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New leader for Lutheran Media

Dr Tania Nelson is the new manager of Lutheran Media.

Tania, who has served as the LCANZ’s Executive Officer – Local Mission since August 2016, succeeded Pastor Richard Fox at the helm of the multi-media ministry outreach arm of the church last month. Richard, who led Lutheran Media for 11 years, has returned to parish ministry, at Glynde in South Australia.

Tania’s appointment was announced by LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith in late August.

The first woman and the first lay person to hold the role, she applied for the manager’s position because she had ‘long believed that Lutheran Media is a vital mission-focused ministry of the LCANZ’.

‘It just makes sense to me to utilise media, in all its many forms, to reach people with the saving message of God’s gracious love for us’, she said after her appointment. ‘I feel that God is calling me to play a role in this wonderful outreach ministry.

‘I am so excited, and incredibly humbled, to step into the large shoes of the many people who have grown Lutheran Media to what it is today.

‘Lutheran Media has had an amazing and unique history, beginning in its early days via the radio waves and extending now to a variety of social media platforms. I still recall the deep and soothing voice of Emeritus President Rev Dr Lance Steicke bringing words of encouragement to listeners, as I played the Face to Face cartridges in the Mount Gambier community radio studio where I volunteered in the 1980s.

‘I thank the former directors of Lutheran Media, and particularly outgoing director Pastor Richard Fox, for leading and building Lutheran Media to a place where millions can hear messages of hope of a loving and saving God. I’m looking forward to working with the excellent Lutheran Media staff team, and discerning where God is calling us in this next phase of our God’s mission work.’

Bishop Paul said he was thankful to God ‘for the seven years of Christian service Tania has given to our church’s work in her leadership in the department for Local Mission’.

‘She has an overflowing joyful passion for the witness of God’s people to the world’, he said. ‘Now she “moves sideways” to her new role with Lutheran Media in the same cause of bringing Christ to the nations. (Pastor Richard) can rest in the good report that the ministry of Lutheran Media will be in the hands of a faithful co-worker in the gospel. Please join me in praising God that Tania has offered her gifts for this work of our church.’

During her tenure as the LCANZ’s head of Local Mission, Tania has provided strategic oversight of Care Ministries, Grow Ministries, Cross-Cultural Ministry, New and Renewing Churches and Lutheran Media. She also implemented the General Synod decision to bring the boards for Lutheran Aged Care Australia, Lutheran Media Ministry and Child Youth and Family Ministry and the interim Board for Local Mission into what is now known as the Council for Local Mission.

Prior to taking on the executive officer role, the former teacher was the Head of School of Theological Studies and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Australian Lutheran College (ALC). Tania is also a casual academic at ALC this year, teaching a unit in the college’s higher education program.

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Way Forward team completes evaluation of submissions

During July and August around 50 members of the Way Forward team and working groups devoted many hours to evaluating 60 submissions received from church members from across the LCANZ.

The submissions were assessed against key criteria set by the General Church Board (GCB) and the College of Bishops (CoB), including the extent to which they met the intent of the General Synod resolution for ‘one church with two ordination practices’.

‘This was not an easy process, as the working groups assessing the submissions consist of people with different experiences, backgrounds and views’, said Stella Thredgold, director of the Way Forward project. ‘But the effort was worth it, as the best outcomes are reached from the benefit of diverse perspectives.

‘The teams have worked together to discuss some challenging aspects and differing opinions, resulting in agreement through compromise, respect and openness. This shows that diverse views do not need to be an impediment to unity and commitment to a shared goal.’

Stella said that, overall, the submissions demonstrated a good understanding of the challenging issues confronting the church at this time and provided helpful insights and frameworks for how these issues might be addressed.

‘The team sends a heartfelt thankyou to everyone who contributed a submission and also to the many people who sent words of encouragement and suggestions for how the process could be improved’, she said. ‘Be assured that we are taking your feedback on board as we all work towards a united church in which people are respected as brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of their personal views on ordination.’

GCB and CoB met in person in mid-August, dedicating four hours to the Way Forward project, including reviewing progress to date and providing guidance and leadership for the next phases. They also noted that a pastoral care plan has been developed and that a major communication to congregations was planned for late September.

