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Trans-Tasman treasures join Australian archive

With a total weight of almost a tonne and measuring more than 30 linear metres, a precious collection of documents, books, magazines, audio-visual items and photographs that tell the story of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand across 180 years were officially ‘welcomed’ to Lutheran Archives in Adelaide on Saturday 8 July.

The 180 boxes of historical material from the New Zealand district and its congregations left Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa (the National Library of New Zealand) in Wellington earlier this year to join what is now the LCANZ’s churchwide archives.

The ceremony to officially acknowledge the arrival of records and to introduce and bless them was held in NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week and Kaurna elder Uncle Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien performed the Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony. LCNZ Bishop Emeritus Mark Whitfield, a member of the fifth generation of Lutherans in Aotearoa New Zealand, gave an introduction and led a blessing of the three-pallet load of records, noting that they hold taonga (treasure in te reo Māori language), both historical and spiritual – sacred even.

‘As we commended the taonga of our history as church in Aotearoa to its safe journey to Australia, we acknowledged that our story in Aotearoa is part of God’s whole story with his creation and his people from the beginning of time’, Bishop Emeritus Mark said. ‘It is a story of grace and love, most beautifully demonstrated in Ihu Karaiti, his Son, Jesus Christ. As our archival material has been recorded and preserved over these past 180 years and now as it resides here in Kaurna land, we pray that it will serve to keep alive the memory of the church in Aotearoa and the work God has done in and through it.’

Lutheran Archives Director Rachel Kuchel and LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith committed the Lutheran church in Australia to preserve the precious stories entrusted to it.

‘Thank you to New Zealand Lutherans who have entrusted their records to Lutheran Archives’, Rachel said. ‘We will continue to preserve these records and will undertake indexing, cataloguing and digitisation on them so that they will be accessible for generations to come.

‘When we look at the records of our church, we can be encouraged that our congregations and ministries do not exist in isolation, and see all the wonderful and diverse ways that God blesses us and works through us as the LCANZ.’

Bishop Paul said the archived materials are ‘precious story from the mission of God at work amongst the Lutheran people in Aotearoa’. ‘We commit ourselves to watch over what has been handed into our custody, and we appreciate that these archival records tell a specific story – of faithfulness to God and of God’s faithfulness to us.’

The Alexander Turnbull Library (which holds non-government archival material) had been the custodian of the collection since 1976, but the LCNZ archive had always remained the property of the church. Almost four years ago, the LCNZ Synod voted to send this collection to Lutheran Archives so that the history of Lutherans in New Zealand and Australia would be able to be told side-by-side.

A Poroporoakī (sending) was held on 19 January at the National Library and the records were received at Lutheran Archives on 2 March. The welcome and blessing ceremony on 8 July also included aspects of the Poroporoakī, as well as a song of thanks in te reo Māori, German and English, and prayers and blessings in Māori and English.

In Adelaide, the New Zealand collection is being described, arranged and rehoused by Project Archivist Susan Kreymborg, with support from Collections Archivist Angela Schilling.

The collection will remain accessible to New Zealanders and other international researchers through the Alexander Turnbull Library digital catalogue.

– Lisa McIntosh and Rosie Schefe

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Walking with God

by Helen Brinkman

A life walking with God is something to sing about – at any age.

And for one of the Lutheran Church’s oldest choir members, it’s a blessing he’s still singing about at the age of 96.

A simple statement in Genesis about a chap named Enoch walking with God gets to the heart of God’s love for us, says Emeritus Bishop Pastor Reinhard Mayer.

Found in Genesis 5:24, the four words ‘Enoch walked with God’ form Reinhard’s favourite Old Testament Bible passage.

‘It just tells you everything about who God is and his place in our lives, that he just comes to us and walks with us’, Reinhard says.

That has kept the tenor as an active member of the St Peters Lutheran Church choir in Indooroopilly, in suburban Brisbane.

In February this year, the congregational choir celebrated Reinhard’s 96th birthday at its regular practice. Reinhard’s role as a choral tenor is likely to make him the oldest active tenor in the church.

He’s keen to see how long he can keep going, noting: ‘It is a little unusual, as your voice loses its flexibility and resonance.’

‘The moment you think you have reached your use-by date – it is still worth keeping on going, as once you stop that, you lose something’, he says. Reinhard takes that same message to heart in his daily life – he still lives independently and drives.

Reinhard’s tenacity has shown throughout his eventful life, which began in 1927 in the small wine-growing village of Nierstein on the banks of the Rhine River in Germany. When he was one, his family emigrated to Queensland’s Darling Downs, swapping vineyards for a dairy farm.

