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Welcome to the neighbourhood!

by Nigel Rosenzweig

The conversation at the doorstep of a stranger in my neighbourhood might go something like this … [Knock knock] ‘Who’s there?’ ‘The Great South Coast.’ ‘The Great South Coast who?’ ‘The Great South Coast Welcome Team – we’ve come to welcome you to Victor Harbor on behalf of all of the churches in the town!’ ‘Which church?’ ‘All the Christian churches of Victor Harbor together!’ ‘Wow – what a surprise!’

Many people in our communities are surprised to hear of churches working together. But in many communities across Australia and New Zealand, that is exactly what is happening! And when Christians work together in unity, the unity we share is a powerful witness.

In August 2024, the South Coast Minister’s Group based in Victor Harbor on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula agreed to step out in faith and create a welcome pack, a website and a new resident visitation program, to enable local church members to systematically welcome new residents into the area.

This was enabled after Victor Harbor Lutheran Church received an LCANZ Local Mission Seed Fund Grant late last year. The project grew quickly!

A development team was formed, comprising people from many local churches. Welcome magazines, gift packs and a website were prepared. In May this year, visitor and evangelism training was provided to 93 potential visitors. In June, the Great South Coast website (www.greatsouthcoast.com.au) was launched, and 36 official visitors were commissioned at a combined worship service before coming together for final equipping and to receive their first assignments. The assignment of visitors to homes has been covered in prayer. We have been blessed to have an ecumenical prayer group meet fortnightly specifically to surround this project and other local ‘church together’ projects in prayer.

Visitor assignments are made based upon intelligence collected about local property sales and occupancy. Visitors generally visit in their local neighbourhood and receive one or more assignments every month from the visitor coordinator. Visitors work in pairs, and many pairs consist of people from different denominations. New friendships have grown from this.

The welcome pack we offer has a professional local magazine in it that celebrates local community issues, the community engagement activities of the churches and stories of the churches working together. Also in the bag is a pen and a fridge magnet card, plus local business vouchers. Many visitors personalise their bags with extra items, such as home-propagated plants, produce or baked goods, or even a packet of Tim Tams. The local newspaper provides free copies of a recent edition, while the local council makes their new resident information packs available for us to include in
the bag, too.

In July, visitors came back together for a combined worship service to hear testimonies about the first round of visits. The feedback was truly encouraging!

Some visitors have been welcomed by new residents into their homes. There have been opportunities for follow-up and community connections, and friendships are growing. Who knows how God might work through these simple visits of welcome offered as an act of service?

In the first four months of the visitor program, 114 visits were reported to the visitor coordinator. Of these, 48 per cent have been ‘highly appreciated’ and 23 per cent ‘politely appreciated’. In 26 per cent of cases, the visitors have been unable to contact residents, but in cases where contact was made, only 3 per cent have been considered ‘unappreciated’.

Many visitors have reported positive connections being made and stated that many recipients are surprised and grateful for the welcome gift. Visitors also report many new residents talking about the stress of moving and working through change; therefore, some visits have resulted in referrals being made to appropriate services. Many who are visited are pleased to simply meet people in the area, while it is often reported that new residents have been surprised by the concept that the visit was a combined-churches initiative.

One visitor said a resident was ‘absolutely blown away that anyone would think of blessing him with a gift’. ‘He was shocked and delighted to receive the bag. I said the combined churches had put this together, and that we just wanted to bless him and welcome him to the area. He couldn’t believe that anyone would do this for him. He has never had anyone do anything like this for him before.’

Another visitor reported meeting a couple who were looking for a church and was able to extend an invitation to worship and to an Alpha course. On that and some other occasions, visitors have been invited back for a further visit.

One visitor was invited to come again with these words: ‘Next time I will give you some plants I’m taking out of my garden.’ In this endeavour, visitors are definitely finding ‘people of peace’, as we read of in Luke 10:1–24.

As the program continues to mature, we wait and see what God might grow through these new friendships forming from welcome visits. Additionally, an unexpected spin-off from this ministry is that visitors and others from local churches have come together for combined worship events every two months.

