Our Church Family Album
‘Loose change’ changes lives
The ‘loose change’ claimed from recycling drink bottles and cans in Queensland is having a big impact across the world at Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp – thanks to St James Lutheran Church Hervey Bay and ALWS. The congregation has raised more than $2,000 for ALWS through the 10-cent Containers for Change scheme since 2019. ‘That's 20,000 drink containers and 100,000 hot meals for refugees in Kakuma,’ says St James chairperson David Grieger (pictured left, with Leon Weise on the right). ALWS's participation in the scheme was initiated by the late Christian Stern, a former staff member and member at St James.
Lutheran Archives welcomes special guest
The Lutheran Archives Research Room was closed to the public for December and January; however, the team was still able to sneak in special guests. In January, Professor Shuji Iijima from Kyushu University in Japan, who is visiting Monash University and Hermannsburg, explored the collection. Professor Iijima (pictured with Collections Archivist Angela Schilling) has a longstanding relationship with the Arrarnta people of Central Australia.
Retired pastors gather
Nunawading–Waverley celebrates firstAlpha course
The Nunawading–Waverley Lutheran Church (Glen Waverley Vic) has celebrated its first Mandarin Alpha Course. Led by the inspiring evangelist Sherry Hong (pictured with the painting), five out of the eight participants received a certificate of recognition for their Alpha Course journey (also pictured with Pastor Tim Castle-Schmidt). They were also given a holding cross to remind them of God’s nearness in their lives.
The SA–NT District Office hosted a gathering for retired pastors to connect and acknowledge their ongoing service to congregations. We are blessed by the ongoing care, wisdom and support they provide to our communities, districts and one another. Pictured: First Assistant Bishop Adrian Kitson and pastors Geoff Burger, Jim Bryan, Dean Zweck, Marice Schild and Mike Semmler.
Neighbours?
No, really
When the Neighbours TV production wrapped up months ago, the This N That Community Store at Forest Hill in Melbourne’s east was left with deliveries of Neighbours props and memorabilia. The media went crazy for three days, drumming up huge interest and providing an opportunity for the op shop to raise funds. Props were put up for auction, and items soared well above the price (pictured).
‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.’
When LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith led the first Church House staff devotion for the new working year, based on this well-known text from Ecclesiastes 3 (and the following verses), I didn’t think these words would form the opening sentence of this editorial. To me, they encouraged us to trust in God’s timing, providence and grace, especially when we navigate times of change or face a new year with all its unknowns.
But as I prayed and reflected in preparing to write this – as I’ve done more than 90 times in the past 10 years – those words kept coming back.
As always, God has given me the words and, as always, there is a reason. My season as editor of The Lutheran and publications editor for the LCA is at an end. I have requested a reduction in my work hours and am blessed to begin serving part-time in the new Church House Exhibition Centre. I am excited about this new season, including having more time to spend with family and friends, and for volunteering … perhaps once I put a dent in some long-delayed home tasks!
Working on The Lutheran has been both challenging work and a gift and blessing. Thank you to everyone who has encouraged, supported or prayed for me, and to colleagues, friends and family members who have put up with me at deadline time and helped me put each edition ‘to bed’. I thank God for those who have been beside me throughout the journey, including my husband, Nigel, for his tolerance and love; former executive editor, Linda, for her wisdom and guidance; our brilliant designer, Elysia; and our exceptional volunteer proofreaders, Kathy and Lyall.
I know God will richly bless our new LCA Publications Editor, Elise Mattiske, and our church through her service, and I encourage you to pray for her and our LCA Communications team. I will delight in reading our beloved periodical as it heads towards its 60th birthday and look forward to the changes Elise, Elysia and the team will make. You’ll notice the first fruits of their collaboration already in this edition.
