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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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Celebrating community connections

by Helen Beringen

Originally a shy farmer’s daughter from the Wimmera region of Victoria, Jill Schefe has been recognised for her efforts as a vibrant community connector through the Lutheran Church of Australia’s Servant of Christ Award.

Born Jillene Heinrich, the eldest of three children, she grew up on a wheat and sheep property in Kaniva, not far from the South Australian border. After finishing school, drought in the Wimmera led her to spend a year droving sheep.

Despite her grandmother’s belief that girls shouldn’t pursue further education, Jill, now 73, undertook two years of theological studies at Lutheran Teachers College in North Adelaide to become a deaconess. ‘The term “deaconess” comes from the Greek word “Diakonia”, which means servant’, explains Jill. ‘It is a ministry of word and service.’

The modest study cost of $450 included two years of tuition and board. On graduating in 1969, she was assigned to the Metropolitan Missions Committee for the next three years and worked six days a week across various parishes in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, including Tea Tree Gully, Cheltenham, Port Adelaide and Hampstead under four different pastors.

‘Every day was a new challenge, and my work changed all the time’, she says. ‘It helped me overcome my natural shyness. I realised that shyness was pride turned inwards, so reliance on my Lord was my call.’

Jill taught religious education in schools, led confirmation classes and Bible studies, the latter with the youth and women’s fellowships, as well as taking adult instruction in the Christian faith and visiting members or the unchurched and serving in other ways when required.

Her mentor and pastor of one of her first parishes, Clarrie Janetzki, had said at the time, ‘You are the only bible some people are ever going to know’.

‘I felt so enriched by working in different parishes. As they introduced me to different types of ministry, each pastor modelled different ways of ministering’, Jill says. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction into evangelism and later as a pastor’s wife. You were just all the time engaging with people.’

It was at a birthday party in April 1972 that Jill met her future husband Clarrie Schefe, who was a seminary student. Engaged in July of that same year, Jill completed a six-week course in preparation for her role as a pastor’s wife before they married in Tea Tree Gully in February 1973.

After their marriage, Clarrie was assigned to Ceduna as their first parish in 1974. During their three years on the west coast of South Australia, their first son, Paul, was born. Her husband was called to Biloela in Central Queensland in 1976 to establish a Lutheran nursing home and Lutheran primary school.

The Biloela parish was 250 kilometres long and included four congregations and a preaching place. ‘We spent nearly 11 years in Biloela’, says Jill. The couple had two more children, Warren and Cassandra, while there and now have six grandchildren. Jill continues to stay connected with her grandchildren and even teaches confirmation lessons to her granddaughter Jessica, 14, via video call.

Throughout her journey as a pastor’s wife in various parishes, including Dimboola in Victoria, Jill has found ways to connect with people. ‘In Dimboola I rode my bike for exercise incorporating visiting parishioners as well’, she says. Jill adds that it was ‘easy to chat over the fence’ in their front yards, or perhaps stop in for a cuppa.

She and Clarrie moved to the Glasshouse Mountains in Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland in 2003, before he officially retired in 2010. And while Jill is officially retired, she still receives an honorarium for her care of the parish, including teaching, visiting the sick, aged and the isolated, as well as distributing private communion, hosting Bible studies and affirming folk in their faith.

Whether it be a women’s fellowship or a Bible study group, or organising confirmation classes and parish visits, she strives to keep in contact with members of the parish, even despite COVID restrictions over the past few years.

‘COVID can’t stop you in your spiritual growth, you’ve got to think outside the square’, says Jill. ‘During COVID, the parish has not had a full-time pastor and I started sharing the daily devotions, adding items related to our local parish, and adding hymns and images and sharing them.’

Jill also writes letters and designs cards as a tangible way of making connections. ‘I learnt to use my own resources to keep in contact with everyone when everyone was alienated’, she says. ‘My commission is to be adhesive.’

Jill feels blessed to have so many opportunities to share the gospel. However, she was overwhelmed to receive the Servant of Christ award. ‘I didn’t realise simple acts of kindness would be recognised’, she says. She was nominated by Glasshouse Mountains congregation for her unwavering dedication and service to their congregation and the wider church.

Last month, the whole family came together (minus one ill member) to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Clarrie’s ministry, and an early commemoration of Jill and Clarrie’s 50th wedding anniversary. It was a special moment for the couple, who have spent their lives connecting with and serving their communities.

