Australian Lutheran men and women played a major role in mission work on the islands of Siassi in New Guinea. This year 2011 is the 75th anniversary of the Australian Lutheran Mission, which was set up by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) in 1936 to send missionaries to the Sepik River area in […]
We are calling for urgent prayer support for the LCA’s missionary serving in northern Thailand. Pastor Simon Mackenzie and his wife Oiy lost many of their possessions in a flash flood that devastated the area in which they are serving. Pastor Mackenzie, Oiy and their two-year-old son Aussie are safe in a hotel, after having […]
Hanna Schulz is a woman with vision, energy and calling – a calling to serve as a Bible translator. This year Hanna has relocated from Adelaide to Kangaroo Ground, Melbourne following the completion of her theological studies at Australian Lutheran College in 2010. At the Wycliffe/Summer Institute of Linguistics headquarters in Melbourne, Hanna is immersing […]
The joy and challenges of being an Australian Lutheran in Papua New Guinea. Of the 25 years he has been a Lutheran Church of Australia pastor, Greg Schiller has spent 22 of them in Papua New Guinea, in a diverse range of settings and circumstances. The lessons and insights gained over these years prepare him […]
It’s a clear, warm day as Hanna Schulz and I walk towards the coffee shop. ‘Perfect sailing weather’, Hanna says exuberantly. ‘I’m an ocean person.’ Perhaps it is natural, then, that Hanna is a mate on the One and All, a vessel that offers five-to-seven-day sailing experiences for young people, often from troubled backgrounds. ‘I […]
Bags of coffee, rice, biscuits, shovels, machetes, mail, a coffin containing a body, together with people going to and from geographically isolated villages in the remote regions of the highlands of Papua New Guinea – all these can be part of the precious cargo transported, on any given day, by a Twin Otter plane in […]
“Wokabaut wantaim bilong ol bilip manmeri insait long pasin bilong laikim” was the theme of the 27th Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (held between January 10 and 15, 2010). My understanding of Pidgin is limited but it didn’t take long to work out the aforementioned theme once I knew it […]
Having spent his childhood in Papua New Guinea as the son of a missionary, Nick Schwarz has been called to return and serve in the footsteps of his father.
“Why did you leave us?” “Where are the Australians?” “Where have all the missionaries gone?” “When is the Lutheran Church of Australia coming back to Siassi?” These questions, and many like them, were part of every welcome singsing (ceremonial dance), worship service, meeting and conversation we had as we went from village to village in […]
Meeting several godly volunteers in Bangkok who confront enormous problems and difficult situations every day, I found myself wondering why more Australians aren’t on the frontline of mission. Anja Markkanen pauses mid-sentence, takes a deep breath, looks away. It’s a hopeless exercise though; nothing will stop her tears. So she cries … along with Jeab […]