Desert hunger for God’s hope and healing
For almost 18 months, due to a variety of reasons, there has been very little worship or Christian fellowship at Laramba (Napperby) community.
This community has been through, and is still experiencing, a lot of pain due to murders and ongoing payback. Even local Lutheran Pastor Ronnie McNamara has been the subject of personal attacks.
However, recently FRM board member Pastor Gus Schutz and Executive Officer Mr Brenton Schild attended the rededication of repairs to the church.
Christ in the Centre spoke to FRM Support Worker Pastor Ray Morris who participated in the community’s regular Monday night sing-along last month.
‘Before the sing-along, Pastor Ronnie McNamara and I provided an activity and story for around twenty children’, he said, ‘Then the children had a sing-along before going home. This was followed by the adults with their singing time.”
The sing-alongs have been initiated by a lady with no Lutheran connections. Through her love for the community and relationship with FRM, this community event has been possible.
Pastor Ronnie is now conducting regular Sunday services and daily morning and evening devotions.
Only eighty kilometres down the road, the Mt Allen community has also commenced Lutheran worship services and teaching again after almost ten years. At the recent Palm Sunday service so many baptisms were conducted that Pastor Ray ran out of Baptism Bears.
‘Even the whitefellas in the community are seeking out the support of FRM and appreciate the message and help we provide. As a small example of this, last week I helped construct painting frames for an upcoming art show in Alice Springs’, Pastor Ray said, ‘All of the FRM Support Workers have similar great experiences in the more than thirty remote communities that we visit regularly’.
We continue to give thanks to God who continues to work in and through the lives of his people. FRM continues to play a significant role in God’s plan.