By the time we gathered to worship on 21 September, we were starting to see a growth of ideas for new teams forming under the banner of Great South Coast. These new teams will enable Christians working together to care for their community and give a united witness in a variety of other ways.

With the early success of the visitor program in Victor Harbor, there has been strong interest in expanding to Goolwa, 17 kilometres east. This has required a second round of visitor training to be brought forward, while new visitor coordinators and visitors are being established for the Goolwa area.

On Saturday 8 November, more than 50 people gathered for a round of training to enable them to join either the new welcome team in Goolwa, the existing welcome team in Victor Harbor, the ‘New Hope Team’ (which will visit people in our region who are without a home), or one of the other developing teams that is growing to encourage shared outreach and evangelism.

On 30 November, the Great South Coast launched the ‘Goolwa chapter’ of the welcome team at a combined worship at the Goolwa Uniting Church.

Over the past 12 months, we have seen God provide for and bless Christian community wherever brothers and sisters live together in unity and step out in faith together.

Ephesians 4:2 is a foundational text for this project. It reminds us that we do not create the unity – God does. We simply have the opportunity to keep it and live in it by being completely humble and gentle, patient and bearing with one another in love.

For many who have lived in the area for a long time, this project has been an answer to a long-standing prayer and a demonstration of the unity God gives!

Pastor Nigel Rosenzweig serves at Victor Harbor Lutheran Church, South Australia, and oversees the Great South Coast Welcome Team.

 

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Your new Church House is ready to welcome you

LCANZ Churchwide Office (CWO) staff moved into the new Church House in Adelaide’s CBD last month and, as of 1 December, are ready to welcome visitors to the 139 Frome Street premises.

The five-storey building is designed not only as an office space for staff from the CWO, ALC, Lutheran Media, LCA International Mission, ALWS, Lutheran Education Australia and Finke River Mission, but also as a hub to support mission, ministry and collaboration across the wider church. While the building’s design offers modern workspaces and flexible meeting areas, the vision for Church House goes far beyond infrastructure.

Space will also be available for visitors and other Lutheran ministry partners, which the LCA’s Executive Director of Church Operations, Brett Hausler, said ‘reinforces Church House’s role as a shared resource for the wider church community’.

A standout feature of Level 3 is a reconfigurable meeting and event space designed to host workshops, training sessions and gatherings – all supporting the church’s mission to grow, serve and reach out in Christ’s name. The space will also be available for use by other Lutheran entities.

On the ground floor, a welcoming reception and new exhibition and events space will offer opportunities for community engagement and education. Featuring displays that reflect both Lutheran heritage and future direction, this area is intended to invite connection within the church and the broader community, and will be launched in early 2026. Located near Bethlehem and St Stephen’s Lutheran churches in Adelaide, the new Church House was purchased following the sale of the LCANZ’s properties in North Adelaide last year.

Read more about the Frome Street move and stories about some of the legacies of the former Churchwide Office at 197 Archer Street North Adelaide on the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/frome-street-move

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Blooming where God plants you

GOING Greyt!

For the past nine years in Going GREYT! we have featured stories about some of our ‘more experienced’ people within the LCANZ, who have been called to make a positive contribution in their retirement. We pray their examples of service continue to be an inspiration and encouragement to us all as we look to be Christ’s hands and feet wherever we are.

by Helen Brinkman

Retired South Australian social worker Colleen Fitzpatrick is a firm believer that God always puts people where they need to be and grows you where you are planted.

Her working life in caring ministries was itself nurtured through the encouragement of those around her and the knowledge that the Lord will always provide. This profound promise from Philippians 4:19 is one of Colleen’s key go-to texts, a testament to the faithfulness of God, assuring us that God will supply all of our needs.

‘That’s something that I see nearly daily in my life now, just as I did when I was at Lutheran Community Care,’ Colleen recalls. She worked for the ‘social welfare’ ministry of the LCA’s SA–NT District – today known as Lutheran Care – for 23 years from 1984, including 13 years as director.

