The Lutheran August-September 2023 Sneak Preview

EDITORIAL

Editor Lisa McIntosh

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Executive Editor Linda Macqueen

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LUTHERAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

The Lutheran informs the members of the LCANZ 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 and New Zealand.

Lapping up a great read

Cavoodle Jimmy jumped into prime reading position when ‘Grandma’ Janine Uebergang came to visit his family, including Janine’s son Brett, in Melbourne recently. Janine is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Warrnambool in Victoria, where her connection to her church is an important part of her social and spiritual life. Janine’s daughter-in-law Sharon Campbell took the photo.

People like YOU bring love to life

Bethlehem Lutheran Church Adelaide SA

Information Management Team Leader/Committee of Lutheran Archives member

Most treasured Bible text: Matthew 6:25–34

‘Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’

Ev Leske

Langmeil Thanksgiving Lutheran Church Tanunda SA

Retired teacher and volunteer at Lutheran Archives

Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 133:1

‘How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity.’

Larissa Paynter

The Ark, Salisbury SA

Lutheran Education SA-NT and WA Executive Assistant/ Committee of Lutheran Archives member

Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 23

‘He makes me lie down in green pastures ... he refreshes my soul ... Surely your goodness and love will follow me all my life.’

Let

Paula Heinrich

I have what could be considered in some circles a shameful secret. Church meetings that start with long prayers and devotions make me fidgety and impatient – frustrated even.

Probably like yours, my life is extremely busy, and my spare time is limited. I feel much more comfortable when agenda items are ticked off quickly and action is the name of the game. Why take three or more hours to achieve what could have been done in 60 to 90 minutes?

I still believe that but, after editing the beautiful stories, testimonies and devotional resources in this edition, I was reminded of something critical: Prayer always comes first. Before we decide. Before we act. Even when the need is urgent – like sharing the hope of the gospel with those who don’t yet know Jesus.

As Pastor Nathan Hedt writes on page 5: ‘I’m convinced that the first step in vibrant, joyful mission is learning from what Jesus said in Luke 10:2. Mission doesn’t begin in action … The praying precedes the going. The command (and invitation) to pray precedes the command and invitation to go. Prayer is a vital foundation for mission.’

Pausing to pray – even momentarily – is the best antidote to impatience. It is the best insurance that our next act will be what Jesus would do. And prayer is a really good investment of time before we speak (or write) too, especially in difficult, urgent or vexed situations. These prayers don’t need to be long; they don’t need to be complex. Just ‘Show me your will, God’ or ‘God, help me’ surrenders us into his loving hands, expresses our reliance on God, pushes down our pride and can soothe our anxieties.

I always need to pray before, during and after writing these editorials, that God will give me words to encourage and build up you, our readers, and, perhaps, challenge each of us a little, too. This edition we are focused on the LCANZ’s Season of Prayer, which may seem strange as we’ve already established that every season is a season of prayer. But this particular two-week, three-Sunday observation scheduled in September is designed to hone and unite our churchwide prayer efforts. It is prayer with an intentional, coordinated, concerted quality about it and a theme of mission, church renewal and church planting. So, among the many resources you’ll always find in The Lutheran, there are those to support your participation in this year’s Season of Prayer observation.

As well as our regular columns, news and views, too, our print subscribers receive a copy of Border Crossings, which shares more exciting and enlightening stories about LCA International Mission’s work with our overseas partners. (Digital subscribers can head to www.lca.org.au/international-mission to access a digital copy under the Resources tab.)

May God bless your reading – and your praying!

PS – We apologise that some subscriber invoices have been delayed and have been working hard to remedy the issues causing this. Thank you for your patience and support.

Our cover: iStock.com.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages may contain images of people who have died.

Because we bear your name

At the beginning of this century, I was called to serve as pastor for the people of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in the rural Queensland city of Toowoomba. This congregation of our Lutheran Church was a place full of passion for the mission of God. The congregation’s ministries included an outreach kids club for local families. The congregation supported Concordia Lutheran Primary and Salem Lutheran Aged Care.

Good Shepherd also had all your standard Lutheran congregational things such as Sunday school, confirmation, women’s guild, fellowship groups, a parish worker, youth group, ‘shut-in’ ministry and support for the wider church. When I arrived in 2001, Good Shepherd had grown to be one of the largest congregations in our church in Queensland.

I share this with you to point to a key part of the congregation’s history. Less than 50 years before I arrived as pastor, under the ministry of Pastor A H Koehler, Good Shepherd had been started as a church plant in what was originally an industrial transport hall in the growing southwest part of Toowoomba. With the opening service in 1964 with sermons from pastors K Marquart and N Habel, this new church was ‘planted’ by its neighbouring congregation, Redeemer.

Our history in the LCANZ is a history of church planting. From Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Hermannsburg Northern Territory to St Martins in Marton, New Zealand; from St John’s in Hopevale, Queensland, to Hope in Geraldton, Western Australia, to St Andrews in Nightcliff NT and St Peters Hobart in Tasmania, we Lutherans have been busily church planting for generations.

This is our heritage because this is our Lord’s command and promise. When we learn Martin Luther’s catechism, we are given Matthew 28 to memorise. ‘Go to all nations’, commands our Lord Jesus. ‘I will be with you always!’, he promises.

In June this year, I was privileged to be the guest preacher for the 150th anniversary of Trinity Lutheran congregation, just outside of Appila in South Australia’s Mid North. Their Scripture reading for the Sunday service was Matthew 28. This was most fitting for the occasion. For 150 years this congregation has had an extraordinary impact on the life of our Lutheran Church,

BISHOP PAUL’S LETTER

REV PAUL SMITH Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand

especially in the formation of many church workers who have served at home and abroad.

It is significant that the text of Matthew 28 tells of the risen Lord sending ‘doubters’. Verse 17 reads, ‘When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted’. But our Lord does not divide the disciples into the ‘doubters’ and ‘the rest’ so that he can avoid sending the doubters. Verse 17 is followed by the command we know as the Great Commission, spoken to both the doubters and the rest.

The Lord gathers us into his mission with all our struggles and uncertainties. The people of Trinity Appila would gladly acknowledge that they are ordinary people caught up in the extraordinary mission of God.

In our modern Lutheran Church in New Zealand and Australia, we are seeing significant changes. Like many congregations, both Trinity Appila and Good Shepherd Toowoomba are no longer the size they were at the turn of this century. But this change in demography must not distract God’s people from the Great Commission. The mission field may have changed but the mission has not.

Matthew 28 commands us to go to all nations, making disciples and teaching them to obey everything that our Lord commanded. In our contemporary communities in New Zealand and Australia, we study Scripture with fervour and purpose, to discern what the Lord wants us to ‘teach’ in his name.

Matthew 28 commands us to go to all nations, making disciples and baptising. In our contemporary communities, we are called to cherish baptism in our own lives and in the lives of others. In public media and online, we rarely hear of the precious gift of baptism. We who are baptised into Christ declare to the world, with St Paul, that we were buried with Christ by baptism into his death and raised to walk in newness of life.

‘Go to all nations’, commands our risen Lord Jesus. In Christ,

CHANGE IN DEMOGRAPHY MUST NOT DISTRACT GOD’S PEOPLE FROM THE GREAT COMMISSION.

THE MISSION FIELD MAY HAVE CHANGED BUT THE MISSION HAS NOT.