THE LUTHERAN October 2016

Vol 49 No7 P209

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VOL 50 NO9

Print Post Approved PP100003514

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

OCTOBER 2016

from now

UNITED – despite our differences

, H C R U H C OUR

Y A D R E T S YE

Y A D O T &

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

We Love The Lutheran

CONNECT WITH US

Sisters Anita Graetz and Natalie Beelitz enjoying Glühwein while reading The Lutheran at the Melodienacht in Tanunda SA. Anita is a member at St Peter's Keyneton SA, while Natalie is a regular worshipper at St Michael's Hahndorf SA via live-stream from Coober Pedy in the state’s far north.

We Love The Lutheran!

Photo by: Paula Starke

EDITORIAL 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

@welove_TL lutheranchurchaus

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LUTHERAN

Ralph Zapart

CHURCH

Eastside Lutheran College, Warrane Tas

OF AUSTRALIA

Principal

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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Fav text: Psalm 48:7

The Lutheran OCTOBER 2016

Enjoys dinner with his wife and friends, and working with students and families of the college Fav text: Matthew 28:20

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OCTOBER

Special features EDITOR'S

Letter

5

I like birthdays.

They are an opportunity to share time and hospitality with family and friends. They are an excuse to give and receive gifts and write cards containing messages of love. They are a reason to reflect on 12 months gone and to consider what we have learnt. They are a chance to remember those who were with us in birthdays past.

They are an incentive to set goals. And they are always a reminder to celebrate our blessings with a grateful heart.

We know we shouldn’t wait for birthdays to do the most important of those things. Telling our loved ones what they mean to us and being thankful for how blessed we are should be daily occurrences.

Many of those things are true for our church, too.

While birthdays can be invigorating, particularly for children, they can also make us feel a little tired. Perhaps even really tired if we are in that growing demographic with ‘less days in front of the horse than riding in the back of this cart’, as US rock musician John Mellencamp put it when reflecting on ageing in the song The Real Life.

But if we let it, this 50th birthday of the LCA can be a great gift, just as our God-given union was five decades ago. Such a landmark can serve as a catalyst to refocus, reform and re-energise us – to refocus on God and his word, to reform by his Son’s saving love, and to re-energise by his Spirit.

Congregations are being encouraged to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of our church with a thanksgiving service – and the Commission of Worship has put together resources for this occasion (www.lca.org.au and click on the slider). We can also share the gift of service as we mark this birthday through the Longest Lutheran Lunch (see page 15). Register your event ASAP so you don’t miss out on receiving a special party pack (www.longestlutheranlunch.org.au).

In the pages that follow, voices from different generations of our church provide a panoramic view of the LCA. From where we stand today, we can look back on where we’ve come from as a church and what has changed over those years. We can also look forward to the next 50 years, where we might be as God’s people and what it will take to get there.

Hopefully, when we celebrate this milestone with thanks and praise to God, we will do so with a measure of youthful expectation and exuberance tempered with a dose of wisdom, whatever our age.

A saying I read on Facebook the other day suggests how youthful we feel on our birthday can just come down to attitude – we’re not 50; we’re 18 with 32 years of experience.

Happy birthday, LCA!

Lisa

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United – despite our differences

5

Restoring unity in truth

7

Our church, yesterday and today

8

50 years from now

10

Regulars 10

14

15

Heartland

4

Little church

12

Reel life

14

Go and Grow

15

Inside story

23

World in brief

26

Notices

27

Directory

28

Your voice (Letters)

29

Coffee break

30

26

Our cover: Throughout this synodical term, 2015-2018, you’ll see our ‘balloon girl’ popping up all over the place, as she helps us to celebrate the LCA’s 50th birthday, commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and look forwards to where God is safely leading us.

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

WE’ VE ONLY JUST BEG UN In human terms, 50 years is a reasonably long stretch of time. It is sufficient for birth, education, adolescence, maturity, family and career.

God’s mission for the world. God is not finished with us. He is patiently bringing us to maturity. There is still so much to come.

