THE LUTHERAN June 2017

N A TIO N A L M A G A ZIN E O F THE L U THE RA N C HU RC H O F A U STRA LIA

JUNE 2017

How to care for

OUR VOLUNTEERS

BLESSING OTHERS

School outreach

a chance to connect

VOL 51 NO5

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SE RV E

one another Galatians 5:13

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL

l o r t n o c e is u Cr

Editor Lisa McIntosh p 08 8267 7300 m 0409 281 703 e lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au Executive Editor Linda Macqueen p 08 8339 5178 e linda.macqueen@lca.org.au

CONNECT WITH US We Love The Lutheran! @welove_TL

Jill Lange–Mohr kept her finger on the LCA pulse while crossing the Tasman Sea, during a New Zealand family cruise to celebrate son Lachie’s Year 12 graduation.

The photo of Jill, who is Principal of St Peters Lutheran College in Springfield Queensland, and a member at St Peters Indooroopilly, was taken by her husband, Mike Seaman.

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The Lutheran informs the members of the LCA about the church’s teaching, life, mission and people, helping them to grow in faith and commitment to Jesus Christ.

The Lutheran also provides a forum for a range of opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or the policies of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

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Special features EDITOR'S

Letter

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As I write this, National Volunteer Week is just ending for another year in Australia. And you’ll probably read this editor’s letter in the lead-up to the same annual observance in New Zealand.

In the most recent figures available, in 2014 voluntary work contributed 743 million hours to the community in Australia. The value in dollar terms of this ‘gift’ to the community is as much as $200 billion dollars annually. It’s big bickies!

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According to Volunteering New Zealand, a 2013 study of that country’s non-profit sector estimated that volunteers contributed more than 157 million unpaid hours of work each year.

We rely on volunteers for the survival of sports clubs, welfare services, environmental groups and service clubs, and in music, the arts and many other areas. They are also critical to our health, education, legal and political systems.

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And what about the church? How many things couldn’t continue without volunteers in our congregations, schools and aged-care facilities?

Some people don’t like the term ‘volunteer’ to describe unpaid work in the church because they say it emphasises what the individual does, rather than who they are as a child of God. Secondly, we don’t just volunteer to serve in the Kingdom of God – we are chosen, called and commissioned to do it.

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Many community volunteers have a heart for others but, as Christians, we also serve to bring Jesus’ love to life for a troubled world.

It’s not always easy. We are not only called to love those who are easy to love or to serve those who are grateful.

The psalmist calls on us to work joyfully: ‘Serve the Lord with gladness’ (Ps 100:2, ESV). And Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that if we aren’t motivated by love, good works are meaningless.

I am not suggesting that if we lose our spark for service, we should throw in the tea towel, put down the paint brush, stop cooking for new arrivals, or give up on taking minutes through that gripping committee meeting.

But when we get tired or dispirited and need to rediscover our passion for being God’s hands and feet, we can look to the Servant King: the One who washed his disciples’ dirty, smelly feet; the One who volunteered to make the ultimate sacrifice, giving his life for ours.

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How to care for our volunteers

5

Blessing others brings joy

10

School outreach a chance to connect

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Regulars Heartland

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Going GREYT!

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#youngSAVEDfree

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Go and Grow

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Inside story

21

Reel life

25

Directory

26

Your voice (Letters)

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Notices

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World in brief

29

Coffee break

30

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With Jesus as an inspiration and rejuvenation, we can keep on serving – and support others as they serve.

The Lutheran is privileged to regularly share servant stories from around the LCA and we do so again this month. We also feature ideas to encourage, value and empower our unpaid workers and, in doing so, I pray our culture of service will survive and thrive.