For more information go to: www.lca.org.au/wayforward

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Bishops call for day of prayer, church unity

The LCANZ bishops have called on the people of the church to set aside Sunday 8 October for a churchwide day of prayer focusing on the unity of the church. This is a significant day as it is just a year from the 2024 Convention of General Synod.

At the in-person sessions of the 2021–23 Convention of General Synod, the General Church Board and College of Bishops were asked to consider possible ways forward in the decades-long ordination debate. The Way Forward project is working to develop a framework whereby the LCANZ could function as one church with two different practices of ordination. It is intended that this proposal will be brought to the 2024 Convention of General Synod, 4–7 October 2024.

‘Across the church’, said LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith, ‘there are sisters and brothers in Christ of our Lutheran communities who are working together in the Way Forward project to guide our church to consider what is required for us to properly address what has been asked for by the resolution of General Synod.

‘We are asking the entire church to pray for these sisters and brothers, our leaders, and everyone who is affected by these conversations. We are calling for focused churchwide prayer on Sunday 8 October, and for ongoing prayer in the congregations and households of the church.

‘The prophet Zechariah declares a promise of our gracious God, “They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’.”’ (Zechariah 13).

Congregations have been asked to mark 8 October on their calendars for the churchwide Call to Prayer, while ongoing prayer on this matter throughout October and beyond is also encouraged. Worship orders, including the Call to Prayer elements, are available on the Worship Planning Page at www.lca.org.au/wpp

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SA–NT District bishop installed

Pastor Andrew Brook was installed as the new Bishop of the South Australia – Northern Territory District of the LCANZ on 3 September in a service at Concordia College in suburban Adelaide.

Installed by LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith, Bishop Andrew was elected unopposed at the district’s Convention of Synod at Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide in May.

He has succeeded Bishop David Altus, who did not seek re-election after 13 years in the role and who had been acting as ‘caretaker bishop’ since the convention.

Bishop Andrew has been lead pastor at St John’s Lutheran Church at Unley in South Australia since 2017, prior to that serving in the Victoria–Tasmania District at Burnie–Devonport, Tasmania, and Good Shepherd, Ringwood, and St Paul’s Box Hill, both in suburban Melbourne. He also served as the Victoria–Tasmania District Pastor for Child, Youth, Tertiary and Family Ministry and was a tertiary chaplain at the University of Melbourne, and pastor to the student congregation meeting at St John’s Southgate, in central Melbourne.

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Lutheran artists prepare and share a visual feast

Lutheran artists from across Australia have prepared and shared a visual feast for the senses in this year’s LCANZ Simultaneous Art Exhibition 2023.

Exhibitions were held in August in a variety of settings, including an office foyer, a studio gallery, a Lutheran school and at least seven churches. Participants based in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia interpreted the theme ‘Come to the Banquet’ using a wide range of artistic styles and media.

It was the third churchwide art showcase, with previous simultaneous exhibitions held in 2021 and 2022. Contributing artists ranged from young schoolchildren to elderly retirees.

The exhibition at St John’s Lutheran Church in Perth celebrated its diverse community, with displays highlighting a different continent each weekend, while retired secondary teacher Naomi Zanker staged a solo exhibition in her studio gallery in Nhill, Victoria, with works underpinned by Bible texts including: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:6).

At St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Sydney, the exhibition contained works by congregation members as well as those created by participants in a school holiday art workshop, while at St Peter’s at Port Macquarie, members and friends of the church shared their work.

In South Australia, exhibitions were held at the LCANZ Churchwide Office and Immanuel Lutheran Church in North Adelaide, suburban Glynde Lutheran Church, St Mark’s Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, St Petri Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley and Loxton Lutheran School in the Riverland. The exhibitions at Mount Barker and Nuriootpa also included participants from local Lutheran schools. Members of the multiethnic community at Glynde traversed an expansive list of artistic media, including ‘Mukimono’ or vegetable carving, papier-mâché, calligraphy, collage, appliqué, knitting, sewing, drawing, painting and photography. They also may have featured the largest work of the churchwide event – an 8-metre-wide exhibit by Paul Schubert entitled ‘The Last Supper’, which stretched the width of the church hall.

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LCA’s treasured hymnbook turns 50

A fixture in many homes and churches across the LCANZ, the Lutheran Hymnal turns 50 this month.

