THE MELPA LUTHERAN CHURCH IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA (MLC-PNG)

The Melpa Lutheran Church in Papua New Guinea (MLC-PNG) is an offshoot of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea (ELC-PNG). The doctrines are the same as that of the original ELC-PNG Church and the Gutnius Lutheran Church (GLC), but operate as an independent Church with its own administrative structure. It has its own Bishop (Sanangke Dole) and Ecclesiastic officials. It is presently headquartered in Mount Hagen, but has definite plans to expand to other parts of the country by opening regional and district offices in close cooperation with ELC-PNG and GLC-PNG.

The primary objective of the Church is to follow the footsteps of the great teacher, healer,
helper, redeemer, and savior in spreading the word of God so that all who believe in him
may find everlasting peace and life in Jesus Christ. Thus, a fundamental aim here is to set
out the philosophical parameters for a spiritually fulfilling and healthy living.

Our vision for the Church is threefold: (1) spiritual development; (2) social development;
and (3) maintenance of public order and harmonious human relationship. We anticipate
that over the next decades the church will grow on the basis of faith in the Lord. It is the
responsibility of pastors to train their members in a correct manner so that they become
responsible citizens. The emphasis ought to be on theological training.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus said; I am the real vine, and my father is the gardener. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will become clean and bear more fruit. You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you.

Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me (John 15). The words that Jesus spoke to his disciples over 2000 years ago remain true to this day. It is therefore appropriate that we view pastors as the branches and the people as the grapes.

If pastors teach people correctly and follow the principles of the Bible, then the people will
remain strong and faithful to God. In this way the church will gain strength and grow.
The word of God and faith in God is the foundation of this church. Without faith (attaching
the branch to the vine), the church has no future. Believing in God is important, but it is
also necessary to proclaim that Jesus is Lord and to announce the Good News to everyone.
The message to Christians can be found in the first letter of Peter:

But you are the chosen race, the King’s priests, the holy nation, and God’s own
people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of
darkness into his own marvelous light. At one time you were not God’s people,
but now you are his people; at one time you did not know God’s mercy, but now
you have received his mercy (I Peter 2:9-10).

As this message indicates, Christians must take heed of advice from the Bible whilst at the
same time announce to the world that God has done great things for them.
Our vision for the future is that the church will grow in strength so that all our programs
can run successfully. It is our greatest desire that missionaries from this Church may oneday
witness for God in other countries. As the scripture says:

Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples; baptize them in
the name of the father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to obey
everything I have commanded you.

Our greatest desire is to work with the other two sister Lutheran Churches and the
independent state of Papua New Guinea as equal partners in development. We believe that
the churches are in a better position to understand the problems of rural people than the
government which is based away from the ordinary people and claims to represent its
citizens but rarely gets in touch with ordinary people in remote parts of the country.

For more information, click here to go to the MLC -PNG website.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@