Her Irish Christian name reflected her ancestry, but she died with a traditional Batak scarf (ulos) around her neck, signifying her adoption into the Hasibuan clan during her time working in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
Converted at the age of 15 through the ministry of Humphrey Newman at St John’s Church Welling, she went to university in Leeds, then taught RE in Yorkshire. After further study at London Bible College she was sent to Asia with OMF in March 1969 by Sidcup Baptist Church. She served in Bandung, West Java, as a lay Elder in the Gereja Kristen Indonesia, whose members were mainly Chinese. She preached, taught and counselled regularly in the congregations, but her greatest ministry was to students and other young people.
When Dorothy Marx took a rare furlough, it was Lish who was invited to give the Christian Religion lectures at the Institut Teknologi Bandung, one of the top universities in the country. Through this she developed lasting spiritual relationships with a generation of key graduates.
Holy Spirit came down
In 1978, for her third term of service, she was seconded to work with the Lutheran Angkola Protestant Church. On one occasion, when she was the speaker at a Bible Camp for some High School students, the Holy Spirit came down in a special way and brought deep repentance and conversion to almost all the students including Armand Barus who is now a leading NT Scholar in Indonesia.
She then became a lecturer at Nommenson University, North Sumatera, until she returned to the UK in 1987. It is not just her lecturing and her preaching that are remembered by her students, but they knew that they could call on her at any time of day or night to discuss their lectures or the personal issues in their lives.
London Bible College
Her return to the UK in 1987 was to take up a role at London Bible College (now London School of Theology) as their Lecturer in World Mission. In this she excelled. Her dynamic personality and theological acumen were evident to all. She was a wise woman and her counsel was much valued both by individuals and in councils. She was one of the Trustees of All Nations Christian College and served on OMF Councils. Her spiritual discernment was at times uncanny – a seemingly innocuous question could reveal significant issues in the life of the interviewee. (There was always a box of tissues handy when Lish interviewed anyone!)
She retired to Buxton where her sister was living and became a member of Trinity Church. She faced a diagnosis of terminal cancer with spiritual fortitude and died hearing the last verses of Romans 8. She was a delightful friend, a fearless debater, a wise counsellor and an enquiring scholar. Her laugh will continue to echo in our minds until we join her in eternity.
