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11

Editor’s letter

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Even though I almost studied accountancy and economics after high school, money management, budgets and finance are not my passion nor my strongest suit (just ask my husband Nigel, or The Lutheran’s Executive Editor, Linda Macqueen).

However, I get excited when I see the good that churches, care and service organisations, charities and schools can do with joyfully given donations or wisely invested or spent funds. What is compelling is the change that can take place in people’s lives as they are given opportunities, hope and self-worth through this investment in them – when teamed with the time and presence of others.

That’s why we, as members of the LCANZ, may give a portion of hard-earned or saved money to New and Renewing Churches, LCA International Mission, Lutheran Media, or ALWS, for example. We want more and more people in our communities, broader societies of Australia and New Zealand and beyond, to come to know Jesus and to know his love for them through practical support.

In any case, we know it’s not ‘our’ money – it’s God’s. But we have the opportunity to ‘pay forward’ his incredible generosity to us.

And this is the ethos that has underpinned 100 years of support by Lutherans in Australia for the LLL. As our church members have backed the Lutheran Laypeople’s League since its inception in 1921, so this rock-solid, reliable organisation has backed us – our congregations, schools, church plants, care communities, camps, publications, projects, resources, refurbishments and local and overseas outreach efforts. The LLL’s current tagline says it all – Finance with a mission.

Today, the LLL has 18,000 depositors, 120 separate borrowing clients and manages 48,000 active client relationships. It has had to adapt to a changing regulatory environment, especially in more recent years, but one thing has never changed – its reason for being. As LLL Board Chair Graeme Huf says, the LLL ‘operates independently of the LCANZ but with the clear purpose of benefitting the church by providing loans for church projects and supporting the LCANZ’s wider ministry and mission through gifts, donations and allocations’.

In the pages to follow, we celebrate and thank God for 100 years of the LLL, reflecting on the broad-ranging impact it has had on the lives of so many people. I pray that you’ll find joy and inspiration in the stories and snippets about this most remarkable ‘member’ of our church family.

You’ll also meet our new LCANZ bishop-elect and read other news from the first-ever online sessions of General Synod. As usual, too, we’re pleased to share devotional materials and information about resources available to support our church family.

God bless your reading,

Lisa

12

What LLL means to me and the church

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John Henderson
LCANZ Bishop

In my teenage years in Canberra, we knew that the LLL would support you in planting the mission of the church, in putting up a building to worship in, in providing a manse for the pastor and keeping the mission of the church going. I always compare the church relationally to a family. And the LLL is a trusted senior part of the family and the support it gives for what the church is – its word and sacrament ministry – has been a very important part of the LCA becoming who it is today. I want to thank the LLL because I can see very little mission drift in the organisation – the way that you articulate your support for the church has remained faithful and true.

Alan Zweck
Former LLL Board member for 30 years

My earliest memories of LLL were of having Ben Koch in our Henty home and his enthusiastic discussions with my father, over 70 years ago. From its beginning, the ‘heart’ of the LLL was – and has continued to be – mission. My Dad was elected to the board in 1950. I was elected when he retired in 1978 until 2008. What a privilege and blessing to have seen, close-up, God’s 1000-fold blessing … in that time!

Jill Lange-Mohr OAM
Lutheran school principal and former LLL Board member

As a child after church, I heard the LLL rep mention ‘earmarked deposits’ – I wondered what marks they’d put on someone’s ear! I would later attend Concordia College Toowoomba, teach at Grace Lutheran College, become founding principal of St Peters Lutheran College Springfield and Head of College at Geelong Lutheran College campuses. All these schools have experienced the benefits of the LLL. From 2005 to 2015, I was honoured to be an LLL Board member. I was astounded by the significant ways the LLL helped the LCA’s mission.

Ev Leske
Long-term account holder and co-editor of LLL’s expanded history, The Challenge of Change

The LLL has been part of my life for as long as I remember. That small LLL passbook helped to build in me a savings culture. [Later,] I experienced its assistance with building the new Enfield church and Faith Lutheran College in Tanunda SA. As a teacher, I appreciated the pastoral care role of LLL’s tract mission, while its sponsorship of Lutheran Education conferences has been significant in engendering an understanding of Lutheran ethos in schools. Happy birthday, LLL!

