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A flexible way for all ages to grow

by Jono Graetz

We are always looking at new approaches to children’s ministry at Trinity Bordertown, so early last year when we heard about a new confirmation program from Grow Ministries, we decided to learn more about it.

As soon as COVID-19 restrictions would allow, we arranged for Christine Matthias and Jodi Brook from Grow to visit and offer a deeper insight into the Grow Disciples course and what it can offer students and facilitators.

Christine and Jodi inspired our congregation, along with some visitors from Mt Gambier and Millicent, with their explanation, including how the course relates lessons to our daily lives.

What do Grow Disciples sessions include?

Each session provides a chance to chat with the kids about their week and the questions they took home for their parents after the previous lesson. There is an interactive learning section which explains the lesson theme and Bible verses that relate to it, and an application section that explains how the theme and readings apply to the participants. The session concludes with a lesson overview, time for students to devise questions to discuss with their parents and prayer.

The course encourages communication. It is all about children building their faith and relationships with their parents, pastor, mentors, leaders and the congregation.

Course can work in many situations

Grow Disciples is easily adapted to suit whatever group size, location, frequency of lessons and ability of leaders you may have.

Trinity holds sessions Wednesdays after school for about 90 minutes, studying one lesson each week. Along with Pastor Murray Smith, we have four groups of two leaders each, which helps share the workload, brings different perspectives to lessons and gives the kids a chance to build relationships with more congregational members. We are also planning a families’ and mentors’ lunch once a term.

What are some of the benefits?

We are still very young with our journey but already are seeing an eagerness in students to actively participate in discussion and Bible reading and to ask some really thought-provoking questions.

Grow Disciples is a great tool to share our faith with the next generation and to walk beside them as they learn to grow their faith in our Lord. What a blessing! Thanks be to God.

Jono Graetz is a member of Trinity Bordertown, in South Australia. 

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Sharing grace through community despite COVID cancellation

St John’s Unley had a Christmas Tree Festival planned for December 2020. COVID restrictions in SA in November forced them to cancel. Instead, they joined a local community market to sell the plants, produce, food and craft that had already been made. Their help grew as they raised $1666.79 for the ALWS Grace Project – to support 64 refugee children at school for a year!

Add your support and help more kids to go to school.

Go to www.alws.org.au/what-you-can-do/donate/?c=the-grace-project to donate or phone 1300 763 407.

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God is at work through his people

by Tania Nelson

Are you worried about our church because congregations are shrinking or even closing, while others are without a pastor? And what about the people who may miss out on hearing the gospel because of these trends?

Despite our fears, God is at work in our church and our communities. There are green shoots of growth in his kingdom. These include new congregations being planted by people like Jacob and Kate in Canberra, and Matt and Becca in Rockingham, Western Australia.

Meet our church planters

Jacob and Kate moved from Adelaide to Canberra for work in 2013 – the year they were married. They have been involved in Immanuel Woden Valley’s journey as a sending church and Jacob co-led the congregation’s first missional community. He is now employed by their church while completing theological studies. A statistician, Kate is also a member of the LCA’s Committee for New and Renewing Churches.

Jacob says: ‘Canberra has the second-highest percentage of non-religious people in Australia – imagine what would change if more people experienced the love and hope we receive from Christ.’

Matt and Becca are newly married and live in a growing WA area. With a background in youth and young adult ministry, Matt is completing his Master of Theology through Australian Lutheran College and working with Rockingham Mandurah Lutheran Church in their church planting journey. Student Becca is a gifted violinist and enjoys joining Matt in ministry.

Matt says: ‘Did you know 1.2 million West Australians don’t know the gospel of Jesus? Church planting is the best way to change that.’

Your support can make a difference

They can’t do this alone though – they need your support to bring love to life in new places, in new ways, to new people. That’s why you’ll soon hear in your congregation how to share in this exciting outreach through Local Mission’s appeal.

Your prayers and donations will enable:

  • A congregation like yours to be supported in missional training
  • A church planter to be mentored by a team member from the LCA/NZ’s New and Renewing Churches department
  • A sending church to receive a grant to support the fledgling church plant

What else can your support do?