During that time, she’d send letters to supporters requesting donations before the end of each financial year, aware that she had to do the next year’s budget without knowing how much they would receive to support their ministry. ‘We needed to have faith that the Lord would provide, and he did every time – every time,’ she says.

God’s faithfulness, working through the generosity of people, included one occasion when the office roof was leaking, and not only did a donation come in to help, but it was a gift of $1 million – enough to buy a new office building!

Colleen’s career in caring had its roots in a childhood on the family farm at Jindera, near Albury in New South Wales, through the role modelling of her generous father Eddie, who, despite being big and burly, was gentle-hearted and always provided a helping hand in the local church and community.

From the age of 12, Colleen boarded at St Paul’s Lutheran College at Walla Walla, NSW. Her university studies in social work followed at the University of NSW. ‘I didn’t really know what social work was, but I thought it was about helping people,’ she recalls. ‘It gave me skills in listening, understanding and communicating.’
Graduating aged 24 in 1974, she followed her sister Jenny (Wagner) to South Australia, where she began work with the SA Department for Community Welfare. ‘And that’s where I met (future husband) John, in the Port Adelaide office, where he looked after financial assistance and administration.

It was literally a whirlwind romance, kicked off in the aftermath of destructive tropical Cyclone Tracy that devastated the city of Darwin, in the Northern Territory, on Christmas Eve in December 1974. Due to the cyclone, community welfare offices opened on the three workdays between Christmas and New Year. Colleen and John were the skeleton staff on deck and spent the time talking, as no clients came in.

On Valentine’s Day 1975, they set out in Colleen’s Volkswagen Beetle, bound for Walla Walla, to visit her parents. Colleen said she was bringing a friend. While John was still outside cleaning bugs off the windscreen, Colleen was inside telling her mum they were getting married, just hours after John met her parents!

They married a month later and, in March this year, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Throughout her career, Colleen has been blessed by John’s support and his joint care for their two daughters, Claire and Anne, who were born in 1977 and 1980, respectively. This support also enabled her to take up many volunteer positions on church and community boards and committees.

Colleen was the first woman appointed to the LCA’s Commission on Theology and Interchurch Relations (CTICR) in the 1980s, at the request of then-president the late Dr Lance Steicke. This was followed by membership of the LCA’s Nominations Committee, among other volunteer roles. She also found time to go back to Flinders University to complete her master’s degree.

Retirement beckoned in 2011, when grandparenting duties took precedence.

Keeping active is a priority for Colleen and John. They have attended the local Fitness on the Park classes three times a week for the past 26 years, sharing a North Adelaide oval with a family of supervising magpies.

In their mid-60s, they also discovered frisbee throwing, which Colleen describes as ‘not too strenuous’, and she believes ‘more people should get involved’. It’s a sport she’s even promoted at church events (see the cover of The Lutheran from December 2018).

Colleen also remains an active member of St Stephen’s Lutheran congregation in Adelaide and is back playing the organ – a skill developed as a child on the piano, before expanding her range to the organ during secondary college.

And she delights in the St Stephen’s online prayer group. ‘It’s such an amazing vehicle for the Holy Spirit,’ she says, with friends, neighbours and family members often asking the group to add people to their list to be kept in prayer. ‘Even the plumber!’ she says. ‘They are thankful and appreciative that you are rattling at the “Pearly Gates” on their behalf.’

Indeed, it is God’s everyday miracles that keep her going. ‘For me, the gift of laughter is really necessary for survival, because as we get older, there are some things that are quite challenging,’ she says. ‘But as long as you find things to laugh about, I reckon you get through. On a daily basis, I know the Lord will provide.’

Helen Brinkman is a Brisbane-based writer who is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and humbly in our community. By sharing stories of how God shines his light through his people, she hopes others are encouraged to explore how they can use their gifts to share his light in the world. Helen has written this column on a voluntary basis for nine years and is now ‘retiring’ from this role. We thank her, as we thank and praise God, for this precious gift of her time and talents.

Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community? Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au

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Still spreading the same gospel message

When people filled Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Adelaide to listen to the launch of The Lutheran Hour radio program in Australia on 2 September 1945, they could not have known what that event would set in motion.

That broadcast effectively was the birth of an enduring and life-changing outreach ministry, which today, 80 years on, we know (and love) as Lutheran Media.

Of course, it was a very different time. World War II had barely ended in the Pacific, with considerable rationing still in place. A fair percentage of households owned a ‘wireless’ for news and entertainment, but television was still more than a decade away in this part of the world.

None of the people listening to Dr Walter Maier’s message from those stately wooden pews – nor anyone tuning into 36 stations in capital cities and rural centres around the nation – could have known what forms gospel outreach through media would take in 2025.

Lutheran Media is now far more than a radio ministry. While radio spots (played across more than 1200 frequencies) still have a vital role in sharing messages of life and hope in Christ, there are also videos, podcasts and social media posts, as well as booklets and other resources, both for children and adults.

Today, Lutheran Media reaches millions of people through its flagship Messages of hope ministry across this wide array of platforms.

We thank God for his gift of 80 years of Lutheran Media. Truly, the greatest blessing of this gospel outreach is that while the media and ministry names may have changed over eight decades, the life-giving message they share has not.

– Lisa McIntosh

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LCANZ Church House move nears

The refurbishment of the new LCANZ Church House in Adelaide’s CBD is progressing steadily, with the project now in the final stages of building services replacement and interior fit-out. Staff are expected to move into the new premises at 139 Frome Street by no later than November.

The five-storey building will also include space available for use by other Lutheran entities, which the LCA’s Executive Director of Church Operations, Brett Hausler, said ‘reinforces Church House’s role as a shared resource for the wider church community’.

He also welcomed the progress in relocating the Churchwide Office and Australian Lutheran College (ALC) after the sale of the ALC campus and LCANZ Churchwide Office (CWO) buildings last year.

‘This milestone marks a significant step forward in delivering a modern and purpose-built facility for the LCA,’ he said.

Church House’s key operational areas – levels 2 and 3 – are designated for staff from the CWO, ALC, Lutheran Media, LCA International Mission, Australian Lutheran World Service, Lutheran Education Australia and Finke River Mission, and will include workspace for visitors.

Designed for collaboration and flexibility, level 3 will feature versatile spaces including a boardroom, workshop areas and multiple meeting rooms. At the heart of this level is the staff hub, a multipurpose area designed to support both day-to-day operations and informal staff engagement.

‘A standout feature of this level is the use of operable walls, allowing the space to be reconfigured for a variety of events and functions,’ Brett said. ‘This flexibility enables multiple room combinations, making it ideal for workshops, training sessions and collaborative gatherings. Importantly, this space will also be available for use by other Lutheran entities on a booking basis.’

The ground floor will house the CWO reception and a new events and exhibition space, which will serve as a flexible venue for educational displays showcasing Lutheran heritage and future directions.

‘Designed to support both the wider church and community outreach initiatives, this exciting addition will foster engagement, learning and connection,’ Brett said. ‘This area is designed to welcome both internal and external visitors, supporting community engagement and outreach.’

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Answering the call: ‘Lord, what should I do?’

by Helen Brinkman

Learning to see God’s messages in the simple, everyday things of life has enabled 81-year-old Bernie Dewar to share God’s love on the airwaves.

Through a weekly radio program produced by her local St Peter’s Elizabeth Lutheran congregation and broadcast on a northern Adelaide community radio station, Bernie writes, presents and shares short devotional messages that connect everyday life matters with God’s word.

Bernie honed her skill of devotion-writing during her 23 years as a school assistant at St Paul Lutheran School at Blair Athol in suburban Adelaide, where staff took turns to write devotions for a weekly newsletter.

‘God enabled me to see messages from him in the simple everyday things of life,’ Bernie says.

