25.01.2024

"...he has become one with our land."

The old grave (left) has been renovated (center). Ob the right you can see a modern colored version of a black and white Photo of Ernst Feige. All images: GKE. Combination: UEM

"The renewal of the grave of Ernst Willhelm Feige is a form of respect and appreciation of the GKE and all its members in the land of Dayak Ma'anyan for his services to the proclamation of the Gospel." This is how Rev. Simpon Ferdinant Lion, General Chairwoman of the GKE Synod, describes why the grave of a German missionary matters until today.

UEM member church GKE* has newly dedicated the grave of its first missionary Ernst Wilhelm Feige (1840-1901) in Tamiang Layang. Feige was sent from Germany to the land of Ma'anyan in Kalimantan in the 19th century as a missionary of the Rhenish Mission Society and built the mission's first house in Tamiang Layang in 1880. His colleagues at the time described him as a hard-working employee. To this day, the Christians in Kalimantan remember him above all for his loyalty to them and their island: he lived and worked in Tamiang Layang until his death in 1901:

"He allowed himself to be called, he allowed himself to be sent to bring the gospel to us here in the land of Ma'anyan, and in the end also to become one with this land, to become earth again here in our earth," is how the GKE describes him today.

The Christians in Kalimantan have not forgotten his service to this day. That is why his grave has been extensively redesigned and is now accessible to the public again.

*GKE = Gereja Kalimantan Evangelis (Evangelical Church of Kalimantan)