My visit to the GPID comes to an end and I fly to Makassar in the late afternoon and on to Singapore tomorrow. In a service at Manunggal Church in Palu, I say goodbye with a sermon on the motto for the year: „Let all that you do be done in love.“ (1 Cor. 16:14).
I am grateful for the great hospitality with which Junita Lasut and her husband Groover, Jens Balondo and I have been welcomed and accompanied again and again this week. We had already arranged this visit two years ago during the ems general meeting at Arnoldshain (EKHN) as part of my presidency of the ems. Church President Alexander Rondonuwu and his staff gave us a deep insight into church life and their social and diaconal commitment. Ethnic identity plays a major role in Indonesia and in the Christian churches. We were also able to experience this in the GPID, where different ethnic groups come together. As a Christian minority, they maintain a close dialog with the Muslim majority society. Everyone benefits from their social commitment in the villages and their education center Pusdiklat in Palu, regardless of their religious affiliation. They also rely on solidarity from the ems community. This is evident in their support for fishermen to buy boats or the reconstruction of the education center in Palu. But also in the support of human resource development and the developing of forms of advocacy for the environment in the GPID region as well as building cooperation with others to preserve their local environment.
Special thanks to our driver Rio. He always got us safely to our destinations over the most difficult road conditions.
I leave the GPID with many good impressions. The church is an important part of our international companionship!