It was a tough time. After surviving the Great Depression, and the drought of 1935-6, World War II ended Reinhard’s youth abruptly. The need for local workers forced the then 15-year-old to the local cheese factory where he took on the back-breaking work of several men, heaving 35 to 40-kilogram blocks of cheese onto cold room shelves.

Post-war the family moved to Brisbane, managing a milk run. After five years of working from midnight til morning, Reinhard began feeling he wasn’t fully using his God-given abilities. ‘I had a growing feeling I should do something else but had not gone beyond Grade 7 at school’, he recalls.

When Pastor Max Lohe from his local Nazareth congregation at Woolloongabba in inner Brisbane suggested he join the seminary, Reinhard responded with an absolute ‘no’. He not only was very shy and lacked confidence, but Reinhard had left school in Grade 7. ‘The thought of becoming a pastor scared the living daylights out of me.’

However, the seed was sown. ‘After a year of telling God “No, find something else for me”, all of a sudden, things changed’, he says. Reinhard’s younger brother Rolph was partway through his own seminary studies, prompting Reinhard to consider whether he could have taken a similar path, given changed circumstances.

Within a month of his parents realising Reinhard’s ambition, he was enrolled at Brisbane’s St Peters College, 10 years after he’d first left school. Aged 22, Reinhard achieved his leaving certificate by cramming four years of studies into 18 months.

‘It took a lot of effort, but I was determined … I went on to the seminary, and the rest, as they say, is history.’

In 1955, Reinhard Mayer was ordained at Nazareth Lutheran Church, four years after his younger brother Rolph, who went on to become chaplain at Immanuel College, in Adelaide, and then principal of Lutheran Teachers College.

Despite a heart for the country, Reinhard only spent three years in parish ministry, serving in Mildura and Loxton after his ordination. He went on to serve a total of 25 years as chaplain of St Peters College, Indooroopilly, which included a full-time teaching role – not only religious studies but also Latin, Greek and Mathematics!

After 16 years, his chaplaincy was interrupted by 12 years as Queensland District President from 1974 (now known as District Bishop). He then returned for nine further years at St Peters until retirement in 1995, aged 67.

Reinhard’s connection to St Peters had begun in the late 1940s when the college was under development, heavily supported by volunteer labour. As his milk run hours were midnight to 8am, Reinhard and brother George used their milk trucks and muscles to cart sand and gravel, mix cement or dig foundations during the day.

When he returned to St Peters as chaplain in 1958, he was accompanied by his wife Thelma, whom he married 18 months after his ordination. During their 60 years of marriage, they welcomed six children.

Reinhard says that since Thelma’s passing seven years ago, living alone means he doesn’t use his voice as much. That’s one way the choir has helped. He’s been blessed to have his son Greg as the organist and choir accompanist, and his daughter-in-law Tricia Elgar as the choir conductor.

And so, the singing continues, as does Reinhard’s walk with God.

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Still seeking a shepherd

by Lisa McIntosh

While David Preston says a long pastoral vacancy is ‘not something to be welcomed’ by a congregation, he knows it can bring the talents and commitment of its members to the fore.

David is the secretary of St Pauls Lutheran Church Wellington in New Zealand, which has been without a permanent ordained shepherd since Pastor Jim Pietsch left there in August 2022. However, as Pastor Jim was on sick leave before his departure, the congregation has essentially been without a pastor for almost a year.

‘During this period the lay members of the congregation have had to step up and cover the provision of services and other duties usually carried out by pastors’, David explains. ‘Fortunately, we have a number of members willing to act as lay worship leaders. A distinctive feature of this period has been the contribution of women as well as men as lay worship leaders, which has been well received by the congregation. We have also had services conducted by some visiting pastors.’ With lay-led worship, David says St Pauls usually splits the service into two main parts – the liturgy and sermon, with one person acting as liturgist, and the other reading the sermon.

For this, he says they have made ‘significant use’ of the LCANZ’s Worship Planning Page of sermons and other worship resources.

David himself is a lay worship leader and, with his wife Alison, hosts the congregation’s home group each Tuesday night and serves as a Sunday school teacher. His role as the secretary also involves dealing with congregational correspondence, minutes of meetings, facilities bookings and a range of other tasks.

Outside of the congregation, David is a member of the LCNZ Financial Advisory Committee and is the Lutheran representative on the NZ interdenominational InterChurch Bureau, dealing with legal and financial issues affecting all churches, such as the new laws and regulations on accounting, auditing, taxation, charities and insurance, and also other issues such as health and safety and abuse in care.

