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281

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.

282

Thousands respond to stories of hope

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by Richard Fox

Many people need hope and are responding to the Messages of Hope shared by Lutheran Media through radio spots, online videos, podcasts, transcripts and booklets.

These include people like Mario: ‘Hi, I would like to know if you can help me, I am in a bad way. I live by myself and it is getting very hard, please get back to me.’

… and they include people like Elizabeth, who said: ‘Prayers are always important but never more than now.’

… and Helen: ‘I’ve been in hospital with a fractured hip. I’m going home today! Thank you for your prayers.’

… and Frank: ‘Howdy! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the posts, I realised it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!’

… and Ripley: ‘I know how you feel, I’m going through the same with my dad and it’s like a living death. I’m grieving for him and he is alive.’

Your Messages of Hope reaches a potential audience of more than 25 million people and thousands are responding by watching videos, listening to podcasts, and reading about hope in Jesus at www.messagesofhope.org.au

Join us by praying for people who are being reached by these messages. You can also make a donation at www.lutheranmedia.org.au/donate or by calling us on 1800 353 350. Thank you for reaching out with us in mission so more people hear Jesus’ message of hope, especially during these current times.

PUTTING THE BIBLE ON TRIAL

The Bible is often heavily scrutinised and questioned. And although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, Guinness World Records says, ‘there is little doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book’, with an estimate of more than 5 billion copies sold. In The Bible On Trial: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, the Bible is put under the microscope as to its reliability and authenticity and you are the jury. What’s your verdict?

Order The Bible On Trial DVD at www.lutheranmedia.org.au/bibleontrial

A free study guide is included, too. You’ll come away with a fresh appreciation of the Bible.

Pastor Richard Fox is Director of Lutheran Media.

283

National conference to highlight life issues

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Lutherans for Life (LFL) will hold its national conference this month, with registered participants able to attend in person in suburban Adelaide (COVID-permitting), or online via live streaming.

LFL is part of the LCANZ, accountable to the church through the Commission on Social and Bioethical Questions. LFL offers resources and information on life issues on its website (www.lutheransforlife.lca.org.au), through its newsletter, Life News, and on Facebook (Lutherans for Life – Australia).

The one-day conference on 18 September at Our Saviour Lutheran Church Aberfoyle Park will carry the theme ‘Fearfully and wonderfully made – Celebrating the beginnings of human life’. Conference speakers Meagan Schwarz, Kimberley Pfeiffer, Jodie Pickard and Pastor Andrew Brook will address life issues from personal, ethical, biological and biblical perspectives.

To find out more and to register, go to www.lutheransforlife.lca.org.au and click on the news item about the conference on the home page.

284

Devotion book fills rural ministry need

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Pastor Stephen Jaensch, who serves St John’s Lutheran Church Emerald in Queensland’s Central Highlands region, says he’d noticed the lack of a genuinely rural devotion resource among the many on offer in Australia.

So, in about 2014, he began encouraging the congregation to join him in producing something to serve country people and provide a resource for rural ministry. Pastor Stephen (pictured) believes he asked members once a year for four years whether they would get behind such a project. The fifth time he asked, they said ‘yes’.

The resulting 204-page book of 118 devotions – Rural Reflections: Living out front with the outback God – was launched by the congregation recently and ‘far exceeded’ Pastor Stephen’s hopes for the project.

‘SMALL BUT TALENTED’ CONGREGATION BACKS PROJECT

Emerald congregation has an average worship attendance of about 20 people and around 50 members. However, while St John’s is not large, Pastor Stephen says it has ‘very talented people’. The Emerald Lutheran family drove the devotion project, including arranging photography, contributors, printing and publicity, but it was also an ecumenical production, with people from eight denominations involved.

‘When the congregation went with it, they carried it far further than I ever imagined’, Pastor Stephen says. ‘Most of the congregation became involved. What really pleased me was that a lot of the younger families became involved.’

Among the 30 contributors, 19 were from St John’s. Eight of the writers are clergy, while 22 are laypeople.

‘It’s designed to cover every circumstance unique to the country’, Pastor Stephen said of the book, which includes sections entitled ‘Rain’, ‘Farming, agriculture and regional industries’, ‘Drought’, and ‘Family life’.

