Wampar opens new Lutheran church

By GABRIEL LAHOC
THE newest church building of the Evangelical Lutheran church was officially opened last Sunday at Mare village, in the Wampar local level government area, Huon Gulf district, Morobe.
Around 10,000 people including members from the Seventh-Day Adventist, Pentecostal and the United church and members of the church hierarchy congregated at Mare for its first church which took more than 40 years to establish.
The church, built near the cluster of shady mango trees which previously served as their place of worship, cost more than K200,000, in an effort supported by prominent Morobe lawyer Kelly Naru, who initially stepped in to help them in 2009.
The Mare congregation, as part of the church’s Jabem district, was challenged by Jabem president Rev David Danny, to demonstrate their Christian faith by filling up the church to capacity during services.
He said for the district to achieve one of its aims to bring the Word of God into every household, all members, especially the leaders, should work together in harmony.
Former Huon Gulf MP Tukape Masani, who had funded the planning of the church a decade ago with K10,000 seed capital, described this development as a blessing at a time when Lae city was recovering slowly from the depths of lawlessness and the recent ethnic crisis.