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91

Way Forward project team appointed

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The project team to lead the LCANZ’s Way Forward project has begun its work. The team’s primary role is to project-manage the implementation of the 2021–23 General Synod resolution, namely, to deliver a proposal to the next General Synod outlining how the LCANZ could operate as ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’.

The three-person project team will report to the General Church Board (GCB) and College of Bishops (CoB), which jointly hold overall responsibility for the delivery of the proposal in response to the Synod resolution.

Eight working groups will provide guidance, requirements and inputs on the theological, constitutional, governance and other issues that will be required for a ‘detailed framework’ to be presented in time for discussion by the 2024 General Pastors Conference and 2024 General Synod. The groups were appointed last month by GCB and CoB. It is envisaged that the proposal development process will involve wide consultation within the LCANZ prior to the General Pastors Conference and General Synod.

Former Chief Executive Officer of Lutheran Super, Stella Thredgold, heads the project team in a part-time capacity as project director. As an ASX100 C-Suite Executive, she has spent most of her career leading organisations through change. Stella will provide strategic oversight of the project direction, engaging with various stakeholders and ensuring that a disciplined and transparent process is followed.

Joining the team with Stella are Tim Niewand and Tony Vong, both of whom have extensive project-management experience coupled with longstanding membership of Lutheran congregations in Victoria.

Joining the team full-time, Tim brings 20 years’ experience in Fortune 500 companies, and has managed projects across a diverse range of scopes including product development, process improvement, real estate, finance and software. A lifelong active member of the Lutheran Church, he is currently chairperson at Pakenham Lakeside Church on Melbourne’s eastern outskirts.

Tony has 20 years’ experience leading programs and teams within the public sector, with a strong focus on risk and change management. He holds voluntary roles on District and congregation boards and committees, including that of his home congregation, Chinese Lutheran Church of Victoria. Tony joins the project team in a part-time capacity.

‘We’re humbled to be able to lead this project. We understand this is a difficult time for the Lutheran Church, but it also brings tremendous opportunity’, Stella said. ‘We’re committed to listening, openness, transparency and respect, and we invite everyone involved in the Way Forward to bring this spirit to the conversations.’

The project team will oversee and coordinate the assignments of the working groups, as well as manage the timeline and ensure successful preparation for the 2024 General Pastors Conference and 2024 General Synod. The recent call for expressions of interest to join working groups saw more than 500 people download the application form and almost 60 people apply within the two-week timeframe.

The Standing Committee on Nominations, which processed the expressions of interest, and GCB and CoB, which made the appointments, aimed for diversity across the working groups (including gender, age, cultural background, conviction about ordination) and people from all districts of the church. Stella said she was delighted with the high calibre of appointments to the working groups: ‘The project team extends our thanks to all the people who applied to the working groups, including those who were not appointed, for being prepared to volunteer their time, experience and expertise to this project. We thank God for you, and we look forward to engaging with those appointed as we implement the resolution your General Synod delegates have placed before us.’

The project team welcomes suggestions from the wider church regarding the way forward towards ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’. Emails can be sent to wayforward2024@lca.org.au

For more information about the project, go to www.lca.org.au/wayforward

92

Synod offering supports FRM hymnbook project

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The offering from this year’s LCANZ Convention of General Synod in-person meetings is contributing more than $30,000 towards 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 worked on revising or reprinting hymnals in three languages – Pitjantjatjara, Western Arrarnta and Alyawarr. The Pintubi-Luritja worship resource is also being revised.

Most of the hymnals feature liturgy, prayers and catechism resources as well as hymns and songs. The preface to the previous update of the Pitjantjatjara Lutheran Hymnal in 2010 highlighted the history of similar worship resources in Central Australia. It says:

‘The first Arrarnta hymnal was produced in 1891 by AH Kempe. Its 160 pages contained bible stories, prayers, some psalms and 53 other hymns. It was printed at Hermannsburg in the state of Hannover, Germany. In 1924, 2 years after Carl Strehlow’s tragic death, the first Western Desert language hymnal was published as a supplement to the second edition of his Galtjindintjamea-Pepa Aranda Wolambarinjaka. It contained Luther’s Small Catechism and 10 hymns, all translated into the Luritja language by evangelist Moses Tjalkabota and HA Heinrich (headmaster of the Hermannsburg school).’