In church terms, however, 50 years is not so long.

It’s barely enough to get started. As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the LCA, it is still a young church, perhaps just coming out of adolescence.

Even the worldwide Lutheran church, at 500 years old next year, is not really so old, not alongside the Roman Catholic As and Eastern Orthodox churches.

The LCA exists because millennia of Christians have fought the good fight and kept the faith. Through good times and bad, times of ease and times of hardship, times of growth and times of persecution, and even times of genocide, Christians have endured.

Against all the odds, the church of Jesus Christ remains, and has handed on the faith through the generations.

Maybe it’s true that, after 50 years, we are just coming out of adolescence. Adolescence is a time of impatient, uncertain seeking for identity. New sensations and experiences can shake our beliefs.

We might even think we know better than our parents did. It is a period of risk-taking, and there is always the we reach our risk that the adolescent will go ‘off the rails’.

50th anniversary,

the LCA is just at the BEGINNING of its life. We are rich in everything we need.

Does that mean that Christians who lived before us were better than we are? Not necessarily. Each generation has to deal with its failings, weaknesses and sins. Each generation must learn the lessons of faith, hope and love. Each generation needs to own its particular problems. At times, it looked like the church was dead. But ours is a resurrection faith.

The church is not ours to create, or to bring to an end. As long as God is pouring out his forgiveness and grace, keeping his promise, the church remains.

As the LCA, we have the immense privilege of joining with this great cloud of witnesses. When we worship, pray, confess and serve, we take part in

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The Lutheran OCTOBER 2016

But those who have moved beyond youth into adulthood know that the journey, though painful, is well worth it. Through the doubts and uncertainties, life becomes richer, deeper and more fulfilling. We grow in appreciating relationships, love and compassion. We come to understand that the universe does not revolve around us. Knowing ourselves better, we are able to value others and place their needs above our own.

And we learn how to balance impatience for change with the right level of resistance. We slowly learn the art of living, of being truthful and of being faithful.

As we reach our 50th anniversary, the LCA is just at the beginning of its life. We are rich in everything we need. Jesus is alive. We are resurrected in him. He has sent us the Holy Spirit. Generations of believers have prepared the way for this moment. We have what it takes to live the new life of Christ, grow in his gifts, discover his promises, and get on with doing the work he has prepared for us to do.

The intersynodical committee worked through the doctrinal differences to establish the Theses of Agreement

by JANETTE

LANGE

– despite our differences Celebrating 50 years of the Lutheran Church of Australia offers a wonderful opportunity to step back, reflect and thank God for his blessings.

This month sees the 50th anniversary of that historic Union Day. Some say we shouldn’t live in the past, but how can we really know who we are if we do not know where we came from? How can we appreciate our God-given unity if we ignore the prior division? How can we be good stewards of the church we have inherited if we have no concept of the one that existed before?

How can we appreciate our God-given UNITY if we ignore the prior division?

Like many family trees, our church’s is a bit messy. There were unions but also divorces. The most significant split was at the 1846 Bethany Synod, SA, when disagreement over church governance and confessionalism saw the convention break up. What followed was 120 years of division!

Lutheran – seminaries that caused issues for the confessional synods. Their sensitivity to the threat of Lutheran/Reformed ‘unionism’ is understandable – after all, the rejection of such a stance was the reason the first Lutheran migrants came to Australia.

How could such disparate groups ever unite?

Commitment to Aboriginal mission brought the original South Australian synods together in a ‘confessional union’ in 1864, but this ended in further splits, again largely over affiliations.

However, a crucial milestone was reached in 1921. Having agreed on doctrine, five of the synods came together as the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA). In 1926 another synod joined them.

Over time there were more splits, and with further migration, new synods. By 1907 there were seven synods in Australia, two in New Zealand, and numerous independent ministers and congregations.

There were now two synods of similar size, with different cultures and backgrounds. The other was the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Australia (ELSA, later ELCA), which had been sourcing pastors or training in America, and had widely introduced the English language. Until the disruptions of war, UELCA had largely used German seminaries to train pastors and its links with Europe and the German language remained stronger.

