,

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:

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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…

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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 …

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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.’

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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.

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

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.

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

Never too old…

by Nick Mattiske

‘Ah, retirement. That will be sweet. Finally, some me-time. Fishing, relaxing, a bit of travel, and pursuing my interests …’

It’s a seductive image. Yet in his forthcoming book, Australian Christian writer Rodney Macready bluntly states that the common Australian cultural understanding of retirement is not ‘a biblical concept’. Macready suggests that Christians have been too willing to endorse the idea of ‘leisured retirement’. Too often we can simply assume the values of our surrounding culture and (sometimes unconsciously) legitimise them by ‘Christianising’ them a little. It’s not that retirees are consistently selfish, but the sentiment is often expressed that, ‘if I have served the church in my younger years, I deserve something of a break in retirement’. This has had a noticeable impact on the life of the modern church, particularly when it comes to volunteering. In the past, participation has traditionally increased when members reach retirement age— but some congregations have begun to notice quite the opposite.

I’ve always been convinced that the church, whether local or corporate, is Christ’s body on earth, and that my chief call is to serve this body

In his insightful book The Good Life, social researcher Hugh Mackay makes a distinction between living with purpose and being happy. No doubt a certain amount of happiness can be derived from retiring and focusing on oneself, but this is not exactly what makes for a ‘good life’. Serving others is the purpose for which God has placed us on earth. One volunteer church worker in a city congregation— let’s call her ‘Irene’—says, ‘I’ve always been convinced that the church, whether local or corporate, is Christ’s body on earth, and that my chief call is to serve this body’.

Irene goes on, ‘I firmly believe that in my latter years I’m not called to serve my needs and whims’, though she concedes that ‘the freedom to manipulate one’s time means there can be more of these pleasures, perhaps’. She travels, attends concerts and is always willing to share her thoughts on movies she has seen. But when it comes to serving God, ‘whether you are retired or not’, it is ‘a continuum’. She savours the extra time retirement has given her to better discern how she can serve.

Retiree ‘Jack’ volunteers in his local church, helps out with disability support, ferries elderly neighbours to appointments and spends time at an inter-denominational drop-in centre that provides emergency food parcels, financial assistance and (just as importantly) a sympathetic ear. He perhaps proves the old maxim that if you want a job done, you should ask a busy person. When asked what inspires him to volunteer, he simply quotes Matthew 25:35: ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat’. At the drop-in centre Jack is clearly inspired by various churches working together—beyond the doctrinal

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

A day to remember

by Rachel Kuchel

Picnic … a day of nerves and excitement.

In the 1800s the annual school examination was monumental for students, teachers and congregations alike, for everyone was invited. In 1857, teacher Martin Basedow and his pupils assembled in Dr Carl Muecke’s independent Lutheran Church (Tabor) in Tanunda, South Australia, along with 150 parents and friends as witnesses.

The day began with an anthem and then the visitors chose the subjects on which the students were to be examined. This included scripture, geography and natural science—the latter examined in English. During pauses in examination, the children sang or recited poetry in both English and German. After three hours the witnesses were convinced of the children’s proficiency and thus the end of the examination was declared—but they could have requested it to continue if they felt it necessary.

Now the nerves could finally settle and the excitement could begin! Presents were given to the students before the commencement of the annual school picnic. More residents of the district joined the occasion at the local ‘wooded lands’, swelling the numbers to 403. Games, shooting at the mark, music, dancing and choral performances were the order of the day.

And now we jump to 1984 and Murray Bridge Lutheran Primary School, South Australia. A request was made to author Colin Thiele to write a short story commemorating the Lutheran Sunday School picnic. His handwritten manuscript The Picnic, donated to the school, was recently deposited at Lutheran Archives. Colin’s story formed the basis of a picnic held in Tanunda in 1986 as part of South Australia’s 150th Jubilee celebrations. Many schools came together, donned period costumes, and relived the old-style picnic, so vividly portrayed by Colin:

As far as Eddie Nitschke was concerned the picnic was one of the highlights of the year. He always reminded his father about it in plenty of time. Sunday School was always held on Saturdays and so it was natural that the Sunday School Picnic was a Saturday function too.

Preparations began weeks beforehand. By the time the day arrived the baskets were bulging and the jars were full to the brim; big freshly-baked loaves of bread, a pound or two of butter squared into perfect shape with wooden butterpats and finished with pretty patterns, sour cucumbers with an abominable smell and a heavenly taste, cheese, ham, mettwurst, black pudding, preserved fruits, cream, biscuits, cake and a dozen other delicacies.

They arrived in good time. Mild pandemonium was already erupting in several directions. Children were running about in a frenzy of freedom, dogs were barking and being told to shut up, horses were whinnying, cars were chugging proudly into place.

Albert Eckermann was in charge of the arrangements. He was an assistant to Pastor Eisenstein who was the real head of the Sunday School. But the pastor liked to delegate his picnic responsibilities because he wasn’t very comfortable out i by Rachel Kuchel n the scrub.

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by
,

Treasure

by Vicki Rochow

Many of you will remember the Child In Our Hands conferences, in 2001. These conferences encouraged congregations and families to be partners in nurturing the faith.

One of the great legacies from this time of rejuvenation is the gift of the faith chest, presented by congregations to children at the time of their baptism. Many churches embraced this idea as an opportunity to encourage families to nurture faith at home.

There’s no set style for a faith chest; it might be a big paper-covered shoebox or an ornate wooden chest lovingly hand-crafted by a member of your congregation. Inside it are the spiritual treasures given by your church and family, to be used to nurture faith at home as your children grow.

At Grow Ministries we believe that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, families have the greatest influence on our children’s faith. We also believe that all members of the church family are called to partner with and equip parents and grandparents to be the primary faith nurturers for our children, as intended by God (Deuteronomy 6).

Items that may be placed in a faith chest include: your child’s baptismal candle, devotion books, Bibles, music (such as DVDs) and Sunday school projects. It becomes the storehouse for resources used by your family to nurture your child’s faith.

ELLA

Every couple of months, four-yearold Ella takes out her faith chest (or ‘baptism box’ as she calls it) and sits on the lounge room floor, eager to look through it with her mum Naomi. The day I visited, she took great delight in telling me all about the things inside. There is an embroidered towel that the pastor used to ‘wipe the water off’. There are some prayer books and a DVD, and a beautiful letter from the lady who puts the boxes together for Ella’s congregation. All of the baptism cards Ella received are in there too. She displayed great enthusiasm in showing me her favourite one with a baby on the front: ‘She is so cute, isn’t she!’

Subscribe here to receive stories & upcoming issues in full

/by