Authorised by the Lutheran Church of Australia and first published by Lutheran Publishing House in October 1973, the treasured and popular volume of hymns, liturgy, prayers, worship orders and information, was into its second edition by June 1974 and its first reprint by 1980.

Among the events and celebrations marking the anniversary was a Friends of Lutheran Archives gathering at North Adelaide in late August. ‘United in song – the story behind the Lutheran Hymnal (1973)’, the meeting featured ALC pastoral studies student Jacob Fabich as guest speaker and Andrew Ampt as organist to lead the hymn singing.

The event showcased the history of the hymnal, including why a new hymnbook was needed in place of one published in 1922; the fact it took 22 years to produce, with work beginning across the two synods 15 years before the birth of the LCA; the people responsible for its development; and the church’s reaction to what was the biggest publishing venture the LCA has ever undertaken.

The meeting’s program was live-streamed and can be accessed online at the Friends of Lutheran Archives YouTube channel.

In Canberra, the Lutheran Hymnal’s birthday was to be marked at Hymnfest on 30 September at St Peter’s Lutheran Church at Reid.

Organised in collaboration with the Royal School of Church Music, the event was planned to include a choir and a performance by Sydney city organist Robert Ampt, brother of well-known Adelaide organist Andrew Ampt.

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Trans-Tasman treasures join Australian archive

With a total weight of almost a tonne and measuring more than 30 linear metres, a precious collection of documents, books, magazines, audio-visual items and photographs that tell the story of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand across 180 years were officially ‘welcomed’ to Lutheran Archives in Adelaide on Saturday 8 July.

The 180 boxes of historical material from the New Zealand district and its congregations left Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa (the National Library of New Zealand) in Wellington earlier this year to join what is now the LCANZ’s churchwide archives.

The ceremony to officially acknowledge the arrival of records and to introduce and bless them was held in NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week and Kaurna elder Uncle Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien performed the Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony. LCNZ Bishop Emeritus Mark Whitfield, a member of the fifth generation of Lutherans in Aotearoa New Zealand, gave an introduction and led a blessing of the three-pallet load of records, noting that they hold taonga (treasure in te reo Māori language), both historical and spiritual – sacred even.

‘As we commended the taonga of our history as church in Aotearoa to its safe journey to Australia, we acknowledged that our story in Aotearoa is part of God’s whole story with his creation and his people from the beginning of time’, Bishop Emeritus Mark said. ‘It is a story of grace and love, most beautifully demonstrated in Ihu Karaiti, his Son, Jesus Christ. As our archival material has been recorded and preserved over these past 180 years and now as it resides here in Kaurna land, we pray that it will serve to keep alive the memory of the church in Aotearoa and the work God has done in and through it.’

Lutheran Archives Director Rachel Kuchel and LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith committed the Lutheran church in Australia to preserve the precious stories entrusted to it.

‘Thank you to New Zealand Lutherans who have entrusted their records to Lutheran Archives’, Rachel said. ‘We will continue to preserve these records and will undertake indexing, cataloguing and digitisation on them so that they will be accessible for generations to come.

‘When we look at the records of our church, we can be encouraged that our congregations and ministries do not exist in isolation, and see all the wonderful and diverse ways that God blesses us and works through us as the LCANZ.’

Bishop Paul said the archived materials are ‘precious story from the mission of God at work amongst the Lutheran people in Aotearoa’. ‘We commit ourselves to watch over what has been handed into our custody, and we appreciate that these archival records tell a specific story – of faithfulness to God and of God’s faithfulness to us.’

The Alexander Turnbull Library (which holds non-government archival material) had been the custodian of the collection since 1976, but the LCNZ archive had always remained the property of the church. Almost four years ago, the LCNZ Synod voted to send this collection to Lutheran Archives so that the history of Lutherans in New Zealand and Australia would be able to be told side-by-side.

A Poroporoakī (sending) was held on 19 January at the National Library and the records were received at Lutheran Archives on 2 March. The welcome and blessing ceremony on 8 July also included aspects of the Poroporoakī, as well as a song of thanks in te reo Māori, German and English, and prayers and blessings in Māori and English.

In Adelaide, the New Zealand collection is being described, arranged and rehoused by Project Archivist Susan Kreymborg, with support from Collections Archivist Angela Schilling.

The collection will remain accessible to New Zealanders and other international researchers through the Alexander Turnbull Library digital catalogue.

– Lisa McIntosh and Rosie Schefe

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Trans-Tasman treasures join Australian archive

With a total weight of almost a tonne and measuring more than 30 linear metres, a precious collection of documents, books, magazines, audio-visual items and photographs that tell the story of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand across 180 years were officially ‘welcomed’ to Lutheran Archives in Adelaide on Saturday.

The 180 boxes of historical material from the New Zealand district and its congregations left Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa (the National Library of New Zealand) in Wellington earlier this year to join what is now the LCANZ’s churchwide archives.

The ceremony to officially acknowledge the arrival of records and to introduce and bless them was held in NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week and Kaurna elder Uncle Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien performed the Welcome to Country and smoking ceremony. LCNZ Bishop Emeritus Mark Whitfield, a member of the fifth generation of Lutherans in Aotearoa New Zealand, gave an introduction and led a blessing of the three-pallet load of records, noting that they hold taonga (treasure in te reo Māori language), both historical and spiritual – sacred even.

‘As we commended the taonga of our history as church in Aotearoa to its safe journey to Australia, we acknowledged that our story in Aotearoa is part of God’s whole story with his creation and his people from the beginning of time’, Bishop Emeritus Mark said. ‘It is a story of grace and love, most beautifully demonstrated in Ihu Karaiti, his Son, Jesus Christ. As our archival material has been recorded and preserved over these past 180 years and now as it resides here in Kaurna land, we pray that it will serve to keep alive the memory of the church in Aotearoa and the work God has done in and through it.’

Lutheran Archives Director Rachel Kuchel and LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith committed the Lutheran church in Australia to preserve the precious stories entrusted to it.

‘Thank you to New Zealand Lutherans who have entrusted their records to Lutheran Archives’, Rachel said. ‘We will continue to preserve these records and will undertake indexing, cataloguing and digitisation on them so that they will be accessible for generations to come.

‘When we look at the records of our church, we can be encouraged that our congregations and ministries do not exist in isolation, and see all the wonderful and diverse ways that God blesses us and works through us as the LCANZ.’

Bishop Paul said the archived materials are ‘precious story from the mission of God at work amongst the Lutheran people in Aotearoa’. ‘From this side of the Tasman, we thank God that these treasures of story have arrived safely here in South Australia. We commit ourselves to watch over what has been handed into our custody, and we appreciate that these archival records tell a specific story – of faithfulness to God and of God’s faithfulness to us.’

The Alexander Turnbull Library (which holds non-government archival material) had been the custodian of the collection since 1976, but the LCNZ archive had always remained the property of the church. Almost four years ago, the LCNZ Synod voted to send this collection to Lutheran Archives so that the history of Lutherans in New Zealand and Australia would be able to be told side-by-side.

A Poroporoakī (sending) was held on 19 January at the National Library and the records were received at Lutheran Archives on 2 March. The welcome and blessing ceremony on 8 July also included aspects of the Poroporoakī, as well as a song of thanks in te reo Māori, German and English, and prayers and blessings in Māori and English.

In Adelaide, the New Zealand collection is being described, arranged and rehoused by Project Archivist Susan Kreymborg, with support from Collections Archivist Angela Schilling.

The collection will remain accessible to New Zealanders and other international researchers through the Alexander Turnbull Library digital catalogue.

– Lisa McIntosh and Rosie Schefe

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New bishop for SA-NT District

by Jess Smith

Pastor Andrew Brook was elected unopposed as the next bishop of the South Australia – Northern Territory District at the district’s Convention of Synod at Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide in May.

He will succeed Bishop David Altus who did not seek re-election after 13 years in the role. Pastor Andrew is the lead pastor at St Johns Lutheran Church in suburban Unley and previously served in the Victoria–Tasmania District.

Pastor Adrian Kitson, who serves the congregation of St Petri Nuriootpa, has replaced Pastor Andrew as First Assistant Bishop, while Pastor Joel Cramer, of The Ark Salisbury, continues in his role as Second Assistant Bishop. Both assistant bishops were installed during the May Synod.