Apart from their diverse origins, it was the sourcing of pastors from Protestant – not confessionally

In the 1920s and 30s the differences between the synods were highlighted in bitter articles

The Lutheran OCTOBER 2016

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and pamphlets. Worship, communion or marriage with those of ‘the other side’ were frowned upon; even joint prayer was considered ‘sinful unionism’.

'One church one faith one Lord': a united church gives thanks at Tanunda SA

From the Document of Union ‘We accept this unity as an unmerited gift of our God, in sincere repentance for what lies behind us since our fathers went their divided ways, and in humble gratitude for all that God in His mercy has worked through each of us in the years since 1846 … We believe that the union between our church is His holy will for us at this time.’

The first LCA leadership team, left to right: Rev H F W Proeve (Secretary), Rev H Koehne (Vice President), Dr M Lohe (President) and Mr B A Doering (Treasurer)

But there were shared schools, and joint cemeteries, church buildings, youth groups and mission work. The Australian Lutheran Association provided fellowship across synod lines, and later played an integral role in uniting the church.

In the 1940s the focus shifted to points of agreement between synods and their minimum requirements for union. What constituted Godpleasing unity? A joint intersynodical committee formulated theses of agreement. There was much rejoicing when in 1949 the joint meeting opened with prayer for the first time, and in 1952 when they reached agreement on most differences.

Union seemed imminent and some ELCA and UELCA congregations in Queensland and South Australia built combined churches. But in 1956 an ELCA convention rejected an offer of altar and pulpit fellowship from UELCA. Despite a desire for unity, relationships with overseas church bodies – Lutheran World Federation, the churches involved in New Guinea missions – impeded fellowship. Hopes for union were fading.

Then came a breakthrough! Concordia and Immanuel seminaries drafted ‘a common theology of cooperation and fellowship’ which became the basis for the Document of Union in 1965. This was endorsed at the ELCA synod in April and the UELCA in October.

On 28 November 1965 thousands of Lutherans gathered at Adelaide Oval, Melbourne Town Hall, Brisbane, and centres throughout Australia to celebrate the Declaration of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship. Combined services and functions were held but there were practicalities to be addressed. What would the new church be called? How would it be structured? The Joint Union Committee planned the organisational and legal steps for amalgamation, including a constitution, the transfer of properties, and the merger of departments, magazines and seminaries.

Sunshine echoed the mood of Lutherans who packed Tanunda Show Hall in the Barossa Valley on 29 October 1966 to witness the LCA’s birth. The two synod presidents, Max Lohe and Harold Koehne, shook hands to end 120 years of division. Lohe was elected the first president of the LCA, Koehne vice-president. Next morning the valley rang with hymns of praise from 10,000 thankful people.

In the years leading to Union, we can see God’s faithfulness. Despite our divisions and conflicts, failings and brokenness, he has blessed us and been a blessing through us. He has called us to unity in Christ.

These years are a reminder that our unity is built on Christ’s completed work in his death and resurrection. And they highlight the importance of repentance and forgiveness, of listening to each other, and bearing with one another in love, despite our differences.

Divided no more! The combined choir sing at the LCA Constituting Convention at Tanunda SA

Janette Lange is Acting Director and Archivist of Lutheran Archives.

New Zealand There were many mission ventures in New Zealand from 1843 onwards.

However, it was not until 1889 that the New Zealand Emanuel Synod was formed. It had a loose association with the Immanuel Synod. Its formal association with the UELCA Synod lasted until 1958. The Concordia Conference was established in 1907 and associated with the ELSA Synod until 1920, when it became a district of the ELSA Synod. At Union, New Zealand became a district of the LCA. It is now known as Lutheran Church of New Zealand.

Restoring unity in T R U T H

by STEPHEN HULTGREN

As part of the lead-up to the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, an ecumenical working party of Lutherans and Catholics has been planning a program of projects and events to jointly commemorate the occasion.