What do they say? ‘If you want something done, ask a busy person …’

However, David says, the effort put in to keep the worship life going at St Pauls is a team one.

‘Ministry work, including lay worship leadership, is spread amongst a number of people’, he says. ‘Several including myself are essentially retired, but others are working part-time or even full-time.’

Two St Pauls members have also been authorised by New Zealand Bishop Mark Whitfield to administer communion during services. ‘We have also been blessed by the continuing contribution of a number of talented musicians’, David adds.

Bishop Mark, who during his service as LCNZ Bishop has been based in Wellington, has also occasionally led worship at St Pauls.

While some LCANZ congregations which don’t have a pastor are no longer looking to call one full-time due to their financial limitations, St Pauls is seeking to call a pastor but so far has found this difficult.

David says given the significant number of vacant parishes across the church, Wellington has employed a multi-faceted strategy for its search. ‘Initially, Bishop Mark put out a request to all LCA pastors for expressions of interest about receiving a call from us. This produced zero response’, David says. ‘The second approach was for Bishop Mark to personally contact several identified pastors and ask them if they were open to a call. Again, there were no positive responses, at least in terms of their current situation. This has left us somewhat unsure about what to do next. However, Bishop Mark is continuing to approach other individuals to see what might be possible. In the interim, we are also actively seeking to obtain the services of locum pastors.’

St Pauls has faced a significant decline in worship attendance in recent times, which David believes is partly due to the ongoing impact of the COVID pandemic. The most recent membership count for the New Zealand capital congregation listed 70 baptised members of whom 68 were confirmed – down from 103 in 2019. Weekly attendance there fluctuates and currently is usually between 30 and 40 people.

With fewer people attending the church regularly, David says they are also short on filling some positions, such as the role of chairperson and elders, the latter of which has limited the level of pastoral care. But, again, lay people have been playing their part, he says. ‘To fill part of the gap, a number of members have privately stepped up visiting. And, as we were unable to fill the role of chairperson at our recent AGM, the chairmanship operates on a revolving basis at each of our ministry council meetings.’

Despite their lower numbers at worship, the congregation’s finances are ‘holding up fairly well’, as giving has dropped less than attendance, says David, a former economist who worked in policy advice and management in NZ government departments and the International Monetary Fund. The lack of a pastor at St Pauls also means that the church has been able to rent out its manse, which provides a welcome income stream.

‘A long pastoral vacancy is not something to be welcomed, but it has made a number of members step up in terms of their support for keeping our services and activities going’, David says.

‘I suppose one lesson of this situation is that the Lutheran Church has not in the past done sufficient to equip its members for lay ministry and evangelism outreach. The resources on the LCA website are a big help, but more needs to be done. The greatest challenges are to try and cover as much of the work that a pastor would do and find ways to reach out with the message of Christ to others.’

After all, that’s the most important function of any church – with or without a pastor – sharing the gospel.

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Way Forward project team appointed

The project team to lead the LCANZ’s Way Forward project has begun its work. The team’s primary role is to project-manage the implementation of the 2021–23 General Synod resolution, namely, to deliver a proposal to the next General Synod outlining how the LCANZ could operate as ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’.

The three-person project team will report to the General Church Board (GCB) and College of Bishops (CoB), which jointly hold overall responsibility for the delivery of the proposal in response to the Synod resolution.

Eight working groups will provide guidance, requirements and inputs on the theological, constitutional, governance and other issues that will be required for a ‘detailed framework’ to be presented in time for discussion by the 2024 General Pastors Conference and 2024 General Synod. The groups were appointed last month by GCB and CoB. It is envisaged that the proposal development process will involve wide consultation within the LCANZ prior to the General Pastors Conference and General Synod.

Former Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Super, Stella Thredgold, heads the project team in a part-time capacity as project director. As an ASX100 C-Suite Executive, she has spent most of her career leading organisations through change. Stella will provide strategic oversight of the project direction, engaging with various stakeholders and ensuring that a disciplined and transparent process is followed.

Joining the team with Stella are Tim Niewand and Tony Vong, both of whom have extensive project-management experience coupled with longstanding membership of Lutheran congregations in Victoria.

Joining the team full-time, Tim brings 20 years’ experience in Fortune 500 companies, and has managed projects across a diverse range of scopes including product development, process improvement, real estate, finance and software. A lifelong active member of the Lutheran Church, he is currently chairperson at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Melbourne’s eastern outskirts.

Tony has 20 years’ experience leading programs and teams within the public sector, with a strong focus on risk and change management. He holds voluntary roles on District and congregation boards and committees, including that of his home congregation, Chinese Lutheran Church of Victoria. Tony joins the project team in a part-time capacity.