Jill says Philippians 4:13 reminds her of the source of their strength: ‘I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.’

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Life in all its fullness

by Carly Hennessy

The stage is open to everyone. This message was demonstrated with heart and passion by six Lutheran Services aged-care residents and four professional dancers recently at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC).

Teaming up in the unique intergenerational dance theatre production If Only I Could … , the 10 performers received standing ovations for their courage and dance virtuosity.

Lutheran Services CEO Nick Ryan describes If Only I Could … as a celebration of our elders – of their big lives, loves and passions.

‘Guided by our Lutheran ethos, our creative programs act as a way to seek out and affirm people’s agency’, he says. ‘We see people as a gift, made in God’s image, making them worthy of dignity and honour.’

He says the act of creative expression had the potency to help and heal. ‘Creative expression generates community; it is an act of love to share and revel in each other’s articulation of who we are. (Creative engagement) allows agency, spark, imagination, creativity and connectedness – and that’s what’s fundamental to life. They found it is not “if only” – they did!’

Lutheran Services Director of Chaplaincy Dr Russell Briese was moved by the performance, describing it as a joyful and non-judgemental space to revel in people’s gifts. ‘It felt wonderful to watch and be part of’, he says. ‘It reminded me that Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life … in all its fullness”.’

At 75, Michael Bailey didn’t expect to ever have the opportunity that If Only I Could … presented – but he gave a star turn as he glided across the stage in the two-show season in late October. A resident at Tabeel Aged Care in Laidley near Toowoomba in southern Queensland and a fan of crooner and smooth-mover Neil Sedaka, Michael says performing was a ‘lovely’ experience. ‘I never, ever thought I’d be on stage in my life’, he says. ‘[Know that] always in your own heart you can do whatever you put your mind to.’

The show’s director, Angela Chaplin, and Lutheran Services’ creative programs advisor, Clare Apelt, first collaborated on the idea of illuminating the creativity of older people almost five years ago. ‘At the time I was running an organisation called Ausdance’, Angela says. ‘I decided it would be really interesting to work with people who don’t necessarily have access to exploring their creativity.’ She says one such group is elderly people. ‘They have such big lives, and they are so important to our community, but we rarely get to celebrate their creativity’, she says.

The project has now worked with more than 100 residents across Lutheran Services aged-care sites. There had been ‘test’ performances – in 2018 and 2021 – but nothing as significant as taking to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Older people taking centre stage was also a fitting theme to explore as the performances took place during October’s Senior’s Month in Queensland.

Carly Hennessy is Lutheran Services Communication Manager Content/PR/Production.

If Only I Could … is a partnership between Lutheran Services, QPAC and Director Angela Chaplin. Lutheran Services thanks the generous sponsorship of LLL Australia as our Premier Partner for If Only I Could …. LLL Australia (www.lll.org.au) is a philanthropic bank with a commitment to missional partnerships to assist Lutheran schools, aged-care organisations and congregations to grow and prosper for future generations, as well as missional funding for local projects.

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Gospel launch joy in PNG

Nearly 40 years after Bible translation work began in the delta region of Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) Gulf Province, the Kope people of the area can now read the Gospel of Luke in their own language.

The first New Testament book to be completed in the Kope language, it was dedicated and launched in late October in Ubuo village by Rev Tiramu Aia, the remaining translator from the 1980s team which began work on the text. The original Kope translation team completed the books of Jonah, Ruth and Esther, but while they drafted some parts of Luke in the 1980s and others were done for the local language version of the Jesus Film released in 2015, the gospel book translation was unfinished when Australian Lutheran translation advisor Hanna Schulz arrived in the Gulf Province that same year. She began work with the local translation team in 2016.

Hanna said finishing the lengthy and complex community-based project, having the book printed and published and being part of its launch and dedication with several hundred people from the seven Kope villages, were all occasions of great joy.

‘The day of the dedication was almost surreal – that we really were holding this book in our hands’, she said of the translation team, which was made up of members from more than 19 local households. ‘There were feelings of joy, satisfaction, a sense of a job well done, and a sense that there is still so much more to do! There is also some trepidation, as book sales were slow, and many a prayer that this work will bear a harvest.

