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www.faith.formation

by Rosie Schefe

An eight-year-old child has not known life before the iPhone; an 18-year-old has not known life before the internet. People communicate in ways not even imagined a few decades ago. Some congregations find all this new technology a hindrance to ministry, but could it be a blessing?

In a series of workshops held across Australia this year, Roman Catholic educator John Roberto argues that churches have been slow to adapt to the digital environment, viewing it as a place filled with threats rather than as a landscape of opportunity. While mobile devices might seem like a distraction, what they can do is open up new pathways of learning and of faith formation.

Mobile devices have fundamentally changed the relationship between information, time and space, John Roberto says. This is paralleled by the rise of social networks, fuelled by social media phenomena, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Pinterest and Instagram. Rather than looking to authoritative sources, technology-savvy people now filter and evaluate news and other information through social networks.

‘People have become content curators; when they discover content they will share it with their broad network’,

‘Reciprocal sharing is the way in which people build their own social capital and reputations.’ Similar shifts are occurring in education, where digital media is allowing learning to happen anywhere and anytime, where learners become active participants rather than just consumers of information, and where people access material from a range of places rather than from one single institution. By re-imagining faith formation programs to suit this landscape, churches could better deliver lifelong learning and help to maintain connections with families and individuals, John maintains.

He uses the idea of ‘faith formation networks’ to explain how this might be done. A faith formation network brings people of different generations together, and supplies them with programs, activities, faith formation experiences and other resources that are tailored to match their needs and lifestyles.

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The church gig

by Chris Zweck

It’s a sunny October afternoon at Gympie State High School, Queensland. A group of students have gathered in the school’s outdoor amphitheatre to hear Christian hip-hop artist Patrick Davis perform.

Davis has a troubled past: his brother was murdered at a young age, and he spent much of his own life incarcerated. However, Davis ‘found God’ and now he travels America, Australia and the United Kingdom sharing his story of redemption. As Davis takes to the stage, his unique blend of hip-hop, reggae, soul and rock captivate the students, who are slowly engrossed by his message. As the group plays their final song, applause erupts. This is Live@theChapel—a grassroots music ministry that promotes contemporary artists with a Christian worldview.

Even though I’d left the church, God was still speaking to me through music

 

Since it began in 2009, Live@theChapel has become a permanent fixture in several churches across Australia. The success of the concept lies in its minimalistic approach. Bimonthly, a single Christian artist or a band is invited to a venue to play. The audience is given the chance to discover the artists’ life, to make a donation or purchase their music in support. It’s an intimate affair, where the impact music has had is exposed in its full rawness to an audience, helping them discover the artists’ musical journey.

It’s not surprising, then, that the event’s creator, Lutheran pastor Frank Rasenberger, has himself experienced a profound musical journey. The son of parents who migrated to Australia from Germany in the early sixties, Pastor Frank says music was always part of his life. ‘I’ve always had a passion for contemporary music. Music was always there—even during the times when I went away from the church’, he says. While his passion for music has never faltered, Pastor Frank admits that throughout his early years he struggled with faith. A firstgeneration Australian, he was raised in a nominally Christian household, where going to church was viewed more as a means of finding social inclusion than as an opportunity for worshipping God. ‘We would go to church once a fortnight or month’, he says. ‘We didn’t have home devotions or anything, so faith never became personal to me.’

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Speaking to Pharoah

by Rosie Schefe

In Jesus’ time, nobody liked tax collectors. But in 2014, it’s the people behind corporate taxdodging who are being exposed for draining billions of dollars each year from the world’s poorest people, who live in developing countries.

This issue was the focus of the recent Micah Challenge ‘Voices for Justice’ conference, which brought together more than 200 Christians from all over Australia who are passionate about social justice and fighting global poverty.

The highlight … was meeting other like-minded Christians … who care enough about the world’s poor to do something concrete about the poverty

Micah Challenge is a global movement of aid and development agencies, churches, schools, groups and individuals who speak out against poverty and injustice, in support of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

When this year’s delegates gathered in Canberra in June, this mission was broadened to include speaking out against corporate tax-dodging. Delegates’ first two days together were spent at a Canberra church, training for the campaign, praying and worshipping. They also planned and prepared for the final two days and pinnacle of the Voices for Justice program: lobby group meetings with members of parliament at Parliament House.