A contributor to St Peter’s past monthly newsletters, Bernie was approached by Geoff Burls – a veteran of the congregation’s 40-year community radio program and Lutheran Media supporter – about using her devotional material on the church’s radio show. Bernie countered with a much more generous offer of writing and presenting several new three-to-six-minute devotional segments per year as time permitted. Her first segments were first broadcast in November 2009, and they’re still going in 2025!

This has been the latest of many activities Bernie has put her hand to throughout her adventurous life. It’s an approach to living forged from a lifelong love of learning and teaching.

‘My confirmation text was Paul’s words on the road to Damascus: “Lord, what will you have me to do?” And it was obviously teaching,’ Bernie says.

At 16, she passed her Leaving Certificate at Clare High School in SA’s Mid North. She had planned to attend Adelaide Teachers College, but first spent a year as a classroom assistant at Hermannsburg (Ntaria) Lutheran mission, approximately 120 kilometres southwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

‘I loved it! I loved and was loved in return by the Aboriginal people,’ she says. ‘I got to play the old pedal organ for church, supervised the School of the Air kids, worked in the store and, of course, at the school. The next year I did come back to Adelaide, went to teachers’ college, and then my life really began!’

Bernie began her teaching career schooling children of English migrants at Smithfield, in Adelaide’s north, followed by roles at a school at Quorn in the Flinders Ranges, and at the Koonibba Mission near Ceduna in South Australia’s west in 1964.

From there, she went to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to teach at Menyamya, a school accessible only by plane from the eastern port city of Lae. Local people mostly still wore grass skirts and capes of beaten bark to ward off the cold.

Bernie’s first class in PNG consisted of 46 students, including little ones, teenagers and young men and four girls, and by the second week she was asked to take chapel in Pidgin English.

‘It’s amazing what God and the help of a good Pidgin dictionary could do,’ she says.

‘It was at Menyamya that I met my husband-to-be Tony,’ recalls Bernie. ‘On my second day there, a red Suzuki twin motorbike roared up the hill to the mission, off hopped a skinny little bloke – who’d been ill with some unknown tropical disease and weighed 6 stone 12 oz when I met him – and his first words were, “You’re the girl I’m going to marry!”. Says I, arms folded in typical teacher pose, “Well, I don’t think so!!”.’

Her attitude changed several months later after Tony, who ran an outstation hospital with indigenous staff, nursed Bernie back to health after she suffered pneumonia. ‘That was when I discovered he was a truly loving, caring, funny Christian man,’ says Bernie of her late husband.

The pair were married in Clare two years later in February 1967, before returning to PNG for working stints in the capital Port Moresby, Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands, and Madang on the north coast, where they survived experiencing an 8.3-magnitude earthquake.

Their son Steven was born in 1971, and as he approached school age, they were advised to leave. The family departed for Adelaide just after PNG celebrated its independence in September 1975, settling back in Adelaide’s north and joining St Peter’s Lutheran Church.

It was there Bernie regained her piano skills – ‘having a go’ – playing for Sunday evening services. She’s now the congregation’s only pianist, but stresses, ‘I’m not gifted, but an ordinary pianist totally guided by God.’

It’s that guidance from God, affirmed in her confirmation text, that she reflects in her busy life, which is filled with her love of hospitality, a lifelong love of gardening, and her leadership of weekly Bible studies.

And it’s God’s messages of love, revealed in our everyday lives, that Bernie continues to share with the community across Adelaide’s northern suburbs.

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Learning to make a difference

by Celia Fielke

ALWS has a rich history of working in partnership with Lutheran schools, a collaboration evolving from the close connection that has always existed between our church and its schools.

The work of ALWS, grounded in the same Christian beliefs and values which underpin Lutheran Education Australia, means that together we can help grow relational and adventurous students who have hearts of compassion and purpose.

In an increasingly inward-looking world, it is more vital than ever for our church to give our young people authentic opportunities to develop empathy and understanding, especially toward those whom the world has forgotten, marginalised or ignored. We encourage our young people to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, serving and meeting the needs of communities, both locally and globally.