Now working with the Kope team on drafting and checking translations of Acts and Genesis, Hanna, who works with Wycliffe Australia, a partner of LCA International Mission, said she prayed that the Luke publication would lead to ‘changed hearts, changed lives and changed communities’. ‘What I hope to see from this publication is people knowing God’s love in Jesus and walking with Jesus as his disciples every day’, she said. ‘I hope, too, to see disciples who make disciples.’

In addition to the current Bible translation work, Hanna is preparing for the second in a series of six Oral Bible Storying project workshops in February 2023 and the SALT (Scripture Application and Leadership Training) Course in May. To support participants for these and future Christian leadership, literacy and Scripture-use events at the Oroi’io Madei (Living Word) Training Centre in Ubuo village, a new dormitory is planned to accompany the classroom at the site. The project will cost AU$180,000. Donations can be made to Wycliffe Australia at https://wycliffe.org.au/projects/ubuo-training-centre-png/.

While there have been times of challenge and frustration as well as joy in her work in PNG, Hanna said it ‘has been a time of huge personal growth and of being welcomed and loved’. ‘God is doing exciting things in the Gulf, and I am privileged to be able to be part of it’, she said.

 

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Sharing Advent’s giving spirit

by Helen Brinkman

Picture a big box of kindness filled with Christmas goodies and pantry staples, a Christmas tree full of gift baubles, and gift catalogues supporting people in developing nations.

This is the spirit of Advent shining from Melbourne’s St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill. The congregation’s Advent Action program unveils giving opportunities throughout this church season.

The congregation’s volunteer Justice and Mercy Ministry Team, a small band of volunteers mostly aged over 60, run the program as one of a range of social justice causes in their local community and beyond.

The group may be small, but its secret is working together with like-minded groups in the local community through the Whitehorse Churches Care group network. Whitehorse Churches Care involves 30-plus churches working together across the council area to support the community’s most vulnerable. It runs a range of outreach services, from a community pop-up space in a local shopping centre to providing care packs. This strengthens their impact and the bonds between the churches, connecting people across denominations, and encouraging opportunities for charitable collaboration.

For example, the Big Boxes of Kindness that Box Hill members are filling this year with festive foods and pantry staples came through another church, also in Whitehorse Churches Care, which offered the Lutheran congregation spare boxes and resources. Complete with a letter of instruction, the full Big Boxes of Kindness are donated to the local migrant information centre for distribution to new migrants and refugees.

Box Hill Pastoral Care Coordinator Cathy Beaton, 60, also volunteers with Whitehorse Churches Care. She says this is the second year in a row that St Paul’s has been offered the boxes for the congregation to fill. Cathy says the Christmas hampers are greatly appreciated by the recipients: ‘I spoke with one of the migrant centre workers earlier this year and she said there was great joy and rejoicing over the hampers, it brought much delight to the people.’

That is only one of the Advent giving choices on offer at Box Hill. Another is the bauble gift tree, an outreach of the Prison Fellowship Australia’s Angel Tree program. Each bauble collected from the Christmas tree in the church’s foyer includes the name and address of a child or grandchild of a prisoner in one of Victoria’s prisons.

With the bauble, the donor gets some guidance on what the child might like to receive, then buys and sends the gift to the recipient on behalf of the prisoner, accompanied by their message.

Thirdly, Australian Lutheran World Service’s Gift of Grace program is promoted as another way to support the season of giving on a global scale. Giving Grace cards as a Christmas gift to family and friends acknowledges a donation of presents – from goats to toilets – to communities in need around the world.

The St Paul’s Justice and Mercy Ministry Team is not your normal committee, says Cathy. Each participant is an ambassador for a justice and mercy cause, from refugees and migrants to Indigenous reconciliation and more.

‘Team members are called ambassadors, as our members are passionate about a justice and mercy cause’, she says. ‘A handful of dedicated people can make a difference.’

Last year alone, 34 huge red boxes were delivered to the local migrant information centres in Box Hill and nearby Ringwood, about 120 gifts were sent to the children and grandchildren of Victorian prisoners, and many ALWS Gifts of Grace brought joy to children and communities in need.

Justice and Mercy team leader John Hinz and Box Hill Pastor Neville Otto are among the ambassadors in the team, which has run Advent Action for the past three years.

Cathy says it is just the latest in a long involvement for St Paul’s of supporting local organisations, ministries and charities. ‘I think in some ways during COVID we became a bit insular, and everyone was isolated during lockdown. So, it was really important that we could provide a way for people to look outward again’, she says.