One is a series of articles, written by Lutheran and Catholic authors from around Australia, to be published in both Lutheran and Catholic publications. The fifth piece in our series of six is by Dr Stephen Hultgren, lecturer in New Testament at Australian Lutheran College and director of the Australian Lutheran Institute for Theology and Ethics (ALITE).

Despite the division of the church in the 16th century, we need to remember that the Lutheran confessors intended unity. The Augsburg Confession (1530) proposes a doctrinal basis for it.

A Lutheran reflection on restoration of unity in truth and in the gospel does well to begin with article 7 of the Confession. The confessors state ‘it is enough for the true unity of the church to agree concerning the teaching of the gospel and the administration of the The sacraments’. This statement is both essential and dangerous.

restoration

It is essential, because it indicates what is non-negotiable in Lutheran truth presents confession: the right teaching of the gospel. The statement is dangerous an ongoing because Lutherans have too often viewed this in an overly simplistic challenge. way. If agreement on the ‘teaching of the gospel’ means agreement on the doctrine of justification, then Lutherans might conclude justification is the only doctrine that matters for unity.

of unity in the

Article 7 does not intend this approach; rather it rejects the notion that unity requires agreement on traditions, rites or ceremonies instituted by humans. The confessors had in mind various non-biblical ceremonies and ordinances that were of human institution rather than of divine mandate.

But the Lutherans would have been first to argue that unity requires agreement on all doctrines deriving from the Bible. After all, article 7 is embedded within a presentation of 21 articles

the confessors say are in accord ‘with the pure Word of God and Christian truth … teaching [that] is clearly grounded in Holy Scripture and is, moreover, neither against nor contrary to the universal Christian church’.

The restoration of unity in the truth presents an ongoing challenge. Will Lutherans, while rightly insisting on the doctrine of justification as central, resist the temptation to read article 7 in an overly simplistic way? That runs the danger of denying the shared heritage of Lutherans and Catholics across 2000 years. Will the Roman Catholic Church, while rightly insisting on the unity of all truths of faith, be careful never to obscure this most precious truth of justification?

The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, agreed to in 1999 by the Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church, is a sign of hope.

In paragraph 18 Lutherans and Catholics agree: ‘[T]he doctrine of justification … stands in an essential relation to all truths of faith, which are to be seen as internally related to each other. It is an indispensable criterion which constantly serves to orient all the teaching and practice of our churches to Christ.

When Lutherans emphasize the unique significance of this criterion, they do not deny the interrelation and significance of all truths of faith. When Catholics see themselves as bound by several criteria, they do not deny the special function of the message of justification.’

May God restore our unity in truth! en Step h en r g Hu lt

The LCA had deaconesses as the new church started its life – including these gathered for a convention in September 1967.

by LANCE STEICKE

H C R U H C OUR yesterday & today In 1966 the leader of the Queensland District of the LCA was a Schmidt; now it is a Smith. Then it was Pastor Schmidt; now it is Bishop Smith. In 1966 the leader of the LCA was a Lohe; now it is a Henderson. Then it was President Lohe; now it is Bishop Henderson.

I’m not suggesting the amalgamation in 1966 was the merger of two German clubs.

But I am suggesting there has been a shift in the composition and demographics of the LCA. And that there is a very important shift from president to bishop, and not just in name only. Our bishops now exercise more fully pastoral and episcopal leadership and oversight in the church, and the College of Bishops plays a crucial role in the ministry of the church.

Eric Fiedler and Andrew Loffler at work at the then Lutheran Publishing House, which was the printing and publishing arm of the LCA.

The early days of the LCA focused on cementing the union. And that was important.

No-one wanted the new church to fall apart or to split again. Care was taken to have almost equal representation from the two former synods on boards and departments. The unity of the LCA is still important, although the context is quite different. Now we see it to the fore in the discussions on the ordination of women.

Eventually, when it was realised the union was cemented, the focus moved outwards. And so in 1987 the church adopted Vision 90 with its key premise: ‘Every congregation is a congregation in mission. All pastors and all members are missionaries’. What happened to that? Well, for one thing, now, many years later we have a renewed emphasis on church planting.

