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Friends in knead, friends indeed

by Steve Liersch

How do you get total strangers to open their door to you, progress from a quizzical look to a genuine smile and even say ‘Thank you’, all in a few short minutes?

Easy! Load your arms with a couple loaves of bread, knock on the door and smile saying, ‘Hi, I’m Steve (though you might want to use your own name, not mine). I live across the road and my church picks up, packs and delivers bread to people so that it doesn’t go to waste. Would you like some?’

A team of us from Rockingham-Mandurah Lutheran Church in Perth’s southern suburbs has been doing just that for more than three years. Between our two worship sites, we have just more than 100 people, with an average weekly attendance of between 25 and 45 at each site.

It all started back in April 2016 when a young mum with a partner and two young daughters, who attended our Little Guppies playgroup, asked if we were connecting with the community through the school campus of Living Waters Lutheran College. I realised that we weren’t really reaching out at all, so I invited her to explore what she had in mind.

She reported back that a local Bakers Delight would allow us to pick up unsold bread one night a week. We are now delivering bread to a local women’s shelter/hostel, to single-parent families, to our neighbours, and to anyone we hear about who could do with a little help with the basics of life. A local op shop takes as much bread as we can supply. This is especially helpful over the Christmas holidays when our school is closed and some of our regular distributors are away.

A number of Little Guppies mums have realised that the bread ministry is an easy way to build good relationships with their neighbours, especially with the elderly or those in difficult life circumstances. In our community there is a mum whose husband took his own life, leaving her widowed with seven children. One of our members has maintained weekly contact with her, purely through the delivery of bread.

A while ago a school teacher at the college bought some Vegemite and peanut butter, and our daughter would take a couple of loaves to school so that, one day a week, some students who weren’t eating breakfast would at least have something with which to start their day well. Another lady works as a receptionist at a medical centre and knows firsthand who is in need of some extra support. She regularly drops by my office on Friday mornings to pick up a half-dozen loaves for her regulars.

Many people doing it tough often skimp on fresh produce. We have signed an agreement with a local Woolies, which gives us imperfect fruit and vegetables. As a result, a second pickup and delivery person is now a regular team member.

Every Thursday our house becomes the central packaging and pickup venue, with a regular team of four to eight people. We distribute between 80 and 140 items of bread, including rolls and bread sticks. Thanks to Woolies, we also can have up to three crates of produce to share along with the bread.

It’s not yet the ‘five loaves and two fish for thousands’ story, but who knows what God will provide through this ministry?

One of the practical blessings of our bread ministry is the regular contact we have with both helpers and recipients. The weekly conversations during packing or delivering ensure that people are not forgotten, and we can journey with them as they ‘do life’. Importantly, the role model of service is obvious to all, both inside and beyond our church community, as ‘love is coming to life’.

Steve Liersch is the pastor of the Rockingham-Mandurah congregation in Western Australia.

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It’s time to ‘have a go’!

by Brett Kennett

‘I’ve never tried this before … but I’m willing to have a go!’

How many times have you used this expression or heard someone else use it?

Behind it, there’s usually a particular kind of attitude, a mindset that causes us to step out adventurously in order to try a new experience or to tackle a problem by using a new approach. I have a sense that we think this is commendable and admirable, and so we respond with encouragement for those who are prepared to ‘have a go’.

In Matthew 25:14–30, Jesus tells a parable about three servants who are entrusted with various sums of money by their master. It seems to me that two of them ‘have a go’. They invest the money entrusted to them and are able to return it with interest to their master. The third, however, buries what has been entrusted to him and as a result, generates no return on his master’s investment. He has only the original sum to give back to his master and is rebuked for his lack of faith.

I really feel for that third servant! He took an extremely conservative approach – but suffered as a result. My wife sometimes challenges my tendency to hoard stuff. It’s in my blood. Growing up I was taught to save what you’ve got and preserve faithfully what has been given to you. Those are fine values to have, but not at the expense of putting the gifts you have been given to good use! The flip side of hoarding and saving and preserving can be a shed full of old stuff fast turning into junk.

I think the real loss suffered by the third servant in Jesus’ parable was in not realising the possibility of the gift that he had been entrusted with. And at an even more profound and tragic level, it appears that he didn’t know his master’s character and as a result, he acted in fear rather than with the confidence to ‘have a go’ and invest his gift.

Right at the moment in our LCA/NZ, we are being confronted with many depressing and gloomy statistics.

