State must step in, help church

 OVER the past few days mem­bers of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG (ELCPNG) have been in discussions over the business of evangelism and the church’s other roles in development.  

The bi-annual synod is the one time in the church’s calendar that delegates from the districts and congregations of the second largest denomination in the country get down to serious discussions on how to direct the church forward.

In the absence of a permanent conference centre, the church has been rotating venues for its synod among its districts in the country. 

Karkar District is having its turn this year, while Finschhafen, the church’s birth place, will host the next synod in 2016. Some of the synod business remains firmly within its own ministry and department circles and congregations yet inevitably, much of it spills into the public domain. 

The ELCPNG has a rich history in the country. It was planted in Finschhafen in 1886 by the Neuendettelsau Mission Society and the Rhenish Mission Society, both from Germany. 

During World War II all missionaries left the area, and many mission stations, churches, schools and hospitals were damaged. 

After the war the Lutheran churches in Australia and North America were asked to help reconstruct the church in Papua New Guinea, working together as the Lutheran Mission New Guinea. In 1956 expatriate missionaries and indigenous church leaders gathered and formed the present indigenous church. 

The church has seven departments: Evangelism; education; lands and properties; ministerial training; medical services; development services, and finance. 

There are 16 districts divided to geographical and population needs. Circuits co­ver smaller areas within the districts; within the circuits are the local parishes/congregations. The church runs 12 health centres, 170 primary schools, six high schools, one teacher training college, a nursing college, five girls’ Bible schools, three seminaries and a training centre for evangelists.

In recent years, the church has gone through turbulent times mainly because of the management of its important business entities, the flagship being Lutheran Shipping, which at one time, was a very reliable carrier, ferrying cargo and passengers along the north coast of New Guinea.

Lutheran Shipping falls in line with one the of church’s aims – to strengthen the work or service and welfare.  

Today, from what information has been made public, the company management itself is in trouble and cannot, under the current circumstances, bail itself out of the financial and operational quagmire it is in. 

Morobe Governor Kelly Naru, a staunch Lutheran lay missionary and philanthropist, called into the company’s Madang engineering yard to witness the unfortunate situation there. Of the eight coastal vessels, only three are operational at the moment. Earlier, delegations headed for the Karkar synod were stranded at the Madang wharf because there was no vessel to carry them over to the island.  The church’s own shipping company could not use one of its vessels for the purpose because they were themselves left high and dry. 

Given the church’s reach and its role in social and economic development in the  nation, whatever happens to it and its business interests impacts not only its faithful but the country at large.

It is therefore important that the country follows with special interest what transpires at the Karkar synod.  

Whether decisions over the future of Lutheran Shipping are going to be left strictly to the board and management or the church synod, something must be done to revive the shipping company, making all of its vessels sea-worthy and operating profitably.

With no current road connection, the coastal shipping route along the north coast of New Guinea, from Oro Bay to Lae, Madang, Wewak and Vanimo is vital for business and the travelling public. Lutheran Shipping used to provide safe and reliable services to those parts of the country as well as connections to the New Guinea Islands region. 

The current state of affairs leaves a gaping hole in shipping services only Lutheran Shipping can plug – unless there is an overnight replacement somehow. 

Attendance at the Karkar synod by the first Lutheran Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, and senior political and public service officials is a sign the State is taking the church seriously as a development partner.

It is only reasonable to expect the government to intervene and help the church and its business entities in their times of trouble.