Lisa

Our cover:

from iStock.com

JES U S I S G OD'S LOVE. HE G IVES U S NE W HE ARTS TO L AY AS IDE O UR OL D WAYS, TO B EL IE VE AND FOL LOW HIM, TO L IVE WI T H HIM E VERY DAY.

heartland

REV JOHN HENDERSON

Bishop Lutheran Church of Australia

CALLED TO DO NO HARM At the recent Lutheran World Federation Assembly in Namibia, a Congolese medical doctor delivered a keynote address on violence against women and children in his country.

people, particularly women who are at risk, to stay in abusive relationships. We plead with such women: please actively seek help and support to protect yourselves and your children.

It was a powerful, moving address backed up by lived experience, medical statistics and social research. In the Congo, more than two out of every three women have been abused. The stories that the doctor and other Africans, Indians and Asians told us about male brutality towards women and children, particularly as a demonstration of power in war zones, were harrowing.

I acknowledge that there are also occasions when the violence flows from the woman to the man.

That started me thinking about our situation, and our church. It may not be to the same extent as in countries like the Congo, and it may be more hidden, yet we too see and know the devastating effects of violence against women. In Australia the recent Royal Commission showed that children have often not been safe either, even in trusted institutions.

Each of us has a responsibility to CARE for others and do them no harm.

So in 2015 the LCA synod asked for an investigation into any links that might exist between our theology and the claims some men make that a theology of subordination justifies their actions. That investigation will report to the 2018 Synod.

Any man among us who uses Christianity and the Bible to justify abuse of his wife or partner has clearly lost sight of his faith. If we are to use the word ‘subordination’ at all it must relate to Christ’s voluntary submission to the will of his heavenly Father when he went to the cross. Such submission is freely given and never demanded. It’s a loving expression that marks the difference between Christians and the world (see the contrast Jesus establishes in Matthew 20:25-27). That does not mean that we encourage

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I especially want to remind men of our God-given responsibility to love and care for others. Purposefully or wantonly harming a woman, just because you can, because you think she is in your power, or because you feel justified in doing so, is always wrong before God and the church.

Each of us has a responsibility to care for others and do them no harm (see, for instance, Luther’s explanation of the fifth commandment).

In the past we have often ignored the immense physical, spiritual and psychological harm caused by abuse as being too difficult to confront. We can no longer give in to that. Such sin diminishes us all. We must break its pattern and call it out for what it is.

Our God knows all things, and there is no hiding place or excuse that allows such unacceptable behaviour, whether it be by a church elder, a trusted parishioner or even a pastor (see Hebrews 4:13).

The difference between domestic violence in Australia and the abuse of women and children in war zones is one of degree. Both are wrong and have no place among God’s people. Whatever the problem and its causes, there is help for us in God, in the church, and from experienced professionals and caring agencies.

‘For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.’ (Ephesians 2:10 NRSV).

How to care for

OUR VOLUNTEERS

by CHRIS MATERNE

The LCA/NZ depends on the service of volunteers in a wide range of areas to bring love to life in Australia and New Zealand.

From musicians, ushers, elders, lay readers, communion assistants, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders, to Bible study leaders, church committee members, school council members, and in many other roles, volunteers are crucial to keeping the doors of our congregations and agencies open.

The Church Worker Support Department of the LCA/ NZ is committed to supporting volunteer involvement in our congregations and related bodies. We want to see all volunteers supported, resourced, cared for and celebrated.

Volunteering in the church is meant to be life-giving, faith-growing and relationship-building. It’s meant to be satisfying, and even fun, all while making a difference and bringing love to life in our communities.

However, many churches and other organisations struggle to retain volunteers and have a high turnover in volunteer roles.

In a 2016 survey of Lay Ministry in the LCA, one of the biggest challenges faced by lay workers was the difficulty they had in finding and keeping volunteers to help in ministry. Volunteers can and do get burnt

out, feel overworked (Australian Bureau of Statistics research shows volunteering rates are highest amongst those in paid employment), neglected and forgotten.

Past experiences can stop people from volunteering again when they are not clear about expectations.

There is good news however, and there are positive steps we can take to help ensure the volunteers we do have enjoy a safe, positive and enriching experience as they serve God and the church.