Second-time delegate and member of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Belconnen

 

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ROLL UP! ROLL UP!

by Rebecka Colldunberg

Before you start scratching your head and rushing frantically to Google, this is a rhetorical question, because, of course, the answer is: nobody! The clowns, the games, the excitement, the tricks, the noise, the lollies … what is there not to love?

Just one small thing actually, and that is that the circus only lasts a few hours—and then you go home. Not so at this year’s Alberton Lutheran Parish’s annual holiday program, though.

The Queensland parish’s Lutheran Holiday Program (LHP) is not new; in fact, it has been an eagerly-anticipated annual event for 25 years. ‘Initially, the program was for the community of Jacobs Well, which is near our congregations of St Peters and Bethlehem, and it was to minister to the local children’, LHP volunteer director Jenni Keith explained. ‘We originally did the program during sugarcane season, when the local farmers were busy with the harvest. It gave us a wonderful opportunity to spend time with their children.’

Parish pastor Rev Greg Vangsness continued, ‘For many years the Lutherans and the Apostolics had the only church plants in the district. Having a program for children was a stepping stone for the gospel to be presented to the parents who came along to support their children. The LHP became widely regarded as something that was done well and gave the community a consciousness of the value of the church within society.’

As the years passed, many of the sugarcane fields turned into housing estates, but the program did not dwindle. In fact, much like the cane toads of those fields, the LHP grew in strength and numbers. It wasn’t long before the program outgrew its small hired community hall and moved to the church grounds. And this year, a quarter of a century after 57 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed children enjoyed the first Alberton Parish camp, just over 200 eager campers swarmed the grounds of LORDS (Lutheran Ormeau Rivers District School) for five days of circus fun with a strong biblical foundation.

‘I obtained a few different circus programs’, Jenni says, explaining the painstaking work of creating the program for 2014. ‘Then our very talented team put a set of themes together, wrote a matching drama program and worked out crafts, snacks and games based on the circus theme.’

Asking Jenni to pick a stand-out moment of the week was akin to asking a mother to pick her favourite child. But for Pastor Greg the decision was easy, and he seemed to speak for everyone:

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Walk the Walk

The Year 1’s at Living Waters Lutheran School in Alice Springs were most concerned…

The children had just been part of a chapel devotion following an ALWS (Australian Lutheran World Service) Awareness Day, where they’d learnt about why children in Cambodia needed help. They were really affected by the fact children had no clean water to drink, but what really got them was:

The devotion was part of the Year 1 Christian Studies unit, where they were looking at the functions of the church, and service in particular – how the Lutheran Church brings love to life.

Lots of people have no toilets with a seat … … they can’t even afford toilet paper

Inspired to action, the Year 1’s decided to do a Walkathon. This fitted in perfectly with their study theme of being God’s hands and feet, which in turn was inspired by a verse from the worship song Because we bear your name:

Keep us from missing out on life
Give hands that help and single sight
And feet that walk your way
Because we bear your name.
(John Kleinig)

Supported by their buddies in Year 5, the Year 1s became lively advocates for the poor to their families and community. Together they raised an amazing $2915.

Living Waters has 330 students from Transition to Year 6. They are made up of 24 different nationalities, from all five continents of the world, now learning together in Australia’s Red Centre.

This cultural mix means the school is fortunate to have Ingeburg Dell’Antonio as their Coordinator of Spirituality.Ingeburg was born in Zambia, and is the product of five different cultural backgrounds. In recent years she travelled to Rwanda as a volunteer, visiting schools, kindergartens and catch-up centres, and working with teachers, aid workers, volunteers, orphans and former street children.

Ingeburg says, ‘Rwanda was a powerful eye opener, seeing ordinary people be God’s hands and feet and doing…

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This God stuff

by Kaylene Capbell

I was a sad girl with a bad frame of mind. I thought suicide was the only way out … but, God helps me through.

‘You might think it’s weird … but, God helps me through.’ What was my friend talking about? Religious stuff? Weird!

