THE LUTHERAN February 2015

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He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ [ Revelation 21:5 ] Vol 49 No1 P1

EDITOR/ADVERTISING phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

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www.thelutheran.com.au We Love The Lutheran!

Now in her nineties, Reta Henschke enjoys a short ride out into the garden to share a freshly delivered copy of The Lutheran with her husband, Rev Colin Henschke (emeritus).

As the magazine of the Lutheran Church of Australia (incorporating the Lutheran Church of New Zealand), The Lutheran informs the members of the LCA about the church’s teaching, life, mission and people, helping them to grow in faith and commitment to Jesus Christ. The Lutheran also provides a forum for a range of opinions, which do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or the policies of the Lutheran Church of Australia. The Lutheran is a member of the Australasian Religious Press Association and as such subscribes to its journalistic and editorial codes of conduct.

The couple are both members at St Johns, Tanunda SA but are also found worshipping closer to home in the Gramp Chapel, Tanunda Lutheran Home.

Photo: Dorcas Kernich Send us a photograph featuring a recent copy of The Lutheran and you might see it here on page 2.

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CONTACTS Editor Rosie Schefe 197 Archer St, North Adelaide SA 5006 phone 0427 827 441 email rosie.schefe@lca.org.au

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Executive Editor Linda Macqueen 3 Orvieto St, Bridgewater SA 5155 phone 08 8339 5178 email linda.macqueen@lca.org.au Design and layout Comissa Fischer Printer Openbook Howden

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St Pauls, Broken Hill NSW Student Enjoys violin and nail technology Fav text: Matt 5:16

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Do trees feel pain? That was just one of the thoughts that rambled through my brain as I watched a re-run of the Gourmet Farmer TV series during my holiday.

Anyway, in this episode Matthew Evans and an experienced orchardist were renovating old apple trees on Matthew’s farm. Renovating is a tame description for what they were actually doing; demolishing is more appropriate.

Using a small chainsaw and heavy secateurs they were cutting back branches almost to the trunk, taking out years’ worth of neglected old growth. Ouch (bigtime)!

Then the orchardist began expertly grafting in new apple wood.

Just twigs, they carried buds that looked ready to burst forth immediately into fresh shoots. The orchardist slipped the new wood in just under the bark of the old branches and bound them with tape to protect the grafts. Matthew explained that they had chosen a range of apple varieties, so that in future the orchard would produce almost year-round, providing different taste sensations as each apple came into season.

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FEATURES 05 It’s not just about the music …

09 Takoto te pai!

10 A passionate encounter 12 Fishers for people 26 Faith in pictures

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28 A heart away from home

COLUMNS 04 Heartland 14 Little Church 15 Inside Story

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18 Letters

My thought about trees and pain came back to me as I began working on this issue of the magazine. I sat in church confessing my sin, along with everyone else, and realised how similar confession and repentance is to that heavy pruning job. And it is painful, telling God I am sorry for all the wrong I have done—even the wrong I don’t know about. It makes me look hard at myself and see the neglected bits, feel the bitter thoughts I suppress, hear the words unspoken (or far too often, those spoken without consideration). And then comes the absolution; the pastor pronounces God’s grace over all of us, taking that sin away.

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But God doesn’t stop there: he’s an orchardist! He doesn’t leave us as bare trunks, leafless and hungry. As our cover verse reminds us, he is ‘making everything new’ (Revelation 21:5). Where there was sin, his forgiveness brings grace and love, peace and hope. Grafted into Christ, we produce fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23). Just what my life needs, year-round.

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God’s passion for orchard-keeping isn’t confined to individual lives.

He carries out the tasks of pruning and grafting in his church too, taking out what is no longer of use to make room for new things. He uses that solid, well-established root and trunk system to support new growth, promoting the production of fruit to feed his hungry world. As you read on, keep your eyes open for those little buds, waiting, ready to be nurtured into growth as the sap rises from the roots.

Have a blessed new 2015!

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20 Stepping Stones 22 Notices 23 Reel Life 30 Bring Jesus 32 World in Brief

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26 28

Our churches … teach that one holy church is to continue forever. The church is the assembly of saints in which the gospel is taught purely and the sacraments are administered rightly. (Augsburg Confession 1530 Article VII, Latin text) It’s nearly 500 years since Martin Luther first raised his protest against spiritual abuse in the church.

Obsessed by influence and wealth, the church had neglected the gospel of Jesus Christ. Luther’s protest sparked what we call the Reformation. It was a time of great— and frequently violent—upheaval. It changed the world.