‘We’re humbled to be able to lead this project. We understand this is a difficult time for the Lutheran Church, but it also brings tremendous opportunity’, Stella said. ‘We’re committed to listening, openness, transparency and respect, and we invite everyone involved in the Way Forward to bring this spirit to the conversations.’

The project team will oversee and coordinate the assignments of the working groups, as well as manage the timeline and ensure successful preparation for the 2024 General Pastors Conference and 2024 General Synod. The recent call for expressions of interest to join working groups saw more than 500 people download the application form and almost 60 people apply within the two-week timeframe.

The Standing Committee on Nominations, which processed the expressions of interest, and GCB and CoB, which made the appointments, aimed for diversity across the working groups (including gender, age, cultural background, conviction about ordination) and people from all districts of the church. Stella said she was delighted with the high calibre of appointments to the working groups: ‘The project team extends our thanks to all the people who applied to the working groups, including those who were not appointed. We thank God for you, and we look forward to engaging with those appointed as we implement the resolution your General Synod delegates have placed before us.’

The project team welcomes suggestions from the wider church regarding the way forward towards ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’. Emails can be sent to wayforward2024@lca.org.au

For more information about the project, go to www.lca.org.au/wayforward

 

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Serving the maker of heaven and earth

by Helen Brinkman

Being good with numbers has been a blessing for the man believed to be the LCANZ’s longest-serving congregational treasurer, Glen Kraft.

The 74-year-old member of Burnie congregation on the north-west coast of Tasmania has spent the past 50 years as treasurer of his home congregation and is still going strong.

Glen is comfortable sticking with numbers: ‘I’m not one who can go out and witness. God gave me a gift of numbers so I can thank him for that. Doing that, I can give something back to the Lord.’

Glen was only 24 years old, and fresh off the mainland when he became treasurer in May 1973. He had moved to Burnie in 1971 from South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

His first job out of university was working as an industrial chemist in a local paper mill. He said he’d probably stay for four to five years when he was interviewed for the role. Fifty-two years later he’s still here, ‘and I’ll probably die here’, he says.

‘Part of the reason I looked for a job in Tasmania was because I didn’t really like the hot climate in South Australia’, he says.

Growing up in the small Barossa town of Stockwell, Glen didn’t like the big city, so he was quite happy moving to Burnie with its population of about 20,000 people.

And of course, Glen liked the cold! So much in fact that he decided to try snow skiing. While he admits he wasn’t very good to start with, his persistence paid off. By 1979 Glen had his first winter holiday in the ski fields of New Zealand.

‘When it is -5 degrees on a sunny day, it’s lovely’, he says.

Glen has never looked back, skiing at many of the world’s major ski fields until about 20 years ago when he decided the Canadian snow resorts were his favourite – and they became his go-to destination until COVID hit. Aside from his ability to work with numbers, skiing has given Glen another blessing – access to some of the best mountain views in the world.

‘Picture a clear blue day, with such crisp clean air and the sun shining on white snow so it just gleams’, he shares. ‘The snow just hides all the scars in the earth, and for me, that has absolute beauty.’

It reminds Glen of his favourite worship song, Robin Mann’s ‘How shall I call you?’, with the lyrics ‘How shall I call you? Maker of heaven, poet of sunset and painter of sky’ (song number 43 from the All Together Now songbook).

‘When I am standing on the top of mountains and looking down at mountain peaks covered in snow, that song used to buzz around in my mind’, Glen says. ‘Everything is crisp, clean and beautiful – and you think God’s created all this, and he looks down and everything’s perfect.’

Fast forward to 2023, and Glen is hoping to plan his next ski trip to Canada in 2024. ‘That may be the last, as age is catching up with me’, he says.

But Glen is keeping fit as a fiddle for skiing by walking kilometres each day up and down the hills between his home and the Burnie church manse. This is because he’s not only the congregational treasurer but is also looking after the manse while the parish awaits a new pastor.

Oh, and he’s also treasurer of the North Tasmania Lutheran Parish, which includes the congregations of Devonport and Launceston, as well as Burnie. His maintenance and information technology skills have also been put to good use developing the weekly service orders, PowerPoint presentations and service arrangements for the three congregations.

As for his treasurer’s duties, Glen has noticed the changes in the role over the decades.

‘It’s certainly become more complicated over time’, he says. ‘These days you need to do a lot of reporting. Compliance is important.’

While he serves the parish in multiple capacities, Glen believes keeping the congregations functioning well, especially during pastoral vacancy, is a team effort. ‘I am just one of the people helping to keep the church working’, he says.