There’s decline across the board in our church attendance figures and a startling trend in terms of our age profile. According to the last NCLS survey, we’ve been welcoming new Christians into our churches at half the rate of our denominational cousins. Underlying these factors is a more foundational reality that we need to come to grips with. The last Australian census reported a drop in the number of those adhering to Christianity – now down to 52 per cent. Correspondingly, the number of people answering ‘no religion’ has been a rising trend for decades and it’s accelerating.

The context in which we are ‘doing church’ is no longer the context whereby Christianity was once at the centre of our culture.

But …

As Jesus also taught us, ‘The harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest’ (Luke 10:2).

If we look outwardly and honestly at the conditions we face, we surely see more opportunities than ever to meet people who don’t know Jesus, and to ‘have a go’ at sharing the reason for the hope we have in new ways!

We have a God who also does new things after all. Especially when times are toughest.

‘Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?’ (Isaiah 43:18–19).

The story of the gospel, of God’s commitment to our rescue from sin, is surely the inspiration we need to ‘have a go’ and try some new things.

Pastor Brett Kennett is District Pastor for Congregational Support for the LCA’s Victoria and Tasmania District.

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Micro-loans to marketplace

by Jonathan Krause

Hair braiding. Busking. Cupcakes. Bookmarks. Lemonade. Painted rocks.

These are just some of the products created and sold by the Grade 5s at Good News Lutheran College in Tarneit, Victoria, as part of the ALWS What’s my business? program.

Starting with just a $20 loan, students form groups to create businesses, sell products at a marketplace, repay their $20 loan, and then use the profits to buy ALWS Gifts of Grace to help people in need.

The proprietors of Smiling Lemons, a business selling lemonade and lemon slice, decided they would like to use their profits to buy a chicken. They said: ‘This will help someone thrive because this chicken can provide food from its eggs, grow baby chicks from its eggs, meat for a family and the ability to sell extra eggs. The money the family makes could be used for education, health, such as medicine and doctor visits, clothes, beds, food and more. The chicken manure can be used to help plants grow.’

What’s my business? was developed jointly by ALWS and Lutheran schools in Victoria and New South Wales as a way of teaching students about finance, business and managing money … and at the same time how God’s gift of money can be used to bless others who may be poor.

Sienna from the business Shake It Up said, ‘We had fun, and the money we made will help other people’s lives and bring change’. Meanwhile, Isabelle from Amazing Accessories stated, ‘We went from just getting by with $20 to being successful with the profits we made, which will help the people just surviving and turn their life so they are thriving’.

Hair braids, bookmarks, painted rocks … Gifts of Grace … how wonderful to see our church in schools, and ALWS and the LLL working together to bring love to life!

Jonathan Krause is the community action manager for Australian Lutheran World Service.

WHAT’S MY BUSINESS? SCHOOLS

  • Good News, Tarneit Vic
  • Geelong Lutheran College Vic
  • St John’s, Geelong Vic
  • St John’s, Portland Vic
  • St Paul’s, Henty NSW
  • St John’s, Jindera NSW
  • Wagga Lutheran School NSW
  • St James, Hervey Bay NSW

LLL INVESTS IN SCHOOLS

The ALWS What’s my business? program in Lutheran schools is supported by a generous grant from the LLL. The LLL tagline ‘finance with a mission’ comes to life in a very practical way as students build their businesses to create finance for their mission to help others.

Read more stories like this in the October edition.

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The harvest is plentiful

by Nathan Hedt

When I was growing up on a farm near Horsham in the Wimmera, harvest time was the most important, urgent, busy, vital and also exciting time of the year. It was all hands on deck in our family as we worked to get that good grain from the wheat fields to safe storage.

When the harvests were good, there was a palpable sense of joy and thanksgiving in the midst of the hard work. This was what made farming worthwhile. The long hours, the stress, the anxiety when rain didn’t come or the crops weren’t so good, the gloom of long years of drought … all that was put in perspective when the harvest was good.

Lately I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ words in Luke 10:2 as he sends out the 70 on his mission: ‘The harvest is plentiful’.

It’s such a familiar passage but I want to just pause right there. ‘The harvest is plentiful.’ When Jesus talks about the harvest, he is talking about people who are open to the good news of the kingdom of God. In the first verses of Luke 10, Jesus is saying that there are more people who are open to hearing the good news than there are people willing to share it.