It’s nearly 50 years since Lutherans formed a single synod in Australia and New Zealand. While hardly on the scale of the Reformation, this was a labour of love that took decades. The spirit of the union was the same as that of the reformers: faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus

Christ, as revealed by God in Scripture. As were the years of the Reformation, so also these years have been a time of great social change, much of it occurring away from the church.

How will we answer the challenges of our time? Are we ready to rise to the occasion, or will we be found wanting?

It is now only seven months until the 18th synodical convention of the LCA. We are going to deal with a difficult and possibly divisive issue.

Like Luther and the reformers, and like those who established our own synod, we have to ask: how will we answer the challenges of our time?

Are we ready to rise to the occasion, or will we be found wanting?

For his part, God continues patiently to build his church, generation by generation, descendant by descendant. He has always called people to faith as individuals and as

communities. In Luther’s day, for all its problems, the church gave Luther access to the Bible. As Luther read that Bible, especially the good news of Jesus Christ, God gave him saving faith. In our day, for all its problems, the church continues to pass on what it has received. God continues to give people saving faith, through his word, baptism, and holy communion. That’s why he put the church here in the first place, and why he persists with it.

For our part, the human arrangements we make for the church are imperfect. Despite 2000 years of practice, here on earth we are still working out what it means to be the redeemed people of God. Just as you and I have our personal stories of faith, so the church has its story. You are part of that story.

Whether or not you are directly involved in the convention of Synod, how you speak and behave this year—and the spirit in which you do it—will make a difference to all of us.

The 2015 convention could be the greatest test of our union since 1966. We will be deciding important matters of faith. How we understand the message of the Bible and our Confessions, determines what we believe. As we face this challenge in 2015, I pray that we will trust God to stay with us and guide us into the future, just as he has always guided his people in the past.

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Photo: Barossa CLW

Reaching and holding young adults close is a matter of listening

It’s not just about the music …

by Fiona Weckert

Above: Peer relationships with other young Christians are vital, but relationships with older Christians are valued just as highly.

Young adults – who are they and where are they?

It can be difficult to define a young adult. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records young adults as between 18 and 34 years of age. Some would argue you’re a young adult at 16 and still a young adult at 38! Often the church refers to a young adult as someone aged between 18 and 24, but then where do you fit after the age of 24 if you aren’t a ‘young married’ or ‘new parent’ or are still living at home (a ‘kidult’)? It’s a challenging time for the church, but an equally challenging time for young adults.

Early in 2014 Lutheran Youth of Queensland (LYQ) conducted an online survey of young adults aged 18–25 to find out how they view themselves, their faith and their church.

Of the 321 persons who responded, 283 identified as Christian, 22 as nonChristian and 16 as ‘sort-of’ Christian.

Two hundred responders had grown up in the Lutheran church and around 85 per cent of them still identify as Vol 49 No1 P5

Lutheran. Most (257 survey responders) attend worship at least monthly, with almost 72 per cent of them attending church each week.

of young people who were connected to the church as children by the time they become adults. Christian researcher Phillip Hughes estimates that this is as many as 50,000 young people every year from Australian churches.

The message of this evaluation is that Christian young adults are, for the most part, finding it tough going in the secular world

All survey answers were given anonymously. Questions were asked around several main themes, most of them with set options to choose from.

These included:

It is important here to remember that this survey group is very small: the majority of them come from the 20 per cent of young people who have stuck with the church and with faith in some way. Other research tells us that we lose 80 per cent

• the experience of transition to new congregations and the extent of preparation for such an event; • the spiritual background and current spiritual activity of family; • aspects of a faith journey to this point, including youth group and Christian Life Week attendance, family devotions/faith talk and times of ‘wandering away from the faith’; • spirituality and current church attendance of friends; • for all regular and non-regular worshippers, two free-field questions: The Lutheran February 2015

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Photo: Josh Jaeschke

Worship that communicates timeless truths in a relevant way is important to young adults.

–Two things I think the church/ Christian faith does not understand about 18–25 year olds are (if older, please cast your mind back) …

–How can the church best serve people of your current age group at this time of their lives?

• for non-Christians, questions on current spirituality and their journey there; and • for everyone, demographic, geographic and family-related information, some of which was optional.

Some of the results are not surprising.

Some are startling. What was most obvious was that Australian young adults share many similarities with their contemporaries in the United States and United Kingdom. Here are a few ‘fun facts’ from the LYQ Young Adult Ministry Evaluation:

• 49 per cent of young adults have changed churches, but 52 per cent of these changed to a Lutheran church.

• Before moving, only 11 per cent of young adults had a conversation about the difficulties involved in finding a new faith community.

49 per cent of young adults have changed churches, but 52 per cent of these changed to a Lutheran church

• Every second young adult in your church has experienced a time in their life where they have wandered from their faith.