Rural Reflections is available for $20 (to cover costs) at www.emerald.lutheran.org.au

285

Church@Home September 2021

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CHURCH@HOME www.lca.org.au/churchhome

Resources to strengthen and nurture faith

Regular devotions can be a great foundation for our home-worship life. They can help nurture our faith and even that of our families, as they strengthen our relationship with Jesus, increase our trust in God and our openness to the call of his Spirit. We pray that you will receive blessings from the devotional materials here and in the Church@Home resources collection collated and shared on the special webpage at www.lca.org.au/churchhome. There are also other faith-building and practical resources available through this webpage. If you have internet access and a printer, why not print some and mail or deliver them to those who may otherwise miss out?

– Lisa

Psalm 34:10b  

Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

DEVOTIONS FOR HOME WORSHIP

These reflections are from a collection of devotions written for our LCANZ family and friends to help us to keep our eyes on Jesus. They can be used by families, small groups and individuals as part of daily faith practice. You can find these and more on the LCA website at www.lca.org.au/daily-devotion

Land of plenty by Colleen Fitzpatrick

‘For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land’ (Deuteronomy 8:7a).

Read Deuteronomy 8:1–10.

Many of us can trace back to when our family arrived on this good land. They came for a variety of reasons. Some were seeking religious or political freedom; others came for safety or economic security. Many have found it to be a good land indeed.

Before our arrival, the First Nations people nurtured the land and lived well on it. They had looked after the ‘flowing streams with springs and underground waters’. Their needs were simple, and they lacked nothing.

The arrival of European settlers upset the established order. New ways of managing the land were implemented, and the iron and copper and other minerals in the stones and hills were harvested to fill pockets. People ate their fill, but did they remember to bless the Lord for the good land he gave?

The richness of the land has diminished; the rivers and underground waters have been drained, and God’s commandments are no longer guiding the lives of many.

I wonder what God is thinking about us now. We are constantly hearing about extreme weather events and natural disasters – heatwaves, floods, bushfires, mudslides, mouse plagues and, of course, the pandemic. Species of animals and plants are in danger of being lost forever.

On the one hand, some people are earning more and more – eye-watering numbers of dollars which can never be spent. On the other hand, many people do not have enough money to pay for food and shelter.

Rather than wallow in a sea of depression and pessimism, let’s be positive! We can walk gently on the earth, and if we each do our bit to be good stewards of the earth, we can make a difference. And as we do that, let’s bless the Lord our God for bringing us to this good land while remembering that it is God’s good land – not ours.

Creator God, you made the world and all that is in it, and you saw that it was good. Forgive us for when we have taken the land for granted and have used it to serve our own purposes. Help us to be better caretakers so that it is sustained into the future. Amen.

Direct access by Verena Johnson

‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die’ (Deuteronomy 18:16b).

Read Deuteronomy 18:15–22.

How sad that the Israelites did not want to hear from God directly or see the fire of his great presence because of their fear.

They asked for a mediator to stand between them and God. As a result of their request, they had a whole series of mediators throughout their history, starting with Moses and followed by a stream of prophets, priests, judges and kings. The Israelites did not listen to God themselves; they relied on ‘mediators’ to tell them what God said.

Many of these ‘mediators’ honoured God, listened to him and spoke the words he put in their mouths, even though the people didn’t always listen or like what they had to say.

However, many more did not. They spoke words in God’s name that he hadn’t said, or even worse, they spoke things in the name of other gods. They often said what people wanted to hear rather than what people needed to hear. This is where the whole arrangement went downhill.

Thank God that Jesus came as the ultimate mediator between God and us and gave his life so we could have direct access to God again.

We don’t have to rely on mediators anymore. We can speak to God directly and hear what he has to say to us any time we want. We can read his word and listen to the Holy Spirit as he speaks into our hearts and lives. We can talk with God in prayer and listen to what he has to say to us.

God wants us to be with him with no-one else between us. He invites us into a close and intimate one-on-one relationship with him.

The problem is people haven’t changed. We are no different to the Israelites. Sometimes our fears get in the way of our relationship with God, and we don’t always listen to or like what he has to say.

