Save ELC PNG Business Arm Call. Marawasa Congregation of Yati Parish, Kaiapit Circuit has celebrated its launching of the 100 years since ELC PNG set foot in the Markham Valley. The Yabim District Conference will start in two weeks time with delegates from Salamaua, Bukawa, Lae City, Buang, Menyamya and Markham attending. My invitation was received a week ago so I drove from Buang in the early hours of Sunday 28th September 2014 all the way to Watarais. The Umi Atzera LLG President Daki Mao joined the Marawasa villagers to welcome me and friends that accompanied me. I took the opportunity during the speech to remind the ELC PNG - Yabim District executives and the believers not to treat the upcoming conference as another ordinary conference. With the ELC PNG HQ in Ampo losing its control over church owned business assets and many other compounding issues surrounding the operations of the mother church, Lutheran believers should now seriously use such conferences to make their stand to call for the restructuring and major overhaul of the existing system of operation employed by ELC PNG. Rather then watching the church run businesses die off all educated elites of ELC PNG should rally behind their circuits and districts using such conferences to help find ways forward. ELC PNG by losing all of its business assets the foundations of most of its internal revenue generation sources has now placed the church in a very vulnerable situation to the outside influence and threatening its independence. The church is now practically feeding out of funds provided for by the politicians. I am not saying its wrong to do so because I myself am also funding church activities in my district as well but I still dont think its right. The church must not rely too much on political hand outs, the business arm of the church must be re-activated with proper management & structure in place. The call and the change must originate from such conferences and not from Ampo itself because we may have wolfs restructuring themselves in Ampo continuing to destroy the church assets (if there are any left). I gave some examples of SDA church and Catholic Church that has a vibrant business arms that continues to support their operation. The Catholic Bishop Conference do deliver statements on issues concerning PNG on corruption, rising of basic food items, declining health services from time to time. Id like see ELC PNG to do the same, to speak without fear or favor on issues concerning the silent majority. A church that feeds on political hand outs will never speak for the simple people against failed government policies. In order for ELC PNG to achieve that, the church must have a vibrant business arm that generates its own internal revenue so to be less dependent from other sources & influences. Never the less the 1.5m faithfuls of the Lutheran Church still holds the church high in the remote areas of PNG but must now be actively involved in the decision making in the way business is conducted from Ampo. I also urged educated & elites of Yabim District to use this occasion to help formulate agendas and resolutions relating to the issues surrounding the business arm of ELC PNG to be presented to the church HQ and the up & coming Synod in Finchafen.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 02:46:29 +0000
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