Jonathan Krause
Community Action Manager, ALWS

What a blessing the LLL has been in supporting our Lutheran Church’s ministry through Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) to people in need! We see this in the grants from LLL Permanent Funds that directly support ALWS bringing love to life for vulnerable people. Meanwhile, in Australia, LLL supports ALWS development education in Lutheran schools. And LLL even steps out in Walk My Way, showing our community that we take seriously following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Tania Nelson
Executive Officer – Local Mission Lutheran Church of Australia

Congratulations LLL! Local Mission thanks God for your mission heart, your ministry-minded stewardship and your financial support of mission across our church. From scholarships for professional development to grants for ministry in multiethnic communities, from church-planting support to enabling resources, from funding for media upgrades to supporting youth-leadership development, we thank God for your generous support. The LLL is such a blessing to the LCANZ. May God continue to bless the LLL into the future.

Aaron Glover
Director LYQ

The LLL has generously supported LYQ ministry (Lutheran Youth of Queensland) and youth ministry across the LCA through grants and sponsorships that have seeded new ministry camps, made training days more accessible for volunteers and helped us to train ministry workers. What I love about the LLL  is its clear missional focus and eagerness to support ministry with young people. I believe that the LLL is God’s gift to the LCA.

13

Helping young people build a sense of belonging

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by Jodi Brook

At Grow Ministries, we often encourage congregations to rethink their ministry to children, young people and their families. But what does ‘rethinking’ ministry involve?

We frequently begin training days with a question: Who or what has influenced your life of faith? Responses often include parents, grandparents, pastors, Sunday school teachers, mentors, friends, Bible studies or Christian camps.

These answers tell us that across decades, geographical locations, and in different sizes of congregations, relationships are among the most important influences on our faith.

We often put energy into programs for children and young people that provide learning and fun but may exclude them from getting to know the wider congregation. Therefore, our rethinking needs to emphasise relationships first and programs second.

So, how can we build relationships with young people in our congregations that help to build connections and a sense of belonging?

Grow Ministries developed 10 Guiding Principles to help efforts in creating effective practices that support ministry to children, young people and their families. This is intergenerational ministry, as it requires the efforts of all generations and brings benefits to all generations.

WHAT ARE THE 10 GUIDING PRINCIPLES?

  1. Leadership – Leaders in homes and congregations have a strong understanding of the nature and practices of effective child, youth and family ministry, and their role within it.
  2. Intergenerational – Meaningful intergenerational church experiences are intentional and valued.
  3. Faith at Home – Faith is integrated into family identity and practice.
  4. Mentoring – Children and young people have multiple adult mentors of vital faith.
  5. Lifelong Faith Formation – Use the NCLS Research framework of church vitality to assess nine core qualities and three attendance measures.
  6. Peer Relationships – Faith formation is encouraged by building Christian relationships through quality, age-specific ministry.
  7. Personal Crisis – People of all ages are engaged in a Christian community that provides support during times of personal crisis.
  8. Gifts and Talents – Opportunities are given to discover and express gifts and talents.
  9. Acts of Service – Opportunities are given to participate in acts of service that show the love of Christ.
  10. Missional – Ministry practices and approaches have a strong missional focus.

Go to www.growministries.org.au/guiding-principles-home/ and click on each principle for ideas and resources.

WHERE SHOULD WE START WITH INTERGENERATIONAL MINISTRY EFFORTS?

Don’t feel like you need to do everything at once. Rather look at the guiding principles list as a menu of opportunities. Think about how God has gifted you and how you could serve a young person in your congregation, family or community.

A great place to start is simply getting to know one person a little better.

Offer to help at youth events, invite a young person to visit your small group. Ask them to speak about how God is working in their lives. Be prepared to share with them also. Become a prayer partner or a pen pal with a young person. May God bless us as we continue to be faithful servants of God’s mission in this world.

Jodi Brook is Director of Grow Ministries.

14

Sharing care and counsel saves lives

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The LCANZ has a long-standing relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia (ELCM) through LCA International Mission. One of the ways the ELCM serves its community is through the Women’s Care & Counselling Centre, which supports pregnant women who may be considering abortions or baby-dumping. Those who serve there share the story of this life-saving ministry.

In the late 1990s, there was a growing need to help young single mothers facing unplanned pregnancies. The fact they were turning to the church for help meant we had to act. The ELCM does not believe in abortion as a solution for family planning, and to put our beliefs into practice, Bishop Emeritus Dr Solomon Rajah moved to set up a safe home for care and counselling.

Established in 2010, the Women’s Care & Counselling Centre (WCCC) is located in Port Klang, southwest of Kuala Lumpur. Under the able care of Deaconess Elizabeth Gopal, it has been a beacon of hope for many women – more than 100 women have seen the kindness of Christ made manifest in their lives.

