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
Jul2014
Home schooled
by Rachel Kuchel
Many of us are familiar with the idea of our Lutheran forebears leaving Prussia to escape religious persecution. I’d hazard a guess, however, that many don’t realise that problems with the union church extended to the schooling of their children. Sounds intriguing, yes? In the mid-18th century, Prussia introduced compulsory education which was neither secular… Read more
Jul2014
Mind your slanguage!
by Reid Matthias
Buckle up and hang on for the ride, because I’m going to tackle that which has confounded me for my first three years in Australia: slang! Because my wife, Christine, is Australian, I have been introduced to various Australianisms. For example, if I want to say that a child is unhappy with an outcome, I… 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
Jun2014
A woman of firsts
by Rachel Kuchel
She came from a remarkable family. She married a remarkable man. There was perhaps little room for her to be anything other than remarkable—and that she was! The story of Agnes Dorsch, nee Heyne, is a series of firsts: the first woman to receive a scholarship to the University of Adelaide (and the third to… Read more
Jun2014
Make it better
by Reid Matthias
She couldn’t have been more than two years of age. Her bright, blond curls bounced like springs as she took bounding little steps towards her mother, who was absently thumbing her way across her phone. The little girl approached her mother, right index finger pointing straight into the air. Obviously, this finger had absorbed the… 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
May2014
LSF: Soul care for students
by Rachel Kuchel
This year, Lutheran Students and Friends celebrates its 60th anniversary—although it hasn’t always been called that. Just like its name, the group has evolved over the years to reflect its changing aims and environment. In 1944 a study group for tertiary students belonging to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (UELCA) had already been… Read more
May2014
A good dance by the font
by Reid Matthias
On the day of the service, Carl texted me at 8.00 am: ‘Make sure you watch out for roos.’ With eyes peeled, I drove the speed limit thinking about Carl Thiele’s regularisation service. I thought about Carl and his own journey, of living with and through God’s call … how we all have different sensory… Read more
Apr2014
Captain Compassion
by Rachel Kuchel
The South Australian town of Hahndorf was settled 175 years ago by 52 Lutheran families who arrived on a ship called the Zebra. They were part of the contingent of migrants we tend to call ‘Kavel’s people’ (although strictly speaking they were not members of Kavel’s congregation), leaving Prussia to seek a country where they… Read more
