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381

LCA International Mission resources

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Stay in touch with the latest in international mission news …

Stay up to date with the latest news about what you are doing through LCA International Mission by subscribing to LCA International Mission eNews, delivered to your inbox each month.

You’ll receive inspiring stories of how God is working to build his church, meet brothers and sisters from other countries whose lives have been transformed by the gospel, and receive regular updates about volunteer opportunities, congregational and school partnerships and news about how you can support the work of the gospel.

Subscribe to the LCA International Mission eNews by emailing lcaim@lca.org.au or call us on 08 8267 7334.

 

Wantok Place reopens

Wantok Place, the LCA’s Museum of Papua New Guinea Artefacts, has reopened to the public, after being closed since 18 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Located at 175A Archer Street, North Adelaide, the museum is open every Wednesday from 10am to 4pm. Privately booked tours can also be arranged via email to wantok-place@lca.org.au or by phone with Timothy Pietsch on 0419 606 707.

A special exhibition of rare photographs will be mounted in the foyer of the museum from early November. These photos from Neuendettelsau in Germany depict the life and work of Pastor Johann Flierl, the first Lutheran missionary in PNG. Come and see the photos and the museum!

382

Discover God’s call – no matter who you are

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by Pastor James Winderlich, Principal of ALC

Australian Lutheran College (ALC) launched Discover in 2020 and its uptake has amazed us. The diverse nature of our first student cohort is a delight. The inaugural intake has members living in five Australian states, while our mid-year intake included a student from New Zealand. The course includes women and men, young and old, and people discerning callings with different vocational outcomes and those looking to study part or full-time.

The only attribute defining a ‘typical’ Discover student is a willingness to complete theological study while engaging in a local ministry to explore God’s call. Recognising the whisper of the Holy Spirit is just the start. Discover uses an action/reflection model to help participants hear and explore God’s call more fully.

Support for emerging church workers and volunteers

The Discover program is designed to uncover and support the LCA/NZ’s emerging volunteers, church workers, teachers and pastors by helping them to become more aware of their calling, to think theologically and to serve faithfully.

This is done through partnerships between:

  • The inquirer, who could be based anywhere in Australia or New Zealand;
  • The inquirer’s local faith community. This could include a congregation, school, aged and community care facility, camp, for example;
  • The wider church community, which could be an LCA/NZ district, department or agency; and
  • ALC.

Combine study and ministry activities

Discover includes a course of academic study and transformative ministry activities. In most cases the study will be through a Diploma in Theology. For people sensing a call to pastoral ministry, the diploma will count as the first year of pastoral studies. For those called to serve as a Lutheran school teacher, it can be used to complete some parts of their accreditation. For people who sense a call to serve as lay workers and volunteers, it will provide a deep grounding in Lutheran teaching and practice.

Unsure about where God wants you?

The Discover program is also designed for people who aren’t sure about where God is calling them to serve. If you are a family member or friend of someone curious about God’s call to them, why not encourage them towards Discover?

For more information about Discover, please email enquiries@alc.edu.au

385

LCA Constitution review interim report released

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The LCA/NZ has released an interim report detailing the vision, recommendations and principles for a new constitutional framework for the church, along with church member feedback on the current constitution.

The General Church Board (GCB) is conducting the review of the 54-year-old constitution on behalf of General Synod. The interim report is the culmination of Phase 1 of the review process. The review aims to develop a constitution that serves the church well in being faithful to Christ, living out the gospel and thriving in the 21st century.

To date, approximately 250 church members have engaged with the review process. Some people have completed surveys, others have written submissions, some have participated in working groups, and still others have been involved in telephone interviews.

The purpose of the Phase 1 Review was to identify and analyse the key issues and establish the key principles that will be presented for approval as the framework that will guide the development of a new constitutional structure, Executive Officer of the Church Peter Schirmer said.

‘The aim is to achieve a constitutional framework that has longevity and reflects who we are, why we exist, how we are governed, is consistent with contemporary standards, and is of such a nature that requires minimal changes over time’, he said.