When it comes to serving, Glen’s advice is to seek God’s guidance: ‘You just need to pray. If people are really motivated to serve, God will lead them to find what suits whatever they can do. ‘There’s lots of little ways they can help. Anyone can push a mower around, as long as you enjoy doing that. God’s given everyone different gifts. Without those little jobs, the church couldn’t exist.’

And the final verse of his go-to Robin Mann’s song reminds us all of God’s faithfulness: ‘How shall I call you? Master and servant, lord of the seasons and lord of the years; faithful and constant in loving and mercy, giver of laughter and taker of tears.’

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Today’s slavery

by Lisa McIntosh

Slavery is not just a long-ago scourge confined to the ancient biblical account of the Israelites captive in Egypt, or the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Nor has it been restricted closer to home to the terrible practice of ‘blackbirding’, in which people from South Pacific islands were shipped off to work in indentured labour schemes on sugar plantations in Queensland or New South Wales, or flax mills near Auckland, from the mid-1800s until the first decade of the 20th century.

And the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) says that First Nations Australians have had an even ‘more enduring experience of slavery, originally in the pearling industry in Western Australia and the Torres Strait and then in the cattle industry’, as well as the pastoral industry, in which some Aboriginal workers ‘were bought and sold as chattels’.

Slavery is also a modern global evil. Specialist legal practice, research and policy centre Anti-slavery Australia estimates that 40.3 million people worldwide live in modern slavery which it says is ‘often hidden’ in everyday locations such as homes, restaurants, farms and building sites, as well as in places such as brothels.

Refugees, other displaced people and those living in poverty are among the most at risk of slavery, says Craig Heidenreich, who serves as Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator for the LCANZ and formerly worked with the Australian Refugee Association.

Craig does not doubt the ongoing devastating effects on the lives of people around the world of modern-day slavery, which includes such brutalities as human trafficking, early marriage, debt bondage, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced criminality, child labour and sweatshop working conditions, ‘To say it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen today is fanciful’, he says, ‘Some families are so desperate they even sell their teenage daughters to survive, not always knowing the outcome for those girls.’

Nick Schwarz, the LCANZ’s Assistant to the Bishop for Public Theology, says that while ‘on the international scene slavery certainly hasn’t been abolished, in Australia various safeguards exist’ that should prevent such exploitative practices. These include the Modern Slavery Act (2018), last year’s ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s Protocol on Forced Labour and various child-protection laws.

However, he says, people are still exploited, with some migrant workers in Australia reportedly being so poorly paid that their income doesn’t cover basic living expenses, so they don’t have the choice to leave.

Other critical but often unclear factors in attempts to eradicate slavery are the supply chains behind the products we buy and use, which may be manufactured by slave labour.

‘Slavery is something that we empower with our choices’, Craig says. And Nick adds: ‘Consumers are wanting to buy from fair-trade labour supply chains.’ ‘But’, he says, ‘it’s not always easy to establish the provenance of a product.’

The responsibility for such information usually lies with the corporate sector, a fact highlighted by Australian anti-slavery advocate and mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, whose Walk Free initiative is an international human rights group committed to the eradication of all modern slavery within a generation.

Walk Free successfully campaigned for Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and encouraged world religious leaders to sign a declaration against modern slavery, forming the Global Freedom Network as its faith-based arm. The LCA is one of 15 Australian religious organisations and communities which in 2015 became part of the Australian chapter by signing the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern Slavery, which committed signatories to work actively against slavery.

One of the ways the Lutheran church does this is through its overseas aid and development agency, Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS). Jonathan Krause from ALWS has seen first-hand the tragedy of bonded labour in countries such as Nepal and recounts the heartbreaking story of a woman who was a ‘Haliya’, or agricultural bonded labourer, for more than 20 years.

‘A Haliya has taken a loan from a landlord and works for that landlord until the loan is repaid’, Jonathan explains. ‘Because of exorbitant interest rates, the debt can last for generations. In 2021 the Nepalese Government freed the Haliya, but for many, there are no support systems to help them rejoin free society.

‘(ALWS partner) the Lutheran World Federation team has been working with the Haliya, providing household loans, training in kitchen gardening, seeds to plant and taps for drinking water. There has also been training provided in furniture making, embroidery and candle-making, and support for semi-commercial farming.

‘And even as that system changes, those people have been in poverty for so long, that they’re still enslaved by what they’ve suffered and lost and so ALWS is working with them to train them in businesses, help them become independent and build a new life.’