I believe that is still true, even in Australia in the 21st century. For so long, it has seemed that the harvest is poor, and we have lived with the anxiety and gloom of years of congregational decline. For so long it seems that we have been in a spiritual drought. Adult baptisms have been rare. We see few converts, people coming to faith as adults in the Lutheran Church.

However, I believe Jesus’ words are true for us now. The harvest is plentiful. There are many, many people in our cities, in our towns and in our rural areas who are desperately hungry for good news – the good news that only comes through Jesus, the good news of forgiveness and unconditional acceptance, restoration and community that comes as part and parcel of the kingdom of God.

There are more people open to hearing the gospel than there are people willing to share it with them.

Jesus goes on in Luke 10:2 to say, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest fields.’

Read the full story in the October edition.

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The water is for the flowers

Prayer. I find it so hard.

My prayer journey over the decades has been fraught with difficulties and failures, but at the same time has opened up for me some fascinating and marvellous experiences.

Ever since I was a kid, I have been encouraged to pray and have been taught the deep value of prayer. I can remember my dad buying me a little notebook when I was in primary school. He sat down with me at the kitchen table to divide the pages into seven sections, one for each day of the week. We then assigned people, groups and world needs to each of the days. I used this book to guide my prayers each morning or evening, starting with praise, then thanksgiving, then requests. I recorded answers to my prayers at the back of the book. This method instilled in me discipline, but it required so many words from me. Words, words, words! If prayer was so important, why was it so hard?

When I was young we had an unspoken motto in our family: if the church opened its doors, we were there. This included the Wednesday evening prayer meeting. I was usually the only kid among a bunch of adults. The prayers seemed to go on and on for hours –so much talking I had trouble staying awake. More words! I often wondered if God got mad with me because I got bored. In my more daring moments I wondered if God got bored, too! Why didn’t God sit down with me and have a normal two-way conversation?

Since then, more than four decades have passed. I’m older and bolder. My prayer journey has had many twists and turns.

A little while ago I came to live and work in South-East Asia. ‘Allahu Akbar Ash-hadu an-la ilaha illa llag …’ The call to prayer reverberates out from the mosques five times a day. It is a constant reminder that people who have surrendered to God have a life centered on prayer, time with God. Listening to the call (there is nowhere here where you can miss it!) is slowly working towards a change in me. Five times a day I am reminded that I must continually surrender to God if I am to have any influence here as a follower of Jesus.

Read the full story in the October edition.

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Striving to see all feel welcome

We live in one of the most diverse societies in the world. In Australia, more than 300 languages are spoken at home and our residents were born in almost 200 different countries.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Pasadena, in suburban Adelaide, and the Indonesian Christian Fellowship of Adelaide at the same location, are taking cross-cultural ministry seriously as they reach out to our diverse multicultural society.

Where once the Indonesian Fellowship aimed to be a fully independent congregation with its own pastor, the two worshipping communities have now engaged in an open dialogue to explore a ‘unity in diversity’ of becoming one congregation at Pasadena.

Trinity Lutheran Church is a recipient of a Cross-Cultural Ministry grant which assists with the employment of a lay worker, Ani Sumanti, who pastors the Indonesian community.

Pastor Matt Huckel reports that two out of the four intentional joint worship services planned for this year have been conducted so far with ‘wonderful results and feedback’.

‘These services have been bilingual, and cross-cultural, as we have drawn in music, language and contributions from our African, Persian and Indonesian people. Each service has finished with food and fellowship’, he says. ‘Our people are embracing our new identity as a multiethnic and multigenerational congregation and are rejoicing in that new vision.’

Cross-Cultural Ministry in the LCA is on a learning journey. We love to hear from congregations regarding what they need to become a truly multiethnic congregation – a congregation that welcomes all.

The Trinity experience, as well as that of other multicultural congregations, has taught us that intentional training/workshops that assist and support church workers and key leaders are required. Research shows that denominations are supportive of the multiethnic movements of God in the churches, but don’t know how to give proper support and training to multiethnic church workers.

In 2019, the first Cross-Cultural Conference was held in the LCA. You can find the conference report, presentations and videos at www.lca.org.au/cross-cultural-ministry and click on the conference link.

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Old and new reasons to celebrate

The history of Finke River Mission (FRM) in Central Australia dates back to the mid-1870s. However, while there are regular milestones recalling significant events across more than 140 years, there are also new and exciting developments in the 40 Lutheran communities of the region.

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the dedication of the church building at Haasts Bluff, 220 kilometres west of Alice Springs, while recently a new church was dedicated at Engawala, 150 kilometres north-east of the region’s largest population centre.

