The Lutheran October 2021 Sneak Preview

M A G A Z I N E O F T H E LUT H E R A N C H URC H O F A US T R A LI A & N E W Z E A L AN D

VOL 55 NO9

Print Post Approved PP100003514

O C TO B E R 2021

r way ‘That you nown on k e b y a m r saving u o y , th r a e ong power am s.’ all nation PSALM

6 7 :2

Together we take Jesus to the nations

LUTHERAN

CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

EDITORIAL

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

CONNECT WITH US We Love The Lutheran! lutheranaunz lutheranchurchaus

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Kevin and Joan Koster took time out from packing for Papua New Guinea (PNG) recently to check the latest edition of The Lutheran.

Lutheran. Of course, Kevin and Joan aren’t packing to go to PNG themselves – it’s the birthing kits they voluntarily pack on behalf of LCA International Mission that will be heading north. The birthing kits program has been supported by Lutheran Women of Australia since 2003, with thousands of kits having been made and sent to PNG. The kits, which include items such as disposable gloves, soap, face washers, nappies and a Lutheran Tract Mission card, are used by village midwives and in aid posts and small health centres to help provide a clean environment for safe births. Find out more, including how to volunteer or assemble a kit to donate, at https://lcamission.org.au/join-godsmission/birthing-kits/

Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and it may appear on page 2 of a future issue and on our website at www.thelutheran.com.au

People like YOU bring love to life Gillian Heintze St John Lutheran Church Minyip Vic Computer tutor, LCA International Mission Committee member Most treasured Bible text: Isaiah 30:15 ‘In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.’

Keith Kowald Bethlehem Lutheran Church Morley WA Retired, LCA International Mission congregational representative Most treasured Bible text: Psalm 37:5 ‘Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.’

Denise Grieshaber

LUTHERAN

St Peters Lutheran Church Indooroopilly Qld

OF AUSTRALIA

Retired social worker, volunteer editor for LCA International Mission

CHURCH 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.

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Packing for a journey of care

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Most treasured Bible text: Micah 6:8 ‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ Let the light of someone you know shine through their photo being featured in The Lutheran and LCA Facebook. With their permission, send us a good quality photo, their name and details (congregation, occupation, what they enjoy doing, most treasured text in these difficult times) and your contact details.

October Special features EDITOR'S

let ter

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When LCA International Mission’s Pastor Matt Anker, Erin Kerber and Nevin Nitschke and I discussed possible cover ideas for this edition we kept coming back to one subject: baptism.

As we walk with our overseas church partners, we share in the call to ‘make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …’ (Matthew 28:19). Baptism goes to the heart of all mission – whether local, regional or global. It is central and essential to the Great Co-mission we have with the triune God and with all believers.

Where there are baptisms, God is growing his church. Where there are adult baptisms, people who have been without the hope we have are coming to know Jesus as their Saviour and Friend – and that gives cause for great rejoicing in heaven (Luke 15:7) and on earth.

Of course, if we stay focused only on what we see happening within the four walls of long-established congregations in Australia and New Zealand, many of which may be shrinking, it can be easy to miss that joy and the vitality and passion that new believers can bring to a faith community. (Naturally, there are exceptions to this experience, including some of our church-plant communities and multi-ethnic ministries).

But for our overseas partners, many of whom face far greater financial, logistical and spiritual challenges to mission and ministry than we do, witnessing people being transformed by God’s awesome, unbounded love and forgiveness is a regular blessing. And we are privileged to share some wonderful stories in this edition about lives changed by the freeing power of the gospel.

It is indeed a great blessing for our LCANZ to be able to serve with, support and learn from these international friends in their kingdom work through LCA International Mission, and you’ll read about some of the many ways in which that’s already happening and how you can be involved. Along with volunteering and giving, prayer is a vital support for our regional church friends and this month’s prayer calendar is also dedicated to these relationships.

I hope and pray that you’ll be excited, encouraged and inspired by what you read in these pages.