As individuals, we may choose to support credible organisations which actively work for the eradication of modern slavery. We also may make this a consideration in the products and services we choose to buy if we have the financial means to do so.

The official Fairtrade website shows products that are fair trade and so less likely to involve exploitation (https://fairtradeanz.org/product-finder)

Walk Free offers a suite of resources, including reports, policy documents, submissions and more information on the Global Freedom Network at www.walkfree.org/resources

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New bishop for WA

Pastor Peter Hage has been elected as the next bishop of the LCANZ’s Western Australia District.

The pastor of St Johns Lutheran Church in Perth, he was elected unopposed last month for an initial four-year term during the District Convention of Synod at Concordia Lutheran Church Duncraig, in suburban Perth. Pastor Kim Kuchel, who has retired from Army chaplaincy and is serving part-time with the Katanning–Narrogin Parish southeast of Perth, was elected and installed as WA’s new assistant bishop during the convention, held from 3 to 5 March.

Bishop-elect Peter will succeed Bishop Mike Fulwood, who has retired from the part-time role he has served in since June 2017. The pair have been working together during a handover period since the election.

The assistant bishop of the district since 2018, Bishop-elect Peter will also continue to serve St Johns. A self-described ‘reluctant bishop’, he says he is excited to be able to continue in the parish role as well as supporting the WA District as bishop.

‘I say to people I was initially a reluctant pastor and I’m a reluctant bishop’, he said.

‘I just think of those words that Jesus said, “To him who is given much, much is required”. He says that in the context of the master giving servants various talents to serve with and in that context not everyone is given that same ability, but we just simply need to reflect on our gifts. While this has not been an aspiration of mine, I’ve had great encouragement from others that I should take on this role.

‘I’m happy to serve and I’m happy to support but to take the lead is a responsibility that needs to be covered by much grace.’

Excited, too, by the prospects for church planting in WA, along with what is already happening in the Rockingham–Mandurah area, Bishop-elect Peter believes his district role is also to give hope to congregations through changing times.

‘We need to keep trusting in God’s Spirit that he will lead us and guide us’, he said. ‘It’s God’s church, it’s not our church. We need not fear the future but move into the future expecting something different. I am happy to lead our District through a season of transition and change just trusting in the faithfulness of God and the promises that he gives to us that he is always with us.’

Ordained in 1990, Bishop-elect Peter began his ministry in Papua New Guinea and served there for 10 years, before accepting a call to Freeling parish in South Australia in 2001. He also served at Mount Barker in South Australia and Mount Gravatt in Queensland, before beginning his ministry at St Johns Perth in 2017.

He and his wife, Lois, have two adult children.

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A love of learning and a life of serving

by Helen Brinkman

Retired Queensland educator Fred Stolz is penning his life story, which he’s called A Fortunate Life.

‘I don’t know why God has blessed me as he has, but I am very thankful’, says 87-year-old Fred as he reflects on his 54 years of service to education in Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The farmer’s son from Henty in southwestern New South Wales was always going to be a teacher.

And he’s now been recognised in the 2023 Australia Day Honours List for his service to education. This includes serving as foundation headmaster of Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell, Queensland, and inaugural principal of Balob Teachers College in PNG.

Fred’s learning journey began in a one-teacher school in country NSW during World War II.

By age 11 he was a boarder at Albury High School hostel, riding the diesel-powered rail motor train home on weekends.

And as the youngest high school graduate at 16 years, the headmaster said Fred was too young for university. However, he won a teaching scholarship that couldn’t be deferred, so off he went to the University of Sydney.

After completing his degree and a stint of national service, 20-year-old Fred won his first teaching post, back at Albury High School.

This was followed by four more teaching posts in public high schools across NSW. At age 21, Fred met his future wife Lois at the Lutheran youth group in Gilgandra, where he was teaching science at the local high school. Marriage followed in 1961.

After nine years teaching In NSW schools, a seed sowed during a childhood of mission festivals at church bore fruit. He became the inaugural principal of the new Balob Teachers College in Lae, at the foot of the PNG Highlands.

The 1965 mission posting meant flying the family, which then included two-year-old daughter Theresa and 10-month-old son Michael, in a propellor-powered DC-6B plane to Port Moresby, then Lae. Fred was one of eight staff teaching 99 students at what has become one of the largest primary teacher training institutions in PNG.

By the time he left 15 years later, the teaching college had 300 students undertaking a two-year course. Now, more than 1,100 students are currently undertaking a three-year primary school teaching course at Balob. The college’s motto ‘to serve’, is very close to Fred’s heart.