Sure, I knew about all this through RE in primary school, but my family isn’t religious at all, so it wasn’t something I really knew about. However, at that time I was lonely, I was desperate and I was open to anything. I was open to this weird God stuff.

I was a sad girl with a bad frame of mind. I released my sorrows through self-harm and I thought suicide was the only way out. I didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. Then, one particularly terrible night I was talking to a friend. ‘You know what helps me when I’m going through a bad time?’ she said. ‘You might think it’s weird … but, God helps me through

Looking back now, I know that God sent my friend into my life to share his word and introduce me to our amazing Creator and his inspiring Son.

So what happened next?

Well, she called me and we spent two hours on the phone talking about all this God stuff. Listening to her talk and hearing her passion, her love, I wanted that. I wanted that feeling she was describing—the love and forgiveness. And and most of all, I wanted a friend.

So I prayed. I got down on my knees and tried something new. ‘Hello? Are you there? I know I haven’t been the best person around …’

I stayed there for an hour, just praying, talking to God and asking for help, for forgiveness. My heart felt full. I was crying good tears, and for the first time in a while I knew everything would be okay.

Three years, a change of schools and some interesting new friends later I was still bumbling along with this God stuff, and, gosh, I felt like I had hit a brick wall. Do you know how hard it is to believe in something when your family doesn’t understand what on earth you’re talking about? My best friends? Well, the first is all into reincarnation and the second is Wiccan. I love them … but I can’t talk about God or the Bible with them, and they certainly couldn’t answer my questions.

I was stuck. So I prayed, and before I knew it I was making a new friend, a Christian friend! We talked about all sorts of things—God and more. It was glorious! Thanks, God!

However, that wasn’t all. God had a surprise in store for me that was just what I needed, and my new friend was going to show me.

‘Hey, are you coming to CLW?’ ‘CLW? What’s that?’ ‘

Christian Life Week. Only the most amazing camp ever!’

She had my attention. Some serious talking and Google-searching later, I found myself asking my wonderful parents if I could go on this bucketload-of-fun camp, and guess what? They said yes! Of course, it wasn’t going to be easy for us; it was a tad expensive for a small family of dairy farmers.

However, we made it, and I soon found myself in the car, heading off to my first CLW. I had a Men in Black suit in my suitcase, right beside my Bible, and excitement growing inside me. I was ready for an adventure. First impression: everyone is smiling! I can’t stop smiling either. We are all so happy! Second impression: goodness gracious, I want that man’s bow tie!

By the end of that first day, I had shed many secret tears because of …

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Scones serve up smiles for seniors

by Monty Lysne

Saturday morning. Early.

The pleasing smell of freshly baked scones drifts from the kitchen at St Peter’s Lutheran Church in Loxton, South Australia. There’s laughter too. From a dozen Head to the Heart confirmation group kids and adult leaders from the church. Who says teens can’t get out of bed?

Download the SURE FIRE SCONES RECEIPE

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Never too old

by Linda Macqueen

Finding welcome and renewed life in ‘God’s waiting room’

Gillian and Coralie are widows, and Rosemary has been wrestling with cancer for 35 years.

That hardly sounds like the start to a fun afternoon. Yet, in the space of an hour, these three lovely ladies living at Murray Bridge Lutheran Homes in South Australia, share a lively lesson: that pain comes, and pain goes, and pain comes back again, and in between, never miss an opportunity to laugh out loud.

When their friends asked them why they were moving into a retirement village when they were still so active, each of them responded in the same way: ‘Why should we wait until we’re too old to do all the things we enjoy?’

While some people call retirement villages ‘God’s waiting room’, Coralie, Gillian and Rosemary laugh when they hear this: ‘Well, they are!’ Gillian says. ‘We’re all going to die, everybody … so we might as well enjoy ourselves while we’re waiting!’

Finding welcome and renewed life in ‘God’s waiting room’ Mind you, in their determination to celebrate the joy of life, Coralie, Rosemary and Gillian have had more than a few helping hands. Each travelling unexpected pathways that they would describe as God’s leading, they’ve been carried through the hardest times of their life on the loving and caring arms of their village family.

Welcomed while waiting

In the village Rosemary, Coralie and Gillian have found friends who share the same love of life as they do and who will not only weep with them in the bad times but also howl with laughter with them in the good times.