To help organisations like the LCA/NZ to better support, encourage and manage the service of volunteers, Volunteering Australia has developed a set of National Standards. This set of standards was developed in consultation with organisations and volunteers and is an excellent resource. The Church Worker Support Department is using these standards as it develops policies and resources for the church.

The National Standards for Volunteer Involvement are: Standard 1: Leadership and management The governing body and senior employees lead and promote a positive culture towards volunteering and implement effective management systems to support volunteer involvement.

Standard 2: Commitment to volunteer involvement Commitment to volunteer involvement is set out

through vision, planning and resourcing and supports the organisation’s strategic direction.

Standard 3: Volunteer roles Volunteers are engaged in meaningful roles which contribute to the organisation’s purpose, goals and objectives.

Standard 4: Recruitment and selection Volunteer recruitment and selection strategies are planned and consistent, and meet the needs of the organisation and volunteers.

Standard 5: Support and development Volunteers understand their roles and gain the knowledge, skills and feedback needed to safely and effectively carry out their duties.

Standard 6: Workplace safety and wellbeing The health, safety and wellbeing of volunteers is protected in the workplace.

Standard 7: Volunteer recognition Volunteer contribution, value and impact is understood, appreciated and acknowledged.

would likely meet many of the criteria within each standard already. So we are working from a solid base which means that small changes can have a positive effect fairly quickly.

Praying for current volunteers and that God will raise up new volunteers is another important contribution we can make to our church life. In fact, the Bible encourages us to do this. Matthew 9:35–38 says: ‘Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”.’

VOLUNTEERING in the church is meant to be life-giving, faith-growing and relationship-building.

Standard 8: Quality management and continuous improvement Effective volunteer involvement results from a system of good practice, review and continuous improvement.

While these standards have been developed by a secular organisation, they fit well with biblical and LCA/ NZ foundational principles.

The standards can be used as a general guide to good practice, as an audit tool or a framework to assist in planning, and a baseline against which to monitor and measure continuous improvement.

The Church Worker Support Department is keeping these standards in mind as we seek to develop policies and resources to support all church workers.

Most congregations and other agencies of the church

The following is an extract from guidelines the Church Worker Support Department is developing. It will be completed soon and made available to congregations and other agencies.

Contact us via the details on page 7 to request a copy.

Volunteer recognition Volunteers need to know that they are valued and appreciated. Below are some suggested ways in which you can recognise the important service and contribution your volunteers make to your mission and ministry.

• Practise random acts of kindness. Remember to say ‘thank you’ to volunteers in all kinds of ways.

Sometimes a simple pat on the back goes a long way; just make whatever you do personal and from the heart. Noticing people doing things in the right way and commenting on it is a powerful encourager and motivator.

• Take the time to write and present handwritten notes or cards of encouragement and thanks to volunteers. These can be kept and read over and over again and often find their way onto fridges and display shelves.

• Send birthday cards and Christmas cards to volunteers. Throw parties to celebrate special occasions.

• Be generous in formally or publically recognising and acknowledging volunteer contributions to a ministry, even for those who work quietly and unobtrusively behind the scenes. When there is a success, or when volunteers have gone above and beyond their role, celebrate it as a team, or even as a congregation or organisation.

• Have a Volunteer Sunday once a year, for example during National Volunteer Week (each year in May in Australia, or this year from 18 to 24 June in New Zealand). Calculate how many hours all your

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MORE ABOUT VOLUNTEERING According to the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, approximately 5.8 million Australians or 31 per cent of the total population volunteer in some way. In New Zealand, Statistics New Zealand’s General Social Survey and other major indicators identify a virtually identical percentage of people as volunteers, equating to approximately 1.35 million New Zealanders.

There is no doubt that this service to the community in both nations has huge value and plays an important role in providing much-needed services to a wide range of people.

volunteers have contributed over the past year and celebrate the fact. Ask everyone who volunteers in any way to stand before the congregation and pray a blessing on them.