As well as a design refresh, we are introducing new columns: the inspirational profile ‘Faces of Faith’; ‘Celebrating Our Story’, which highlights Lutheran history; and ‘Our Church Family Album’, which shares snapshots of service from our wider church family. We’ve also boosted the Bible study content, with a four-page liftout designed for group or personal study. I pray you will be blessed by these changes and will invite others to join our subscriber family. In contrast, something that is unchanging and always ‘in season’ is our call as Christians to share Jesus’ love with those around us. And that’s exactly what the LCANZ’s Local Mission Fund is designed to foster – a missional culture across our church. The fund is now in its second year, and in this edition, you’ll read stories about our Lutheran family putting their mission dreams into practice. I hope and pray you’ll be encouraged, inspired and prompted by what you read.
Thank you and God bless,
Lisa McIntosh Editor, The Lutheran
Special features
Helping congregations share Jesus’ love
A cross-cultural home for faith
God’s presence, no barriers
Growing together in mission
Reimagining partnership
A new chapter in youth ministry
Growing God’s mission field
Faith across generations
Building bridges of hope
Regulars
Because we bear your name: Bishop Paul’s Letter
Dwelling in God’s Word
Congregational Life
The Inside Story
Celebrating Our Story
Faces of Faith
Directory
Your Voice
Coffee Break
Our cover: Christian Hansen, the Community Connection Facilitator for Our Saviour Lutheran Church Rochedale in Queensland, takes part in a junior school break-time program at the co-located Redeemer Lutheran College called Faith Explorers. On this day, students were learning about the Bible story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. See page 9.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following pages contain images of people who have died.
Bishop Paul’s Letter
Because we bear your name
‘Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart’ (Acts 16:14).
We have an inheritance from the mission heart of Lydia, the dealer in purple cloth, mentioned in Acts chapter 16. Lydia was an early Christian convert through the mission work of the Apostle Paul. We know very little about her, but her brief mention in the Book of Acts tells us a lot about the legacy that the Lord has given to us through the mission heart of this pioneer Christian woman.
When we are told that Lydia was a ‘dealer in purple cloth’, we are actually being told that she was quite well off. Cloth dyed with the colour purple was reserved for the very wealthy. In the ancient world, a substance was extracted from thousands of sea snails to make a purple dye through a complex and costly process.
Also, since we are told that Lydia was from Thyatira, located in what is known today as Türkiye, we are being informed that she comes from a city known across the Roman Empire for its production of dyed cloth.
Little would Lydia have imagined how her sponsorship of Paul’s work would have an impact on the church's ever-expanding mission work, through Paul and his writings, beyond Philippi to Rome, to Europe and to the ends of the Earth, even to us here in New Zealand and Australia. In this, we have inherited a church for which the Lord used Lydia’s witness of service.
We are called to the mission of God, to take part in the giving and receiving for the blessing of others and for the blessing of the work of the gospel to the ends of the Earth. This edition of The Lutheran, our church’s magazine, tells stories of the sisters and brothers in Christ in various communities of our LCANZ, who have joined with Lydia in finding ways to provide for the work of the mission we are given.
Little would Lydia have imagined how her sponsorship of Paul’s work would have an impact on the church's ever-expanding mission work.
So, Lydia was a commercially skilled and wealthy woman. She may have been married, but we know that she has the authority to invite Paul and his companions to stay at her home.
Later in the writings of St Paul, in his letter to the congregation of Philippi, where Lydia came to faith, we are told that in the ‘early days of the gospel’, the Christians in that city were the only church group that supported the Apostle Paul. He notes, ‘You sent me help for my needs more than once.’
Thanks to the Book of Acts, we know of a wealthy Christian convert in Philippi who would have been active in this support of the mission work of the Apostle Paul.
I have great confidence that many who read these stories will be inspired to find new and purposeful ways in their own communities to provide for the preaching of ‘Christ and him crucified’. And, as people of the LCANZ, like Lydia, you have taken part in the mission communities mentioned in these pages, through your sharing of your offerings to the cause of the gospel.
When you read Acts 16, you discover an important piece of Lydia’s conversion story. In verse 14, the Scripture declares: ‘The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.’ This is the most important prayer for Christians in the mission of God. We pray that those who hear the word of the Lord proclaimed will have their hearts opened and be baptised like Lydia was. Then, as new sisters and brothers in Christ, they too are invited to join in the work of the church – bringing Christ to the nations.
In Christ,
‘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’
Rev Paul Smith Bishop, Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand
