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From small beginnings, big things have grown

by Graeme Huf

The story of the LLL is unique. It shows how the vision of one person, Mr Ben Koch, has given many people the opportunity to serve God, his church and use their God-given resources and talents to advance the sharing of the gospel.

Since its inception in 1921, the mission of the LLL has been to provide aid to the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) and its various church bodies in business and financial matters.

The original intent was to raise capital to support church development by providing low-interest loans. As loans were repaid, new advances could be made. This basic premise of raising deposits and providing loans has remained the core function of the LLL for 100 years.

We are thankful for the strong connections and relationships the LLL has with congregation members, church leaders, school and care communities, and the support of our depositors and borrowers who believe in and value the mission of the LLL.

As a separate legal entity, LLL operates independently of the LCANZ, but with the clear purpose of benefitting the church by providing loans for projects and supporting the LCANZ’s wider ministry and mission through gifts, donations and allocations. Over the past century, the LLL has helped to build churches, schools and respite and aged-care facilities, buy manses, assist mission work in Australia and abroad, and fund and administer a range of programs and activities in support of the church.

Our Lord has blessed the work of the LLL. We thank you for your ongoing support as we look with confidence to our next 100 years!

Graeme Huf chairs the LLL Australia Board.

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LCANZ bishop-elect ‘humbled’ by call to serve as church leader

LCANZ bishop-elect Pastor Paul Smith says he is ‘humbled’ by his election by General Synod and has asked for the prayers of church members as he prepares to take up the role next year.

Bishop-elect Paul, who is currently serving a six-month placement at St Peters Lutheran College Indooroopilly on behalf of the LCA’s Queensland District (LCAQD) and is the immediate past bishop of the LCAQD, was elected to the role for an initial six-year term by delegates to the LCANZ’s historic 20th Convention of General Synod on Friday 1 October. He will succeed Bishop John Henderson, who has served as bishop since 2013 but did not seek re-election and is retiring at the end of the year.

Bishop-elect Paul and Pastor Matt Anker, who serves the church as Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission, were the two candidates nominated for the role of Bishop by the LCA’s General Pastors Conference, which met online in July.

‘I pray God’s blessing on this decision to call me to the work of bishop’, Bishop-elect Paul told the historic online gathering after his election. ‘I am humbled, and I am deeply aware that I am an earthen vessel, serving for Christ’s sake through faith and knowing that we share in the Lord’s promise that our labours in the Lord’s name are never in vain. The Lord will continue to build his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.’

As well as thanking his wife Heidi and family for their support and praying a blessing for outgoing Bishop John, Bishop-elect Paul also acknowledged Pastor Matt.

‘I also thank Pastor Matt Anker for his Christian service in accepting nomination’, Pastor Paul said. ‘I look forward to working with you, Pastor Matt, as you continue to serve in the church.

‘Finally, I ask you to pray for me and for the communities of our church in Australia and New Zealand as we continue to labour together in the cause of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Ordained in 1988, Bishop-elect Paul has served in school ministry at Trinity Lutheran College Ashmore, St Peters Lutheran College Indooroopilly and Pacific Lutheran College Caloundra, all in Queensland; and in parish ministry at Tailem Bend-Karoonda Parish and Immanuel Lutheran Church North Adelaide, both in South Australia, and at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at Toowoomba in Queensland. He was bishop of the LCAQD from 2015 until earlier this year when he did not seek re-election at the Queensland District’s Convention of Synod.

Bishop-elect Paul, who grew up in Far North Queensland with no Lutheran congregational background, and wife Heidi have three adult children.

In a first for the LCANZ, its General Synod met online for the first part of a two-part convention to be held across two years, with more than 370 delegates engaging with the worship and business sessions on Day 1 via the internet conferencing system Zoom.

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Walking God’s way in the big blue

by Helen Beringen

To Rosemary Lange, it looked almost like a blue waterfall coming towards the vineyard where she was waiting for her husband Kevin to appear from among the hundreds of blue shirt-clad walkers.

Kevin’s key supporter for almost 56 years of married life, Rosemary stood with her walker to witness the wash of blue t-shirts wind its way down the walking trail from Redeemer Lutheran School in Nuriootpa right past the Lange’s vineyards in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

It was May this year, and the vineyard was three kilometres into the 26-km trek of the Australian Lutheran World Service education fundraiser for refugee children, Walk My Way. Then she spotted Kevin.

‘As she looked up, she said it was like a waterfall as we were all wearing the blue Walk My Way shirts’, recalls vigneron Kevin. ‘I managed to give her a kiss – made all the others jealous!’

The 83-year-old continues: ‘My wife is a bit of an inspiration to me. She’s had cancer and had both hips and both knees replaced, and she is still out here supporting me in whatever I want to do.’

Mobility issues and past illness hadn’t stopped Rosemary from cheering on Kevin, the oldest of 650 walkers to complete the full 26-kilometre walk, a fundraising effort helping more than 7300 refugee children in East Africa go to school for a year. (Across all walks around Australia in 2021, LCANZ members and friends have so far raised more than $340,000 – enough to help send more than 13,000 children to school.)

Accompanied by his 16-year-old grandson Halen, Kevin raised $800, even though a week out from the event he had not sought sponsors.

‘On the Wednesday before the walk, I was checking my email and up popped a donation’, Kevin says. By the end of that day, there were about $200 to $300 in donations.

‘When we got to the halfway mark of the walk, I kept getting text messages from my wife saying we had collected several hundred more in donations.

‘For that, I’ve got to thank the people who opened up their hearts and their wallets, as that was not my original intention. We were just going to do it and put a couple of children through school.’

And even months after the event, donations haven’t stopped, with an additional $100 donated by a member of Kevin’s vine pruning team. That brings Kevin’s fundraising total enough to support more than 34 students!

‘When I spoke with our Cambodian pruners to say I was going to talk to The Lutheran about the walk and raising money for refugee children in Africa, I received another $100 donation’, Kevin says. ‘I realised then that she had been in a refugee camp for about five years herself, so she wanted to donate. It just goes to show again that small seeds do grow into big trees.’

Kevin still can’t quite believe the wonderful experience that came out of the event. Plans for a group walk in 2020 had been cancelled due to COVID-19 and were replaced by fundraising walk efforts by individuals, and Kevin hadn’t really trained for it this time around. And only a few weeks before the event, Kevin had asked Halen whether he’d like to join him.

Both are members of St Petri Nuriootpa (Kevin’s a sixth-generation member, Barossa born and bred, while Halen is the seventh generation of Langes to worship there). One of Kevin’s ancestors arrived in Port Adelaide in 1846 after 90 days at sea on the George Washington.

‘We think we have it tough at the moment, but it’s nothing compared with what our pioneers had to do’, he says.

Ever since then, a branch of the family has lived in the Barossa. They remain connected to the land, where Kevin still works his 18 acre-block (7.2 hectares) and caretakes another 12 acres (4.8ha), assisted by his Cambodian friends during pruning season.

He and Rosemary had semi-retired in 2013 and have been blessed with three children, their grandson Halen, and four granddaughters.

Over the years, Kevin’s been involved in many local groups but is still involved in the Tanunda Liedertafel.This all-male choir was founded by Barossa pioneers as far back as 1850 and includes about 44 members from across the Barossa region.

Over his 83 years, Kevin has been guided by a verse from Ephesians 2:10 which reminds us that God has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

‘We can forget that when we go out and live our life, but he’s already made preparations for what he wants us to do’, he says. ‘We can always do what is within our abilities. Give of yourself the best way you possibly can.’

 

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