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1 December, 2014

Mission & ministry encouragers...

The last encourager for 2014!  We have 3 stories to share about light....when all seems dark and the pain is deep.

  • Judy Bowman tells of connecting young people through the heart to heart program...
  • Peter Zilm, Community Evangelist, shows strong connections between prayer, healing and evangelism..
  • A Lay Worker writes anonymously and powerfully about the control guilt can have in our lives...

             You also have a story to share!...contact Nevin

May these stories touch your heart & give you the courage to be a mission & ministry encourager in your community. Also below:

  • Like to identify your Spiritual Gifts?...see "Handbook info" in the right hand column
  • Germany Lay Worker/ALC study tour 2016...join us
  • To help us with planning, if you are looking to attend the 2015 Lay Worker's Conference at Nunyara in May, could you please let Erika know

A blessed Christmas to you...

Dear Fellow Lay Workers
Greetings to you all as we are about to enter into the season of Advent and the busiest time of year!
It is during the busyness of preparing for Christmas that we should take time out and reflect and remember why it is we do what we do.  We speed up to ensure all our Christmas programs or Christmas Eve services are going to be just perfect… Why is it we do this?  To ensure that we reach out to those who do not yet know what it is like to have a wonderful person named Jesus in their lives… Yes for us and many Christians throughout the world it is the most joyful time of year!
We hope that during this Advent season we all remember to take time to stop and enjoy and thank God for the wonderful gift He has given us.  Hold in our hearts the hope found only in Jesus!   May Christmas bring a spring back into our spiritual walk and prepare us for the year ahead.
We the Lay Ministry Team wish you every blessing this Christmas and look forward to continuing to serve together with you in 2015.
Nevin, Verena, Glenn & (author) Erika
We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NKJV)

welcome...new to the roll of Lay Workers...

Glenice Doecke - LCAQD Hospital Chaplaincy Ministry, Toowoomba Base Hospital, Qld
Elise Von Stanke - Messy Church Coordinator, Novar Gardens Immanuel Congregation, SA......Elise is being installed on the 30 Nov
Eunice Steinhardt - Chaplain Royal Brisbane Hospital/Christian Pastoral Support Worker, Ipswich Parish, Qld
Candice Truss - Admin Assistant, Lutheran Youth of Qld    Christopher Bartlett - College Chaplain, Toowoomba Concordia College, Qld
Janette Lange - Assistant Archivist, LCA Archives, Adelaide, SAV

Latest Accredited lay workers:

Sonia Will
Emma Kluge
Juliette Warnes

        click on the names to send a welcome email

A tour for Lay Workers & ALC students

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

Congratulations...graduating Lay Workers

Cert IV -
Lisa Brow - Adelaide Bethlehem Congregation
Nadia Bunge - Halls Gap - Intern
Shinae Colville - Halls Gap - Intern
Tiarna Hahn - Halls Gap - Intern                                                  Hannah Lack - was on Lay Worker roll 2013                                    Sonia Will, Merry Waller & Emma Robinson (on roll 2013) received their certificates earlier this year.   

Dipolmas in Theology                                                                  Emma Graetz -ALC
Vicki Park - Ipswich
Adam Yeager - Cornerstone College

Peter Zilm....Community Evangelist, Aberfoyle Park

Prayer and Healing

About 8 years ago I was frustrated with my faith journey; I felt it was empty and that I didn’t have a relationship with God. I asked some people to pray for me- for God to show me my purpose in life and to make it real- or I was ready to leave the church. I figured I should give Him a chance to answer. His reply was to bring healing to me, also through prayer- in an area of my life that I had avoided because it caused me much pain. I experienced a radical change, and was immediately able to sense God all around me through the Holy Spirit. God hadn’t changed, but He had changed me.

My relationship with Him grew until I found myself thinking more of His kingdom than the landscaping business I was running. A lay worker’s job came up at my church, and my wife Kathy (much to my surprise) encouraged me to apply for it. I really didn’t think I would get it, but handed the decision over to God- and got it!

My role has been as community evangelist, prayer ministry and healing ministry leader. Because of what the Lord has done for me, I have a passion for helping others find healing and relationship with Him- it is just too good to keep to myself. It has been very challenging, but very rewarding. I have witnessed many people healed in many ways and I have also seen many still struggling in their lives.

I believe prayer, healing and evangelism go together. It is soaked in the word and God’s presence. This does not exclude loving people in many practical, sacrificial ways-all these were demonstrated by Jesus. There are so many people out there (both in the church and outside of it) that need to be set free and come into a fullness of relationship through Jesus. God has led me on this path for His purposes, so I will promote these things that are not often promoted in the church, and encourage others to do the same. Jesus did it and told us to-because of our Heavenly Father’s great love for us. If He is for us, who can be against us?