But he is always there, loving us, forgiving us, inviting us and calling us to be with him. He has so much he wants to say to us if only we are listening.

Loving God, thank you for inviting us into an intimate relationship with you. Open our spiritual ears to hear you when you speak to us. Open our hearts and minds to receive what you have to say to us. Amen.

PRAYER 

A Mourner’s Prayer

Lord God,
Without your promise
I could not endure this sorrow.
Only the promise of your presence
Enables me to carry on in these lonely times.
Only your grace preserves me as I mourn.
Do not let me mourn without hope!
You have taken care of me in the past,
Now let me be carried in your mercy.
Give me the grace to come to you,
And find rest for my soul.
In Christ’s name.
Amen.

– Adapted from the Lutheran Book
of Prayer (1951), from justprayer.org

2 Thessalonians 3:3

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Generosity instead of greed by Pastor Peter Bean

‘Then Jesus said to them, “Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns”’ (Luke 12:15).

Read Luke 12:13–21.

We might not say we are greedy, but it seems that greed can be present in all sorts of ways.

While money or possessions may be the obvious culprits, greed can spill across into other areas. It is good to examine our conscience in all areas.

If we find we are greedy in any area, what should we do? The obvious is to confess and change our ways.  But if I may be so bold, I would like to suggest that the best way to overcome greed is to be generous! In fact, be over-generous.

I might be even bolder and say that most reading this could say, ‘I have enough good things stored to last for many years’ (verse 19). (There will be exceptions; I acknowledge that. If you are struggling, seek help through financial counsellors or similar.) But the reality is, most of us have enough and more than enough.

Years ago, in a poem titled ‘Enough’, I wrote these words:

When we who have too much
Recognise enough is enough
Maybe those who have too little
Will edge closer
Towards our enough.

Our generosity enables others to live. It expands our hearts. It responds to the generous and loving God revealed throughout Scripture. By being generous, we live in the image of God. By being generous, we have life. We can enjoy it abundantly and enable others to have life (in what to them is probably abundance).

The antidote to greed, excessive wealth and too many possessions is living in the grace of our generous God and sharing that grace in whatever way we can.

Generous One, I thank you for all that you give me. Help me to reflect your generous heart in all I do and have. Amen.

Do we underestimate God? by Pastor Glenn Crouch

‘“The days are coming”, declares the Lord, “when I will fulfil the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah”’ (Jeremiah 33:14).

Read Jeremiah 33:14–18.

In this passage, Jeremiah looks forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus – Israel’s promised Messiah. The prophet tells us that this is God’s promise, his plan for the salvation of Israel. In this, we see how great is our God – his blessings not only come to Israel but overflow to the whole world. Yes, Jesus, the son of David, will fulfil this promise, but we also see so much more revealed at the end of verse 16, ‘The Lord Our Righteous Saviour’. The Messiah will be the salvation of the world!

Do you underestimate the Lord God? Is his arm too short to reach you? Is he unable to hear you? To see you? No! Our God is one who blesses so greatly that the blessings overflow.

In Jeremiah’s time, what was left of Israel – the people of Judah – was taken by Babylon. The kingship was lost. Jerusalem was lost. The temple was destroyed. Israel (like us) had not been faithful. But we see here that God promises restoration; he promises salvation. Not because Israel deserves it, but because he is gracious. He is so gracious that the Messiah who will save Israel also saves you and me! The Messiah is our Lord Jesus, who saves us through his death and resurrection!

We often feel when things go so horribly wrong that God has abandoned us.

Scripture shows us that while we may move away from him, he doesn’t give up on us. It is easy to grab hold of our righteous Saviour when we realise that he has already got us firmly in his grasp.

Gracious God, thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for sending your dear Son to live, die and rise again for me. Help me to see that you are with me – in the bad times and the good times. Amem.

286

Sharing the love and Joy of music

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by Helen Beringen

Joy Mules was about three years old when she caught the music bug. In around 1938, the brass bands parading through the streets of Tanunda, in South Australia’s Barossa Valley, drew her away from her mother’s side to march off with one of them.

And just like the German heritage of that annual brass band competition, her rich music heritage was founded in the Lutheran Church.