ALWS seeks to inspire and equip more than 44,000 students and their families by providing resources, presentations, activities and fundraising events to support schools to bring love to life through action.

This work is not done in isolation. ALWS values all our partnerships and collaborations, aiming to build a greater sense of shared ministry. This is not only with schools, but also with many churchwide and educational organisations that enable us to serve.

ALWS seeks to support the work of our amazing Lutheran school staff by running professional development workshops and providing resources. Examples of this are the Ambassador Bootcamps (ABCs), which are designed to empower staff to inspire their students, and training in some of our curriculum unit offerings.

Felicity Hampel, Lutheran school teacher and ALWS ABC participant, says the bootcamp was ‘like an answer to a prayer I didn’t know I was asking’. She says: ‘I have been seeking the next step in my teaching journey, and when I attended the ALWS bootcamp and reflected on it, it’s like two worlds collided … my love for teaching and developing empathy in my students + service learning/serving God = my calling and vocation in life.’

Working more closely in partnership with schools has been an important focus in recent times for ALWS. Having a deeper understanding of ALWS, as well as empowering advocacy and action, means students feel they can make a difference. Fostering a sense of service to others with no expectation of reciprocity is an important learning. When students hear stories and develop empathy, they are inspired to act.

One of the most effective events that schools have embraced is Walk My Way. Schools can adapt this to their context, timing and community. The creativity and excitement this can generate for schools has been inspirational. When schools take this initiative, it allows ALWS to engage with not only the students but also their families and the broader Lutheran community. These are opportunities to highlight how the parts of the church body are working together to bring love to life.

Immanuel Lutheran Primary School at Gawler in South Australia partners closely with ALWS, with staff members seeing opportunities to nurture compassion in students and develop empathy, through presentations offered by ALWS, connected curriculum units and fundraising opportunities to support the world’s most vulnerable.

In 2024, the school supported a Burundi farm partnership costing $5,200 and a school kitchen garden ($756). The school has run a successful kitchen garden program as an integral part of the curriculum for many years. Students connected with farmers’ experiences, as they understand the challenges of growing food and preparing it for eating or selling. This allowed students to more easily imagine how difficult these activities would be without the necessary equipment, training, appliances or favourable weather. Connecting their experiences with a family in Burundi, who relies on these activities for their survival, became a real empathy driver for students to want to take action.

Some students became so motivated that they organised pop-up markets. Their fundraising activities culminated in a 13-kilometre Walk My Way event. Also supported by the local church community, the school raised approximately $14,000.

Immanuel Lutheran School Principal Daryl Trigg says connecting with ALWS over this time gave the community a focus. ‘Learning went much deeper, and service was more authentic as time was given to develop connections and understanding,’ he says.

This year, Immanuel was part of the Barossa and Regions Lutheran Education (BARLE) schools. About 360 Year 5/6 students from six Lutheran primary schools, plus some Year 8s from Faith Lutheran College Tanunda, came together for an event to support the ALWS 75th anniversary goal to give 75,000 children what they need for a healthy life. After shared worship, this event involved students participating in a loop walk, as well as interacting with peers to tackle a series of group challenges, based around life’s essentials. They built a shelter, fed farm animals, planted seeds, collected water, collected items needed for health and hygiene and made a soccer ball. These tasks gave a glimpse into some of the challenges faced when impacted by poverty. ALWS provided support through student workshops, teaching and learning materials and staff development.

Year 5/6 students from St John’s Lutheran School at Jindera in New South Wales completed the ALWS ‘What’s my Business?’ curriculum unit that empowers students to put their faith into action while growing empathy and social justice awareness.

Students explored how charitable giving can build more resilient communities and create lasting change. They then became young entrepreneurs, using a $25 loan from the school to develop a small business idea (e.g. scrunchies, handmade cards, toy cars and keyrings). The unit finished with a Christmas market day, at which students sold their products to the wider school community. More than $1300 was raised, and funds were used to buy ALWS Gifts of Grace.

