THE LUTHERAN September 2017 by Lutheran Church of Australia

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

SEPTEMBER 2017

GOING AND GROWING as God's people Print Post Approved PP100003514

VOL 51 NO8

ORY T S A C THE L

2017

LUTHERAN

CHURCH

Generational get-together

OF AUSTRALIA

Long-time member of Dubbo Lutheran Church New South Wales, Bruce Edwin Altmann, enjoys a catch up on LCA news and views with son Shane Edwin Altmann, the Principal of Faith Lutheran College, Redlands in Queensland, and grandson Harry Edwin Altmann, a Luminate intern with Lutheran Youth of Queensland. Bruce’s granddaughter Zoe took the photo on the verandah of the Altmann home ‘Melrose’.

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

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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.

Fav text: Psalm 23

The Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2017

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SEPTEMBER

Special features EDITOR'S

Letter

I don’t know about you but an annual report is not my idea of a relaxing evening’s reading. Be it for a church, a school, a community group, a local council, a sporting organisation or any other special interest body, all of those facts, figures and dry details tend to make my editingweary eyes glaze over. I’m well aware that by saying this I could be offending or at least bemusing the skilled accountants, constitutional experts and meetings aficionados among our loyal readers, who may thrive on delving deep into such publications. I may also be sentencing myself to the proofreading job when the book of reports for the LCA’s 2018 General Convention of Synod is almost ready for release to delegates. Of course, reports are necessary beasts. We have an obligation to be transparent, accountable and honest in our dealings, particularly as church, and particularly when we are spending other people’s money. There are multiple Bible texts instructing us to be good stewards, above reproach, faithful and trustworthy. It goes without saying really, doesn’t it? We want to be efficient and ethical in our management and administration. And there are legal requirements to abide by regarding record-keeping, informationsharing and notifications, too. The truth is, it is not only our responsibility to report back to the people we represent and rely on for the support of our congregations, schools, aged-care homes and the like; it is also our privilege to read the reports and to participate in the process of decision-making about their operation and oversight. All of this reporting talk brings me to introduce you to what is a very special issue of The Lutheran which we intend to make an annual edition. This is a report back to you, the church, from the agencies, departments and commissions of the LCA about the ministries of which you are a part, be it by your physical participation, or your financial and/or prayer support.

Departments and Agencies introduction

Office of the Bishop reports

Local Mission reports

Ministry Support reports

Education and Training reports

ALWS report

Finke River Mission report

Commissions reports

The means of grace: Baptism

Regulars

Heartland

Inside story

Directory

Your voice (Letters)

Notices

But don’t worry, the 20-page section we’ve dedicated to this purpose is not a traditional book of reports. Instead, the stories contained here reveal how the members of your church are endeavouring to bring love to life for those they serve through their ministries. Behind each budget line there are people on a mission to go and grow as God’s people. To bring you this special coverage we have had to omit some of our regular features. Thank you for your understanding. They will return next issue. I hope and pray that you will be engaged and enthused by what you read here, as you learn more about the ministries of our LCA, how you can become more involved – and how you are already playing an important part, including through your support for The Lutheran.

Lisa

Our cover: Design by Elysia Weiss. Photos courtesy of Australian Lutheran College, LCA International Mission, Australian Lutheran World Service, Lutheran Archives and Michael Rudolph, along with images from iStock.com and dreamstime.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

CHURCH G ATHERS US AS C OMMUNIT Y I guess I grew up taking the idea of the ‘individual’ for granted. It was up to individuals to succeed or fail in life, each shaping his or her own destiny from the opportunities around them. In my Canberra high school there was little local community. We all came from somewhere else, and that’s how we learned about the world. Biology was about individual creatures. In economics people were either consumers or units of labour. In English we read individual authors. In history and geography we studied separate time We can’t periods or countries, and so on.

Our emphasis on the individual as separate entity is reasonably recent. Luther is sometimes held responsible, but he struggled with it – was he the one person to stand against the authority of Rome? He did this only for the church, because of the gospel. He did not set himself over against the church. He understood the truth expressed one hundred years later by the English poet John Donne: ‘No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main …’

SURVIVE without each other. That’s how our Creator has WONDERFULLY made us, and how he has made his church.

