Pacific Conference of Churches calls for reason in PNG religion debate.

SUVA, Fiji--- Christians must attempt to change the world through living Christ-like lives, not by forcing legislation on others, says the Pacific Conference of Churches. Responding to a motion in the Papua New Guinea parliament to review freedom of religion laws, PCC General Secretary Reverend Francois Pihaatae said it was important that legislators reflect on Christ’s message of love.

 

Mr. Reuben Mete and Reverend Francois Pihaatae
chating during the PCC 10th General Assembly
in Honiara, Solomon Islands early this year.

“While the PCC recognizes the sovereignty of all nations to create laws, we would – in all humility – suggest that whatever is done is in a way which reflects God’s appreciation of the diversity of His creation and His love for all people,” Rev Pihaatae said. “It is also helpful for legislators to reflect that Christ spoke about justice and inclusivity and in living lives which showed a genuine care for and of neighbor.”

 

A motion moved by Hela Province Governor Anderson Agiru and carried in the PNG parliament has allowed the setting up of a national consultation on whether to allow religious freedom in the country.

Rev Pihaatae said Christianity and Christian missionaries had played a major role in the history of PNG and most Pacific countries. “We urge Pacific leaders to value this contribution to our history. At the same time we call on church elders to teach their congregations that being a Christian is more than about worship.

It is about loving your neighbor, caring about the environment and taking practical steps towards reducing poverty,” he said. “There is also a need to look at developing economic models which are relevant to our people.”

 

Rev Pihaatae said violence against women and children must also be addressed. “This cannot be done through legislation but we can gain forward movement if we live the Gospel which is common throughout the Pacific.” And he said the PCC invited churches in PNG to provide clear moral directions to legislators on religious freedom and Christian responsibility.

 

Source: Islands Business

Imperial Castle Nuremberg - A Glimpse of World History



A visit to the Castle with the IYLC 2013 members.

Source: Adapted


The Imperial Castle Nuremberg is one of the most important imperial palaces of the Middle Ages. Between 1050 and 1571 it hosted the gatherings of the court, Diets and juridical sessions of all German emperors and kings of the Holy Roman Empire.

 

A Salian royal castle was build on the rock here as early the 11^th century. In the 12^th and 13^th century, Emperor Friedrich I. Barbarossa (1123-1190) and his successors build one of the largest and most magnificant castle complexes of the empire on the western rock. The Romanesque double chapel still dates fro this time, while the palace and other structures were converted and renewed from 1440 onwards in the Late Gothic style. The mighty bastions were first build one century later.

 

 

The Imperial Castle was only inhabited during imperial visits. The empiror’s permanent administrator lived in the Burgrave’s Castle on the eastern rock.
 

 

Christian Churches in China urged to become the Salt and Light for this world.

By Reuben Mete

Mr. Da Wei Ge, one of the Young Lutheran Youth Leaders from China attending the 05^th International Leadership Consultation currently going on in Neuendettelsau, Germany concluded the individual participant’s introduction session presentation of national, individual and leadership backgrounds today. Mr. Ge was the second last presenter before South Korean’s Kim.

Young world leaders share their passions and talented openly during the 30 minutes introduction presentation and also share a lot of gifts. Nicaragu’s Sergio Rios Carillo was the first presenter beginning the sessions yesterday on a very high note. Brazil, Tanzania, Mozambique, German, Singapore, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Malaysia also made very impressive presentation.

“Christianity first entered China in 635 A.D” said Mr. Ge. Afterwards Christianity entered China two more times, in the 13^th and 17^th Century. In the 19^th Century, Protestant Christianity was brought to China, but unfortunately it was associated with colonization and was seen as a ‘foreign religion’. In the 1950s, in order to change the image of Christianity as a foreign religion, Chinese Christians initiated the three-self Patriotic Movement. The churches in China took the road of self-administration, self-support and self-propagation and thereby earned respect and recognition from the Chinese people.

In 1958,Chinese Christians begun the practice of United Worship, based on the principle of mutual respect, brothers and sisters ‘bear with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’ Mr Ge also mentioned that during the period of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), church life was eliminated. In 1979, with the implementation of the policy of religion freedom, church life resumed and the churches in China endeavored to move beyond ‘three-self’ to ‘three-well’ that is administering it, supporting it and propagating it well. 

Mr. Da Wei Ge performing a Beijing Opera as part of his presentation

During the last 30 years, the development of Christianity and growth of the church in China have been obvious and various and ministries are taking root onward and bearing fruit upward. The church in China is really fully of God grace, and many new and unprecedented developments in the fields of theological renewal, church administration, theological education and training, publication, social service and international tiesare taking place. In 1998, a theological renewal movement was launched, showing that the church in China is growing not only in years, but also in wisdom, establishment its own theological voice to better spread the gospel and build up the churches in China and also to contribute to the voice for better spreading the gospel and building up the churches in China and to contribute to the ecumenical church movement. 