As well as offerings collected at the Melbourne Convention in February, LCANZ congregations donated to the Synod offering via the LLL. A total of $34,098.66 was raised for the hymnbook project.

93

Nurses recognised

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by Bob Wiebusch

Sharon Berridge has been named the 2023 Lutheran Nurse of the Year. The Executive Care Manager of Tanunda Lutheran Home in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, Sharon was recognised with the annual award by the Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia (LNAA) on 12 May, which is International Nurses Day.

Sharon’s nominees spoke of her high degree of understanding of and respect for the value of the Christian faith, particularly when caring for people approaching the end of their lives, as well as her leadership skills, extensive knowledge of aged care, compassion, and high level of professionalism. She is highly respected among her peers for her commitment to all her staff.

LNAA also recognised the more than 30 years of service given by Meg Lewis of Norwood, South Australia. During this time, Meg has served as Nursing Director of the Orthopaedic and Trauma Service at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, and General Manager at the Hampstead Centre. She filled a crucial role in the South Australian response to the COVID-19 pandemic as a vaccination nurse. Her nursing service over many years was recognised with a Meritorious Service Award.

The Lutheran Nurse of the Year award was launched in 2020 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing. It recognises faithful and outstanding service by a Registered or Enrolled Nurse who is an active member of a congregation of the LCANZ.

Pastor Bob Wiebusch is the editor of the Lutheran Nurses Association of Australia’s In Touch publication and a former editor of The Lutheran.

94

Today’s slavery

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Slavery is not just a long-ago scourge confined to the ancient biblical account of the Israelites captive in Egypt, or the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries. Nor has it been restricted closer to home to the terrible practice of ‘blackbirding’, between the mid-1800s and early 20th century.

95

New bishop for WA

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Pastor Peter Hage has been elected as the next bishop of the LCANZ’s Western Australia District. The pastor of St Johns Lutheran Church in Perth, he was elected unopposed last month for an initial four-year term during the District Convention of Synod at Concordia Lutheran Church Duncraig, in suburban Perth.

96

Because we bear your name

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Bishop Paul’s letter

Rev Paul Smith
Bishop, Lutheran Church of
Australia and New Zealand

It is finished.

One Easter morning, in my first country parish in South Australia, I had an encounter at the door of the church that I will never forget. It was a moment that gathered me into the way that the good news of the resurrection of our Lord changes us to be people of hope. At the church door before that Easter Sunday service, I was met by an older member who announced, ‘Pastor, I felt Easter!’ She continued, ‘I felt the resurrection of our Lord Jesus for the first time.’ What had happened to this faithful member, that she would make such a declaration?

That story began with Good Friday just days before. For our worship service in the parish, we had used a form called ‘Tenebrae’. This order of worship is focused on light in the darkness. During the service, candles are extinguished one by one, as relevant scriptures are read. The last candle is hidden behind the altar, and then the people leave the church in darkness.

Since the congregation’s worship committee had decided to use this Tenebrae-style service for Good Friday, they had to deal with a bit of a problem. A worship service at 9am in the morning, in the South Australian countryside, is very bright and sunny, so it would be easy for the significant symbol of extinguishing candles and of darkness to be lost. A couple of the men in the congregation came up with a creative solution. They decided that as each candle was extinguished, they would cover each of the six church windows one by one with specially prepared cardboard.

And their idea worked. When all the candles were extinguished, and we had put up their cardboard, we had a very dark church indeed. After putting the last candle behind the altar, we all left in silence. It was like walking out of a tomb.

That was the experience of the parish member who had met me at the door on Easter morning. She was rostered on church cleaning that weekend, so the day before, when she went to clean, the cardboard hadn’t been taken down yet, and she found herself entering the empty darkness. As a Christian, she knew the good news that the empty tomb at Calvary meant for all humankind and it was those ‘tidings of great joy’ that she had discovered.

Only from the darkness of Good Friday can our eyes recognise the dawning light of Easter resurrection.

When the Apostle John recorded the story of Jesus in his gospel nearly 2000 years ago, he told us his purpose was that we would believe that Jesus is the Christ and, by believing, we would have life in his name.

John is the only gospel writer to record certain words of our Lord from the cross – ‘When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished”.’ What has been finished? John has given the parameters to understand these words, from the very beginning of his gospel. It is another John, the Baptist, who sees Jesus and proclaims: ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’

When Jesus was crucified, he declared that his work taking away the sin of the world was complete. ‘It is finished.’ We gather for worship on Good Friday to hear Jesus’ response to our struggle for God’s acceptance: ‘It is finished. Sin is forgiven once and for all. I have done all that is required for you to have peace with God.’ He does this for me out of love.

