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Child sex abuse redress applications update

by Lisa McIntosh

In the first year after being accepted into the Australian National Redress Scheme for people who have experienced child sexual abuse in institutional settings, 21 applications have been made to the scheme for redress by the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA).

The LCA/NZ’s Professional Standards Manager Tim Ross said of the first 21 applications made, 10 offers of redress had been made to applicants by 11 January, with a total of $767,000 in monetary payments being offered. Three applications for redress by the LCA have so far been declined by the scheme but could yet be appealed, while eight applications were still under consideration as of 11 January this year. Mr Ross said applications could be made to the scheme for redress up until 30 June 2027.

Executive Officer of the Church Peter Schirmer said the LCA’s participation in the scheme was part of its commitment to support those who have experienced child sexual abuse in our church. ‘Protecting the most vulnerable members of our communities is of paramount importance as we endeavour to follow Christ’s example of love, care and compassion’, Mr Schirmer said.

Meanwhile, the LCA/NZ’s Child Protection Project Team draft LCA Child Safety Standards for Congregations will be moving to a consultation phase from early this year.

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Ordination joy despite lockdown

Despite a COVID-19 lockdown forcing a last-minute change of plans, Stanley Roberts was ordained in unique circumstances as a Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) at Papunya in the Northern Territory late last year.

LCA/NZ Bishop John Henderson had planned to conduct the ordination on 22 November at the Indigenous community 240 kilometres west of Alice Springs, but a snap lockdown announced in South Australia a few days earlier prevented him leaving Adelaide.

However, local leaders decided to proceed, with Finke River Mission (FRM) fieldworker Pastor Paul Traeger ordaining and installing Stanley to his new roles. Pastor Stanley will serve as SMP for Papunya and the Pintupi-Luritja language area. It is believed to be the first time in the LCA that an SMP has ordained another SMP. More than 200 people attended the service held at the local school basketball court due to the church having been damaged by a fire. After a procession of pastors and evangelists, Papunya Pastor Graham Poulson opened the service, conducted a baptism and preached, while Pastor Stanley led the communion liturgy after his ordination.

Pastor Stanley, 45, is the son of the late Pastor Murphy Roberts, who 38 years ago became one of the first Pintupi-Luritja pastors ordained. While his father did not live to see Stanley ordained, one relative who did was a local pastor, who sadly died suddenly just four days later. Pastor Stanley said later: ‘He must have been waiting for me’.

Pastor Stanley was also presented with the late Pastor Max Stollznow’s robe. Pastor Max was serving as FRM Support Worker and pastor at Papunya when Murphy Roberts was ordained.

A former community night patrol worker, Pastor Stanley finished that role in 2019 to concentrate on ministry duties, having completed the FRM pastors’ curriculum. He is married to Sheila and has four children.

– reporting by Pastor Paul Traeger

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Lutheran study centre opens in Indonesia

A long-held hope of the Lutheran churches of Indonesia was realised late last year with the opening of the Luther Study Centre (LSC) in Pemetangsiantar in North Sumatra.

The centre was opened on 1 December with members of the Indonesian churches joined online by friends and partners from around the world. While COVID robbed participants of the chance to celebrate this milestone in person, the LCA/NZ’s Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission, Pastor Matt Anker, said it didn’t hinder the sense of enthusiasm and joy for what the new centre represents.

‘In recent years there has been an awakening among the churches we partner within Indonesia’, he said. ‘Key leaders have come to realise that, despite their historic connections to the Lutheran confession, their church bodies have often strayed from distinctive Lutheran teachings on sin and grace.

‘Recognising that this has the potential to rob people of the comfort of the gospel and the certainty of salvation through faith in Christ, they called out for help and LCA International Mission is privileged to be one of the partners who has been able to respond. The LSC is primarily about strengthening their understanding and practice of theology that rightly distinguishes law and gospel, and that points people to the completed work of Christ on the cross.’