As well as enabling our LCA/NZ church planters to share the good news of God’s amazing love, your prayers and gifts support the vital mission work of Cross-Cultural Ministry, Ministry with the Ageing, Grow Ministries and Lutheran Media.

Dr Tania Nelson is the LCA/NZ’s Executive Officer – Local Mission.

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New website showcases mission opportunities

www.newandrenewingchurches.org.au  

New and Renewing Churches has a new website. A department of LCA/NZ Local Mission, New and Renewing Churches serves the kingdom of God by supporting church planting and missional renewal. Executive Officer – Local Mission Dr Tania Nelson says: ‘We desire to go as God’s people and form missional communities and congregations across Australia and New Zealand. We know that God’s love comes to life when God’s people grow in his grace and go out into the world with his love. Will you join us?’

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Easter an opportunity to share hope

Why does a society, that probably now identifies as predominantly non-Christian, still celebrate Easter? What is Easter really about? If you’ve ever asked, been asked or thought about that question, a video discussion between Pastor Noel Due, Celia Fielke and Pastor Richard Fox may help.

Go to www.messagesofhope/easter to watch the six-minute video. There is also a one-minute video entitled ‘What is Easter about?’, as well as podcasts and booklets to help you contemplate and share the message of Easter with others. For more on Lutheran Media ministries, read the adjacent stories.

There’s plenty for the kids

You can also invite children to know more about Easter (www.happyland.com.au). There’s an online Easter calendar with Easter ‘eggs’ to open which contain activities and videos about Easter. There’s also a small booklet, ‘The Easter Story’, that you can order. There are five-minute videoed children’s messages available, too.

What they say about Lutheran Media programs …

‘Just wanted to encourage you all! Your program with messages of hope is great! Keep up the wonderful work. I heard the program with a lady interviewing another lady about her daughter killed by a driver and her forgiveness process. Excellent!’ – Lindsay

You can watch the ‘Healing the Jagged Edges’ video of the interview Lindsay is referring to at www.messagesofhope.org.au

Lutheran Media’s outreach ministries are changing people’s lives by bringing the gospel to them. You can support them at www.lutheranmedia.org.au/support-us/donations/ or by phoning 1800 353 350.

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More than 900 ways to be God’s voice of love

by Anne Hansen

A table was set out in the church with a variety of tracts – bookmarks, text cards, leaflets. A woman had been standing there for some time just looking at one particular text card containing a Bible verse. I went over to her to see if I could help or encourage her to take it, when she said: ‘This verse is just what I needed – can I take it to display at my home to remind me that God does love me?’

How often do we see a Bible verse or a message or reflection that comes to us just when we need it? That’s the Spirit of God working to comfort us, to give us peace and healing, and to restore our souls. Many Lutheran Tract Mission (LTM) resources can be used to speak to people and be given to them ‘at just the right time’. Be God’s messenger of love sharing Bible verses and thoughts with those who come to our hearts and minds.

LTM has more than 900 resources to be used for every occasion. Among them are new Easter and Lenten tracts to share with friends, family and neighbours, enabling us to be God’s voice of love this Easter. Check out the website: www.ltm.org.au

Anne Hansen is LTM Development Officer.

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Reaching out – together

by Richard Fox

Bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to people is not a solo exercise. As a church, we have opportunities to partner together to make a big difference in many lives.

Your support enables the mission of Lutheran Media. This work shares Jesus’ message of hope through many resources – from radio spots, videos, booklets and online children’s ministry, to live-streamed church services, worship life CDs and DVDs, study guides, Scripture calendars and cards. Together we reach many more people than we could do on our own. Partnering with you through your prayers, encouragement and donations helps bring the gospel to millions of people. Some whose lives have been changed are now supporting Lutheran Media so that more people can hear this life-giving news. God calls us to give generously to the mission of his kingdom.

Support Lutheran Media and access life-changing resources at www.lutheranmedia.org.au or by calling 1800 353 350.

Pastor Richard Fox is Director of Lutheran Media.