Haasts Bluff was the first church built in the Pintupi-Luritja language area when it was constructed predominantly by the work of Aboriginal people in 1949. The church’s bell, which is still in use, had been donated by the Lobethal Lutheran congregation in the Adelaide Hills.

The church was built 26 years after the first tentative survey mission trip was made to the area from Hermannsburg.

It was 19 years after the start of official ongoing evangelism work at Haasts Bluff, eight years after it had been formally established as a ration depot, and only a few years after Pastor Hermann Pech and his wife Elizabeth (who passed away only this year) had arrived. Seventy years on there will be an evening singalong and a service of thanksgiving. Celebrations will be led by local Indigenous pastors Trevor Raggett and Simon Dixon.

Another reason to celebrate is the new bush church at the small community of Engawala, situated on Alcoota station.

Until recently, the congregation had gathered for monthly worship on a basketball court. Several years ago, locals decided that they wanted their own church building. Assisted by local community development workers, they have been converting an old house into a small church.

While work on the church is ongoing, FRM support pastor for the Alyawarr Region Michael Jacobsen reports that an opening service was held in June, with FRM support workers officiating, and other Aboriginal pastors and linguists, and the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir participating in the service.

Church vessels were donated by St Paul Lutheran Church Morawa in Western Australia and Pastor Michael says a plaque will be placed in front of the new church with the inscription: Aboriginal Lutheran Church of Engawala.

‘The Lord made us, and we are his; we are his people’ (Psalm 100:3).

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Doing it all for the gospel

Can you recall the time when God’s grace transformed your life and his spirit first sang in your heart?

Through LCA International Mission, you join us in proclaiming, training, transforming and partnering in the gospel with our neighbours across Asia and the Pacific. Darkness gives way to light, hope replaces fear, love restores lives. When our life is changed, the lives of those around us also change.

PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL
In the small village of Huay Pong in northern Thailand, Khun Pim shares the story of her love for Jesus. Pim is one of eight local evangelists, supported by you, who serve their local communities by living and sharing the gospel. ‘Jesus Christ is a healer, a mighty God’, she says. ‘Two years ago I talked with a spirit doctor who was unable to heal his own sick grandchild. Finally, he asked me to pray for his grandchild. I went several times to pray and his grandchild was healed! The spirit doctor became a Christian and was baptised.’

TRAINING IN THE GOSPEL
This year young Australian and Asian Lutherans are learning about our church’s ministries, developing leadership skills, seeing mission and ministry up close, and working with a mentor. Grow Leadership identifies future young church leaders in the LCA/NZ and in our Asian neighbouring churches and encourages them in deepening their love for Jesus as they see his Spirit at work. Participant Hudson says: ‘God’s spirit is literally all over the world and it unites us.’ Seeing how God works through lives in another culture has given these young people a greater appreciation of God’s grace and love. Bielehmo, from Myanmar, says: ‘He is faithful in the beginning of my journey to the end.’

TRANSFORMING IN THE GOSPEL
Six Indonesian pastors are now trained in Reconciliation Ministry. The law can be a strong focus in a country where followers of Christ are a minority and where living a ‘righteous’ life equal to their Islamic neighbour is important. Reconciliation ministry has a gospel focus that transforms lives with the understanding of God’s grace. Rev Deddy Fajar Purba says, ‘The seven-week program has led us to a deep understanding of God’s love. We observed how Reconciliation Ministry has become a practical way of life in the congregations. They know God is kind and very near to them.’

PARTNERING IN THE GOSPEL
We value our partnerships with Interserve and Wycliffe where Hanna Schulz, Ian Hutchinson, Patrick and Anke Sprau, Natalie and Stephen, and Anna serve, or prepare to serve, as Bible translator advisors, missionaries, medical specialists and audio bible producers. Through the many ways we partner, the gospel is proclaimed and lives are reflecting the change from darkness to light. Thank you, Jesus, for the opportunities!

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Where are all the young people? What can I do?

by Jodi Brook

Have you ever found yourself asking this or similar questions? Do you sit in church and look around at the generations of people visible on Sunday mornings and wonder? As parents, grandparents, those involved in the work and life of families in our communities and all of us – this question can lead to great frustration and sometimes be very personal and cause considerable grief.

A lot of research has been done over the past 10 years to help us to understand why some young people leave the church and perhaps where they go. These studies have all had similar outcomes.

