About Our History
About Our History
Highland Lutheran International School
The property at Amapyaka was purchased in 1953 by missionaries from Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), and the original school was a grass hut that was used to prepare young national men to teach the Word of God throughout Papua New Guinea.
In 1957 the number of missionaries coming from LCMS greatly increased and Lutheran Women’s Missionary League in the United States donated 40,000 US dollars to build a permanent building that served nearly 100 missionary children. In 1975, when PNG became independent from Australia and many missionaries returned home, enrollment at the school dropped to about 40 students, and soon after the school began to increase programs and services to national students. In the mid-nineties the school grew again to about 190 students.
Then HLIS was hard hit by tribal warfare that broke out in October 2002 and resulted in the main building, with all of it resources, being destroyed by fire in January 2003. The school is now energetically rebuilding and renewing its mission to provide excellence in education guided by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to qualified students from all over PNG.