And size doesn’t have to be a barrier to action. St Paul’s has shown that working together with others, such as local churches, or the local council, can create opportunities to help.

‘Sometimes we don’t have the resources to do something on our own. But (working) together encourages each other, builds a network of relationships, and together, people can do things that they could not necessarily do on their own if they don’t have enough people’, says Cathy. ‘This gives us a way of connecting with our neighbours, of serving and loving our neighbours.’

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Caring for clients and families

From humble beginnings, Lutheran Care has been supporting and working with the community for more than 50 years. Lutheran Care’s newest service, Positive Behaviour Support, is continuing to build on the organisation’s momentum of inclusive and diverse service offerings. Communications Officer Amelia Dawkins and Marketing Coordinator Jose Rabet explain.

Launched in February 2022, Positive Behaviour Support is the latest service from Elcies Disability Care, the disability services branch of Lutheran Care.

It is a therapy-based service funded through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), aiming to increase the quality of life for people with disabilities who are experiencing Behaviours of Concern.

A Behaviour of Concern may impact the physical safety of a person or those around them, including caregivers and support teams. Behaviours of Concern can include emotional and physical outbursts, such as screaming, shouting and hitting, or actions such as running away.

Elcies Disability Care’s team of nine highly experienced and supportive practitioners works with clients, their families, caregivers and support teams at home, school, work or in community environments, to address these concerns.

Under the direction of Principal Clinical Lead Bianca Dubois, the team has a wide range of expertise, including developmental education, social work, counselling, teaching and psychology. They show compassion and empathy, helping to empower clients of all ages to lead their best life.

Both Bianca and Clinical Lead Tamsin Petzer were recently among a very small number of South Australians assessed as Specialist Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Practitioners by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. This is the highest accreditation for Positive Behaviour Support practitioners assessed by the NDIS.

To find out more about Positive Behaviour Support and Elcies Disability Care, call 1800 352 437, email edc@lutherancare.org.au or visit www.lutherancare.org.au/EDC   

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New Assistant Bishop for NZ Lutherans

by Rosie Schefe

Pastor Nich Kitchen is the new Assistant Bishop for the Lutheran Church of New Zealand (LCNZ), following the unexpected early retirement of former assistant bishop, Pastor Jim Pietsch.

Elected to the position by his fellow pastors on 1 September, Pastor Nich said he accepted the nomination to the position to serve with Bishop Mark Whitfield because he had a heart for the Lutheran Church of New Zealand, where he grew up in faith. He felt this was a time when he needed to step up.

Ordained at the end of 2014, Pastor Nich served in the Victoria-Tasmania District: first in the Northern Tasmania parish and then as an interim pastor in Mildura.

He was installed as pastor at Mountainside Lutheran Church in Auckland in August 2018. The congregation is part of the LCANZ Cross-Cultural Ministry network, which intentionally links congregations with culturally diverse memberships. Pastor Nich himself has been a consultant to the LCANZ Department of Local Mission’s Committee for Cross-Cultural Ministry since 2021.

Pastor Jim Pietsch retired suddenly from active ministry and his call to St Paul’s Wellington early in August, in direct response to family need – to support his wife Grace as she cares for her ailing mother in Indonesia. Pastor Jim led his final service on 7 August, and the next day flew to join family members in Jakarta.

Pastor Jim was ordained in 1982, celebrating 40 years of ministry in January. He served in parishes at Whyalla and Waikerie in South Australia, and in the Melton, St Albans and Sunbury congregations in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne. He also served a term as manager of theological books at Openbook Publishers.

Pastor Jim arrived in Wellington on Anzac Day 2013 and served at St Pauls for more than nine years.

He served as pastors’ representative on the LCNZ’s Council of Synod from 2015, then assistant bishop from 2017 until his retirement. The appointment of the assistant bishop is made by the Synod of LCNZ on the nomination of the pastors, and as Pastor Jim’s retirement came between conventions, the Council of Synod has appointed Pastor Nich to this position on the nomination of the pastors.

Rosie Schefe is Lutheran Church of New Zealand District Administrator and former editor of The Lutheran.

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Agape in name, nature and action

The Greek word agape describes a love that is pure, unselfish and unconditional. With the aspiration of reflecting this sacrificial love, the Basel Christian Church of Malaysia’s (BCCM) day centre for children living with disability bears this word in its name. Ms Yap Pak Shun, a member of the BCCM Central Education Board, explains.