At the beginning of John’s Gospel, we hear the deepest assurance of Good Friday faith: ‘In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ In the Tenebrae service, the light of the last candle is hidden behind the altar to remind us that behind the darkness of sin and death of Good Friday, there was always God’s purpose to forgive sin and defeat death and the power of the devil.

In our Lutheran witness, we confess that this message of Good Friday is the first and chief article of faith, out of which comes all other teachings of faith. This truth that, on the cross, Christ Jesus finishes what is required for faith, can never be watered down or modified.

Only from the darkness of Good Friday can our eyes recognise the dawning light of Easter resurrection.

In Christ,
Paul

Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you –
because we bear your name.

97

Today’s slavery

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by Lisa McIntosh

Slavery is not just a long-ago scourge confined to the ancient biblical account of the Israelites captive in Egypt, or the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Nor has it been restricted closer to home to the terrible practice of ‘blackbirding’, in which people from South Pacific islands were shipped off to work in indentured labour schemes on sugar plantations in Queensland or New South Wales, or flax mills near Auckland, from the mid-1800s until the first decade of the 20th century.

And the United Nations Association of Australia (UNAA) says that First Nations Australians have had an even ‘more enduring experience of slavery, originally in the pearling industry in Western Australia and the Torres Strait and then in the cattle industry’, as well as the pastoral industry, in which some Aboriginal workers ‘were bought and sold as chattels’.

Slavery is also a modern global evil. Specialist legal practice, research and policy centre Anti-slavery Australia estimates that 40.3 million people worldwide live in modern slavery which it says is ‘often hidden’ in everyday locations such as homes, restaurants, farms and building sites, as well as in places such as brothels.

Refugees, other displaced people and those living in poverty are among the most at risk of slavery, says Craig Heidenreich, who serves as Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator for the LCANZ and formerly worked with the Australian Refugee Association.

Craig does not doubt the ongoing devastating effects on the lives of people around the world of modern-day slavery, which includes such brutalities as human trafficking, early marriage, debt bondage, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, forced criminality, child labour and sweatshop working conditions, ‘To say it couldn’t and wouldn’t happen today is fanciful’, he says, ‘Some families are so desperate they even sell their teenage daughters to survive, not always knowing the outcome for those girls.’

Nick Schwarz, the LCANZ’s Assistant to the Bishop for Public Theology, says that while ‘on the international scene slavery certainly hasn’t been abolished, in Australia various safeguards exist’ that should prevent such exploitative practices. These include the Modern Slavery Act (2018), last year’s ratification of the International Labour Organisation’s Protocol on Forced Labour and various child-protection laws.

However, he says, people are still exploited, with some migrant workers in Australia reportedly being so poorly paid that their income doesn’t cover basic living expenses, so they don’t have the choice to leave.

Other critical but often unclear factors in attempts to eradicate slavery are the supply chains behind the products we buy and use, which may be manufactured by slave labour.

‘Slavery is something that we empower with our choices’, Craig says. And Nick adds: ‘Consumers are wanting to buy from fair-trade labour supply chains.’ ‘But’, he says, ‘it’s not always easy to establish the provenance of a product.’

The responsibility for such information usually lies with the corporate sector, a fact highlighted by Australian anti-slavery advocate and mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest, whose Walk Free initiative is an international human rights group committed to the eradication of all modern slavery within a generation.

Walk Free successfully campaigned for Australia’s Modern Slavery Act and encouraged world religious leaders to sign a declaration against modern slavery, forming the Global Freedom Network as its faith-based arm. The LCA is one of 15 Australian religious organisations and communities which in 2015 became part of the Australian chapter by signing the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern Slavery, which committed signatories to work actively against slavery.

One of the ways the Lutheran church does this is through its overseas aid and development agency, Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS). Jonathan Krause from ALWS has seen first-hand the tragedy of bonded labour in countries such as Nepal and recounts the heartbreaking story of Bimali Devi Lohar, a woman who was a ‘Haliya’, or agricultural bonded labourer, for more than 20 years (see below).