He said in 2021 the church would decide if, when and how it would move into Phase 2, planning for the actual updating of the constitutional framework. Submissions to the review show that most church members support having new, easier-to-read documentation. They would also like to see our separate General and District Synods constitutionally linked and working together more. And they would like to simplify the definition of ‘membership’ of congregations to bring our definitions in line with typical practice.

The detailed two-volume Interim Report provides a fuller outline of changes church members would like to see. The most significant suggested improvement is to regroup our current large document into three separate but related documents – a ‘Church Charter’, a ‘Book of Rules’ and a ‘Constitution’ for our legal structure.

The ‘Church Charter’ would be based on Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions and would perform a modern-day function similar to that of the Theses of Agreement in 1966. The ‘Book of Rules’ would be a collection of the standard operating regulations, policies and procedures of the LCA/NZ. We would continue to have a legal document in order to have a legal structure, meet secular requirements and provide legal protections for our church.

Links to the interim report have been emailed to all pastors, congregation chairs and 2018 General Synod delegates. You can also find out more about the review and read both volumes of the report online at www.lca.org.au/constitution-review

Please provide your feedback on the report and its recommendations, along with any ideas you have about updating the LCA/NZ constitution, to your local district. Contact details are on the Constitution Review webpage.

386

Side by side, every step of the way

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When Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) began 70 years ago, it was formed so that our Lutheran family could walk alongside people in need. That’s exactly what people like you still do today, says Jen Pfitzner …

At the end of World War II, Europe was left in ruins and millions of people were forced from their homes.

War-scarred people needed new places to live and Australia needed new workers – so began a 20-year exodus of more than 300,000 people to Bonegilla Migrant Centre near Wodonga in Victoria.

The journey from Europe took weeks. Arriving at Port Melbourne, weary families then boarded a train for the rattly eight-hour journey to Bonegilla – just a few lights in a siding in a paddock. These people looking for a better life must have wondered where they’d ended up!

Yet our Lutheran family was there, welcoming them with open arms. Helping them find their feet. Listening to their worries and hopes for the future.

In 1947 many of the migrants arriving at the Bonegilla Migrant Centre were Lutherans, so the Lutheran pastor in Albury, Rev Bruno Muetzelfeldt, began visiting the centre.

Often there were more than 1000 Lutherans at Bonegilla at a time, so Pastor Muetzelfeldt became the full-time chaplain. The Lutheran ministry to migrants expanded to place Lutheran pastors on the ships coming to Australia.

Then, once the government found migrants a more permanent home, the Lutheran team at Bonegilla let the local pastor know they were coming. This meant people had a pastor supporting them from their homeland to Bonegilla and then to their new home. Their faith may have been the only constant through this unsettling time. What an amazing comfort people our Lutheran family helped provide!

In 1950 the newly formed Lutheran World Federation (LWF) decided a base was needed in Australia to help with refugee resettlement and the Lutheran church’s aid agency was born – Lutheran World Service-Australia (LWS-A).

By 1955 the Lutheran team had helped resettle 2350 refugees and more staff were needed. Brian Neldner joined the team as a case-work assistant. He would go on to serve people through LWS for almost 40 years.

Many of the migrants coming to Australia had left family at home. So support in these early years involved helping to bring loved ones to Australia by working with LWF offices in Europe. The Lutheran team also helped provide travel loans for family members.

LWS-A also supported some Lutheran churches with grants – they needed more room and services now that many migrant Lutherans were joining them.

In 1960 Pastor Muetzelfeldt took on a senior position at the LWS headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Brian Neldner became the head of LWS-A. Lutheran Pastor Norman Sander was called to be chaplain at Bonegilla.

When the government began helping migrants to come to Australia, travel loans were not needed as much. Because the repayment of loans had been so good, Mr Neldner was able to set up the Secondary Purpose Revolving Loan Fund to help with resettlement.

In 1964 Brian Neldner moved to Tanzania to head up the new LWS program there and Adelaide businessman Sid Bartsch became the new director of LWS-A.

When the LCA was established in 1966, it was agreed that LWS-A would be its channel for overseas aid. Mr Bartsch promoted the emergency, refugee and development work of the Lutheran World Service around the globe. He encouraged Australian Lutherans to support this work.

This is how the work through LWS-A moved from receiving help primarily from LWF to resettle refugees, to giving help to others!