Principal Anna-Marie Bothe and teachers Gabrielle Cotter and Dominic Boddy say the unit was ‘very impactful’, and that it brought the school community together and ‘grew compassion in our students’.

Celia Fielke is a Schools Community Engagement Officer for ALWS.

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ALC leaves campus, new library opens

Australian Lutheran College’s (ALC) library has reopened at its new Adelaide CBD premises at 22 Pulteney Street.

The relocation of the huge ALC collection is a result of the sale of the North Adelaide ALC campus and LCANZ Churchwide Office (CWO) buildings.

College and CWO staff will relocate to the new Church House at 139 Frome Street, Adelaide, this year. However, the Frome Street building, like most in the Adelaide CBD, is not constructed to carry the weight of large library collections, which necessitated finding an alternative site for the library.

Moving the library to the new premises began in May and was completed by the end of June. The new site, located above Target on the corner of Pulteney and Rundle streets, opened to visitors on 1 July. Information on how to find the library, opening times, public transport and parking options for visitors is available from the ALC website and at https://alc.edu.au/assets/library/ALC-library-flyer.pdf

Sadly, ALC’s Director of Library Services over the past 10 years, Shaun Lancaster, did not have the chance to be part of the reopening, as he died suddenly on 24 June.

Meanwhile, following months of planning and preparation, ALC staff have completed their move off of the North Adelaide campus, handing the property encompassing Hebart Hall, Graebner Hall, Hamann Hall and the Lohe Memorial Library back to the LCANZ on 30 June, in preparation for its change to new private ownership on 1 July.

After a century of Lutheran theological education at the North Adelaide site, ALC staff ramped up the clearing out of campus offices and rooms in May. Surplus items were collected and taken away for repurposing, with many church groups benefitting from ALC’s need to downsize.

A small group of current and former ALC staff gathered on the ‘Sacred Lawn’ at the North Adelaide campus, on 26 June, for a final time of reflection and a brief service of thanksgiving for the years at the site, led by ALC Principal, Rev Dr Tim Stringer.

ALC staff will work remotely until the fit-out of Church House is complete, with the new library being used as a temporary ‘home base’ to supplement working-from-home arrangements.

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Weaving compassion into beautiful gifts

by Helen Brinkman

The community of the Albury and Wodonga ‘twin’ cities area, which straddles Australia’s Murray River and the New South Wales-Victoria border, has a history of being big-hearted.

Albury is today home to Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS), while the settlement of Bonegilla, fewer than 15 kilometres from Wodonga, was the birthplace of the LCANZ overseas aid agency. So, with humanitarian service seemingly woven into residents’ DNA, it’s no surprise that the region boasts a special team of people with nimble fingers, willing hands and hearts for helping others.

The members of the craft group of St Luke’s Lutheran Church, Albury, are quietly supporting the work of ALWS by sharing their sewing skills to create beautiful tote bags from bright Kenyan fabrics. These unique creations are gifted to ALWS ambassadors as part of the organisation’s Ambassador Boot Camp (ABC) training workshops for Lutheran school teachers, says ALWS Community Engagement Officer Celia Fielke.

‘The ABC is where we equip our teachers with a deep understanding of ALWS, humanitarian aid and service learning in schools,’ she says. ‘We seek to inspire them to be the drivers in their school communities to create awareness and encourage their students to have an impact in the world.

‘The bags are a reminder for the ABC participants – with their beautiful, authentic African colours and material – of the importance of understanding, compassion and action. We are all unique creations of God, and we all deserve opportunity, dignity and love.’

Craft group member Leigh Caldwell was excited to join fellow members in delivering their first batch of 59 bags to the local ALWS headquarters in May. ‘We think they look marvellous, even if we do say so ourselves! That glorious fabric sews up beautifully,’ she says.

Age is no barrier for the craft group, which ranges from 65 years old to the mid-90s, and varies between eight and 12 members each session, depending on the day.