 

Ministries ‘encourage, challenge and bless’

‘We listened to Pastor Richard’s message broadcast by our local radio station and thank him for his encouraging and challenging words.’ – Ken and Danuta

‘Keep up the wonderful work in the digital space, providing confessional/biblical truths to a post-modern Australian society!’ – Nathan

‘We thank you for the [worship] service provided and pray that you can continue to reach many people for Christ.’ – Rodney

‘Thank you for the blessings you bring to so many every day … Would you kindly forward the Chronic Pain booklet to my daughter as I hope it will help her.’ – Kaye

‘Thank you for the CDs. I am not computer-literate. I pray this pandemic will turn the people to Jesus. Keep up the good work you are doing.’ – Joy

‘I really appreciated your newsletter, you are doing amazing work.’  – Peter

 

New video deals with grief and hope

When Annette’s daughter died tragically, she felt trapped and lost in her grief. ‘The first year after Elise died was bad enough, but the second year was worse. I was bitter and I was twisted. I knew that I needed to do something’, she says. Watch Annette’s story and her struggle to find hope and freedom in the new video ‘Healing the Jagged Edges’ at www.youtube.com/messagesofhope

For more about dealing with grief, go to www.messagesofhope.org.au/grief

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Prayer the focus for Lent

by Anne Hansen

Our Christmas season is now over – the Christ-child promised to us has been sent by God to save us. Now we move forward 33 years to this promise coming to fruition as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ journeys to the cross.

Lent begins on 17 February with Ash Wednesday. This begins the 40 days – excluding Sundays – of walking to the cross with Jesus. Lutheran Tract Mission has produced another Lenten devotional for this year focusing on prayer. Prayer was very important to Jesus. It was a time he could talk to his Father to receive strength for his ministry and for all that lay ahead of him. Jesus used prayer not only to seek his Father’s help for himself but also for his disciples, others touched by his ministry and even us!

The new Lenten devotional ‘Hear our prayer’ by Lutheran Tract Mission is downloadable at www.ltm.org.au to be read as a flipbook on your electronic device or can be printed in booklet form. We encourage congregations to print them off for their members and as an outreach, adding church service times to the back!

May your lives be blessed through this Lenten season – Lord, hear our prayer.

Anne Hansen is Lutheran Tract Mission Development Officer.

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Conferences to capture God’s mission vision

by Craig Heidenreich

If your heart longs to see Jesus honoured in our society, then the ‘New Horizons: bridging cultures with the gospel’ conference is for you.

Hosted by the New & Renewing Churches and Cross-Cultural Ministry departments of LCA/NZ Local Mission, the conference will be held as a series of state-based events over the next 18 months.

The first two are locked in, so if you are in South Australia or Queensland, save the following dates:

  • Adelaide – 13 and 14 Feb
  • Brisbane – 13 and 14 March.

Our Lord’s statement that ‘the harvest is ripe’ rings in our ears and if you hear it too, please pray about joining us to capture his vision for 2021. Our heart is to find practical ways we can reach out and express his love and his message of hope.

For more information, go to www.lca.org.au/new-horizons

Craig Heidenreich is LCA/NZ Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator.

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Support for fundraising efforts

by Tania Nelson

From cake stalls to quiz nights, from car boot sales to stamp cleaning, congregations across the LCA/NZ have raised millions of dollars for their communities. What a blessing fundraising can be, as awareness is raised for a cause, funds are generated for a community project and people come together to improve the lot of others.

The new New and Renewing Churches website features a fundraising toolkit, so please check it out. Perhaps your congregation will accept the challenge to raise funds so that the gospel can be shared across Australia and New Zealand through our church plants and sending churches.

Elsewhere on the website, we invite you to take a look at what else the New and Renewing Churches department of LCA/NZ Local Mission can offer your congregation. For example, you can browse our ‘store’ and see what Renew Mission Life is all about. May God bless your participation in the Spirit’s work a hundred-fold!

For more information go to www.newandrenewingchurches.org.au

Tania Nelson is the LCA/NZ’s Executive Officer – Local Mission.

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