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Knowing Jesus drives out fear

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Opening hearts to the true gospel

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From darkness into Christ’s light

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How you serve with our overseas partners

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Your support helps people come to know Jesus

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‘No longer broken’

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ALC partnership a gift to our region

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Sharing what they have through Christ

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Excited to be following God’s call

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Seeing God’s fingerprints everywhere

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Regulars Heartland

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Go and Grow

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Church@Home

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Dwelling in God’s word

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Going GREYT!

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The inside story

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Directory

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Sudoku

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Your voice

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Prayer calendar

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Lisa

PS – I’ve been disappointed to learn that some of our subscribers are having to wait many weeks for their copy of The Lutheran – in fact, my own home-delivered September copy took more than two weeks to arrive from one part of Adelaide to another! If you are experiencing long delays in getting your copy, you may wish to contact your local Australia Post outlet and let them know. We lodged the September edition for postage on 31 August.

Our cover: Rev Dr Jenson Andrews, President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Myanmar, baptises a woman at the Hindu mission centre at Bayakalay village in Myanmar.

Photo: Martin Oldfield The Lutheran O C TO B E R 2 0 21

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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

RE V JOHN HENDERSON

Bishop Lutheran Church of Australia

BL ES S ED BY WORK ING TO G E T HER God willing, when this edition of The Lutheran is published, the 2021 online sessions of the LCANZ 20th Convention of General Synod will have successfully concluded. Synod will have elected a new bishop, assistant bishop and general church board and made some essential technical changes to constitutions. Delegates will be poised to resume the meeting in 2022 for matters requiring greater discussion.

Over 56 years we will have held 20 conventions. That’s one for every 1022 days. Combined with district conventions, these form a veritable wall of church meetings for the LCANZ. By way of contrast, Australian Catholics are gathering for a Plenary Council (somewhat like a synod) in early October, and this will be their first such meeting since 1934 – 87 years ago!

Catholics have the same trepidation about an online meeting that we do and

BY WORKI NG TOG ETH ER … WE GAI N A WI DER VI EW OF TH E CH U RCH AN D ITS M ISSION , AN D A FU LLER U N DERSTAN DI NG OF TH E GOSPEL. 4

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have asked for our prayers. They face a great challenge since they are not a single unit. Catholics in Australia are a collection of 34 separate dioceses (sections of the church entrusted to the leadership of a bishop) under Rome.

working together, we keep each other honest about faith and our life in the Lord Jesus. We gain a wider view of the church and its mission, and a fuller understanding of the gospel than we otherwise would have.

Gathering the Lutheran synod so frequently takes large amounts of human, physical and financial resources. Quite honestly, it’s a taxing way to run a smallish church like ours.

Leadership and delegates alike make sacrificial commitments to the process.

Collectively, we have greater wisdom and insight. In addition, by sharing God’s gift of physical resources, we can do so much more in mission than if we all stayed in our own small corners.

So why do we do it? Why not each go our own way and do our own thing?

Congregations, parishes, districts, schools and other institutions all have local decision-making capabilities and a large degree of autonomy. New Zealand is a national church in its own right but chooses to be a district of the LCANZ. What do we have together that we do not have on our own?

Well, I can’t describe it better than St Paul does in 1 Corinthians 12: ‘A body isn’t really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body … Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body’ (19–27 CEV). Paul is writing about individual believers being equally honoured as parts of the church. The same principle applies to the collective units we call congregations and districts, as well as schools and other forms of mission.

God has given us to each other. We need each other to be complete. By

By extension, in its small corner the LCANZ gains even more when it joins with other Christians who are also part of the body of Christ. We frequently undervalue the giving and receiving of ecumenical gifts. And even further, we who are still in this life gain even greater blessings when we are awake to our union with the church eternal in the presence of the risen and ascended Christ and his heavenly Father. But those are aspects for another ‘Heartland’ …

For now, despite the initial effort and cost involved in gathering as a synod, I pray we will continue to do so gladly and wholeheartedly, in a spirit of Christian love and cooperation. Walking together as Synod, confessing our common faith as Lutherans, preaching the gospel of Jesus and receiving the sacraments as one body in him, we bless one another and receive blessings in return. God be praised that he enables us to share the rich gifts of faith and life with our fellow believers in such a rewarding way.

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