‘We love meeting with each other and sharing our lives,’ says Leigh. ‘It is such a great little community. We enjoy doing our own crafts, and we love working together on projects like the ALWS bags and birthing kits for [women in] Papua New Guinea.’

Another member, Christine Nicholson, says being involved in the project has given her such a sense of achievement to know it will benefit others here and overseas. ‘It is also important in our society to have connections with others,’ she says. ‘People can feel isolated these days. Helping others definitely feels wonderful. Having a coffee, a chat and working together for a common cause is so uplifting.’

Fellow volunteer Patricia O’Brien agrees. She was delighted to join the craft group’s latest project. ‘I am a sewer and have been all my life, so it was a pleasure to help out ALWS and get to know fellow sewers over a cup of tea,’ she says.

And teamwork makes the dream work, according to Sandra Parry, who says the group collaborated on all aspects of the project. ‘To work as a team was very rewarding and satisfying,’ she says. ‘We had a “conveyor belt” system that worked so well! It’s a joy to be part of such a wonderful group of ladies.’

Group member Olive Severin shared her joy at being involved with such an enthusiastic group of women who share many craft skills and love to help others. ‘There is such a sense of achievement to complete a project like the bags, and sharing the chat, the laughter and the many cuppas and food during the journey,’ she says.

St Luke’s craft group has been going for more than 20 years, starting in the early 2000s with making aprons for the annual church fete and cushions for the church pews. The ALWS team asked the local group to sew the tote bags after COVID stopped an Adelaide sewing group from helping out.

Longstanding member Dorothy Dunkerton, also a pastoral carer at St Luke’s, recalls the days when the group first came together to support each other, learn new skills, and share company over coffee, cake and shared recipes. ‘We choose what we want to achieve for ourselves, knitting, crochet, card-making, beading, and joining in group projects,’ says octogenarian Dorothy.

‘We give crocheted and knitted knee rugs to our members who are experiencing difficulties or going into care. We love our coming together to socialise, to share our love for each other, to help solve our problems, and laugh together. I wouldn’t miss it.’

The colourful bags have also been used as thankyous to people who support ALWS and are sometimes gifted to Lutheran World Federation teams overseas.

And, as St Luke’s congregation heads toward its centenary next year, its craft group continues to reflect the legacy of love, compassion and action in its community. And they are also looking forward to another ALWS sewing project next year.

– with thanks to ALWS Supporter Care Officer Amanda Lustig

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What a great way to farewell an ‘old friend’!

While every Walk My Way event is a special chance to show practical support through Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) for children whose lives are impacted by war and poverty, there was another reason this year’s Adelaide event was extra special.

The 3 May event doubled as the public farewell to the North Adelaide site of Australian Lutheran College (ALC), which will relocate to the LCANZ’s new Church House in the Adelaide CBD this year, along with the Churchwide Office.

The site has been home to Lutheran theological education since 1923, when Immanuel College and Immanuel Seminary began operating on the property bounded by Jeffcott and Ward streets, North Adelaide. In subsequent iterations, it has been known as Luther Seminary, Luther Campus (also incorporating Lutheran Teachers College and the Lutheran School of Theology) and, since 2004, ALC.

Along with two walks, a giant ALC garage sale, Lutheran ministry stalls and the launch of Dr Brian Neldner’s memoirs detailing the founding of ALWS, the Adelaide Walk My Way event included tours of the heritage-listed Hebart House, which dates back to the early 1880s and has housed seminary student accommodation and living facilities, lecture theatres, chapel spaces and faculty offices over the past century.

ALC Principal Dr Tim Stringer says it was a fitting way for the Lutheran community to say ‘goodbye’ to a site that has an important place in the history of the church. ‘This event not only supported the work of ALWS but provided an opportunity for those who have been connected with the campus over the past century to visit, reminisce and say their farewells,’ he says.

ALWS Community Action Manager Jonathan Krause says it was ‘a privilege for the LCA’s overseas aid and development agency to bring together so many Lutheran ministries, each of us standing on the shoulders of our shared history but looking forward to what we are called to be in today’s world’.

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