‘A Haliya has taken a loan from a landlord and works for that landlord until the loan is repaid’, Jonathan explains. ‘Because of exorbitant interest rates, the debt can last for generations. In 2021 the Nepalese Government freed the Haliya, but for many, there are no support systems to help them rejoin free society.

‘(ALWS partner) the Lutheran World Federation team has been working with the Haliya, providing household loans, training in kitchen gardening, seeds to plant and taps for drinking water. There has also been training provided in furniture making, embroidery and candle-making, and support for semi-commercial farming.

‘And even as that system changes, those people have been in poverty for so long, that they’re still enslaved by what they’ve suffered and lost and so ALWS is working with them to train them in businesses, help them become independent and build a new life.’

As individuals, we may choose to support credible organisations which actively work for the eradication of modern slavery. We also may make this a consideration in the products and services we choose to buy if we have the financial means to do so.

The official Fairtrade website shows products that are fair trade and so less likely to involve exploitation (https://fairtradeanz.org/product-finder)

Walk Free offers a suite of resources, including reports, policy documents, submissions and more information on the Global Freedom Network at www.walkfree.org/resources

Bimali Devi Lohar’s story in her words 

My mother died when I was 11, and so my father then made me be married. My husband was 18. When I was 16, I had my first child.

My husband and I became Haliya when he borrowed 6000 Rupees (less than USD 100) to pay for the treatment of his brother who was sick. My husband goes to plough the land for the landlord and did farming work and ironsmith repairing tools to barter for food. I went as a labourer to another place.

We had to tie together the legs of the children and leave them in the house. I was weeping every day that I had to do this to my children. When I returned from work their clothes were filled with urine and stools. I cannot express in words how this made me feel as a mother. But there is nothing else I can do.

One day my husband was ploughing the landlord’s land, and he died in the field. On the day I finished the funeral ritual, the landlord came to me and said I must come to his house and work to pay the loan because my husband had died. I feel real pressure from the landlord, but there is no choice. I have to work.

I work to pay this loan for 22 years.

Later there was an Haliya group formed by the Lutherans. They support me to go in the legal process. The government office decided to dismiss the debt. Because of interest, the loan at that time was 20,000 Rupees (USD 300). Then I am free.

98

General Synod news & views

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More than 340 delegates, along with approximately 120 visitors, officials, organisers and volunteers, met in Melbourne from 9 to 12 February for the in-person sessions of the 2021–2023 Convention of General Synod of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting continued the 20th LCA Convention, which opened with online sessions in October 2021 and was then adjourned until 2023. The in-person sessions consisted of two full days of business at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, bookended by part-days with gathering and closing worship services.

In passing by a strong majority an amended proposal from the LCA’s Queensland District, General Synod delegates directed the General Church Board and College of Bishops to explore the theological, constitutional and governance issues involved in establishing ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’ – specifically, that work should be done to outline how one church with two ordination practices might function.

Delegates further requested that the fruit of this work be submitted as a proposal in time for discussion at the 2024 meeting of General Pastors Conference, for the Convention of General Synod that same year. This proposal required only a simple (50 per cent) majority in order to be passed.

Synod did not pass a proposal to change the teaching of the church which would have permitted the ordination of both men and women from 2024.

As it contained constitutional amendments and a change in the teaching of the church, the proposal brought before General Synod by the St Pauls Box Hill congregation, Victoria, required a two-thirds majority of registered delegates (230 votes) to be passed. While 203 delegates voted in favour of the proposal; 136 voted against it, and three delegates abstained.

After Convention, the bishops wrote to members of the LCANZ to share information and provide clarification regarding decisions made during the in-person sessions of General Synod.

You can also read more about these outcomes, including delegates’ reflections on the ‘one church, two practices’ resolution.

99

A message to members of the LCANZ from the College of Bishops

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To read the full message go to: www.yourlca.com/message-synod-resolution

COME, LISTEN, LIVE …

The 20th Convention of General Synod for the LCANZ, held in Melbourne, has come and gone.

Delegates came before God each day in worship with listening ears, and with the desire to live to God’s glory in the decisions we made.

We came together as God’s people, listening to each other, and sharing life together for the days of Synod as brothers and sisters in Christ.

For some, the outcomes will have landed much where they expected, and even hoped for. For others, there may be disappointment, frustration, disillusionment, and even anger. The College of Bishops are praying for all members of the church as you process the decisions that were made, and the meeting itself.