Rev Basa Hutabarat, the executive secretary of the National Committee of LWF churches in Indonesia said, ‘Our expectation is that the LSC will offer a program in Lutheran doctrine that will be compulsory for all theological students. Even teachers in Lutheran schools should take this program. From this doctrine we understand and know the relevance of Lutheran theology for our Christian life.’

In addition to providing financial support for the LSC, LCA International Mission is partnering with Australian Lutheran College (ALC) to provide both in-person and online seminars led by ALC faculty which will be offered through the LSC.

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ALC becomes a calling body

The Australian Lutheran College (ALC) Board of Directors is now a calling body of the LCA/NZ.

The General Church Board (GCB) has approved the change, which is purely procedural, after a request by the ALC Board. Past practice has been for GCB, on the college’s behalf, to call all ALC teaching staff. This arrangement came from the time when the college council was a ‘committee’ of the church. More recently, as an incorporated entity, ALC has its own governance board, which requires a change to the calling arrangement to make it consistent with wider practice in the LCA/NZ.

Before making its decision, GCB conducted an extensive inquiry with ALC’s Board of Directors, satisfying itself that the request:

  • Aligns with the rules and practices of the LCA/NZ
  • Will assist ALC in fulfilling its charter to serve the church through the implementation of its Strategic Direction (2017–2022)
  • Will not adversely affect any ALC staff currently serving under a call.

In approving the request, GCB asked the ALC Board to reissue current GCB calls as ALC calls. The LCA/NZ will be advised of the calls using the normal church processes.

The call to the ALC principal continues unchanged as a call issued by GCB.

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LCA farewells pastoral nursing pioneer

Mrs Lynette Wiebusch, the founding president of the Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia (LNAA), has died, aged 79.

The president of LNAA for 10 years after it was founded in 1991, Lynette was responsible for introducing the concept of what is now known as pastoral care nursing to the LCA. She was the Church’s first pastoral care nurse from 1996, serving at both Mount Barker and Dernancourt in South Australia.

She was a founding board member of the ecumenical Australian Faith Community Nurses Association and chaired the board for several years. She was also a founding board member for the global network, Lutheran Parish Nurses International. In 2001 she received the National Health and Medical Research Council’s International Year of Volunteers SA Award for health education and promotion.

Lynette was one of the first three graduates of Luther Seminary’s Graduate Diploma in Theology (Faith Community Nursing) and co-wrote LNAA’s Introduction to Pastoral Care Nursing course. The course was adopted by the Parish Nursing Council of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in the United States as its Distance Education program.

The editor of the LNAA newsletter IN TOUCH from 1992 to 2018, Lynette was named an honorary LNAA Life Member in the LNAA’s awards on International Nurses Day in May this year. The wife of Pastor Robert (Bob) Wiebusch, Lynette died suddenly on 30 November 2020 of a stroke. Her funeral was held on 11 December 2020 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Hope Valley, South Australia.

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Ordination joy despite lockdown

Despite a COVID-19 lockdown forcing a last-minute change of plans, Stanley Roberts was ordained in unique circumstances as a Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) at Papunya in the Northern Territory late last year.

LCA/NZ Bishop John Henderson had planned to conduct the ordination on 22 November at the Indigenous community 240 kilometres west of Alice Springs, but a snap lockdown announced in South Australia a few days earlier prevented him leaving Adelaide.

However, local leaders decided to proceed, with Finke River Mission (FRM) fieldworker Pastor Paul Traeger ordaining and installing Stanley to his new roles. Pastor Stanley will serve as SMP for Papunya and the Pintupi-Luritja language area. It is believed to be the first time in the LCA that an SMP has ordained another SMP. More than 200 people attended the service held at the local school basketball court due to the church having been damaged by a fire. After a procession of pastors and evangelists, Papunya Pastor Graham Poulson opened the service, conducted a baptism and preached, while Pastor Stanley led the communion liturgy after his ordination.