In 1971 the Australian Government decided to close Bonegilla, so the LWS-A office moved into Albury.

By this time the need for help for migrants had declined, so support increasingly shifted to aid and development around the world, with a focus on refugees. This continues today, with ALWS supporting work in refugee camps where nearly 1.5 million displaced people live.

Through LWS-A, Australians supported the worldwide work of LWF and responses to disasters and emergencies, rather than specific projects. This generosity and trust mean gifts could – and still can – be used where needed most urgently.

In 1974 LWS-A received funds for the first time from the Australian Government’s Development Assistance Bureau (ADAB, which is now DFAT – the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).

But just when it seemed that support for migrants coming to Australia was no longer needed, things changed. Refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, plus eastern Europeans, and later people from Central America, fled to Australia to find safety and security. Backed by the Australian Government, LWS-A supported nearly 2000 families to begin new lives in Australia. The Australian Government continues to trust ALWS to deliver community development work, with a rigorous process every five years to maintain accreditation.

By 1985 it was clear that LWS-A needed to become an Australian organisation, rather than a branch office of an international one, with one reason being that the Australian Government wanted to work with Australian organisations. The LCA and LWS in Geneva agreed the office should be called Australian Lutheran World Service. In 1991 ALWS became the aid and resettlement agency of the LCA.

The first director of ALWS was architect Gary Simpson. He and the new ALWS Board continued to make sure donations were used efficiently and effectively to help people in countries like Mozambique, Cambodia and Nepal. ALWS also reached out to victims of war and disasters, in places like Rwanda, East Timor and Malawi.

Organisations responding to disasters must coordinate their efforts to ensure resources are deployed quickly and effectively. That’s why Action by Churches Together (ACT Alliance) – a group of churches and church-related organisations of different denominations working together – was formed in 1995.

That year Peter Schirmer became the assistant secretary of ALWS, with the job of creating resources for teachers. These resources – class activities, videos, presentations and more – are used by more than 70 per cent of Lutheran schools across Australia today.

During this time Gary and Peter also visited the communities ALWS was helping overseas in order to learn more about the needs of the people and to show them that our Lutheran family’s care for them goes far beyond financial gifts.

After 10 years Peter took over as director of ALWS.

When the Boxing Day tsunami struck in 2004, support for Indonesia began through its largest Lutheran church, HKBP. This work grew to include other LWF churches in Indonesia, in partnership with LCA International Mission and Lutheran Education Australia, with generous financial support from the LLL.

Our Lutheran family embraced the first Gifts of Grace catalogue in 2008, sending support for life-changing assets such as goats and chickens around the world.

Chey Mattner became ALWS director in 2013.

In 2017, when the first Walk My Way refugee education support event was held, our ALWS family, supported by the Australian Government, gave more help than ever before – $8.6 million!

In 2018 Jamie Davies became director.

In 2019, as part of the GRACE Project, ALWS supporters helped more than 40,000 refugee children go to school – matching the number of students in Lutheran schools in Australia.

In 2020 even COVID-19 couldn’t stop our Lutheran family’s support, as Walk My Way became Walk YOUR Way and people like you walked, wheeled, woofed and even toddled your way to help others.

It’s impossible to acknowledge every person since 1947 who has made our church’s aid agency what it is today. However, this small taste of ALWS history shows how God has used the energy, passion and kindness of our extended Lutheran family to bless the lives of many people hurt by poverty, conflict and injustice.

Today our church through ALWS works in 11 countries. Last year the ALWS family helped 297,498 people with the same spirit of service as Pastor Bruno 70 years ago. Walking alongside people. Side by side, every step of the way.

Thanks be to God for the blessings brought through ALWS, as together we seek to bring love to life.

Jen Pfitzner is ALWS Communications Support Officer.