• 53 per cent of young adults take six months or more to feel comfortable at their new church.

• 28 per cent go to church out of obligation.

• Young adults who are regular attenders value a welcoming

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community at church above anything else (67 per cent), while ‘good music’ only came in at 21 per cent.

• 98 per cent of young adults who had regular family devotions while growing up attend church monthly or more.

‘The message of this evaluation is that Christian young adults are, for the most part, finding it tough going in the secular world. They exist alongside a largely secular cohort who validate their own “truth” in the search for the young adult “holy grail” of authenticity. Selfdefined personal truths are determined from a much greater and faster array of information and options than ever before. Yet there is less engagement with the institutional and communal filters of the past, including the church.

Christian young adults while abutting this world, are also a product and part of it—the lines are blurred’, the authors state in the executive summary of their final report.

The LYQ response to the information gained was presented first in Queensland and then more widely Vol 49 No1 P6

in a series of seminars titled Deep & Wide, led by LYQ Young Adult Ministry Coordinator Tom Schmidt.

Every second young adult in your church has experienced a time in their life where they have wandered from their faith ‘When I have presented these findings and am guided by the discussion in the room, there seems to be a strong theme of this research telling us that young adults do not need a program’, Tom says. ‘They need adults who have

invested in their lives since they were children and who continue to do so when they are young adults. There is a strong relational theme that comes through—a sense of calling the church back to being a village.’

into their young adult years. Instead, the research pointed out that young people are looking to learn how to faithfully follow Christ in the world from older, mature Christians by engaging with spiritual disciplines.

Early last November, almost 60 people gathered with Tom at Blair Athol in South Australia, to learn more about the survey results and how to respond to them. Pastor Eugene Minge reflected on what they heard:

‘The research led LYQ to develop Seven Principles for Effective Young Adult Ministry which Tom presented towards the end of the day. These principles include: worship which connects with young people, developing relationships both with peers and more mature Christians; equipping families to pass the faith on at home; guiding young people through various transitions of life; and apologetics.

‘Some of us at Blair Athol have been wrestling with ministry to youth and young adults for years. When we heard that Tom Schmidt was coming to Adelaide to present the findings of the Lutheran Youth of Queensland’s research into Young Adult Ministry at the start of November, we were eager to hear the results.

‘One of the main things I took from the day was that trying to entertain our young people does not mean they will remain connected to the church

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‘What is really important about the Deep & Wide material is that it is research done by Australians in our own context, about the young people in our congregations. The challenge now will be for us to struggle with how the seven principles can help shape the cultures of our congregations to

Based in North Adelaide, South Australia, the Lutheran Laypeople’s League (LLL) is a successful not-for-profit organisation serving the Lutheran Church of Australia with financial and administrative services, including a savings and loan facility for the Church. The LLL provides a happy and rewarding team environment, which operates in line with its Christian ethos.

Reporting to the CEO, the Risk and Compliance Manager will be responsible for creating a risk aware culture and fostering commitment to a risk management philosophy and practices.

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Raising awareness of the risk management framework through consultation within the LLL and wider Church.

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Implement, maintain and review Credit Policy for the lending portfolio including assisting and preparing loan funding reporting.

Internal and external reporting obligations for risk and compliance.

The successful candidate will have experience in a similar role either within a Financial Services organisation or a Consultancy firm. As a key member of the management team, it is essential to have well developed communication abilities and a flexible and positive attitude.

The Risk and Compliance Manager will be required to develop networks and establish constructive relationships with the church community whilst embracing and supporting the ethos of the organisation.

Please apply, quoting Ref. No. 5B/14293, online at au.hudson.com.

Enquiries can be made to Phil Scardigno at Hudson Accounting & Finance in our Adelaide office on (08) 8223 8800. Your application will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

19/12/2014 10:28 am The Lutheran February 2015 7

Photo: Eyre Peninsula summer camp

Young adults who are regular attenders value a welcoming community at church above anything else (67 per cent)

Above: Fun is essential in the lives of young Christian adults, but so is serious study and deepening their own understandings of God’s word in their lives.

effectively connect young people with Jesus and his life-giving gospel.’

Adam Ridley, a part-time staff member of Blueprint Ministries (the SA/NT District Department for Youth Child and Family Ministry) was also present: ‘The research and findings presented at Deep & Wide provided an intriguing and somewhat concerning insight into the mindset, attitudes and beliefs of youth and young adults in our church. The data was culturally and geographically relevant, being drawn from within our own Lutheran Church of Australia. This has opened up for debate key questions about how our church should seek to be authentic, relevant and engaging in a society that is apathetic or even hostile towards the gospel.

‘A key highlight in the research for me was the importance of faith being taught, shared and fostered in the home from infancy until adulthood, echoing Proverbs 22:6: “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray”. This ought to challenge both parents and faith communities: invest in your children’s faith, because without this our young people will continue to turn away from the gospel and the church.’

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This is not a new issue. Following a survey of pastors a number of suggestions were presented ‘… to encourage a “family”-oriented ministry, in which congregation members of all ages support one another and minister to each other in a spirit of Christian love and concern. To be able to minister more effectively to its young people, the church has recognised—particularly in the past five years or so—the need to become more aware of who the youth are, what their needs are, and how it can best meet these needs.’ Would it surprise you to know that this quote is from a research project in 1986, referring to a survey conducted in 1961? This is not a new issue, and it is not one that is going away.

Young adults have many gifts to offer the church: their faith, their hope, their desire to serve, their spiritual hunger, their vitality, their optimism and idealism, their talents and skills. Let’s take up the challenge.

Fiona Weckert is the Director of Blueprint Ministries, the Department for Children, Youth and Family Ministry in the LCA South Australia/ Northern Territory District.

DIGGING MORE DEEPLY To download the entire Young Adult Ministry Evaluation report, go to lyq.org.au/ministriestraining/young-adults and look for the PDF attachment.

For more conversation on this important topic, join the Deep & Wide discussion group on Facebook.

For information about Deep & Wide events, in Queensland contact LYQ on 07 3511 4080; for other Districts contact your District office to find out whether an event has been scheduled.

The Lutheran plans to publish throughout 2015 an ongoing series of articles about this research and its implications for ministry in our congregations and homes.

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Photo: courtesy Anglican Church of New Zealand

New Zealanders celebrate 200 years of the gospel of Christ

Takoto te pai!

by Mark Whitfield

I love a good haka. In terms of cultural passion and theatre (not to mention stirrings of national pride), nothing beats watching the All Blacks perform Kamate or Kapo O Pango before an international rugby test match.

The All Blacks’ haka and many like it are planned: they are rehearsed, ordered and happen at precisely the right time and in the right manner. Some haka, however, are more spontaneous: the haka performed by Kiwis outside Buckingham Palace gates after Princess Diana was killed, or when Kiwis won bronze medals at a recent Olympic Games (cringe!).

On Christmas Day 1814, after Samuel Marsden had preached the first Christian sermon in Aotearoa, around 400 Nga-puhi Ma-ori performed a spontaneous hari (similar to haka; a dance) of joy, Te Hari a Nga-puhi (the Dance of Joy of Nga-uhi).

The opening words, ‘Ka nukunuku, ka nekeneke’, speak of movement— moving backwards and forwards, left to right—and when being performed are usually accompanied by dramatic physical movement. These words spoke of the space being created for the gospel to enter their world, into their community, lives and hearts … a space and place created for Christ to be born.

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In this dramatic way, Ma-ori welcomed Christ and invited the kingdom of God to be established in Aotearoa. Marsden wrote in his journal: ‘in the above manner the gospel has been introduced to New Zealand. I fervently pray that the glory of it may never depart from its inhabitants until time shall be no more.’

The gospel of Jesus Christ, right from that first day of proclamation in 1814, was given space to make its home in Aotearoa.

The hari (dance) of joy proclaims: ‘Kia kite i te Au o Waitangi e hora nei mehe Pipiwharauroa (look to the open sea of Waitangi spread before us like the Shining Cuckoo)’. The gospel is likened to the Shining Cuckoo, which heralds the arrival of spring—here the hari speaks of hope and salvation.

Apparently, the Shining Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nest of another bird. In the same way back in 1814, the gospel took root in a new nest, the new soil of Oihi, Rangihoua (near Kerikeri in Northland), from where sprang forth hope and life over a new land to a people yet to meet Christ.

While we Lutherans arrived 29 years later (1843) and in much smaller numbers, this does not dismiss the responsibility and privilege we have

been given to take our place alongside churches continuing to proclaim the gospel to Aotearoa. By our baptism, we are called and anointed to proclaim good news (Te Rongopai) to the poor; we have been chosen to speak of the mighty acts of the One who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).

Indeed, we Lutherans, by virtue of the fact that we have been born here or have chosen to live here, are partners to the Te Tiriti (The Treaty), and in the spirit and bonds of love in which we meet and live, we have been invited to be the means by which God’s love can come to life in this nation of Aotearoa.

And then we will chant as Nga-puhi did when they were first encountered by Christ: ‘Takoto te pai! Takoto te pai! It is good, all is well; let peace be established’.

Mark Whitfield is Bishop of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand.

He participated, together with other national leaders of churches, in the 200th anniversary celebrations of the first proclamation of the gospel at Oihi on Christmas Day, 2014.

This article is adapted from one first published in Olive Tree, the magazine of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand.

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The Holy Spirit recognises no bounds of culture, language or expression

A passionate encounter

by Bernice Koch

It can be lonely growing up in a one-child family. It was especially so for Claire, even though she grew up in China—with almost 1.5 billion people, the most populous country in the world. But modern technology can become a good substitute for human company.

Claire turned to listening to ‘all music, and of course, modern pop’ to counter her feelings of loneliness. By the time she was fourteen the music was going in and out of her consciousness without leaving any real impression. She ‘listened today, but tomorrow there was nothing left’. Tomorrow was another day when she could switch to another tune. It never left a lasting impression because ‘there was always new music coming’.

Claire selected music as her elective at secondary school. Her teacher liked baroque music, attracted to its structure.

Many students were in the lecture hall when Claire heard the opening 10

The Lutheran February 2015

chorale of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion for the first time.

‘It was overwhelming; I was blown away.

Previously, the music was nice, but there was no connection’, she explained to me. Now her emotions were affected so deeply by Bach’s music that she had to go home. Claire listened to the music again and again. ‘My mind went blank.

I never knew music could evoke such strong emotion. It was something greater than yourself. You gave yourself to it.

You yielded to it. It was greater than any earthly being. Words are useless; it was so grand. It was really deep stuff.

I had listened to Mozart and Tchaikovsky before, but I couldn’t relate to it’, she said.

Claire began to explore, using YouTube as her guide. She gradually learnt about JS Bach—as a Lutheran, as a German and as a composer. As Claire kept coming back to Bach’s motets, her knowledge of and love for the German language grew and

developed. Claire had been studying English too—now her love for and appreciation of English literature also increased. She found it difficult to describe in Chinese Mandarin these new emotions filling her soul but found it easier to express them in English.

The beginnings of Christian belief further isolated Claire from her parents.

Their aim for their daughter was for her to be successful in her studies. Chinese culture and her school environment did not encourage Claire’s emotional expression. Claire experienced feelings of isolation and detachment from the world around her. When she did try to explain her thoughts about the music to her teacher, it only resulted in anger.

‘I still wanted to be accepted, even though I felt so different and my thinking had changed from the others. It was a formative age,” she said.

Claire began to read about the different branches of Christianity and Vol 49 No1 P10

‘Komm, Jesu, komm … weil Jesu ist und bleibt der wahre Weg zum Leben!

(Come, Jesus, come … because Jesus is and remains the true way to life!)’

One Sunday early last year, not particularly wanting to sit alone in church, I sat down next to a young Chinese woman I had not previously met. I greeted her with a smile. After church we chatted. This was Claire, now a first-year university student, studying computer science in Adelaide.

Interested in getting to know her, I asked Claire how she became a believer.

‘Through Bach, his music’, she replied.

‘I only ever wanted to come to the Lutheran church because of Bach.’

I told her I felt that one day in heaven she would meet Bach and tell him how she became a believer in Jesus through his music. The tears flowed. It was a moment never to be forgotten. Claire told me that she was to be baptised and confirmed at Pentecost. Over the following weeks we became good friends and I was delighted to be asked

by Claire to become her godmother.

Photo: courtesy Bernice Koch

about the Reformation. ‘When I was asked if I was a Christian, I felt as if I was, but I was not baptised’, she said. ‘The [Bach] motets spoke to my heart and I listened and listened.

BWV 227 and 229 are my personal favourites of the six motets, but I’m most emotionally attached to 229:

I never knew music could evoke such strong emotion. It was something greater than yourself. You gave yourself to it. You yielded to it. It was greater than any earthly being.

Right: Baptised—on her journey across culture, language, hemispheres and time. Claire (centre) at the font, flanked by Pastor Fraser Pearce and her godmother, Bernice Koch.

Come Pentecost, it was a privilege to stand beside Claire at her baptism and to witness her confirmation, together with four other women. It was the glorious culmination of nine years of the Lord’s leading, guiding and directing of Claire’s life.

Was it by chance that Claire first heard the opening chorale of St Matthew’s Passion? Was it by chance that I sat next to her in church that Sunday? No! Nothing in a believer’s life happens by chance. The Scriptures say, ‘The Lord will guide you always’ (Isaiah 58:11).

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you’ (Jeremiah 1:5).

,

Bernice Koch is a member at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Adelaide, where she is also the convenor of the congregation’s Adult Sunday School program.

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