Over the past six years, Grow Ministries has been doing the hard work of processing this research.

What we have learnt is that we need to encourage congregations to rethink how they do ministry with children, young people and their families, and that this ministry needs to include the whole church community. Yes! That means each person of all ages needs to see themselves as part of ministry with children and young people.

Young people often do not feel like they are an important part of life in the congregation and belonging is really important to young people – as it is to all of us. For a young adult, in the years leading up to them deciding to leave the church, they have been unintentionally told that they are not welcome as part of the ‘big’ church.

We told them they were too young to understand what was happening in worship – ‘you can go to Sunday school’ – and then, when they are finished in Sunday school, they don’t feel as though they belong in worship because they have never been present there!

Next, we said: ‘Go along to youth group. Hang out with other Christian kids – you’ll have fun!’ Yes, they had fun. Yes, they made great Christian friends, but they never got to know the church, the congregation or the people. So what is the church that they are leaving? Perhaps it is a church they never felt they belonged to in the first place.

It is not easy to understand how we help young people to feel part of our congregation. It’s much easier just to run another youth program, or employ a youth worker and expect that to be our ‘silver bullet’ or quick-fix answer. The former requires us to rethink the ways we’ve always done things.

Part of our rethinking is not to put our time and resources into hiring an energetic youth leader or into providing a more contemporary worship service. Of course, these things may help, but they’re not the whole answer.

The key is to be intentional in providing opportunities to get to know our young people. We can help them belong by planning intentional ways of building relationships across the generations. Take time to speak with the young people in your congregation – particularly following your worship service. Find out what interests them.

Is there a way in which they can serve or contribute to the ministry of your congregation? Intergenerational ministry is about doing life together. It’s about taking the time to get to know the people we sit next to each week, no matter how old or young they are.

Can we provide learning opportunities that include all ages? Opportunities that build understanding of one generation to the other? Could we consider inviting a larger group of adults to assist with teaching confirmation and first communion?

Could we rethink small groups to make them intergenerational? Intergenerational ministry is not just about – and of benefit to – children and young people. It is about – and of benefit to – people of all generations.

It is essential for congregations and their leaders to invest some time and energy into understanding what role they have to play in implementing this new way of thinking – it’s about changing culture. It’s about doing ministry differently and this requires leadership and guidance. Permission to try new things.

Young people need to feel they belong to your congregation. But the research also tells us that our families still play a critical role in teaching and passing on the faith.

Families enjoy opportunities to pray, learn and be together – even if parents are a little reluctant to get started.

A growing number of congregations within the LCA are taking up this opportunity to rethink what faith formation looks like for their church family. They are now celebrating a renewal of health and vitality in their contexts as they minister to each other in faith and life.

Jodi Brook is Director of Grow Ministries.

If you would like to learn more about the ways in which Grow Ministries can help your congregation to rethink ministry with children, young people and families, please contact us via email at growministries@lca.org.au or by phone on 08 8267 7300.

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Young people are still part of the story

by Josephine Matthias

People love stories. Whether they’re true accounts of when your parents were younger or fictional tales of magical worlds, there’s something about telling or hearing a story that creates relationships.

Some of the most powerful stories are from the Bible. If you’ve grown up in a Christian home, you probably know off by heart stories like Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. But millions of people have never heard of Noah, the ark, the animals and the flood. You really notice the power of Bible stories when you tell them yourself.

Bible stories are the most basic and influential tools for sharing faith. If you are willing to share them, God can work in miraculous ways.

Another simple way to change someone’s life is to invite them to church. They may not come immediately but at least you have opened that door.

My sister Greta and I invited a school friend, Dale, to church last year. I love my church and the second family it has been to me. I wanted him to experience what it’s like to have hundreds of grandparents and aunts and uncles. I’ve invited many people to church before but mostly they politely refuse. He didn’t.

This year, Dale celebrated his first Easter. He received his first Bible last year and was part of his first Christmas service. These simple experiences are monumental in the life of someone who’d never known what Christmas was actually about.

Dale recently shared his testimony in our church confirmation class, that he lives in a non-Christian home and is teased for his beliefs, but still prays every night and wants to share the good news of Jesus with others. To see the way he’s changed since coming to church and believing in Jesus is life-changing for me also.

Although it may seem our church pews are filled with fewer young faces these days, young people are still out in the community, working hard to bring the light of Jesus to the world. Please pray for us.

Josephine Matthias is a member at Para Vista Lutheran Church in suburban Adelaide.

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