We thank all the delegates who took the time to prayerfully craft their thoughts but who did not have opportunity to speak on the floor of Convention. In reflecting on the meeting of Synod, the bishops observed that significant time was taken on points of order and clarification, which reduced the already limited time for discussion on the substantive issue itself each day. Hence the laity especially who came prepared to speak did not have the voice they could otherwise have had. This is something we suggest needs consideration for future conventions.

THE PROPOSALS

Some members of the church may have questions about the proposals, particularly those regarding the ordination of women and men in the LCANZ.

(1) On Friday, the Box Hill congregation brought before Synod a proposal to recognise the impasse faced by the church on this matter over many years. The proposal sought to provide a way to acknowledge the conscientious views of people on both sides of this debate. It called for the church to remain one, while providing for two practices of ordination. This involved a change to the teaching of the church in order to permit the ordination of both men and women, from February 2024. Because this proposal called for a change in the church’s teaching and an amendment to the LCA Constitution, a two-thirds majority (230 votes) was required for it to be passed. Fifty-nine per cent (203) of delegates voted in favour of the proposal; 136 voted against it; and 3 delegates abstained. Thus, this proposal was lost.

(2) On Saturday, delegates voted on a proposal by the Queensland District asking General Synod to direct the LCANZ General Church Board and the College of Bishops to work through the theological, constitutional, and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different practices of ordination and establish a detailed framework through which this could be accomplished, and to bring this work back in the form of a proposal to the 2024 General Pastors Conference and the General Synod. An amendment was added, stating that it is the expectation of this Convention of General Synod that both women and men will be ordained in a District of the LCANZ during the 2024–2027 synodical period. (You will find the full text of the resolution below.)

For the sake of clarity, the College of Bishops, after meeting with the General Church Board immediately after Convention, offers our understanding of this resolution and some comments on the pathway ahead.

THE RESOLUTION

That General Synod direct the LCANZ General Church Board and the College of Bishops to:

  1. Work through the theological, constitutional, and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different practices of ordination and establish a detailed framework through which this could be accomplished, such as one or more existing LCANZ Districts becoming Districts that teach and practice the ordination of both women and men to the office of the public ministry or by establishing a non-geographical LCANZ ‘District’ that does so, and
  2. Submit the fruit of this work in the form of a proposal that should be discussed by the LCANZ General Pastors Conference for Convention of General Synod 2024.
  3. It is the expectation of this General Convention of Synod that both women and men will be ordained in a District of the LCANZ during the 2024–2027 synodical period.

CLARIFYING COMMENTS

In the lead-up to the in-person sessions of General Synod 2021–2023 the College of Bishops urged a way forward that did not leave the church in an ongoing adversarial state on this issue, which has become debilitating in so many ways for relationships, and in carrying out the mission of the church.

The intention of this adopted proposal is to find a practical way forward to allow communities with different convictions regarding the ordination of women and men to co-exist, and to practise differently within the wider context of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.

It needs to be made clear that this proposal is charging the leadership of the church to do the work needed to bring a proposal to that end to the 2024 Convention, with an expected outcome. The resolution does not allow for the ordination of women and men right now, but this is an expected outcome of the 2024 synodical convention, if the proposal/s to be worked on together are passed. We ask individuals and congregations to be respectful of our synodical processes and the people who will be charged with leading us through them.

The wording under point c) above endorses the word ‘anticipates’ in the advice to this General Synod by the General Pastors Conference (GPC). The GPC advice said: ‘General Pastors Conference acknowledges that the Queensland proposal anticipates the ordination of women to the office of the public ministry in communities of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand. General Pastors Conference acknowledges that the Queensland proposal also anticipates the continuity of the ordination of men only in communities of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand.’

At GPC, pastors were advised before voting on the advice that ‘anticipates’ means ‘expects’. It is expected that the work to be done will lead to change.

WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE? 

General Church Board will oversee the delivery of what is required for the church to deliver the resolution. Guiding principles for this work have been identified.

At the centre of this work is the establishment of a project management office. This office will oversee working groups established to address key elements of what is required to be delivered by the resolution. These working groups will include experienced and (or) expert people of the church, representing the diversity of stakeholders involved. While time is tight, the whole church will have opportunity to contribute your thinking in the lead-up to the next Convention of Synod. As the people of the church of Jesus Christ, we commend this work to our Lord.