Deaconess Elizabeth receives pastoral support from Holy Cross Lutheran congregation’s pastor and council, while WCCC also works closely with Malaysia’s national welfare ministry and has a good relationship with local authorities. We are also thankful for the generous gift from Lutheran Women of Australia in support of our diaconal ministry.

Our primary concern is for mothers to be able to have and raise their child without a stigma attached to being a single mother. Therefore, we provide a safe home for them until they are ready to leave. The women are often subjected to violence and abuse, and WCCC is committed to providing security, counselling and exposure to useful skills. We also help with accessing financial aid from government agencies, legal papers and medical and food aid for the care of the babies.

For mothers who choose to give up their baby for adoption, we assist in the legal process to find a good home.

Sadly, baby-dumping still occurs, and we have staff to care for babies while we arrange legal adoptions. Thankfully, however, there have been no recent cases.

Since government COVID-19 restrictions on movement and gatherings were introduced in Malaysia in March 2020, WCCC’s ministries have expanded. These include monthly food assistance to single mothers and their families, transportation for medical care for single women and help for single mothers to procure cheap housing in government projects.

We don’t advertise our services, but WCCC has developed a community presence through activities such as medical camps.

This puts WCCC on the radar of the local medical community, who are often first to encounter pregnant mothers in distress.

In 2021, WCCC has extended its premises to accommodate more women and to provide sufficient space for activities.

God has been good to us, and this ministry is a rich and rewarding experience. We serve our Lord with joy and respect for life.

15

Scattering the light of hope

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Last month Walk My Way Barossa brought 650 walkers together for a common cause – helping to build a brighter, more hopeful future for refugee children through education. We asked Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) Community Action Manager Jonathan Krause to share with us how Walk My Way is scattering the light of hope.

by Jonathan Krause

Walk My Way was born inside a refugee camp in the desert in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 2016.

A group of teachers from Lutheran schools in Australia was there on an ALWS leadership tour. They met people who had lost everything. They saw a bare block of land that in six months our Australian Lutheran family would turn into a school for 2000 children through a partnership with the European Union.

They met Kalsuma, a refugee for 16 years, who fled the war that destroyed her home and farm in Somalia. ‘We welcome you with open hearts. We have not before seen visitors like you, interested in education’, she said. ‘We really appreciate that you put aside all your things and come to be with us. It seems to me an illiterate person is like a person who is blind. We who are parents see education as the light. We need that light of education to scatter. We are thanking all those who support education. Please keep telling our story to your people.’

One of the teachers from that leadership tour was so inspired, that they decided to walk from Melbourne to Adelaide to raise money to help refugee children go to school. When the logistics of that proved too difficult, ALWS instead created a walk down the Adelaide Hills from Hahndorf, following the trail taken by pioneer Lutheran women in the 1840s. The trail was 26 kilometres long, which ‘matched’ the average cost of supporting a refugee child in school for a year – $26.

So, Walk My Way was on the way.

That refugee camp in Djibouti and those at Kakuma in Kenya where our Lutheran church works through ALWS, are a long way from South Australia’s Barossa Valley, which was host to this year’s Walk My Way. And the original hope for the first Walk My Way in 2017, that perhaps 50 people might be persuaded to take up the challenge to walk 26 kilometres, is a lot different from the 650 people who walked on Saturday 1 May.

Yet, for me, being both in that refugee camp in Djibouti and at Walk My Way in the Barossa Valley, there are many things that intersect.

First, when people arrive in a refugee camp, our Lutheran-supported team welcomes them with a friendly face and three good meals a day.

ALWS aimed to do this at Walk My Way too – with a donated big box Barossa brekkie, a sausage sizzle lunch and ‘Made-It’ munchies at the finish line at St Jakobi Lutheran School Lyndoch.

Second, Walk My Way welcomes everyone, and especially celebrates the gifts of those the world sometimes overlooks – those who are senior, young children, those with a disability.

This is what happens in the refugee camps too, where our ALWS family works hard to make sure no-one is forgotten, and those who may be overlooked or ignored are instead welcomed with open arms, just as Jesus asks of us in Matthew 25:40.

Third, Walk My Way has the simple goal of supporting refugee children to go to school – like 14-year-old Sebit, who says: ‘When I am in school, I forget that I am a refugee.’

Of course, throughout our Lutheran history in Australia, we have known the importance of a values-rich education. The 40,000 students in Lutheran schools parallels the thousands of refugee and displaced children who receive a Lutheran-supported education in places like South Sudan, Somalia and the refugee camps at Kakuma.

Fourth, Walk My Way asks people to take on a challenge, to do something hard, in order to make a difference for others.

In this, we seek to echo the courage and commitment of parents who carry their children out of warzones in the hope that they may find safety, and perhaps even the hope an education can bring.

