in Neuendettelsau from 1946. He described the changes from the old to the new worldview in the religion of the Mount Hagen people.118 The earlier religious life was marked by veneration of the power over life and death. Death was the unsolved problem, and the purpose of the secret cults was to prolong and renew life in all its forms. Through a kind of fall, humans were separated from this power of life. In the cult and rites they tried to relate to it again, making up for the fall of the ancestors in order to escape death. This power of life originated from the high gods. They lived at remote distance and were only called at the time of feasts or important events. Their decisions over life could only be accepted. Once sacrifices or sorceries proved ineffective, only resignation remained.
Besides these transcendent gods there were the familiar spirits of the ancestors who reflected the social structure. People related to them in reciprocity, which is the fundamental principle of their social life: the exchange of gifts and assistance placed obligations on one another. The ancestor spirits could be influenced and also manipulated. They followed the same obligations as humans. Gifts and prayers were the means to ensure their support. Gifts reinforced prayers. Prayers persuaded, convinced, or even threatened the spirits to help: “Come, brothers and sisters. We have brought you a pig. Take it and lead its soul into the land of the dead where you can eat it. In return let the sick father recover!”
At night the soul of the sleepers conversed with the spirits and feasts confirmed the fellowship with them. Everything was caused by the spirits: sickness, good or bad harvest, good and bad luck. But sin and death remained unresolved problems. If death was caused by punishment of the gods, it must be accepted. If it was caused by another person, it must be avenged. A personal feeling of sin did not exist—only shame about breaking the rules of the community. There was no forgiveness, only penance and the retributive gift which removed the guilt.
According to Vicedom, Christianity totally changed this religious relationship. In eight points he described these changes:
1. The creator God encounters creation as a person. Everything and everyone on earth belongs to him and has to be treated with respect. All humans are brothers and sisters.
2. God claims his right even after the Fall; he has not retreated like the old gods. He acted as a caring Father by sending his Son for the salvation of sinners. This means that wrongdoings do not automatically result in evil fate, but require confession and seeking of redemption.
3. Relationship with God is dependent on relationship with others, while the old rules were given by the spirits to serve them. Many commandments were already present in the pre-Christian tribe; however the laws of God are universal and altruistic, while the old laws were confined to the tribe.
4. In contrast to the former aim to increase the power of life for one’s own family and tribe, the new goal of life is to serve God. God guides through good and bad days; the times where life is limited are also times of God.
5. The new life follows a universal ethos. The spirits were neither omnipresent nor omniscient, so that they could be betrayed, but God knows every action and thought. The converts believed that God sits on their forehead and watches everything they do.
6. God gives eternal life and salvation. This-worldly religion is replaced by an other-worldly orientation through the proclamation of the resurrection.
7. Pastoral care happens through church discipline. If the individual Christian is not willing to adhere to the rules, the community will discipline him or her.
8. The sacraments express the close encounter with the holy God, therefore confession is required before approaching the Holy.
We notice that Vicedom describes faith as relationship to the creator and savior God. Yet many hymns in the two church languages Kate and Jabem express a close relation to Jesus Christ: He is called my friend, brother, and also lord and redeemer. His cult is not secret, but open to all. Here, the message of the atonement holds a central place with sayings like “his blood became our ornament” and “his blood destroyed our sins.”
Distance from God is expressed in phrases like “we little, unfortunate, miserable, evil people: we live on this miserable earth, but it is no longer our home; we want to go to our Father in heaven.” The immanent religion has turned transcendent and the new village is in heaven where they can find the land of peace.
In another article119 Vicedom supports Keysser’s claim that the new congregation must be organized as theocracy, because the convert does not encounter God outside of his group. When the tribe becomes God’s people, the law of the group is the law of God, and Christ is the Lord of the tribe. Lutheran Christians had found their place in the history of salvation. They accepted the Bible as the book of God’s history with humans; they viewed faith as a communal affair, feared the punishment of God, prayed for His intervention, and fought against temptation. Disobedience to the law or failure to follow it resulted in condemnation and placed the transgressor in the realm of evil forces. Sickness was regarded as punishment for evil and recovery after confession was to be expected.
The policy of the mission had been based on indigenous evangelists and teachers. Many missionaries had reservations against an indigenous clergy because they were afraid of a clerical hierarchy in conflict with the traditional village leadership. While the Methodist mission in Fiji started to train clergy in seminaries twenty years after the beginning of the mission, the Lutheran mission in PNG took seventy years before establishing the first seminary for the training of clergy in 1957. In 1944 there were 60,000 baptized Lutherans with 800 evangelists and 400 teachers, but no ordained minister.120
Mission based on evangelists had its limitations.121 After baptism the work of the evangelist should have finished. They did not have the education to become teachers and felt disadvantaged in comparison with government teachers. Their preaching was often legalistic because their theological training was basic. The Christian way of life became a school of behavior. Holy Communion could be celebrated only by the missionary, and used to happen around four times a year. In the 1940s many congregations did not have Holy Communion for up to seven years.
When the church finally started to train pastors, their role was often confined to Sunday services, sacraments, and marriages, while the oversight and control of the spiritual and church life resided with the local elders. However, their authority was no longer unchallenged. Dissidents could leave the village community which once again broke up into family units.122 Students returning from cities introduced new ideas with which the elders could not cope.
The missionary to the Mount Hagen tribes, Hermann Strauss, reported at the Mission conference of 1953 how the New Guinea Christians understood repentance.123 According to his observations the religious life was “thoroughly legalistic.” Sin was “understood in a very external way” as acting against the rules of the group. Law was the way of life of the group, but not internalized as God’s guidance. Shame took the place of conscience and “being ashamed” the place of repentance. Wrongdoing could be rectified by submitting to the punishment of the congregation. Confession was often “the child of fear, fear of the consequence of sin regarding health and outward prosperity.” Forgiveness was obtained not through inner repentance and faith, but through submission to the penalties of the congregation. Repentance was regarded as a kind of offering which deserves to be rewarded.
Strauss recommended two ways to deepen the understanding of repentance: the preaching of the Old Testament prophets and insistence on God’s holiness can help to view sin in relation to God. Sinful man must “be hammered with the Law until their pride and stubbornness of heart is crushed, only then can it be right to preach to them forgiveness and grace.”
On the other hand, Strauss admonished the missionaries to accept the spiritual
