My go-to prayer in life is “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” I pray the first phrase as I breathe in, and the second phrase as I breath out. In doing so, I re-centre my thoughts on God, and away from myself, giving whatever is weighing me down back into the hands of God. […]
Attending the recent opening ceremony of the 33rd Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG) was an overwhelming experience – but not because it lasted approximately six hours or because there were an estimated 10,000 people present. Instead, what made this event overwhelming was that for the duration those attending celebrated […]
Even though COVID-related travel restrictions make deploying a missionary overseas a far more drawn out and challenging prospect than it was just two years ago, Pastor Murray and Tracy Smith are now a step closer to their move to serve in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Pastor Murray has been called to serve as a lecturer […]
As Australian Lutheran Mick Hauser reflects on his time in Papua New Guinea (PNG), many things fill his thoughts. He is married to Milka and they have a son, Kelly. And, while lecturing at the Martin Luther Seminary in Lae, Mick is also studying a doctorate part-time and preparing for ordination as a pastor. Life […]
Serving as a missionary overseas is something Pastor Murray Smith never thought he would do. But then God’s call on our lives can often surprise. Because that’s exactly what Pastor Murray and his wife Tracy are preparing for, after his call to serve as a lecturer at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea’s […]
Be careful of barbecue conversations, because you never know where they might lead! Especially if you are newly retired and have an open mind about where God might be leading you. This was certainly true for retired Openbook Publishers (formerly Lutheran Publishing House) General Manager Warren Schirmer, 73, and his wife Marianne, 69, when they […]
Papua New Guinea (PNG) Christians have marked 135 years since the gospel of Jesus Christ first landed on the PNG mainland, introduced by Lutheran Pastor Johannes Flierl at Simbang Finschhafen, Morobe Province, on 12 July 1886. The written and oral histories of how the gospel spread are beyond imagination: crossing high mountains, fast-flowing rivers and […]
Most Friday mornings I hear a wonderful sound: the Skype ringtone. It announces that Pastor Hans Giegere is calling me for our weekly supervised reading session. From my office in Walla Walla, situated in the rural farming district of the Riverina New South Wales, I hear how Hans is going and we discuss an article […]
During our retirement, my wife Ruth and I have been blessed with good health and able to volunteer in a number of countries. In each case, there were new faces, a new language and a different culture. As strangers in foreign lands, we knew there would be challenges. But there were also many kindnesses. When […]
I remember being a young boy in my village in the 1970s and 1980s and hearing the sound of the traditional Papua New Guinea instrument garamut on Easter Sunday mornings, calling people to worship. You can hear the deep sound many miles away and it can wake people who are sound asleep! As early as […]