Social concern is Christian love in action. It expresses the faith and hope of the human spirit we have in Christ through the practical demonstration of love to the community, especially to those who are less fortunate, regardless of their race, language and religion.

The Basel Christian Church of Malaysia’s (BCCM) Agape Centre in Sandakan, East Malaysia, enacts this love. A day care centre for children living with intellectual and developmental disability, it was established on 10 January 1994. It opened with an enrolment of two students and two teachers, using local kindergarten facilities. Having relocated to the Rumah Wargatua Sri Harapan, Jalan Sibuga Senior Citizens Home in 1998, today it serves 18 students through various programs and activities (pictured top) and has four teachers.

The centre is managed by a committee grounded with the clear vision of showing Christ’s love in a practical manner. One of the main objectives of its establishment was to give children living with disability an opportunity to learn everything they need to live independently in the community and be accepted by the community.

Agape Chairman Mr Chris Lo Lie Meng says the centre is ‘committed to reaching out with compassion and Christian love to help’ children with intellectual and developmental challenges, ‘so that they can live to celebrate life over their own limitation’.

Centre teachers Rena SangFong, Jukinah Ujin, Rossani Edward and Flora Gurandi (pictured above right) say the wider community needs to ‘work together to help these special children and be sensitive to their needs’. ‘As Christians, we should love them, care for them, and see to it that they are not marginalised’, they say.

The running of the BCCM Agape Centre is dependent on donations from charitable organisations, church members and the public.

We especially thank LCA International Mission for its generous donation of AU$6,457.65 – $4,457.65 from Immanuel College Novar Gardens and $2,000 from the Stamps for Mission program. This money is being used for upgrades of the Agape Centre and to buy teaching and learning resources.

God’s grace is more than sufficient to sustain us! Let us all work together to help these special children and raise their hope and dignity.

The LCANZ, through LCA International Mission, has a long-term partnership with BCCM and supports ministries in Sabah Malaysia thanks to donations from our Lutheran family. LCA International Mission also coordinates volunteer opportunities and facilitates congregational and school mission partnerships between the churches. Read more uplifting stories in Border Crossings, included with this print edition of The Lutheran.

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The idol of the self … in our church and our world

by Michael Lockwood

Years ago, when I first began reflecting seriously on the idolatry of contemporary society, my goal was to understand the beliefs of those outside the church so I could bring them the gospel.

Yet the more I reflected on the idolatry of the world, the more I realised that the same idolatry had infected the church and my own heart too. Just as the ancient Israelites were tempted to worship the Lord and Baal as well, so we easily slip into thinking we can serve Christ without relinquishing the idolatrous agendas of our society.

In past ages, people worshipped gods of wood and stone. In the West today, we mostly just worship ourselves. This problem is as old as Adam and Eve, who wanted to be like God. Nevertheless, our society has sunk to new lows with its dedication to the worship of human beings, and all too often we Christians fall into the same trap. I therefore will explore three ways in which this idol is evident in us and our world and how the true and living God can set us free.

THE PROBLEM

  1. Who do we love? We love ourselves.

 Our secular world can propose nothing greater to live for than individual happiness and equates happiness with the fulfilment of our desires. Thus, the goal of life is to get the world around us to give us what we want.

This idolatrous self-interest is not restricted to those outside the church. The reality is that we all love ourselves too much. We may not always like ourselves, but we are self-interested and want the world and even God to revolve around us and give us what we crave. Often, we put a religious spin on this. We slip into thinking that if we are sufficiently virtuous or pious, God and those around us should reward us by bending to our will. We are then inclined to get angry with God or lash out at others when this strategy fails.

Furthermore, the church often panders to this idolatry. Pastors become people-pleasers. Churches try to cater to people’s felt needs, hoping to be rewarded with popularity. In the process they lose sight of giving people what they really need, the Bread of Life.

Paradoxically, this pursuit of our own happiness does not bring happiness. We were not created to be at the centre of the universe, and neither God nor the world around us will allow us to pull them into our orbit. It is God’s will that will finally be done, not ours, whether we like it or not.

  1. Who do we trust? We trust ourselves.

Our society repeatedly tells us to believe in ourselves and its fundamental assumption is that there must be a human answer to every problem. This appeals to our sinful pride, which wants to be able to say, ‘We can do it’, rather than giving glory to God as the one who provides.