In 1966 and years immediately following, theological issues were prominent.

Conventions featured a theological essay. The Commission on Theology was a key group in the church. Maybe this is still the case but generally some see a shift to the practical and pragmatic. Today moral and ethical issues perhaps preoccupy us more than theological ones.

The interpretation of Scripture was on the agenda in the early years of the LCA, resulting in the Consensus Statement of 1984-1987. It is still high on the agenda today, especially in dealing with the question of the ordination of women.

When the LCA was formed, the Queensland District was led by Pastor F H Schmidt (top); today it is under the guidance of Bishop Paul Smith (above).

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The Lutheran OCTOBER 2016

In 1966 we severed all overseas connections (with the exception of Papua New Guinea) for the sake of union in Australia. After letting overseas relations with other churches lie in the early years, we have since formed relationships in earnest. We have become an associate member of the Lutheran World Federation. We have

Hymnbooks, organs and choirs were the standards for music in our churches at the time of union. Here is a choir leading Christmas singing in 1955.

There is also often a hiatus between the worship life of our schools and our congregations, something not in existence at all 50 years ago.

We had deaconesses as the new church started its life. Now we have lay workers and lay chaplains, some trained at Australian Lutheran College, some trained elsewhere; some serving full-time, whereas others are called to part-time service.

worked closely with ‘partner churches’, especially in South East Asia, which we have declared an area of special focus. We have entered into an agreement with Lutheran Church – Canada. At home we have become a very active member of the National Council of Churches in Australia. Most of these are moves we would not have dreamed of 50 years ago.

To the casual observer, bureaucracy seems to have taken over. Full-time church workers abound. We had no computers at the time of union, no IT specialists, no home pages, no professional standards departments, no superannuation scheme and no internal insurance coverage, no professional full-time reconciliation ministry, no health-cover schemes, no Grow Ministries or Grassroots Training.

What I do HOPE for and PRAY for is that the church which was formed 50 years ago is still the SAME CHURCH in its central focus, JESUS

But what does the LCA look like on the local congregational level? Walk into many of our churches on a Sunday morning and you see an ageing membership in declining numbers.

And perhaps, in some instances, a tired membership. Look at some rural areas and you will see Lutherans worshipping with Uniting churches and/or Anglican churches. You will hear reports of working groups looking at better ways of serving given areas with possible realignments, rationalisation of resources and the like. Some of this is driven locally; some of it the initiative of church leaders.

Walk into a Lutheran congregation at worship 50 years ago and you would use a set liturgy in common with all other congregations, with the Lutheran hymnbook as your only resource for hymns, which were played on an organ. Now you will be confronted with a variety of service orders, hymns and songs from a wide ranges of sources, many different musical instruments, and most likely no hymnbook, with everything appearing on an overhead screen.

In the early days Lutheran colleges existed primarily to prepare candidates for the office of public ministry.

Now not many ministry candidates come straight from our senior schools. Candidates are more likely to be entering a second or third career and, of course, are therefore older.

Openbook Publishers (formerly Lutheran Publishing House) flourished and then waned. The LLL has flourished but the demand for low-interest loans has shifted from congregations to schools to other ministries.

There have certainly been changes.

That is only natural. Are they for better or worse? I have not tried to pass judgement in looking back over five decades of change.

What I do hope for and pray for is that the church which was formed 50 years ago is still the same church in its central focus, Jesus; in its confessional loyalty to Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; and in its essence as a truly evangelical Lutheran church.

P.S. Certainly we had no Longest Lutheran Lunch 50 years ago. Hopefully it is the start of one continuous feast and celebration.

Rev Dr Lance Steicke was LCA President from 1987 to 2000 and was President of the National Council of Churches in Australia from 2000 to 2003.

In some rural areas today you will see Lutherans worshipping with Uniting churches and/or Anglican churches, such as at Coffin Bay in South Australia.