 

ALWS TIMELINE

1947 – Pastor Muetzelfeldt begins visiting Lutheran migrants at Bonegilla Migrant Centre

1950 – Lutheran World Service-Australia is formed

1955 – By this time 2350 migrants have been helped

1960 – Brian Neldner heads up LWS-A and works to establish a loan fund for resettlement

1966 – LCA is formed. New LWS-A head Sidney Bartsch encourages the LCA to move to support the global work of LWS

1971 – LWS-A office moves to Albury

1974 – LWS-A receives Australian government funds for the first time

1978 – Resettlement support for refugees from Asia, after the Vietnam War

1989 – Official document signed on 10 July to form ALWS

1991 – ALWS becomes the aid and development agency of the LCA

1995 – ALWS becomes a founding member of ACT Alliance (emergency response)

2008 – The first Gifts of Grace

2017 – $8.6 million in support – most help ever!

2019 – GRACE Project supports 40,000 refugee children to go to school

2020 – TODAY: 11 countries + emergency help in others. Thanks to our incredible supporters!

387

Church leaders report on ordination deliberations

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The LCA/NZ’s governance and pastoral leaders have issued a report to members after meeting about the division within the church over women’s ordination.

Earlier this year, the General Church Board (GCB) and the College of Bishops (CoB) held a joint meeting on the issue.

This was their second such combined meeting since the 2018 General Convention of Synod, at which a resolution to allow the ordination of women in the LCA/NZ received majority support but failed to garner the two-thirds majority of delegates required for such a change to church practice and teaching.

The result was similar to those of ballots at three previous General Conventions since 2000, in which more than 50 per cent of delegates were in favour of women’s ordination.

The church remains divided on this issue and, despite years of theological study and respectful dialogue and debate, there is no indication that consensus will be reached. The GCB and CoB met to consider what steps might be taken to address this impasse.

After considering all the information they had received, to make the task manageable, GCB and CoB confined the task to considering three potential scenarios, while acknowledging that there may also be others:

Scenario 1: A single LCA/NZ synod, with one teaching and two practices

Scenario 2: A single LCA/NZ synod, with the current teaching upheld

Scenario 3: Multiple LCA/NZ synods – we can no longer stay together (we separate).

The GCB and CoB have assessed each scenario against a number of criteria, including church unity, confessional and biblical identity/integrity, and the impact on gospel proclamation.

The report is now available for church members to read and discuss. A copy has been sent to all pastors, parish and congregation chairs and General Synod delegates.

LCA/NZ Bishop John Henderson said all members of the GCB and the CoB remained committed to the one LCA/NZ, ‘our unity as a synod and our common purpose in Christ. We are Lutheran, and we want to remain so, but first of all we are Christ’s … If we hurt each other, it is really him we hurt’.

You can access the report via the LCA website at www.lca.org.au

388

Editor’s letter

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While it’s often easier to focus on negative attitudes and selfish behaviour we see, experience or even contribute to, I am frequently surprised by the generosity and kindness of people.

For me, these heartwarming surprises have been going on for nearly 50 years. I still remember the thoughtfulness of a motel manager who posted back the beloved Humphrey B Bear I’d left behind on a family holiday, and the elderly lady who donated the only $2 she had to spare when my friend and I doorknocked houses to raise money for refugees when we were 11 or 12.

Throughout my life I’ve seen the kindness continue. In 2019 our Lutheran family in Australia and New Zealand backed the call by our church’s aid and development agency, Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS), to raise more than $1 million to support schooling for 40,000 children in African refugee camps.

Despite this year’s Walk My Way group fundraising events for the same cause being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds of people have innovated to safely participate – and to contribute to the education of thousands more kids.

The Lutheran churches in Australia have a long history with people fleeing war, persecution, or famine. Many of the first Lutherans who came to South Australia in the 1830s did so because of religious persecution in their native Prussia.

Still more Lutheran refugees and migrants came to Australia and New Zealand from Europe after World War II. Thousands of new arrivals were resettled through Bonegilla Migrant Centre near Wodonga in Victoria. A Lutheran pastor began serving at Bonegilla in 1947. That ministry was the forerunner to what today is ALWS.

Through strong partnerships with Lutheran schools, church and government bodies and people like you, ALWS today works in 11 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and last year helped 297,498 refugees and others hurt by poverty, injustice, or crisis.

Unfortunately, thanksgiving events to mark the ALWS 70th anniversary this month were cancelled due to COVID-19. However, many congregations will recognise the anniversary during worship on 18 October. And, thanks to the LLL and Lutheran Education Australia, this special edition of The Lutheran is going to all ALWS supporters and all staff of Lutheran schools and early learning centres in Australia.