Only in the church did I hear of community, and that was through the divine service which we called liturgy. We were small, but we weren’t alone. We sang with the angels, confessed the creeds faithfully, prayed with the saints, and received forgiveness with fellow sinners around the world. The church gave me community as I attended six schools in six towns and cities. It was ‘home’, even though, truth to tell, I scarcely knew what that was. I just knew about Jesus. The church had taught me about him and I believed in him. It’s the only reason I eventually spent seven years studying for the church’s ordained ministry. I am, therefore, deeply grieved when individualism trumps community in our church. Individualism says ‘I decide’, ‘I’m in command’. It favours the individual over the collective. We lose sight of our humanity, that God created humankind (male and female) in his image, (see Genesis 1:26). And when God created us, he spoke in the plural: ‘Let us make humankind …’. Individualism impoverishes us. It makes us less than we truly are. Something essential is lacking.

The Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2017

I don’t believe individualism is sustainable. It might promise much but ultimately it’s a fake. We can’t survive without each other. That’s how our Creator has wonderfully made us, and how he has made his church. Faith is a community event. Scripture is the book of the community. The living God gathers us humans together to serve us and for us to serve each other.

The age of individualism is beginning to wane. We are starting to re-join the dots. Scientists now study the connectedness of things. Biologists study ecosystems. Doctors treat our bodies as living communities, complete with bacteria and other necessary organisms. Environmentalists remind us that Earth is a community in which living beings depend on each other. Perhaps we are finally relearning the wisdom of the ages, which lay forgotten in the age of reason. May we in the church also relearn who we truly are, people of God collectively called into being by him, dependent on him and each other, redeemed by him, and finding our destiny with him together with all the saints in heaven.

FULL CIRCLE: Lutheran world leader meets African refugee in Alice Springs Right: LCA Bishop John Henderson and Pastor Matt Anker worshipped with LWF General Secretary Rev Dr Martin Junge at Shepparton Lutheran Church during the LWF leader’s visit. Far right: Dr Junge meets with Lutheran Community Care worker and former Kakuma refugee Bosco Agulu in Alice Springs.

In his role as General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev Dr Martin Junge has seen firsthand the devastating human impact of the world’s refugee crisis. So the Genevabased leader of the world’s largest body of Lutheran churches was ‘deeply moved’ on his first visit to Australia last month when he met a man from an African refugee camp LWF’s service arm helps run. Bosco Agulu, who lived at the Kakuma camp in north-western Kenya, is now a financial capability worker with Lutheran Community Care (LCC) SANT in Alice Springs. ‘It was a great encouragement to see how Lutherans are continuing to care for people after they leave the camps – as people are resettled in a new country, with a different part of the Lutheran world continuing to care for them’, Dr Junge said. ‘Meeting Bosco and hearing his story was deeply moving.’ While in Central Australia during his

11-day visit to Australia and New Zealand Dr Junge also met Finke River Mission (FRM) pastoral support workers and Indigenous leaders, and toured the historic mission precinct at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) and FRM’s secondary boarding school Yirara College, in Alice Springs. He was treated to a unique performance by the world-renowned Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir at Alice Springs Airport. Choir members were on their way home from the Melbourne Film Festival, where a documentary about the group’s history had its world premiere. On the Victorian leg of his itinerary, Dr Junge met African refugees who have been part of a revival of the Lutheran community in Shepparton. ‘What I have seen here today is the beautiful integration of people from different walks of life, colour and background who have found a common ground’, he said. Dr Junge and his wife Marietta worshipped

with Pastor Matt Anker and St Pauls congregation in Shepparton, along with LCA Bishop John Henderson. The Junges’ itinerary also took in Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) headquarters in Albury, New South Wales. There they met ALWS Executive Secretary Chey Mattner, staff including Program Director Leah Odongo, who previously worked at Kakuma; and volunteers and supporters. During three days in New Zealand, commemorations of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation were high on the agenda. LCNZ Bishop Mark Whitfield said he had spoken with the LWF leader about opportunities the Reformation anniversary gives the church all around the world ‘to proclaim the gospel that lies at the heart of reformation’. The LCA is an associate member of the LWF, which has 145 member churches in 98 countries. The LCA is also an associate member of the International Lutheran Council. The Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2017

Final month of ordination consultations On 1 October, St Peter’s congregation in Hobart will host the last of 33 LCA ordination consultation meetings held around Australia and New Zealand since March. As at 1 September, 1196 people had attended the meetings to consider draft documents presented by the LCA’s Commission on Theology and InterChurch Relations (CTICR) in response to an instruction by the 2015 General Synod. Synod requested that CTICR present a theological basis for the ordination of both women and men, and why this need not be church divisive. Prior to the Hobart meeting, four consultations will be held in Victoria, at Laverton (9 September), Shepparton (10 September), Traralgon (23 September) and Croydon (24 September). Work is underway on collating the feedback that has been received from the consultations. The feedback will inform CTICR as it revises the draft doctrinal statements. There will be opportunities for debate of the revised

Rev Dr Noel Due's book New Life New Love was launched, shared, and 'mastered' by 30 people at Salisbury Lutheran Church in suburban Adelaide in July.