• Affirm God’s call in your volunteer’s lives and their ministry. Remind them that it’s him they are serving. Seek God’s leading and direction together for the ministry.

• Install all of your volunteers once a year. This affirms them in their roles and ‘sends them out’ to serve God and their church or organisation.

• Bless your volunteers with food and good coffee at morning or afternoon teas when they are serving, or with a meal when they are serving over meal times.

• Seek and encourage feedback from your volunteers. Involve them in decision-making about the ministry they are involved with. Use quotes from your volunteers in reports. This will help them to feel invested and engaged in the ministry.

• Make ministry fun. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be enjoyable. When is the last time you laughed in a team meeting, or encouraged your volunteers to enjoy themselves, or did something playful, or any other things that could be fun? You’ll be surprised how much more people can and will do when they’re enjoying themselves.

• Get together occasionally outside of your volunteer roles, with no agenda. Just enjoy each other’s company. Have a meal with your families.

• Regularly reinforce with paid staff and congregational and organisational leaders that they have an important role in supporting volunteers.

Dr Chris Materne is Manager of the Church Worker Support Department (CWS) for the LCA/NZ. Contact CWS at churchworkersupport@lca.org.au or on 08 8267 7300.

Volunteering also has many positive benefits for those who volunteer. Volunteering Australia suggests that volunteering bolsters social inclusion and helps prevent isolation and loneliness. People who volunteer tend to be happier than people who do not volunteer and they sleep better!

Volunteering New Zealand lists a range of positive reasons to volunteer, including to learn new skills and discover new passions, to further existing skills, to meet new people and form long-term friendships, to contribute to a good cause, to make a difference for others in the community and to have fun!

For more information, go to www.volunteeringaustralia.org or www.volunteeringnz.org.nz

PAID WORKERS GIVE EXTRA Many paid church workers volunteer in roles outside those for which they are employed. A survey of staff from the LCA/NZ head office discovered people were serving in at least 20 different volunteer roles in their congregations or the broader church.

Roles were duplicated and many respondents were filling more than one, but these included volunteering as congregational chairs, treasurers and elders; ministry, music, leadership, nominations, hospitality and worship teams members; Sunday school, pastoral and worship service assistants; Bible study, discipleship and small group leaders; youth mentors, Safe Place officers, and chairs and members of district and national church boards, councils and committees.

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I n Goi ng GREYT! we feat ure stories o f some o f our ‘more experienced’ people wi t hi n t he LCA , who have be en called to make a posi t ive cont ribu t ion i n t heir ret irement. We pray t heir examples o f service will be an i nspirat ion and encouragement to us all as we look to be Christ ’s hands and fe et wherever we are, wi t h whatever gif ts and oppor t uni t ies we’ve be en given.

Sharing a from t ragedy

by HELEN BER INGEN Laughter has many forms. It can be light and cheery to break the ice, or negative and callous, at someone’s expense. It can be a precious gift to get through tough times.

Laughter is also a talent that God can use to share his light in the world. For the women labelled the world’s oldest stand-up comedienne, laughter has been an opportunity to share a life richly blessed, through trials and tribulations.

Margaret Mayer’s quick wit and twinkle in the eye has been blessing to others throughout her life, through a career in teaching, 63 years of supporting her husband, emeritus LCA pastor Rolph, and raising a family of three, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

And speak she has, through some amazing life, and death, experiences. Her Fringe stand-up comedy debut, entitled Death is over-rated, not only included interesting tales about a life well-lived, but reflected on a near-death experience four years ago.

A scooter accident at age 81, where she was deemed beyond rescue, left her with a pulverised pelvis, broken arms, legs, ribs, and bleeding on the brain and kidneys.

It also prompted an amazing vision in which she came face-to-face with her late son Peter. What followed was a miraculous recovery and incredible feelings of positivity for the entire year after the accident. ‘What happened was one of the most incredible things in my life’, she says.