He was named an Officer of the Order of Logohu (Bird of Paradise) by the PNG Government in December 2018, for his work at Balob, and his continued service to the Lutheran church.

His church service has included roles on the Queensland District’s Finance Council, Lutheran Education Queensland’s finance and development committee and committees of the Association of Independent Schools of Queensland.

Establishing Grace Lutheran College, Rothwell, on Brisbane’s north coast is what brought Fred and his family back to Australia in late 1979. From 1980, he oversaw its growth from 55 students on a new campus, to more than 1500 students over two campuses. The second campus at Caboolture opened in 2008.

That spirit of service has resonated with Fred throughout his life.

‘Talk is cheap, walking the talk is what you have to do’, he says.

Up until two years before he retired from Grace in 2009, Fred did just that, teaching a maths class each year. ‘I felt as principal I should set an example’, he recalls. When all the teachers were marking papers and writing reports, he was too.

After such a stimulating career, it required a concerted effort for Fred to adjust to retirement.

‘Teachers are a very intelligent group of people, so it’s always very interesting to be with them. After 54 years I knew it would be a jolt’, he says. ‘We bought a motorhome and spent 20 weeks travelling around Australia.’

Fred then started studying German at the University of the Third Age. Thirteen years into retirement, he is still an active member of Redcliffe Lutheran Church and his local Rotary club. He volunteers with the church’s Bayside Community Care, handing out food parcels. You’ll also find him selling raffle tickets or sizzling sausages at the local Bunnings for the Rotary club.

Fred paid tribute to the teachers he’s worked with in establishing both colleges. He also remains proud of the students and has never missed Grace Lutheran College’s annual end-of-year speech night. ‘They are all making good contributions to society and that’s a good result.’

Fred is a great advocate for Lutheran schools. ‘Australia is a very secular society, and we do need to show education has a spiritual side as well’, he says. ‘It’s one of the things that the Lutheran Church does very well.’

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Keeping hope afloat

by Lisa McIntosh

It’s not overstating things to say that it’s been a rough few years for some in many parts of Australia and New Zealand. Even apart from the tragedies and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, floods, fires, droughts and more floods have destroyed lives, homes, businesses, property, land, livestock and livelihoods. Through it all, prayers, and financial and practical support from our Lutheran family are continuing to bring hope and shine Jesus’ love and light into dark days.

By the time Advent began last year, Pastor James Leach from the New South Wales Central West Lutheran Parish had been offering support, listening to, and talking and praying with people worst hit by the flood emergency in and around Forbes for several weeks.

Thanks to the support of our wider Lutheran family through donations being deposited in the LCA Disaster & Welfare Fund (see story page 25) and assistance distributed under the direction of the NSW and ACT District, Pastor James and his wife Adele had been able to prepare and share home-cooked meals, other food and drinks, gift cards, tracts and other items in the first few weeks of the crisis.

With gifts of food and on gift card envelopes, Pastor James attached a note including the following wording, along with the LCA logo: ‘We know you must be dealing with so much right now, but we just wanted to reach out and tell you that you are in our hearts. Please know that there are people throughout Australia praying for you … If there is any way I can provide assistance, please just ask.’

While almost 100 families have now been helped through small financial gifts, and a further 40 to 50 families have accepted prayers or food, Pastor James knew many more families were struggling and in need.

One day in December, he was wondering whether what they were doing was enough. Then a parishioner told him about a news item on Channel Ten’s current affairs and talk show, The Project. Rebecca, a local pregnant mother of three, was being interviewed about having lost the family home and almost everything in it in the floods – and then to looters. Despite having to live in a tent with her partner and children and being in and out of hospital with early labour concerns, she said she was incredibly thankful for the support of locals, including home-cooked meals from the Lutheran Church.

It was the boost Pastor James needed – and evidence of ‘God’s timing’, he says. Not because of the recognition – it was the fact that ‘small gestures’ of love have meant so much to people who were suffering.

‘I was feeling a little bit low and vulnerable. And then I got to watch this interview on The Project of a person we’ve just been loving as much as we could – it was amazing’, he says.

Pastor James had prayed with Rebecca that her unborn baby would go to full term. He had given a reference and advocated for the family in their search for accommodation. Baby Sadie-Anne was born safely on New Year’s Eve after 38 weeks of pregnancy and, in the second week of January, the family secured accommodation for six to 12 months. Despite the house not being in the best condition or the best neighbourhood, Pastor James says Rebecca and her family are incredibly grateful to have a home – and for the ongoing support of and connection with the LCANZ.

Pastor James, too, is very grateful for donations from the wider Lutheran family. As of mid-January, around $15,000 had been distributed, and he expects to give out about $5000 more.