“The Churches in China are young but God is always accomplished abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. Under the guidance of God, the churches in China will develop further and enhance every kind of ministry, endeavoring to be ‘the light and salt’ of the world and striving to promote social harmony and world peace” said Mr. Ge. He also mentions that churches in China faces heavy responsibility and has a long way to go. “Our hope is in God’s guidance and protection. We also hope for the prayers and support of brothers and sisters from ecumenical churches,” Ge said.

The Fruit of Partnership: A Letter to Papua New Guinea friends from Germany.

By Christine Schulz

 The letter, which we sent to PNG two weeks ago: 

Dear friends in PNG,

Some time ago our German group had the idea to send you a letter about what is going on in Germany at the moment and what we are doing for our partnership program. Today it´s my turn to send you best greetings and new information from the German group. I hope you all are well and the laplap which is going from parish to parish is still on his way. Many of us are still in contact with some friends from PNG, mostly via internet. That´s great!

I want to inform you a little bit about what we did the last months after our journey to PNG. We thought a lot about how we can inform people about the project and how we can share with them the fruits of our partnership. So we made some evening programs in some parishes. We showed them a lot of pictures and told them about our aims and ideas. Many people said that it is very interesting and that they feel our happiness concerning the PNG-relationship which was a great feedback for us Furthermore we organized some programs for youth groups: Every one of the German members prepared e little program which includes a theme of our project, e.g. about resources. This way we can share our ideas and maybe we can win some new members for our partnership group.

Another big project was the following: In Germany there exist many fruit trees who are not used, so we collected a lot of apples and made juice out of them. This juice we sold in the parishes and the money these people pay is used for our partnership project. Another important thing is that the person who made the juice out of these apples plants some new trees, so it´s good for the climate too, which is a kind of climate compensation for the flights to PNG. Now all the juice is sold and we hope we are able to collect many apples again this autumn.

Now I want to tell you some news about our group members. I think you now that Felix was going to Canada after our meeting in PNG. There he makes a voluntary service. He will come back this summer. In summer Charlotte will travel to some countries in Europe for one year, her first station is Spain. What is more, that Luise is in Bangladesh at the moment. She went in April and will come back in autumn, she makes a voluntary service in a christian community.

Last weekend Daniel was in Leipzig Mission where some members of different partnership programs met. They made a kind of exchange about their experiences. He met a man from PNG too. Hel was from Madang and stays in Germany for three months. He is very engaged against an experiment for the first under water mining in PNG which is very dangerous.

At least I want to tell you that we have a new group member: His name is Falk and works in our church youth like Heike. He supports her because there is a lot of organisation to do for the project. All in all we are hope- and joyful about our partnership and the next exchange in 2014! Many people supported us and we are very thankful that God makes all these great experiences possible! We often miss PNG.

We send you all the best wishes, God bless you all!

Christine and the whole German group.

Christian Churches in China urged to become the 'Salt and Light' of the World.

By Reuben Mete

Da Wei Ge, one of the Young Lutheran Youth Leaders from China attending the 05^th International Leadership Consultation currently going on in Neuendettelsau, Germany concluded the individual participant’s introduction session presentation of national, individual and leadership backgrounds today. Mr. Ge was the second last presenter before South Korean’s Kim.

Young world leaders share their passions and talented openly during the 30 minutes introduction presentation and also share a lot of gifts. Nicaragu’s Sergio Rios Carillo was the first presenter beginning the sessions yesterday on a very high note. Brazil, Tanzania, Mozambique, German, Singapore, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Malaysia also made very impressive presentation.

“Christianity first entered China in 635 A.D” said Mr. Ge. Afterwards Christianity entered China two more times, in the 13^th and 17^th Century. In the 19^th Century, Protestant Christianity was brought to China, but unfortunately it was associated with colonization and was seen as a ‘foreign religion’. In the 1950s, in order to change the image of Christianity as a foreign religion, Chinese Christians initiated the three-self Patriotic Movement. The churches in China took the road of self-administration, self-support and self-propagation and thereby earned respect and recognition from the Chinese people.

In 1958,Chinese Christians begun the practice of United Worship, based on the principle of mutual respect, brothers and sisters ‘bear with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.’Ge also mentioned that during the period of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), church life was eliminated. In 1979, with the implementation of the policy of religion freedom, church life resumed and the churches in China endeavored to move beyond ‘three-self’ to ‘three-well’ that is administering it, supporting it and propagating it well. 