If you would like to know more about prayer and healing, or feel you may need some yourself, you can contact me on 8270 4466. May God bless you extravagantly!             Peter Zilm

mmmmm...I think I'd like to learn more ministry skills

Below are the direct links to the ALC website pages for students interested in the VET Certificate IV in Christian Ministry & Theology course in 2015.   For further enquiries please contact sts@alc.edu.au

•        Thinking about vocational education & training?
•        VET student information  and 2015 VET Workshop Calendar

Judy Bowman...Ministry Support. Ringwood/Knox

The most precious and important part of our monthly gatherings is our closing prayer time where we sit together in a circle, in darkness, around our candle lit prayer table, and bring our joys, thankfulness, concerns and requests to God.  By providing this space and time we hope to give our young people a connectedness with the grace and love of Christ which sustains them throughout their lives, no matter where their journey leads...

As part of the Ministry Team at Ringwood/Knox Parish, I have the privilege to serve with a small group of gifted and talented people providing ministry support to our Pastor and the Parish. Together we co-ordinate and lead music, children’s and youth programs and much needed administrative support.
My specific role in the team is to co-ordinate and lead the Head to Heart (H2H) program.  While H2H is essentially a confirmation ministry, with some creative and flexible use of the material, we have been able to develop this into a junior youth focussed ministry without the ‘end’ being confirmation.  Rather, we hope to have the young people move into a more senior youth group seamlessly, and without feeling they have ‘graduated’.  The purpose is to journey with the young people as they build a relationship with God and each other.  As well as Biblical teaching we have included Master Chef evenings where they demonstrate or learn new cooking skills, family quiz nights where they are the quiz masters for the Parish and fund raising activities for charities they choose to support.  However, often it is simply getting them together – playing games, sharing a meal and having conversations about faith and life – that is significant and meaningful for them.
While my role coordinating the H2H ministry program to our youth is a joy in itself, it is working together as a ministry ‘team’ that provides many blessings for me as a lay worker.  It brings opportunities for discerning, sharing and caring for each other as we seek to find the most appropriate ways to enhance the faith journeys of all members of our Parish. Challenging situations and disappointments can sometime be discouraging, but sharing these within a team, including our Pastor, can provide the objectivity, clarity, creativity and support necessary to remain positive and encouraged.   Together we hope to bring Christ’s love and compassion to our church community.    Judy Bowman

A Lay Worker Story

The following story is from one of our Lay Workers. To protect peoples privacy, names and places have been excluded....but the story's insights into ministry, church culture and "held onto guilt" are powerful....

The story begins with my first visit to a resident in hospital where she told me she had a problem with feeling unworthy, and unlovable. I passed on a tract and shared a similar belief that I held about myself as I was growing up, and how I learned the truth that there was nothing I could do to make God stop loving me. I prayed with her.

On a follow up visit, she again shared how she was struggling with believing God could love her. Again I shared how I need to remind myself every day that God loves me even though I keep being selfish and how my selfishness has impacted on my life, and yet God’s word reassures me that Jesus has taken all my punishment. I gave her a tract to place on her wardrobe so she's reminded of Jesus’ forgiveness and that she is precious in his sight. She told me she would start attending the church services again.

The next visit she said she'd been feeling better but wanted to tell me something. She paused, then reluctantly talked about how, a year ago, she attempted suicide and ended up in hospital. Though her family found her, she had never talked about this with any of them, and no one had asked her about it. I reassured her that these feelings are important to talk about, and most people are unsure what to say when someone attempts to end their own life. I recalled my favourite bible verse Romans 8:26, reassuring her that God understands her needs and talked more about the forgiveness Jesus gives. I organised a daily devotion book for her to read as often as she could.

I asked others of a similar vintage what they had been told about suicide as they were growing up.  They told how people who had committed suicide had been buried in a separate location in the grave yard because it was felt they'd committed the unforgivable sin.

At my next follow up visit, the resident thanked me for my help and willingness to keep meeting with her,.She told me she had been reading the devotion book but she had difficulty believing God could really love her. She proceeded to tell me why.  Thirty years earlier she had also attempted suicide because she had been feeling depressed about her life’s circumstances. As she talked more I had a different understanding about her feelings of unworthiness. I read the devotion for that day unsurprised that it had a focus on God’s forgiveness. I shared how God seems to know our needs and the different ways God has provided help for me. We prayed and I left her with the tract “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”  We continue to meet and she has joined the weekly worship service.

Warrambui Interns for 2015

Lay Ministry can be rewarding, demanding..& lonely

Do you need help in your ministry....?

  • working as a team
  • developing an effective ministry plan
  • gaining a support team, pray team, mentor
  • understanding study options
  • clarifying working conditions
  • networking
  • finding a listening ear
  • finishing a position well / review options

We can and do help....contact the Lay Ministry Office

Lay Workers Conference May 18-21, 2015