Do you know of anyone in your congregation who gives and gives and could use some ministry encouragement?

Our Lay Worker Conference is fast approaching. This is a wonderful opportunity to have Lay Workers, Church Workers or just workers!.. both paid and voluntary.. come along and be encouraged in their ministry and mission work. Come for the four days or come along for one or two days....make the most of this conference opportunity while it exists.

We'd love to see our congregations make the most of this event and each day be packed with attendees. Come as individuals, a congregation team or a zone group. Old, young, large, small, clever, lonely, inspired, needing inspiration.... All are welcome to join us and explore God's picture of ministry for His people!

Guest speakers / presenters include Peter Stiecke, Tim Hein, Dean Eaton, Michael Dutschke and Brandon Chaplan. A great opportunity for learning, Spiritual growth, networking and fun!....

We are also inviting volunteers who serve our congregations to attend on any given day(s) If you know someone who would enjoy being involved ...let them know!

To register click here Registrations close May 5th

For conference brochure click here

Stillpoint ministries are based at Nunyara and will be making meditation sessions available to those attending the conference. Some meditation ideas are available from this link.

Special Deal: For those who attend the Lay Workers Conference 2015, there is a special offer on our Spiritual Resilience unit. If you enrol in the Certificate IV in Christian Ministry and Theology (10433NAT)* and also attend the Lay Workers Conference 2015, you will receive a 40% discount on your unit fee for Spiritual Resilience. Students will need to complete the online modules for this unit, and then submit assessment work to complete the unit. Conference attendance provides you with approx. 13 hours towards your required additional hours of study (total of 50 hours is required for this unit). To find out more, please contact the School of Theological Studies on 1800 625 193 or sts@alc.edu.au.

The number of accredited Lay Workers continues to grow. Have a chat to Glenn or Verena if you'd like to become accredited.

National Lay Workers are added to the district they work in...

the top three are since Glenn & Verena have been LWFO's

Can we help you with any of the above?

New Lay Workers
Julie Krause - Community Action Officer SA/NT/WA, Australian Lutheran World Service, SA
Tania Nelson - Head of School of Theological Studies/Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Australian  Lutheran College, North Adelaide, SA

Accreditations
Lisa Brow - Youth & Young Adults Ministry Coordinator, Adelaide Bethlehem Congregation, SA
Johanna Traeger - Ministry Support Officer, Novar Gardens Immanuel Congregation, SA
Adam Yeager - Chaplain, Cornerstone College, Mt Barker, SA

Danielle Robinson- Family Ministry Chaplain, Redcliffe Grace Congregation, Qld

If you would like to welcome or congratulate these people or the writers of the stories in this edition, click on their name to send an email