Mr. Da Wei Ge trying out a Beijing Opera at the Presentation.

During the last 30 years, the development of Christianity and growth of the church in China have been obvious and various and ministries are taking root onward and bearing fruit upward. The church in China is really fully of God grace, and many new and unprecedented developments in the fields of theological renewal, church administration, theological education and training, publication, social service and international tiesare taking place. In 1998, a theological renewal movement was launched, showing that the church in China is growing not only in years, but also in wisdom, establishment its own theological voice to better spread the gospel and build up the churches in China and also to contribute to the voice for better spreading the gospel and building up the churches in China and to contribute to the ecumenical church movement. 

“The Churches in China are young but God is always accomplished abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. Under the guidance of God, the churches in China will develop further and enhance every kind of ministry, endeavoring to be ‘the light and salt’ of the world and striving to promote social harmony and world peace” said Mr. Ge. He also mentions that churches in China faces heavy responsibility and has a long way to go. “Our hope is in God’s guidance and protection. We also hope for the prayers and support of brothers and sisters from ecumenical churches,” Ge said.

TAME THE PUBLIC SERVICE, TAME THE COUNTRY

By Sam Koim

One of the biggest challenges to service delivery is how to get the public service machinery effective and productive. The public service machinery is supposed to be the reliable agent that facilitates service delivery and development. Sadly the case, I see many people including some of our politicians are not inclined to rely on the public service.

I...n general, ethical values dwindled within the public service to such an extent where what is prescribed or used to be, abnormal is now normal.

Our biggest challenge is to rid the public service of corruption, slackness, inefficiency and ineffectiveness. The cure to it, in my simplest explanation is likened to a coffee farmer and his coffee garden. Coming from a coffee growing part of this country, I know that if a coffee tree is well nourished but not yielding fruit, it requires pruning. Pruning is painful but purposeful as some branches, stems, leaves etc have to be cut off in order to enhance productivity. Pruning exposes the remaining trees to the sunlight which in turn is the essential ingredient for a tree’s productivity.

Similarly, hundreds of millions of kina are poured into the public service year after year but the fact that it is underperforming requires some serious pruning exercise. In that I mean some disciplinary measures have to be taken in the public service. If need be, some people have to be stood down, suspended, dismissed/terminated and even banned from the public service in order to restore productivity in the public service. Any rotten apples identified must be blotted out of the list of the honourables at the first instance so as to prevent their habitual corrupt behaviour from spreading through the public service.

In the Western and developed countries, when public office holders’ deeds bring disrepute to the office they occupy, they quickly resign to allow due process of law to take its course, so as to honour and uphold the integrity of the office they occupy.

In our country, while scandal after scandal has been unearthed, there is an ingrained, almost endemic resistance to owning up. In these circumstances, public office holders galvanize all the energies and means they can muster and ferociously defend themselves. They do this by numerous means, including applying for stay orders in Court which somehow the Courts readily grant, forestalling due process and frustrating good administration. Such actions have a corrosive effect on the integrity of the institutions of government.

The highest penalty under the Public Service Management Act is dismissal from the public service. Whether that means totally banning one from the public service still remains a grey area. The normal definition of dismissal doesn’t imply a total ban. As a result, I see public servants with tainted history moving from one department to the other, leaving a trail of controversy wherever they go.

Section 53 of the Public Service Management Act provides that when a person is charged for a criminal offence relating to the office he occupies, he “shall” be suspended without pay. Many public servants who have been charged by the Police are for some reasons still working in their same office or not working but still receiving their salary. Be that as it may, we also have to be thoughtful of putting innocent people on the street without pay. Absolute professionalism is needed in this area.

Sometimes, public service disciplinary processes are not successfully completed. Departmental Heads start a process and never complete it, allowing the misconducting officers to remain and grow with their improper behaviour.

The disciplinary processes involving the departmental heads, Department of Personal Management and Public Service Commission have to be reviewed and realigned to effectively deal with disciplinary issues concerning public servants.

I believe that we have to work on instilling discipline in the public service as an antidote the ills of the public service. Singapore has been successful because one of the key factors that I have discovered in their success story is the Conscription through what they call the National Service (NS), where all male Singaporean citizens and non-first-generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 are required to enrol for national service in the disciplined forces like the military and police for at least 2 years. Although the objective may be different, I believe that such an arrangement inculcates discipline and instil a sense of nationalism in the citizenry.

I believe breeding a disciplined public service and citizenry is the key to national development.

Building your dreams.

BUILDING YOUR DREAMS