years this congregation has welcomed hundreds of converts to Christianity, mostly former Muslims living in Germany as Iranian and Afghan refugees. The Trinity congregation is focused on […]
Mea duoduo! Good morning! For the past five years, I have been privileged to be a translation advisor to the Kope people of Gulf Province in Papua New Guinea (PNG). I am not the translator, the Kope translation team members do that work. They are, after all, the experts in their language. I am the […]
Many of us would have heard stories about people being stranded far from home, due to global government-imposed lockdowns to limit the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. The media has shared pictures of distraught Aussies stuck in South America and tales of those who are desperate to return to loved ones and familiar surroundings. However, […]
Many readers of Border Crossings would know that one of our former missionaries, Dr John Strelan, died recently. ‘Joe’, as he was usually known, was born in 1936, the third of ten children born to Peter and Erica Strelan, nee Appelt. As a young fellow he studied at Concordia College and Seminary, graduating in 1959. […]
It is common knowledge that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world. What is less well known is that Indonesia also has the fourth largest Lutheran population of any country in the world. There are 13 Lutheran synods in Indonesia concentrated mostly in North Sumatra, and a total of more […]
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia (ELCM) is one of four Lutheran synods in Malaysia. Its focus is on working with the Tamil people of Peninsula (West) Malaysia. Malaysia is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation. The Malay majority are Muslims and it is a crime to convert Malays. Those Malays who do convert to Christianity […]
Anyone who has willingly hiked 1100 kilometres has to love the journey. For 68-year-old Queenslander Anne Maczkowiack, walking the 800 kilometre Camino De Santiago trail across Spain was only a part of a post-retirement reward in 2014. She and husband Robert decided to add an extra 300 kilometres to start from Barcelona. That says something […]
Papua New Guinea (PNG), where I work, is Australia’s nearest neighbour, a former Australian territory, and home to about 12% of the world’s languages, which is a lot of languages in one country! It is a diverse, challenging and welcoming country. I work in Gulf Province with the Kope people, where three times a year […]
In October 2019 I travelled to Singapore to offer a teaching seminar for pastors and church workers of the Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS). The seminar was on the Person and work of the Spirit in mission, and was based on some of the material in a new book ‘Spirit Filled: Normal Christian Living’ (written […]