Ordination Joy Despite Lockdown
By Paul Traeger
A former student of Yirara (Aboriginal) College in Alice Springs, Stanley Roberts completed the FRM pastors’ curriculum in his forties
Despite a COVID-19 lockdown forcing a last-minute change of plans, Stanley Roberts was ordained in unique circumstances as a Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) at Papunya in the Northern Territory in November, 2020. Papunya is an Aboriginal community approximately 240 km northwest of Alice Springs.
A former student at Yirara, the Lutheran Aboriginal College in Alice Springs who later completed the FRM pastors’ curriculum, Pastor Stanley, 45, had been a community night patrol worker until 2019. He finished that role to concentrate on his ministry duties. He was prominent in leading evening singalongs at Papunya during most of 2020.
Paul Traeger is the Ministry Support Worker
for the Pintupi-Luritja Language Area (Central Australia)
Ministry of the LCA’s FRM