Pastor Stanley, 45, is the son of the late Pastor Murphy Roberts, who 38 years ago became one of the first Pintupi-Luritja pastors ordained. While his father did not live to see Stanley ordained, one relative who did was a local pastor, who sadly died suddenly just four days later. Pastor Stanley said later: ‘He must have been waiting for me’.

Pastor Stanley was also presented with the late Pastor Max Stollznow’s robe. Pastor Max was serving as FRM Support Worker and pastor at Papunya when Murphy Roberts was ordained.

A former community night patrol worker, Pastor Stanley finished that role in 2019 to concentrate on ministry duties, having completed the FRM pastors’ curriculum. He is married to Sheila and has four children.

– reporting by Pastor Paul Traeger

 

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Church planter to take on local mission role

Church planter Nathan Hedt will be LCA/NZ’s next Pastor for New and Renewing Churches.

Pastor Nathan, who has served the Lakeside church plant at Pakenham in outer suburban Melbourne for the past six years, will take up the role early in 2021. He succeeds Rev Dr Noel Due, who is retiring after being in the position since January 2018 and having been a mentor to Pastor Nathan.

Pastor Nathan will remain based in Melbourne for his new post, which also includes managing the New and Renewing Churches Department of the LCA/NZ’s Local Mission office. While he will be sad to leave Pakenham, he believes God has been preparing him for the new challenge.

‘I think God’s been shaping me towards a role like this for a while’, he said. ‘The church-planting experience is really difficult but is also incredibly joyful and has been really good in shaping me towards this. My heart of an evangelist which wants people to hear and understand the good news for themselves is important in this. And I think also I have an ability to teach and to convey some of the excitement and the content about evangelism and church planting.’

LCA/NZ Executive Officer for Local Mission Dr Tania Nelson said she was excited to have Pastor Nathan join the team in a fulltime capacity.

‘I know God has been at work developing in Nathan the skills required for furthering and inspiring the church-planting movement in the LCA/NZ’, she said. ‘He comes to us with a heart for God’s mission, a good understanding of church planting in action, membership of the former interim Board for Local Mission and the current Committee for New and Renewing Churches and post-grad studies in mission.’

She also paid tribute to Pastor Noel’s service. ‘Noel has been an integral part of the growth in the LCA’s church-planting movement’, she said. ‘He has been a coach, trainer and pastor to many. We thank God for his pastoral care, his theological insights, his wise shepherding and wonderful contribution to local mission resources.’

Married to Yvette with three young adult daughters, Pastor Nathan was ordained as a pastor in the LCA in December 2003. He served Nambour parish on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast from 2004 to 2008, before becoming Pastor for Tertiary and Youth Ministry for the Victoria-Tasmania District from 2008 to 2014.

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Lutheran response to SA abortion bill

The LCA/NZ’s Lutherans for Life (LFL) last month responded to the new ‘Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2020’ which has been before the South Australian parliament, with a public statement and call to action for the church.

Introduced into South Australia’s Legislative Council by Human Services Minister the Hon Michelle Lensink in October, it sought to remove abortion from SA’s criminal legislation, instead treating it as a health issue.

However, the LFL response says ‘the detail of the bill tells a different story’.

‘Currently in South Australia abortion is available until a maximum cut off of 28 weeks gestation with the agreement of two doctors, or after that to save the life of the mother’, LFL says. ‘This new bill allows for abortion on request until 22 weeks and 6 days, and after that if two doctors consider it “medically appropriate”. In this latter category no upper time limit is given, nor is the term “medically appropriate” defined … the extension of abortion effectively up until birth … will enable abortion of viable babies who would otherwise be capable of being born alive and living independently of their mothers.’

LFL, which is accountable to the church through the Commission on Social and Bioethical Questions, also called on all LCA/NZ members to pray and for those in South Australia to contact their local member of parliament about the bill.

‘We encourage all members of our Church to pray that our society is moved to the conviction that all life is sacred and so in need of protection’, the response says.

The full response is available from the Lutherans for Life website at www.lutheransforlife.lca.org.au

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Trio of honours for The Lutheran

The Lutheran has received three honours in the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) awards.