Three generations from one family attended the consultation at Toowoomba, Queensland. From left to right: Val Woolley, Annys Croft and Vickie Schuurs, who are members of St Mark’s, Dalby.

documents next year, firstly at the LCA General Pastors Conference, then at the LCA General Convention of Synod. The CTICR Secretary, Rev Dr Peter Lockwood, thanked members who had participated in the consultations and ‘provided thoughtful and helpful input’. ‘A special word of thanks is owed to Mr Timothy Pietsch, a member of Bethlehem congregation in Adelaide, who has served the church faithfully as project officer for the consultations’, Dr Lockwood said. Go to the OWL website at owl.lca.org.au for more details.

WA R R A M B U I VOLUNTEER INTERNSHIP P R O G R A M 2 018 ARISE is a program designed for young adults who are looking for a growth opportunity while they are transitioning between school and what lies ahead. Arise focuses on building a faith foundation that is grown by living and serving in an authentic Christian community. While volunteering time to serve at Warrambui, the interns build their character, further discover their identity in Christ, and explore questions of faith in a supportive Christian environment that will give them a solid grounding for whatever lies ahead. Interns experience practical ministry, learning to serve Jesus and each other, while assisting in the operations of a Lutheran retreat and conference centre near Canberra. Interns are also given an experience of hands-on camping and youth ministry, and undertake ministry and theology studies as they journey with other like-minded young adults while serving at Warrambui together.

A P P LY N O W ! A P P L I C AT I O N S C L O S E 13 O C T O B E R ! So if you are (or know) someone who is interested and want to know more about this exciting opportunity, please contact Andrew Sharp (Ministry Development Manager) for an information pack: PHONE:

02 6220 1000 |

EMAIL:

ministry@warrambui.com.au

The Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2017

Masterful faith-sharing resource launched

Participants began the New Life New Love Masterclass by joining the local congregation in Friday night worship. During the masterclass Dr Due said readers had the opportunity to dwell in the word of God in working through the book, which examines what it means to be a Christian. The New Life New Love resources can be used one-onone or in small groups which welcome those who are curious about the Christian faith. The masterclass was videoed and these recordings are available on the LCA website. To access the book, chapters videos and masterclass videos, go to www.lca.org.au/nlnl

GENERAL SYNOD DATES FOR 2018

The next General Convention of Synod for the Lutheran Church of Australia will be held at Rosehill Gardens in western Sydney from

2 to 7 October 2018. Start thinking about electing your delegates now.

Details ne ed to be in LAMP by 15 December 20 17.

SAVE THE DATE Joint Reformat ion Commemorat ion Roman Catholics and Lutherans

31 October 2017

Adelaide South Australia Full-day event More information to come soon

Con ve ya n c e r s Lawyers F o r ms eckermanngroup.com 8235 3900

YOU’re in the picture This special edition of The Lutheran puts you in the picture with all the departments, agencies and commissions of the Lutheran Church of Australia.

by LISA MCINTOSH

and motivation of the work of those who serve in each ministry.

As well as providing information about what each department, agency and commission does, the reports focus on Over 19 pages you’ll meet the people the ways in which we ‘go and discover the ministries grow’ as God’s people of your church bodies, and You’ll discover … and through these ministries, the critical role you play as the critical role whether in our local a key supporter through communities or across your prayers, gifts and the you play as a key the world. time you give as a volunteer.

supporter through your prayers, gif ts and … as a volunteer.

As a partner in the mission of our LCA/NZ, it's important that you know how each ministry serves and equips congregations, families and individual members of your church.

In these pages we also learn how each ministry has been living out the LCA/NZ’s tagline: where love comes to life. Indeed, it is God’s love that is the heart, guide

There are invitations, too, for you to take up opportunities to serve, according to God’s call on your life.

We intend this to become an annual special edition so that you and all members of the LCA/NZ can stay up to date, thankful to God and hopeful for the future. This is God’s church, and it’s your church. We hope you can see yourself in the picture.

Office of the Bishop - I N T E R N A T I O N A L M I S S I O N

Now a man full of the Holy Spirit, Nyman used to be a spirit doctor who brought dread to his village in northern Thailand’s mountainous Nan province. Today he’s a baptised Lutheran Christian who meets regularly in a small church with other believers. Here he prays with Lua Lutheran evangelist Pim and the LCA’s Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission Glenice Hartwich.