Welcome to you all and especially any first-time readers. I pray that you will be blessed by what you encounter in these pages, as together we learn about ALWS history, hear from the agency’s supporters and partners, and come to see how its work shares kindness and generosity, and brings love to life for people in need.

– Lisa

PS: If you’re not already part of our subscriber family, we’d love to have you join us. You can subscribe at www.thelutheran.com.au or through the details on page 2.

389

Salvation for all – a story worth sharing

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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

‘“These people have received the Holy Spirit, just as we also did. Can anyone, then, stop them from being baptised with water?” So [the apostle Peter] ordered them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ’
(Acts 10:47,48a GNB).

Years ago, when I was a young pastor, I said in a Sunday sermon that the Bible verses I was speaking about were a ‘story’. Later, an older pastor took me aside to tell me I was wrong. He thought a ‘story’ meant something made up and therefore not true. I disagreed with him then and I still do now.

Stories are important. We each have a story – the story of our life. It’s a real story, told from the inside as only we can tell it. Similarly, parents and teachers use stories every day to teach children about life. Kids love stories. Adults love stories too. They are important to our growth and learning.

It’s no surprise, then, that when God speaks to us, he often does so in the form of a story. The Bible is a collection of books that tell the story of God’s love for human beings and for the world. From Adam and Eve to Noah, to Abraham and Isaac, to Moses and Joshua, to David and Solomon, through the prophets to John the Baptist and, finally, to Jesus the Christ.

The Book of Acts tells part of God’s story. It tells how the Holy Spirit worked to spread Christianity throughout the Mediterranean world. It’s a dynamic story of faith, preaching, wonders and a growing church. It also tells of danger, active opposition and strident debate as Christians learned that God accepts all people without discrimination.

Acts contains the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion and a good man. For the Jews, he was a religious outsider, or Gentile, which was a huge barrier in those days. One day an angel of the Lord told Cornelius to invite the apostle Peter to visit. Peter was an observant Jew, but God gave him a vision of all kinds of forbidden foods mixed together, which he was told to eat. Because of the vision, Peter could accept Cornelius’s invitation with a clean conscience, despite his religious training. Peter told Cornelius his own story and the story of Jesus. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came on the household and they all were baptised. God had shown that salvation in Jesus has no barriers, religious or otherwise. When Peter shared this story with other Christians, it changed their attitude to people of a different background.

Acts shows how faith spreads by telling the story of Jesus. The apostles used it to explain how everything that God had done among the Jews – as recorded in the Old Testament –  led up to this point. They told all who would listen how Jesus, who died but whom God raised from the dead, now saves everyone who believes in him.

Christians today continue to tell the same story, so that people of every background – women and men, children and adults – may believe in Jesus and be saved. It is still our direction and motivation. It still excites us because Jesus is just as much alive among us as he was among them. God raised him from the dead, and we believe that he will also raise us. That’s worth sharing, over and over, until he returns and takes us to be with him in heaven.

The story of Jesus Christ, which is the church’s story, has also become my story, and I pray it is yours also. He is our life and our salvation, as he is for all people, everywhere, for all time.

390

Reconciliation Action Plan endorsed

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The LCA’s Reconciliation Action Plan has been approved by the General Church Board and endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.

Reconciliation Australia Chief Executive Officer Karen Mundine said: ‘As a member of the RAP community, the Lutheran Church of Australia joins over 1000 dedicated corporate, government, and not-for-profit organisations that have formally committed to reconciliation through the RAP program. RAP organisations across Australia are … helping to build higher trust, lower prejudice, and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.’

LCA/NZ Bishop John Henderson described the RAP document as ‘a labour of love’. ‘It represents the continuation of a journey begun when … the late Pastor George Rosendale … and Dr Lance Steicke, the then President of the LCA, led a formal rite of reconciliation between the Lutheran Church of Australia and Indigenous Lutherans (in 2000)’, he said. ‘The Lutheran RAP is a framework we can use in our organisations and ministries to increase our awareness, sensitivity and inclusion.’

The RAP has been sent to church leaders, General Synod delegates, congregations and schools.