Jeab is speaking in her native Thai, so I can’t understand a word she’s saying. Yet I have no problems following her story; her facial expressions are telling me most of it. She has the most extraordinary elastic face, which reveals her every emotion in lucid detail. She’d make a terrible poker player. Just a […]
“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 […]
Lutherans from across the globe have heard how churches in South-East Asia are growing despite political and economic diversities. On 12-14 May representatives from eleven countries met in Cambodia for the annual Mekong Mission Forum and three-yearly Partner Churches Consultation. Glenice Hartwich attended on behalf of the LCA. Over fifty delegates from the Mekong Mission […]
Singapore’s first Giraffe course was held in December, 2008. Giraffe is based on the principle that good leaders are people who have engaged with their own faith and personal journeys, asked themselves hard questions and are committed to seeking and deepening their relationship with God. In a Giraffe community, participants learn more about themselves, living […]
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 […]
Bishop Julius Paul, head of one of the LCA’s partner churches, died when the boat he was travelling on capsized off Guatemala, South America, on 22 November. Two other passengers were killed. Peter Schirmer, executive secretary of Australian Lutheran World Service, was one of the twelve survivors. Bishop Paul was the leader of the Evangelical […]
Amid rice fields and villages, along the furrowed tracks and potholed roads in the Tapanuli region in rural North Sumatra, Indonesia, more than 85 per cent of people are farmers. Many are caught in the enslaving trap of debt to landowners who demand high rent for the use of land, which they need to grow […]
Giraffe was held in Singapore in December as a joint venture of the LCA and Lutheran Church in Singapore. It was a cross-cultural community of 21: eight Singaporeans, eight Australians and five Malaysians. We gathered as a very diverse bunch! We came from different cultures and countries and with different heart languages (various Chinese dialects […]
Head hunters, jungle treks and “Selamat Datang” – Senior Resident Houseparent at St Peters Lutheran College, Indooroopilly, Quuensland, Michael Hauser, discovered the Malaysian province of Sabah can be an open-armed wilderness in need of the basic supplies of life which we take for granted. Along with Dominic Rainsford, a teacher from Crossways Lutheran School Ceduna, […]
‘What is this cake I have seen in women’s magazines?’ asked one of the visitors from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia (ELCM). ‘I have always wanted to try one.’ It was a lamington. So began an intense women-to-women discussion about food and cooking. Cross-cultural friendships formed around lamingtons are no less important than those […]