The eldest of five children, Joy began learning to play the piano at eight years old and by 14 she was playing for Sunday school at the Berri-Renmark Parish in South Australia’s Riverland.

Her pastor, Ern Stolz, encouraged her to take a turn to play for the worship service, a gift she has continued to share for the past 70 years.

Now turning 86 this month, Joy is still on the organ roster at St John’s congregation Unley, where she has worshipped since moving to Adelaide from the Riverland two years ago.

Whether it’s organ music for worship services, piano accompaniment for choirs, or singing, music continues to be the lifeblood flowing through Joy’s veins.

Her early music experiences included singing at a naturalisation ceremony in front of Sir Alexander Downer, then High Commissioner of Australia; to an audience of 3000 at the Brisbane Town Hall as part of a youth convention; and being in 15 Riverland Musical Society productions over 50 years.

Born in Berri in 1935, Joy grew up Glossop and was cutting apricots on the family property by the age of five.

Her interest in music was also a family affair, as the wider family had lovely singing voices and would gather monthly on a Sunday night for singsongs, she recalls.

Joy even met her husband Jim through music, at a local fundraising dance where she was making sandwiches in the kitchen for supper, as her father thought that, at 16, she was too young to attend. Jim ended up dancing her down the aisle in 1958.

‘We moved to Barmera to a fruit property where we raised our son Peter, and our two daughters Jenny and Angela, all of whom have done us proud’, Joy says. The family has now grown to include five grandchildren.

Music sustained Joy through the tough years of bringing up a family and fruit picking and pruning on the property with Jim.

Joy continued to share her musical talents in her church and community until retiring from the farm at age 70, after her husband’s passing.

‘I had to keep serving the Lord no matter what stage of life I was in’, she says. ‘I need to continue doing what I can while I can, that’s keeping me going.’

Joy has volunteered for most of her life, influenced by Christian parents. She was even her congregational delegate at the LCA’s General Synod in 1976 – four years before women received the right to vote at Synod, so she was only granted observer status.

Her church life has been full, with commitments including Sunday school teaching, church council membership and serving as chairperson. Her volunteer efforts in the broader Riverland community, which spanned sport and the arts, were recognised by an Australia Day honour in 2018 when she was named ‘Citizen of the Year’ by the Berri Barmera Council, which she describes as a ‘humbling privilege’.

That same philosophy led Joy to volunteer to raise funds to support refugee children to go to school through the Australian Lutheran World Service Walk My Way fundraiser through the town and countryside of SA’s Barossa Valley on 1 May this year.

Walking from Nuriootpa to Tanunda, Joy was the oldest registered participant, raising enough money to send almost seven refugee children to school.

Despite not being a regular walker, Joy covered just over nine kilometres, not including her training sessions with daughter Angela, who accompanied her on the walk.

‘I was halfway, and I suddenly thought, “God, please give me strength”, and he did’, Joy recalls.

That same strength still sees her on the church roster for readings, flowers and organ at St John’s Unley, as well as volunteering her time to play the piano for residents at the nearby Fullarton Lutheran Homes fortnightly and hymns in the chapel once a month.

Her husband once asked her when she was going to retire from playing the organ. Her response: ‘I’m not going to retire, why would I? God has given me this talent.’

‘I have had a few challenges throughout my journey through life and have only managed them because of my faith in my Lord and Saviour’, she says. ‘Faith is my second name.’

How fitting then, that her favourite Psalm 23 is one she’s sung at many special occasions including weddings and funerals. It is an ongoing reminder of his guidance throughout her life.

‘I always ask God to guide my fingers to play for his glory.’

Helen Beringen is a Brisbane-based writer who is inspired by the many GREYT people who serve tirelessly and humbly in our community. By sharing stories of how God shines his light through his people, she hopes others are encouraged to explore how they can use their gifts to share his light in the world.

Know of any other GREYT stories in your local community? Email the editor lisa.mcintosh@lca.org.au  

287

A shepherd’s path

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Each year in The Lutheran, we introduce the wider church to the newest pastors of the LCANZ, including their work and family backgrounds and their call to the ministry. And God uses their experiences for his kingdom as they serve in our congregations, schools, care settings, or district or churchwide ministries.