The College of Bishops are acutely aware of the range of emotions that have been impacting members on this issue over a long period of time. These or new emotions might have been brought to the surface with this latest decision, which is significantly different from those that have gone before it. We also know that some members have been hurt or wounded by other members in our conversations around this issue. We plead with all members of the church to speak carefully and sensitively with our brothers and sisters in Christ as we embark on enacting this resolution of Synod.

We want to listen to you and pastorally care for the church in ways that are most appropriate and helpful to each of you. The College of Bishops welcomes your suggestions regarding what is most helpful. We urge you as dearly loved brothers and sisters in Christ to stay with us, and to help us together with GCB to find the way forward, so that we can come to the Convention of Synod in 2024 with confidence and in peace.

It is our prayer that you will continue to come humbly before God to listen to him together, that you might find joy in the grace that we live in, and confident hope from the substance of the faith that we share. We also pray that together we might live and serve in peace and to the glory of God in this next significant period in the life of the LCANZ.

Bishop Paul Smith, LCANZ
Assistant Bishop Neville Otto, LCANZ
Bishop David Altus, SA–NT
Bishop Robert Bartholomaeus, NSW and ACT
Bishop Mike Fulwood, WA
Bishop Lester Priebbenow, Vic–Tas
Bishop Mark Vainikka, Qld
Bishop Mark Whitfield, LCNZ

100

Synod welcomes Finke River delegates

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by Helen Brinkman

Melbourne’s city skyline was a stark contrast to the vast verdant landscape of Central Australia for four Aboriginal delegates attending the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand’s 20th Convention of General Synod from 9 to 12 February 2023.

It was the first time in the history of the General Synod that representatives of the four language areas from the Finke River Mission (FRM) in Central Australia joined as voting delegates at the church’s highest decision-making meeting.

The four delegates, Specific Ministry Pastors (SMP) Rodney Malbunka and Stanley Roberts, with Richard Morton and Seraphina Presley-Haines, were among 341 delegates from across Australia and New Zealand to gather for the in-person sessions. The group, who were supported by FRM fieldworkers Pastor Paul Traeger and Pastor Neville Doecke, thought that one of the most memorable parts of Synod was the community worship.

For retired teacher Seraphina Presley-Haines, celebrating in a community of more than 500 worshippers at the opening service of the Convention gave her goosebumps. Seraphina, from Ti Tree, north of Alice Springs, represented the Anmatyerr language area in the Northern Territory. As a first-time delegate, she said it was very important for the group to come to Synod, hear God’s word, and ‘go back to their communities and tell them that God loves us no matter who we are and where we live’.

Worshipping in community at Synod was also very special for Pastor Stanley Roberts from the Pintupi-Luritja language area, west of Alice Springs. ‘It spoke in my heart’, he said. ‘It’s really good to meet with others and get to know each other as Christians, being one in Christ. We miss our families back home but appreciate being able to worship together.’

Pastor Stanley was ordained as an SMP at Papunya, 240 kilometres west of Alice Springs, in November 2020. His father, the late Pastor Murphy Roberts, was one of the first Pintupi-Luritja pastors ordained almost 40 years ago.

And for Anmatyerr language area representative Richard Morton, the fellowship was inspiring, humbling and even overwhelming, after reuniting with his primary school principal at Synod. He said Synod reminded him of a parliament, ‘but it is good to see different views of certain things, if we base our thoughts on Scripture and dwell on Scripture’. ‘What is happening here affects everyone back at home, especially those people who rely on the faith and need spiritual guidance.’

It was the first time most of the Indigenous delegates had visited Melbourne, with fellow delegate Pastor Rodney Malbunka astounded at the size of the city compared with his home at Ntaria, also known as Hermannsburg, 125 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

Son of Pastor Colin Malbunka, Rodney was born in Neutral Junction near Barrel Creek on the Stuart Highway and moved to Hermannsburg in 1975. He was ordained in 2015 and serves the Arrarnta language area. He said he enjoyed the experience of Synod and meeting people from all over Australia. He was also struck by the size and green turf of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, after the baked red earth football oval of his hometown. He’s even got a photo of it to show his local Bulldogs AFL team back home.

Pastor Neville gave praise and thanks to God that these delegates could travel to meet with so many fellow Lutherans from across the LCANZ. ‘Many thanks to the delegates who spoke to them and made them feel very welcome’, he said.