Dadae urges Luthern MPs to work together

DEFENCE Minister Bob Dadae has called on all Lutheran MPs to work together to strengthen the work of the two Lutheran churches – Evangelical Lutheran church of Papua New Guinea and the Gutnius Lutheran church.
Mr Dadae made the call at the 27th Synod of the ELCPNG in Lae.
“We must walk together into the future.
“MPs must also walk together with their local church districts,” he said.
Mr Dadae also called on the church to face the realities of the modern world in engaging in business activities to bring in revenue for its work.
He supported a call by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare for churches to free up
their land to the Government and investors to use, adding that this would bring in revenue for the churches.
Mr Dadae told the church delegates that money would not fall from the tree tops – it would only come through hard work and sweat.
He also told the church that it must invest in human resources so it could produce highly qualified people to carry on the work of strengthening the work of the church.
Mr Dadae said he supported the idea of the church establishing the Lutheran University because it was the only way to produce high quality people for the future.
Nawae MP Timothy Bonga called on the church to strengthen the work of its congregations.
Mr Bonga told the delegates that it was a wrong perception that leaders carry the ATM machines around with them.
The strength of the church, he said, was with its members and its congregations.
Judge Don Sawong, who had served the church in many voluntary capacities in the past, called on the entire church membership and its leaders to stay focused on the purpose and aims of the church, that was, to guide God’s people in their lives.
He called for the church to take stock of where it was heading and what it was doing.
Bulolo MP Sam Basil said the church was not running well and that it was facing many problems.
Mr Basil said one problem was that pastors serving in the community were not being paid.
Lawyer Eric Kwa told the synod it was the responsibility of the congregations to pay their own pastors and not to point fingers at the church headquarters.