People in the church are not immune. All too often we say we trust in the Lord when our behaviour shows that we are really trusting in ourselves or other human beings. For example, what do we do in a crisis? Often, we call a meeting, in which we pray for two minutes and then plan and strategise for three hours. We never dream of calling on the church to pray all night as we see in Scripture, and as I have witnessed among Christians in Nepal. This pattern reveals the extent to which our faith is really in ourselves and not in the God who answers prayer.

This idolatrous self-reliance is expressed in how we relate to all three members of the Trinity. For example:

  • Our Heavenly Father promises to care for our earthly needs. Yet often our prayerlessness, workaholism and desperate groping after earthly things reveal that we are really trusting in ourselves to provide.
  • Our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who justifies us. He alone makes us acceptable in God’s sight and worthy to hold our heads up high. Yet too often we seek to justify ourselves instead and turn our own righteousness into an idol we put in his place. We make excuses, point the finger, pass the buck, exaggerate our virtues, downplay our vices, go fishing for praise and try to claim that the wrong we have done is really right, instead of confessing our sins and glorifying Christ as the one who forgives and saves us.
  • The Holy Spirit is the one who enlightens us through his word, works faith and its fruits in our hearts, and so builds God’s church. Yet all too often we seek to enlighten ourselves and turn our own wisdom into an idol. We neglect God’s word as if we are too clever to need it or set it aside for the sake of human opinions. Then we try to build the church or reform our own lives through our own efforts.

These efforts inevitably fail. Like all idols, the idol of the self demands great sacrifices from us, but then it lets us down since we have neither the strength, virtue, nor wisdom to take God’s place. Whether we like it or not, we are totally dependent on him. When we act like we do not need him, we guarantee that we will end up sinking exhausted under the weight of our foolishness, failure and sin.

  1. What do we fear? We fear everything.

Our humanistic society is an anxious place. This is the hallmark of idolatry. When we turn to idols, trusting them to provide for us and take our fears away, they inevitably fail us, so the fears remain. The same is true when we trust in ourselves or other people. The more we do so, the more anxious we will be about our performance and the things we cannot control.

The COVID crisis did not create this anxiety, but it has revealed it. In this crisis, our society has fractured into two camps, both of which are driven by fear. One side has been fearful of COVID and has trusted in human measures like masks, lockdowns, and vaccines to manage this fear. The other side is more fearful of things like censorship and creeping authoritarianism and has fought these fears with social and political activism. Both sides would be less frantic if we spent more time looking to Jesus.

THE SOLUTION:

The God who gives us every good thing by grace.

The good news in this situation is that the true and living God wants to give us by grace all the things we have vainly tried to supply for ourselves.

This true God has come to break us out of our narcissistic self-focus. He wants what is best for us and is able to deliver. Yet he knows that this involves us dying to our destructive self-centred desires.

True joy is not found in getting whatever we want, but in learning to want what God wants. The blessed life is one that revolves around him and his will for us, which is always gracious and good. We are free to live this way, since he has promised to give us everything we need by grace, apart from our self-centred striving.

God has got our backs, so we can forget about ourselves, and instead focus on serving him and those around us as he calls us to do.

This same God now calls to us: ‘Trust in me. I will give you by grace what you have failed to provide for yourselves. I will feed you, clothe you, protect you, heal you, forgive you, honour you, empower you, delight you, instruct you with true heavenly wisdom, and welcome you into my kingdom.’

Furthermore, this God has come to calm our fears. The most frequently repeated command in the Bible is ‘fear not’.

Fear the Lord and him alone and then you will have nothing to fear, since he is gracious and he is mighty, and he has conquered everything that can bring you harm.

When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he became afraid and started to sink.

How often have we not done the same? Yet while his eyes were on Jesus he could walk on the waves. The same is true with us.

By ourselves we can do nothing. We cannot provide for our earthly needs, save ourselves from death and hell, still our fears or fill the aching void in our souls.

Yet the true God is calling to us and saying: ‘Look to me, and me alone, in every dimension of your lives, so that your cup runs over with what my grace supplies.’

Rev Dr Michael Lockwood serves as a theological educator for LCA International Mission and has recently been called to teach in Taiwan. He is the author of The Unholy Trinity: Martin Luther Against the Idol of Me, Myself, and I.

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