‘What happened was one of the most INCREDIBLE things in my life.’

In March this year at age 85 she ventured down a new comedic route to share many of her life experiences – at the world’s second largest fringe festival. Second only to the Edinburgh Festival, the Adelaide Fringe provided a somewhat unusual forum for her to share her take on life and, more particularly, on death.

Margaret’s humour is a gift given to ‘an extraordinarily shy little girl’, who was born in the middle of a heatwave in an iron shed home approximately 30 kilometres from Pinnaroo, near the Victorian border in South Australia’s Murray Mallee.

The gift simmered throughout her primary school years at Freeling, near SA’s Barossa Valley, while she lived in the home of her maternal grandfather, Pastor Johannes Heidenreich.

But it was while she was a student at Adelaide’s Immanuel College that Margaret really found her voice. ‘Once I learnt I could speak, I spoke excitedly’, she recalls.

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‘There are funny things associated with death’, she reflects, as she recounts a series of close encounters with death throughout her life. These include being rescued from a burning truck as a preschooler, dodging a death adder while in charge of a one-teacher school in Nunjikompita, east of Ceduna in SA’s far west, and coming up close and personal with New Guinean cannibals in 1958.

The often-quoted text ‘Death, where is thy sting?’

(1 Corinthians 15:55 and Hosea 13:14) and the surety of God’s promise of eternal life ring true in her levity.

Her comedy show at the Adelaide Fringe played to sellout crowds all three nights. This success also provided Margaret with another opportunity, to raise funds for the Plas Prais Foundation, which helps provide educational opportunities for girls in northern Cambodia.

The home is supported by members of the Mayers’ home congregation at Immanuel Lutheran Church in North

sband, retired thday with her hu Celebrating a bir uple has been co the yer in 2015 – pastor Rolph Ma than 60 years. married for more

stival elaide Fringe Fe promotes her Ad ter. oo sc ed Margaret Mayer lov be r rched on he comedy debut, pe

Meeting with locals in Egyp t while on holid ay in 1966

Adelaide, and the three nights of laughs raised $2304 toward the charity.

Another blessing is an increased connection to her local community, created by her raised profile.

‘Post Fringe I'm getting rather used to "strangers" talking to me in the street, wanting autographs/selfies, or just saying hello’, Margaret says. ‘It is rather fun, but it does hinder my getting back home when I said I would. The good thing is, after some 40-plus years of living in North Adelaide, at last it's beginning to feel more like a community: people stop and talk!’

Margaret does not plan to return to the stage anytime soon.

She has a full and busy household, with husband Rolph having had several strokes and a broken hip, and a granddaughter and her husband joining the household from overseas while undergoing cancer treatment.

What started with a prod from her daughter Anne and a dare – ‘Mum, there’s a show in you’ – ended up delivering not only laughs, but also many stories of how God can create pure gold from the refinery of life – or as Margaret says, ‘s*** happens … turn it into fertiliser and grow some good things’.

Helen Beringen is a Townsville-based communications advisor who has been richly blessed through a career as a wordsmith. She is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and modestly in our community. She hopes by sharing stories of how God shines his light through them, others will be inspired to share his light in the world.

Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community?

Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au

rawly Margaret checks out the creepy-c land Thai to visit a on e whil lunch options, to teach English in 2004.

More support for Cam bodia

You can also support educational opportunit ies and the spread of the gosp el in Cambodia through LCA International Mission, by volunteering, prayin g or giving donations. LCAIM volunteers are needed to teach English at the Ra inbow Student Hostel in the capital Phnom Penh, English and computing at the Life Centre in Phum Kru s and English at Tang Krang, in Kampong Cham Pro vince. You can donate towards school and ministry tra ining rooms in Phnom Penh, or pray for the ministry tea m and people of the Lu theran Church in Cambodia as they share the good news of Jesus Christ with tho se around them. For more information, contact LC A International Mission at lcaim@lca.org.au or on 08 8267 7334.