Barry McCroskery was accepted for service in Timor in East Indonesia while serving as licentiate assistant in Harmony Hill congregation near Lisburn. In November 2004, he was ordained as a PCI minister by the Presbytery of Dromore and at the same time inducted as a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, serving under the Board of Mission Overseas (BMO).
Barry’s wife, Rev Elsye Niap, was already an ordained minister in the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor(GMIT) when she came to Ireland in 2000 to engage in post-graduate studies supported by BMO’s Bursary Scheme. Whilst in Belfast, she resided in Union Theological College (UTC) as she studied for a Masters in Reconciliation Studies through the Irish School of Ecumenics.
Barry and Elsye were married in Atambua in Timor in May 2003. In late 2004, Barry, Elsye and Rebecca (who was born in Belfast) returned to Indonesia to serve with the Evangelical Christian Church in Timor (GMIT). Their second daughter, Gisell, was born in Kupang.
Barry works in GMIT’s Synod Office in Kupang, where he assists with international partner relations, and diaconal work (social witness). He regularly conducts church services in different congregations, and from time to time, his work takes him out into the wider church community, travelling around Timor and its neighbouring islands. He also produces a bi-monthly English language newsletter for GMIT’s overseas partners and helps GMIT to maintain connections with interested churches and organisations abroad.
Elsye is Assistant Dean and Lecturer in New Testament Studies in the Faculty of Theology of Universitas Kristen Artha Wacana (UKAW) in Kupang. The Faculty of Theology is shared between GMIT and the Christian Church of Sumba (GKS), where around 500 students are being taught theology by 14 full-time lecturers. Facilities are very basic, but thanks to help from two PCI congregations some significant improvements have been made in recent years.
GMIT is the second largest protestant church in Indonesia with around 860 ministers serving approximately 1.5 million members in some 1,800 congregations. As well as in Timor, there are GMIT congregations in 13 neighbouring islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) Province in Eastern Indonesia.
General Prayer Points
Our weekly Overseas Prayerline bulletin contains up-to-date information and prayer requests from our mission personnel and partners overseas.