‘People do make you feel welcome here’, Gillian says. ‘Most of us make a point of helping newcomers to settle in. And if people are shut in, we make sure they are looked after. We don’t leave people on their own, unless they want to be.’

Rosemary adds, ‘You can do as little or as much as you like here. Nobody judges you; they are always supporting. This is such a welcoming, Christian, caring place to be. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.’

Little things

Rosemary’s story Rosemary, who survived breast cancer 35 years ago, has been fighting off secondaries ever since. The latest in her liver and her pelvic bones. She’s recently finished another round of chemo and is proudly showing off her new crop of curly hair.

‘Everybody is so friendly here; there’s a strong Christian witness’, she says. ‘You know you’ll be looked after when you need help. It’s nothing especially grand or significant, just little things … but it’s the little things that mean so much.’

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You’re welcome

by Rosie Schefe

Jesus knew a few things about welcoming people. He invited children to join him when the disciples shooed them away. He healed hundreds and fed thousands. He taught all those who were willing to listen, regardless of their gender, race or religious faction.

We want to be part of building a sense of local community and to be seen as a welcoming community.

Jesus knew too when he was welcome (or not). He was thrown out of the synagogue in Nazareth and he visited the home of the outcast Zacchaeus in Jericho. He turned the lukewarm hospitality of critics inside out in order to teach them what love truly looks like. More than ever, this year’s Longest Lutheran Lunch has ‘welcome’ at its heart. Now in its fourth year, the Longest Lutheran Lunch invites congregations to think about how they can welcome people into their place— not just with words, but with actions too.

SMALL TOWN—BIG WELCOME (SOUTH KILKERRAN, SA)

St John’s South Kilkerran has been part of Longest Lutheran Lunch since it began in 2011. Last year its parish partner, St Paul’s Maitland, joined in too. From the beginning St John’s has reached out to all its neighbours, doorknocking the entire town to issue invitations.

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The road ahead

by Tom Kitson

Where does God want me to go? What should I do with my gifts and abilities? How can my work reflect God’s love coming to life in the world? These and many other questions surface when Christian young adults begin to make their life decisions.

Since Warrambui Retreat and Conference Centre in New South Wales began its yearlong camp internship program, God’s love really has come to life for more than 100 interns through service, spiritual growth and personal development.

TANDARA

Following Warrambui’s lead, Tandara Lutheran Camp in the Grampians, western Victoria, this year offered a similar program.

Tandara camp manager Darren Linke and his wife Kerry are seeing the benefits, not only in the running of the campsite but also in the personal learning and growth of their first three interns.

Beginning their internship early this year, Victorians Shinae Colville (Hopetoun) and Nadia Bunge (Portland), and South Australian Tiarna Hahn (Adelaide) are now well settled into life as camp staff members.

The girls are expected to clean, cook, maintain the campsite, contribute to the camper experience and assist wherever they are needed.

But key to the overall experience is study and the opportunity to devote time towards spiritual growth and figuring out God’s purpose for their lives.

‘It’s a year of learning and getting to know God’, Darren says. ‘On top of their camp duties, we put interns through a Certificate IV in Christian Theology through Australian Lutheran College, as well as a Certificate III in Outdoor Education. Interns at Tandara are paid on a traineeship basis, much like in any first year apprenticeship, and have one day per week to dedicate fully to study. ‘The program doesn’t just help us; it helps to build young leaders for the church.’

On completion of their year of study and practical experience at Tandara, the interns will be able to apply to the LCA Board for Lay Ministry for accreditation as lay workers.

Darren believes that often young people sign up for internships because they don’t have a specific direction in mind for life after school, and they use this year to make decisions for their future. ‘

When I interviewed one of our interns, she was saying she wanted to go to university the following year’, he says. ‘She’s now completely changed her mind, having decided the study thing isn’t right for her, thanks to this experience.’ This sense of clarity and conviction is an ideal outcome, with participants gaining life experience through service and being given time to focus on God’s voice in their lives.

Meeting once a day for a staff devotion based loosely on the Grow Ministries ‘Faith Five’ is one key avenue for spiritual awareness and growth, Darren says, and interns experience the benefits.

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