He said the support of the church had been both ‘humbling and empowering’ as they have reached out to those in the community with practical and moral support.

‘We are so thankful for the support that we’ve already received’, said Pastor James, who added that he was ‘blown away’ by the response to the appeal. ‘It means more than I can express. The encouragement that has given me that the church was praying for us – it’s uplifting, humbling and empowering.

‘I was also able to put together a number of small Christmas hamper boxes for the families that we’d already helped, as a second point of contact. I figured we’d go back to those people and see where we’d already planted some seeds of hope and see how we could help again.

‘We’ve been asked by a few of the bigger families whether we could help any further, which we have. Just because we were there initially, there have been a number of doors open up where people are a lot softer to being with us.’

Adele Leach said beyond the devastation they had seen and the heartache they felt as they headed around Forbes to see people, offering sandwiches, water, tea and coffee, they were left with a ‘feeling of privilege’. ‘[We felt] that we were welcome to step into people’s lives at their most devastated’, she said.

And then there has been great support from the wider community – people outside the church with whom Pastor James and Adele have connected. When Pastor James reached out via social media to locals for a spare second-hand Christmas tree for another family, he ended up with 13 under his verandah!

NSW–ACT District Administrator Russell Veerhuis said what has happened in the Central West Parish is ‘the church in action’. ‘This is an example of the church getting out there and loving people, fulfilling our call as Christians to love all people, not just other Lutherans’, he said. ‘This is the church in action.’

Ways to donate can be found on the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/disaster-welfare

For more stories about flood responses and support in Lutheran communities in other areas, see the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/category/news

Visit the Worship Planning Page for prayers for flood-affected communities at www.lca.org.au/worship/wpp/lutheran-family-rallies-around-flood-hit-communities  

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‘Please pray for our Synod’: LCANZ Bishop

LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith has urged the wider church to pray for the delegates, officials, organisers and volunteers who will meet for the in-person sessions of the LCANZ’s Convention of General Synod in Melbourne from 9 to 12 February.

The call for prayers comes in the lead-up to the meeting, which continues the 20th LCA convention opened with online sessions in October 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Adjourned until this month, the convention will consist of two full days of business at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, bookended by part-days with gathering and closing worship services.

In his ‘Because we bear your name’ column in this edition of The Lutheran (see page 4), Bishop Smith speaks of ‘our Lutheran ethos’, in which ‘the cross is central, … the word of God is properly distinguished as law and gospel and … God’s people strive daily to lead a holy life, even as Christ has made them holy’. Bishop Smith is calling on the Lutheran family in Australia and New Zealand to pray for those who will meet as Synod and that God will continue to build his church ‘through our Christian witness and service’.

‘In February 2023, we are gathering for the second part of our Convention of General Synod in Melbourne. Delegates will have significant matters before them, including proposals regarding whether only men or both women and men are to be ordained as pastors among us. Some are troubled about what is ahead for our church’, he says.

‘As we gather for Synod 2023, we continue this united common faith that we have received: to know Jesus Christ and him crucified. Nothing can be conceded or given up of this doctrine of the gospel. Please pray for those who gather in February, that the Lord would continue to build his church through our Christian witness and service, as people of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.’

As part of convention preparations for delegates, in November-December last year the church hosted three ‘town hall’ online sessions on the ordination proposals to go before General Synod.

More than 235 people attended the sessions as delegates or Synod consultants, while a further 164 people viewed the livestream of the sessions, facilitated by LCANZ Executive Officer of the Church Brett Hausler and General Church Board (GCB) member Charmaine Harch. Bishop Smith, and GCB members Tim Wiebusch and Pastor Tim Stringer made up the panel which addressed participant questions. Written responses to questions from the three sessions have been prepared and are available to read on the General Synod website at www.generalsynod.lca.org.au/town-hall-sessions-qa/

Meanwhile, the offering from General Synod will support a Finke River Mission (FRM) project revising and reprinting Lutheran song and hymnbooks in Central Australian Aboriginal languages.

Along with other volunteers and FRM staff, Pastor Rob Borgas, who formerly served as an FRM support worker, has been working on the revision of hymnals in three languages – Pitjantjatjara, Western Arrarnta and Alyawarr. In addition, the Pintupi-Luritja language worship resource will be revised.

Congregations can donate to the offering via the LLL (details below) or, if they prefer to put their offering on the plate during worship, can send a cheque made out to ‘LCA Synod’ or cash to Synod with their delegate.

To donate to the Synod offering:

Name of account: LCA Synod

BSB: 704942  Acct number: 100698743

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