Locals depict arrival

FINSCHHAFEN’S Lutheran church celebrated its 124th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionary on Sunday.
Villagers from Kamlawa dramatised the arrival of the German Rev Johannes Flierl on July 12, 1886, at Maneba Bay.
The church’s followers from the Jabem, Quembung and Sattleberg circuits numbering more than 400 joined Kamlawa and Simbang villagers in the celebration.
The celebration’s organising committee chairman retired Rev Saki Ronuc said Flierl set foot on Polac in Maneba with a German company where he was met by three Kamlawa village chiefs Laka, Gicsaleng and Lago.
Flierl later moved on to Kedam, Kolem then to Simbang village on Oct 10, 1886, where he started his gospel mission to the surrounding coastal and inland villages of Jabem and Kotec.
He recruited the locals and baptised them before sending them out as evangelists to reach into the hinterlands of the then German New Guinea to spread the gospel.
Along with representatives from Evangelical Lutheran church of Papua New Guinea headquarters at Ampo, Pr Kevin Tetac and Sama Masoka, 10 Australian Lutherans on board four yachts also joined in while on their journey to Jayapura.
They stayed briefly and then left.
The main message of the celebrations was for the church to reassess itself and continue to work to achieve the intentions of Flierl.