Oct2014
A welcome peace!
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
I met Anja* when she had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It happened many years ago, when I was a Lutheran chaplain in a large city hospital. We saw many patients who had come to Australia after the Second World War and had a Lutheran background but no connection with a congregation. “Have you… Read more
Sep2014
Let Jesus speak!
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
You are relaxing with friends. Most of them are not Christian. They know you are involved in the Lutheran Church. One of them says, ‘I saw on the news that another clergyman has been charged with abusing children.’ What do you say? Do you get defensive and say that it really is only a very… Read more
Aug2014
Evangelism must die!
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
‘What needs to occur is nothing short of the death of evangelism.’ That got my attention. It’s a quote from the last chapter of a remarkable little book called The Evangelizing Church: A Lutheran Contribution¹. The authors go on to explain, ‘By this we mean that the prevailing opinion about evangelism as one program in… Read more
Aug2014
Evangelism must die!
‘What needs to occur is nothing short of the death of evangelism.’ That got my attention. It’s a quote from the last chapter of a remarkable little book called The Evangelizing Church: A Lutheran Contribution¹. The authors go on to explain, ‘By this we mean that the prevailing opinion about evangelism as one program in… Read more
Jul2014
What are we waiting for?
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
Let’s partner with ten LCA congregations to start 30 new missional churches in the next decade! What’s more, let’s expect that each ‘new start’ congregation will plant another church within five years. Starting churches that start churches, that is the plan. It is not often that someone writes in The Lutheran that sitting in a… Read more
Jun2014
No clones here!
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
Almost everyone in the Lutheran Church of Australia would agree that as members of a congregation we should seek to bring Jesus to the community round about us, in the neighbourhoods around our church buildings and where we shop, work and play. We have tended to do this in three somewhat different, often overlapping, ways,… Read more
May2014
Inviting others to believe
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
Sometimes we are told that you become a Christian when you invite Jesus into your heart or life. But I am not sure that it is helpful to think of conversion in this way. The Bible never speaks of non-Christians inviting Jesus in, making him their Lord, or dedicating themselves to serving Jesus. Now, don’t… Read more
Apr2014
It doesn’t depend on you
by Rev Steen Olsen
‘What text in the Bible first comes to mind when you think of evangelism?’ It is a question that I like to ask congregations and other groups. Invariably the answer is the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 19,20), where Jesus says, ‘Go! Make disciples! Baptise! Teach! … and I will always be with you’. We become… Read more
Mar2014
God at work
by Steen Olsen
Although I was baptised as an infant in an 800-year-old Lutheran church in my home town in Denmark, I had no relationship with a congregation until I started confirmation classes in Auckland, New Zealand. Confirmation instruction with Pastor Ed Koch taught me what Christian faith is all about. I was serious about my faith and… Read more
Feb2014
Wherever I go, I bring Jesus
by Rev Dr Steen Olsen
When I am doing well, but also when I am making a mess of things, I bring Jesus. When I am good and when I am bad. When the Spirit of God is obviously at work through me in bringing the love and mercy of God to others, and when I fall into the depths… Read more