Our churchwide magazine took out the gold award in the Best Feature Multiple Author category and a bronze award in the Best Headline category. The Lutheran was also highly commended in the Publication of the Year category, which was won by NZ Catholic newspaper. Also highly commended was Eternity news service and magazine, published by Bible Society of Australia, which took out ARPA’s premier annual honour, The Gutenberg Award. The Lutheran won The Gutenberg Award in 2011.

The Lutheran received its gold award for a feature package published in the December 2019 edition under the theme ‘A God of Second Chances’.

The judges said: ‘The vulnerability of these features demonstrates the high degree of trust the subjects of each story have in The Lutheran. These are stories of broken lives transformed by God’s love. The stories engage and move the readers, reminding us of our own brokenness and the power of a church in action at the coal face.

‘This feature is honest, vulnerable, raw and invitational’, they said. ‘God is alive today, intervening in individual lives, enabling people no matter what their past, to be reconciled and look to a new beginning.’ The judges congratulated editor Lisa McIntosh for framing the feature in her ‘wonderful opening letter’. The bronze award was received for Lisa’s clever headline ‘Taking hay while the sun shines’, which was published in March 2019 on a story about Lutheran farmers making hay runs to help others doing it tough during times of drought.

Linda Macqueen, LCA Communications Manager and former editor of The Lutheran, is delighted to see our church’s magazine continuing to thrive and serve the people of the LCA/NZ under Lisa’s editorship. ‘Lisa’s extensive talents and sheer hard work combine to create a gift of grace and excellence for our church every month’, Linda said. ‘It’s a huge accolade to win the top award in the hotly contested category of Feature Package. To also be one of only two magazines to be highly commended for Publication of Year is something we can all be proud of.’

ARPA is an ecumenical Christian communication network for Australian and New Zealand print and online publications and their editors, journalists, designers and contributors. It has a membership of more than 80 publications, as well as individual members and publication staff members.

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Church planter to take on local mission role

Church planter Nathan Hedt will be LCA/NZ’s next Pastor for New and Renewing Churches.

Pastor Nathan, who has served the Lakeside church plant at Pakenham in outer suburban Melbourne for the past six years, will take up the role early in 2021. He succeeds Rev Dr Noel Due, who is retiring after being in the position since January 2018 and having been a mentor to Pastor Nathan.

Pastor Nathan will remain based in Melbourne for his new post, which also includes managing the New and Renewing Churches Department of the LCA/NZ’s Local Mission office. While he will be sad to leave Pakenham, he believes God has been preparing him for the new challenge.

‘I think God’s been shaping me towards a role like this for a while’, he said. ‘The church-planting experience is really difficult but is also incredibly joyful and has been really good in shaping me towards this. My heart of an evangelist which wants people to hear and understand the good news for themselves is important in this. And I think also I have an ability to teach and to convey some of the excitement and the content about evangelism and church planting.’

LCA/NZ Executive Officer for Local Mission Dr Tania Nelson said she was excited to have Pastor Nathan join the team in a fulltime capacity.

‘I know God has been at work developing in Nathan the skills required for furthering and inspiring the church-planting movement in the LCA/NZ’, she said. ‘He comes to us with a heart for God’s mission, a good understanding of church planting in action, membership of the former interim Board for Local Mission and the current Committee for New and Renewing Churches and post-grad studies in mission.’

She also paid tribute to Pastor Noel’s service. ‘Noel has been an integral part of the growth in the LCA’s church-planting movement’, she said. ‘He has been a coach, trainer and pastor to many. We thank God for his pastoral care, his theological insights, his wise shepherding and wonderful contribution to local mission resources.’

Married to Yvette with three young adult daughters, Pastor Nathan was ordained as a pastor in the LCA in December 2003. He served Nambour parish on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast from 2004 to 2008, before becoming Pastor for Tertiary and Youth Ministry for the Victoria-Tasmania District from 2008 to 2014.

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