Partners in sharing JESUS’ LOV E You are helping to bring them to know Jesus as their Saviour and to be freed from fear. CONT ACT Check out our website at www.lca.org.au/internationalmission or contact Erin, Nevin or Glenice e: lcaim@lca.org.au p: 08 8267 7300

The Lutheran SEPTEMBER 2017

The sense of evil and fear is hairraisingly palpable as a spirit doctor approaches, uttering threats to villagers in northern Thailand’s mountainous Nan province. Spirit doctors have long reigned over the marginalised and impoverished Lua people with fear, demanding sacrifices and rituals to appease the spirits. But you are helping to change the lives of the Lua people. You are helping them to know Jesus as their Saviour and to be freed from fear through your partnership with LCA International Mission. Nyman was a spirit doctor who brought dread to his village. But today, as he sits on a cement floor with his grandchild, Nyman shares a new story. He’s now a baptised Lutheran Christian. He meets regularly in a small church with other believers and Lua Lutheran evangelist Pim.

the life-changing good news of Jesus to Nyman and others in our nearneighbouring countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific region. Through LCA International Mission, you are following our Lord in his mission to make disciples of all nations and enabling Jesus’ love to come to life in the lives of many people as you Pray, Give, Connect and Go. Many of our partner churches face spiritual attack as they work in new territory for God’s kingdom. As a member of a congregation, school, or family, or as an individual, you are invited to Pray for our partners in mission. We take great care of your financial gifts. You are invited to Give and can be confident your gift will assist our partner Lutheran churches to bring the life-saving good news of Jesus to their communities.

Through the proclamation of the gospel, people’s lives are being transformed. They are learning of the love and peace of Christ and being set free from darkness and fear. Today there are more than 1200 baptised Lutheran Christians living in the Nan province.

Consider how you, your congregation, school, youth group or fellowship group can Connect personally and partner in mission. You can also experience firsthand how God’s love is coming to life through the word-and-action gospel work of our partner churches. You are invited to Go as a volunteer.

Through the work of the Holy Spirit, and in partnership with people in Lutheran churches, you are privileged to bring

There are many opportunities available; just contact LCA International Mission for further information.

R E C O N C I L I A T I O N M I N I S T R Y - Office of the Bishop

Peace is the

WORD OF GOSPEL Reconciliation Ministry exists to serve every member of the LCA, including you, through teaching and training to equip us to live out our faith in our relationships. It is more than a biblical approach to bring resolution in places of severe conflict. This ministry helps all of God’s people – you and me – understand our identity in Christ. It reminds us we are a church of the gospel – and that the gospel has reconciliation at its very heart. We all sin, but confessing our sin is not ‘second nature’. We are all sinned against, but we do not always respond as people pardoned by God’s grace. Reconciliation Ministry serves us by returning us to the peace and joy of living the baptismal life, through every relationship – in our marriages, families, social groups, workplaces, places of learning, and in our congregations and other church organisations. It uses the healing power of Christ’s death and resurrection to remove sin, guilt, shame, failure, brokenness, disappointment and bitterness. Reconciliation Ministry serves people one-on-one, as well as through church congregations, auxiliaries, schools, aged–care facilities, district and national offices, youth groups, student bodies, pastors and lay workers.

We are working with the LCA’s College of Bishops and Australian Lutheran College toward integrating reconciliation principles into training for future pastors, lay workers and other church workers. Reconciliation Ministry developed materials for the Victorian District’s African Leaders Camp, which was attended by more than 90 people, and its Easter Camp, which brought together 36 youth. This year’s participants in the Lutheran Youth of Queensland Luminate program also received training. We also partner with LCA International Mission to provide training in biblical peacemaking for our partner churches to equip them to lead reconciliation ministry in their own contexts. Reconciliation Ministry is changing lives, bringing healing which is restoring relationships, and reinvigorating churches and other LCA communities. Congregations which have embarked on the two-year biblical peacemaking course are now supporting each other as they continue their journey. We thank God for this monumental opportunity and realise that initial steps in the journey will seem small as we grow people and resources to build this ministry.

Three strategic components of Reconciliation Ministry 1

Growing people to serve the ministry

Growing relationships between key people

Growing materials for people to grow in Christ in their relationships locally

Reconciliation Ministry serves us by returning us to the peace and joy of living the baptismal life, in every situation, through every relationship.

CONT ACT Pastor Paul Kerber, Assistant to the Bishop – Reconciliation Ministry a: 197 Archer Street, North Adelaide SA 5006 e: paul.kerber@lca.org.au p: 08 8267 7300