At the Barossa Valley Walk My Way, I spent some time at the 24-kilometre mark with my 85-year-old dad, Colin, and his four-legged best friend Oscar, as they directed weary walkers across the road. By 4pm, all but two of our 650 walkers had completed their walk.

Thirty minutes passed. Not a walker in sight.

Then, two figures appeared in the distance.

Slowly they stumble-walked toward us, clearly exhausted.

Sharon is a retired nurse, Fiona a farmer. They told us that cars had slowed regularly to offer them a lift. Each time they said no. ‘We want to do the full 26 kilometres, so our sponsors help out’, Fiona explained. ‘We are doing it for the girls.’

I walked with Fiona to the finish line. Telling her that, as Christians, we know the first will be last, and the last will be first.

By this time, the band at St Jakobi had played its last song. The food vans had closed their windows. Stalls were being packed away.

Yet, as Fiona reached the finish, the cheer that greeted her was the loudest of the day.

Last. First. Jesus turns the world upside down. Seeks the lost; the overlooked; the forgotten.

That’s what the 650 walkers in the Barossa Valley … and the 200-plus walkers in other walks across the country … and those who sponsored them or donated … and the volunteers who prepared food, marshalled traffic, took photos, or emptied rubbish bins … did too.

Quiet humble service. Courage to care. Willingness to give the best they had, no matter what they had to give. Stepping out … so refugee children can step in to school.

Through Walk My Way, people like you do just what Kalsuma begged us to do. You make the light of education scatter. In doing so, you are a blessing ALWayS.

16

Lutheran walkers support thousands of refugee children

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More than 650 members and friends of our LCANZ family walked or cycled up to 26 kilometres through South Australia’s Barossa Valley last month to support thousands of refugee children to go to school.

The walk from Redeemer Lutheran School Nuriootpa to St Jakobi Lutheran School Lyndoch on 1 May was part of Australian Lutheran World Service’s (ALWS) Walk My Way, which is aiming to support schooling for 10,000 children in East African refugee camps this year. It costs $26 to support one child in school for one year and, as of 18 May, the Barossa Walk My Way had raised enough money to support 7102 children.

Bringing together people from the ages of five to 85, from as far afield as Townsville in Far North Queensland, the walkers and cyclists created a virtual river of blue t-shirts flowing through the valley against a backdrop of autumn-hued vines. With varying abilities and disabilities, some accompanied by their dogs, on bicycles or in wheelchairs, or pushing strollers, the walkers, wheelers and cyclists were supported by approximately 130 volunteers.

Sam Hoopmann, 15, was first to finish the course in just under three hours, ahead of Rev Dr Dean Zweck, 75.

The same day, members and friends of St John’s Lutheran Church Unley participated in shorter walks in support of Walk My Way in suburban Adelaide, while walks and fundraising challenges have been held or are ongoing among the communities of Encounter Lutheran College Victor Harbor, south of Adelaide and Good Shepherd Lutheran College in the Northern Territory, and by members and friends of the Ringwood-Knox Parish in suburban Melbourne and Tarrington in western Victoria. The St Marks Kids Club is taking on the challenge of walking 26 laps around the Freeling wetlands in South Australia between May and September.

Individuals are also completing Walk Your Way in their own time to support the cause, while other churches and schools in Queensland and South Australia are planning to take part in the coming months.

By 18 May, these had added 249 walkers and more than $50,000 to the Barossa tally – in total more than double the numbers who participated in the previous group Walk My Ways in 2019. With group walks cancelled by COVID last year, more than 2800 people participated in Walk Your Way individually or with their families and helped 6390 refugee children go to school. As of 18 May, walkers had raised more than $234,756, which supports schooling for 9029 refugee children.

ALWS Community Action Manager, Jonathan Krause, who has visited the schools supported at Kakuma Refugee Camp, and in South Sudan, said ‘before our help from Australia, these children did their learning sitting on rocks under trees, practising their writing in the dirt’.

‘Walk My Way walkers help supply books, uniforms, teaching materials, school desks, the repair and building of classrooms and the training of teachers’, he said.

17

Walking together is of the essence for Christians

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JESUS IS GOD’S LOVE.

HE GIVES US NEW HEARTS –

TO LAY ASIDE OUR OLD WAYS,

TO BELIEVE AND FOLLOW HIM,

TO LIVE WITH HIM EVERY DAY.

HEARTLAND

Rev John Henderson

Bishop Lutheran Church of Australia

‘…in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. (Romans 12:5 – NIV).