2.30am – the phone rings. It is the Hostel ringing to say Helen (names changed for privacy) is unsettled and hasn’t slept all night.  Could I please come?  On arrival the RN on duty briefed me on Helen – she is close to end of life and worrying about it.  I go to her room.  She lets me hug her, and starts crying, through her tears she says she is scared of dying – we talk about this for some time and pray together.  She is still unsettled after at least an hour, (the kind staff brought me a coffee) so I settle her back on her pillow and gently stroke her hair and sing to her as one does to ones grandchildren or children when little and can’t sleep, I quietly sing Jesus Loves Me, What a Friend we have in Jesus and a couple other old favourites, slowly she goes to sleep.  Time to go home after writing up a report. 
In two hours I am back at the Home and after catching up on how all are, I am about to settle and catch up on some paper work when I get a phone call from the Nursing Home, could I please come over, two student nurses were washing an elderly gentleman and he died in the process and they were quite stressed not having expienced a death and blaming themselves.  Off I go.  The three of us meet in the family meeting room (yes, they are young Christian girls) so we have a short prayer, and talk thru their experience.  Through their tears they tell me what happened, after a time I am able to convince them it was nothing they did but he was dying and unfortunately they were the staff on duty when this happened.  I got them to a point where we were able to go to his room (his family lived interstate so not here) and they could see how peaceful and relaxed and at peace he looked.  They were able to touch him and stoke his cheek and through a few more tears they realised they were privileged to have experienced such an event, and now had the courage to share with their other young nursing friends and be there for them when they had their first experience of death.
Before you know it, it is 2pm and time for our choir practice.  We had people in wheel chairs, hospital beds, and some walking.  They loved choir practice.  We sang songs and choruses from the olden days – not many in tune, but heaps of smiles and you could sense a feeling of pride that this was something they could still do for themselves and others, as we were preparing for Christmas as well, when they would sing for others.
3pm and time for devotions in the Dementia wing.  At times you wonder is it worth it? Do they really hear what is being said, they don’t join in the simple songs we sing or the Lord’s Prayer, half sleep the whole time, But this time we finish with Amazing Grace and half way through one lady who has never reacted to anything in almost two years, has tears in her eyes, her daughter takes her outside as she is crying also.  I leave the ladies helping me to finish off and follow.  On asking the daughter if mum is ok, through her own tears she says the last time they sang this song was at her dads funeral and it is the first time her mum has acknowledged anything about her dad since her dementia took her to another place.  It was a time of rejoicing for the daughter and a time of memory for a beautiful lady who never showed any emotion or any responsesense a feeling of pride that this was something they could still do for themselves and others, as we were preparing for Christmas as well, when they would sing for others.
3pm and time for devotions in the Dementia wing.  At times you wonder is it worth it? Do they really hear what is being said, they don’t join in the simple songs we sing or the Lord’s Prayer, half sleep the whole time, But this time we finish with Amazing Grace and half way through one lady who has never reacted to anything in almost two years, has tears in her eyes, her daughter takes her outside as she is crying also.  I leave the ladies helping me to finish off and follow.  On asking the daughter if mum is ok, through her own tears she says the last time they sang this song was at her dads funeral and it is the first time her mum has acknowledged anything about her dad since her dementia took her to another place.  It was a time of rejoicing for the daughter and a time of memory for a beautiful lady who never showed any emotion or any response to anything anyone did for her in any way.
Yes, the days can be long, but as you can see some can be very rewarding.  Other days can be tiresome and you go home wondering if you have reached anyone.  But God is faithful and always shows you even though they may not respond, or openly reject you – the next day they wonder where you are if you don’t pop your head in and say good morning or spend an hour with them.
The Hostel, Nursing Home and Dementia Wing can be very depressing, but God teaches you patience and rejoicing through whatever happens.  Death is often a time of rejoicing as you know and share with a family that their loved one is now with the Lord and in a much better place without pain or suffering.  A special birthday cheers up the whole home, when someone turns 90 or even 71 each birthday is special, it is another milestone in their life – and a time for some party food which everyone loves.
The days may be long, the problems of health may be sad, death is a loss felt by all, as it is losing a family member of the Home, staff may have their personal problems thatthey share and need help with, I might be dead tired and just want to walk out sometime.  But I don’t, there is always some little thing that happens or you hear and you want to be where you are and keep doing God’s work while one has the ability to do so.  I feel truly blessed to work and be with our elderly from all walks of life.  When I don’t know what to do or say, God has always been faithful and put the right words in my mouth at the right time.  All I can say now is AMEN!
       
I was a Chaplain in Aged Care in Bundaberg for a couple years, but now my husband and I Manage Good Shepherd Retirement Village – Independent Living Units.  My main role is Pastoral Care and Office work.  Charlies role is Pastoral Care also and Maintenance and general care of the Centre.  Cheryl Reif

In 1517 Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church

Would you like to:
see this site in preparation for the 500 year celebration?
take a pilgrimage to some of the places Luther journeyed?
share the experience with old and new ministry friends?
......do all this at a low cost?

Lay Workers & ALC students… this is a wonderful opportunity for you!

for more information click here

To submit an Expression of interest click here

Click here to read the first newsletter for the 2016 Study Tour...like to join us? ...click on expressions of interest above.

Hi I’m Adam Morris I have been a Lay Worker for 10 year, 8 at Immanuel Lutheran Church Woden Valley and now currently serve at St John’s Lutheran Church Unley as the Congregational Life and Adult Education Director. I do acknowledge it is a long title, but in lay ministry you find yourself sometimes having to juggle many hats, there can be challenges that go along with it, but there are also many opportunities
So to try and summaries my role I coordinator and support the activities and course at St John’s which support our mission and vision. Activities which aim to help us connect to the St John’s Primary School, Concordia College and local community, activities like our Christmas fete ‘Advent Adventure’. I oversee our Small Group ministry which we call ‘Growth groups’, and offer courses like ‘Network,’ (which is about discovering your passion and gifts), ‘Faith 5 (parenting course) and the Alpha Marriage Course. Another part of my role is to network with St John’s primary school and Concordia College.
As mentioned there are challenges and opportunities. Some days you wonder if you are having any affect in the things you run that these are the things which the community wants you to do. But then there are times when the community rallies around an event or course and can see how God intended the church to look like.
There are a couple of things that really get me excited in my ministry is helping families, church and school capture the vision of families becoming the primary sharing faith community in their home. That as the church we are to support and not replace the God given responsibility of parents to be the primary faith nurtures of the children in our community, that what we are reading at the moment is parents play a major role. The other is supporting the young adults in our community in their walk with Christ. Encouraging and supporting them where God has amazing things waiting.   Adam Morris

We can help with:

• ministry plans
• setting up prayer/support teams
• training options
• developing a ministry team
• employment agreements
• a listening ear