Lutherans celebrate 75 years

The National Weekender
ANNIVERSARY
‘God came to live among the Enga people’
Dr Willard Burce in 2017.

TOMORROW, Saturday, Aug 26, 2023, the Gutnius Lutheran Church of PNG will celebrate its 75th anniversary.
It was on this day in 1948 that missionary Harold Freund and carpenter Patrick Kleinig set foot for the first time at the Keapo knoll, Yaramanda in the Wapenamanda district of Enga.
That was considered the first day of mission work for the Lutheran Church in the province.
Missionary Freund and 230 carriers (Melpa people from neighbouring Western Highlands) had walked for three days and three cold nights from Ogelbeng.
They had walked through tough terrain of mountains, fast flowing rivers, and thick forests for more than 60 km to Yaramanda, the home of the Wauni tribe in Wapenamanda, Enga.
It all started when World War II ended in 1945. At that time Australia managed the New Guinea (eastern) half as a United Nations trust territory and Canberra agreed that the mission work would commence.

Missouri Synod
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) wrote to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) in 1947 when it had its Centennial Convention in Chicago, USA, inviting them to do mission work in New Guinea.
The ELCA felt that there were still unreached people further into the western interior of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea today).
They (ELCA) had run short of resources and missionaries because they had already been working on the coast and other parts of the highlands of New Guinea from 1886 for 61 years.
The LCMS agreed to send missionaries to New Guinea in that Convention (Synod).
Two young graduates from Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St Louise, in the State of Missouri, USA agreed to this calling.
They were Dr Otto Hintze Jr and Dr Willard Burce. They graduated from seminary in 1947 and got ordained in 1948 before they travelled across the Pacific Ocean by ship to Brisbane, Australia.
From Brisbane, they travelled to to Port Moresby, and finally to Lae, Morobe. They spent a few days in Lae, meeting other missionaries from Australia and USA in their orientation. They were in their mid-20s.
After few days in Morobe, they flew up to Kerowagi, Chimbu. They witnessed the first baptism in Ega circuit in Kerowagi on Oct 31, 1948 and on Nov 2, a Tuesday, they flew up to Wabag, Enga.
Burce and Hintze Jr were met by Missionary Freund. The Australian administration personnel were also on hand to meet them. From Wabag they walked 25 miles (40km) to Yangimaus (Birip) where they spent the night.
This is where they would later establish a Bible school which later became a seminary to teach and prepare young local pastors.
On the morning of Nov 3, 1948 Burce and Hintze continued their journey to Yaramanda where Kleinig and Freund had already been preparing for them for a little over two months. The church was established there, and its work it Enga began there.
The Word of God was first preached on Nov 7, 1948 to a male population of only 40. The women were told by the local men to stay at home, while they would find out more on the ‘white skinned people’ (the missionaries) and what they were up to.

First 40 converts
Without knowing much, the 40 men became the first Christians of the Gutnius Lutheran Church PNG. The Holy Spirit worked in their lives and in no time many people joined in later and became part of the first Christians into Yaramanda.
Rev Dr Willard Burce is now 99 years old and continues to live in Wisconsin, USA while Rev Dr. Otto Hintze Jr passed on at 92 years of age in March 2016. Today after 75 years, we treasure and hold faith in what the God Almighty did in the lives of the Enga people.
About 150 missionaries came to Enga bringing that light…the Word. Some were pastors, others were carpenters, agriculturalists, mechanics, electricians, teachers, doctors, nurses, etc.
When the church was started by the missionaries in 1948, it was called New Guinea Lutheran Church in 1948. The name changed to Wabag Lutheran Church in 1961. In 1978 its name changed again to the Gutnius Lutheran Church PNG.

Church today
Today, there are about 550 congregations, 125,000 baptised Christians and 250 pastors serving God in the Gutnius Lutheran Church PNG.
The church has established many education and health institutions, including the St Paul’s Lutheran Secondary in Pausa, Sirunki Lutheran High School, and many primary schools throughout Enga.

Late Dr Otto Hintze Jr surrounded by his family in 2015.

It also established the Emmanuel Lutheran Hospital in Wapenamanda, and many other health centers and aid posts throughout the province. The church also established the Timothy Lutheran Seminary at Birip, Wabag, and a few Bible schools.
It also shares partnership with Evangelical Lutheran Church PNG in Balob Teacher’s College, and Martin Luther Seminary in Lae, Morobe.
The church is celebrating its 75th anniversary (1948 -2023) on Saturday with the theme taken from the Bible, Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaim salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’.”

Rev Dr Otto Hintze Jr teaching catechumens at Yaramanda.