Do you remember those three-legged races at school camps and church picnics? With one leg tied to that of another person, you tried to walk, run, or most likely stumble together to the finish line. Awkward, even agonising, at least the races were mercifully brief. The hilarious spectacle you made was often more important than the actual competition.

I expect such races are off the agenda these days, especially during COVID-19.

The three-legged race, however, is an apt illustration of learning to walk together. I rarely chose my partner. He was chosen for me out of a pool of available candidates. We would barely know each other’s names, but suddenly we were joined in intimate physical contact, trying to merge as one.

When we succeeded in establishing a sort of rhythm, momentum would often take over and our different heights and weights would put us on the ground. If I tried to force my partner to walk or run my way, this would always end in total collapse. He would become a dead weight. Trying to stand up again was harder than learning to walk together in the first place.

I have never read of a three-legged race in the Bible, but I have read of Christians learning to walk together as members of the one body. St Paul writes about it in a well-known passage in Romans 12 and expands on it in 1 Corinthians 12. He emphasises how all the different parts of the body work and move together. Each part must pay careful attention to the needs of the others.

St Paul says that the body of believers is the body of Christ. As the body speaks, acts and walks, so Christ himself speaks, acts and walks.

In the body, all the parts belong to each other. No single part can be lopped off without the whole body taking a blow. And as we know from personal experience, a pain in the smallest part of the body resonates through our whole being. It is the same with Christ: he feels the pains and the hurts in his body – our pains, and our hurts.

Bodies, of course, are made to move. Christ’s body is also made to move.

St Paul tells us how: in prophesying, in serving, in teaching, in encouraging, in giving and in showing mercy. The body of Christ is alive and breathing, always doing something, engaging in the world with the mission of Christ.

So, this business of learning to walk together is much more than a curious pastime. It is of the essence for Christian faith and life.

If we want to grow in faith and move forward in our spiritual life, we must learn to walk in step with each other. We need to value each other. We need to forgive each other for any missteps. We need to encourage each other and celebrate our progress together. When we fall, we will feel the other’s pain as much as we feel our own. We won’t want to coerce or overcome other members of Christ’s body by force because we would only be hurting ourselves, and even worse, hurting Christ.

This is a great mystery. God chose us and gave us faith. As we share that faith, God opens up between us an extraordinarily intimate, sacred space. As fellow believers, saints in the body of Christ, we care for one another, pray for one another, and bow down as one before the throne of grace, where he forgives our sins and equips us, once more, to move out into the world with his mission of truth and love.

20

You can’t cancel kindness

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When COVID-19 forced ALWS to cancel Walk My Way in the Barossa Valley, Albury/Bonegilla, Melbourne and Gold Coast in 2020, there were fears children in refugee camps might miss out on Australian support to go to school. Yet our Lutheran family managed to find ways to overcome the COVID challenge.

Walk My Way became Walk your Way and enthusiastic young people like Huon Stelzer from Rochedale in Queensland led the way. ‘I always feel bad that so many children don’t have anything, so I want to give back to them’, Huon said. He did a 10-kilometre walk and raised funds to support six refugee children to go to school.

Schools step out for the cause

Across Australia, more than 2000 students from Lutheran schools such as Tatachilla Lutheran College in South Australia (pictured) and LORDS in Queensland stepped out in 2020 for Walk your Way to make sure young people in refugee camps could receive a Lutheran-supported education too.

Peter keeps up the pace

More ‘mature’ folk stepped out too. ALWS Board member Peter Renner began his Walk your Way in March 2020 – and is still walking! Peter walks 15 to 20 kilometres every day. By 15 December, Peter had clocked up 4328 km! Peter plans to keep walking, ‘reaching’ Darwin by May 2021!

Back on track in 2021

ALWS is looking forward to the first public Walk My Way for 2021, COVID-19 permitting, on Saturday 1 May in South Australia’s Barossa Valley.

Community Action Manager Jonathan Krause says: ‘We have set a target of supporting 10,000 children for Walk My Way in 2021, to follow on from 10,000 children in our 100 day “Back to School” Christmas Action campaign.’ It costs just $26 to support a refugee child in school for one year.

Everybody can be part of Walk My Way in 2021 – walking on the day, doing it in stages, walking where you live when it suits, doing a Woof my Way with a four-legged friend, Wheel my Way with wheelchair, walker or pram … there’s even talk of a (Sleep) Walk my Way???

Despite COVID-19 cancellations in 2020, our Lutheran family has proven we can find ALWayS find ways to step out together to bring love to life.

When: Saturday 1 May

Where: Barossa Valley, SA

Register: www.walkmyway.org.au 1300 763 407

Supported by: LLL