The SA–NT Synod approved a new Assistant Bishop for the Northern Territory position, which will be based in Alice Springs to support all ministries within the NT. A call committee will be formed, and it is hoped that a pastor would be called to this role before the end of the year. The District and Finke River Mission have committed to a four-year funding partnership for this position.

It is anticipated that Bishop-elect Andrew will be installed as district bishop in early September. Bishop David has been serving in the role in ‘caretaker mode’ since the convention.

In a message to the district after his election, Bishop-elect Andrew said that, for as long as he could remember, he had wanted to be a pastor.

‘I’m immensely thankful to God for being able to follow this calling’, he said. ‘I feel both excited and daunted as I prepare to serve as your District Bishop. My ordination text encourages me in what I know will be both demanding and fulfilling work: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

‘I also know that God’s power is made perfect in weakness, including mine. That’s a great encouragement for the church as we face significant cultural headwinds. We have the good news that the world needs: the God who created the world and everything in it, who loves us in his Son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross to reconcile us to God, and who through the Holy Spirit calls us to live fully and purposefully in the community of his church. Real grace. Real life. Real community.’

Before taking up the call at Unley in 2017, Bishop-elect Andrew served in five different ministries, including three parishes: Burnie–Devonport in Tasmania, and Good Shepherd, Ringwood, and St Paul’s Box Hill, both in suburban Melbourne. He also served as the Victoria–Tasmania District Pastor for Child, Youth, Tertiary and Family Ministry and was a tertiary chaplain at the University of Melbourne, and pastor to the student congregation meeting in St John’s Southgate, in central Melbourne.

He is married to Jodi, who serves as director of the LCANZ’s Grow Ministries, and they have three adult children, Henri, Emilia and Thomas.

Story courtesy of the LCA SA–NT District

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Members keen to engage with church’s Way Forward

LCANZ members are ‘reflecting deeply’ on the church’s future and are keen to engage with and contribute to its Way Forward project.

The Way Forward project team of Stella Thredgold, Tim Niewand and Tony Vong have been impressed with the engagement of the LCANZ community in developing a positive future. The project team is charged with ensuring project disciplines and management help to deliver a proposal to the next General Synod outlining how the LCANZ could operate as ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’.

After a churchwide call for ‘one church, two practices’ models in June, members made more than 100 submissions to the Way Forward. The project team asked for models that reflected our synodical commitment of ‘walking together’ and that aspire to maintain the unity of the church.

While submissions ranged in detail from fully formulated models to suggestions and ideas, it was clear to the project team that great time, thought, and effort had been invested into each of them. Submissions were received from across the LCA, including lay people, active and emeriti pastors, and congregational teams.

‘As expected, we received submissions representing a wide range of opinions about ordination and about the Synod resolution to explore a framework for “one church, two practices”’, Tim Niewand said. ‘Without exception, however, every submission was proffered with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

‘Every voice across the LCA is valuable and every person has the opportunity to be heard. We are grateful to every person and group of people who made a submission, including those who shared their heartfelt thoughts.’ Regardless of the position people hold on ordination, there is a commitment to grappling with God’s word and earnestly listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church at this time, the project team said.

They said the number of responses received indicates that members of the church are ‘reflecting deeply’ about the way forward. ‘People are having conversations – in their congregations, among their family and friends, and in their social networks’, the project team said. ‘They recognise that the LCA is at a critical juncture, and they are contemplating what the future might look like.’

Criteria for assessing the models are in the process of being developed with input from the broader team supporting the project, including the eight Way Forward working groups and other subject matter experts supporting the project in coordinating the Way Forward response.

The broader team collectively bring broad experience and expertise to the project. As well as providing advice and guidance to the project team on churchwide processes, emerging issues and conflict resolution, they will work with the team and working groups to develop the evaluation framework to guide the selection of a Way Forward model.

The project team has been responding to every submission to acknowledge receipt and offer this in a body of work for assessment and submission to the General Church Board and College of Bishops for consideration. ‘We want the model put to the 2024 General Synod to be one that most people in the church can support in good conscience’, Project Director Stella Thredgold said. ‘We are looking for models that address the General Synod resolution intent and that honours God and respects every person in the church regardless of the position they hold on ordination.’

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