Web version  |  Manage your LCA eNews subscriptions, or unsubscribe  |  Unsubscribe from this List

HEARTLAND - eNews from LCA Bishop John Henderson

24 September 2014 version 2

Please use this version replace the first version you received of this Heartland eNews.There was an error in the date for LCA ordinations, which will be held on 7 December.

Building a Team

Building teams seems straightforward and simple until you try to do it. It requires trust, and trust is the confidence among team members that their peers’ intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. In essence, teammates must get comfortable being vulnerable with one another. I have taken this quote from ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ by Patrick Lencioni (2002 www.josseybass.com).

Of all people Christians should be able to be vulnerable with one another. Surely we don’t need to protect ourselves from each other? We know our weakness, and our need for forgiveness – that’s why we’re here! We each come to God’s sanctuary empty-handed. Jesus loves us as the Father has loved him, and he asks us to do the same. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35). I pray that this is how we learn to live in the LCA as we grow in our sense of togetherness or team, and celebrate being one body in Him.

‘Ordination. We’re Listening’
www.owl.lca.org.au

Across the LCA we continue to prepare for our discussion on ‘Women and the Call to the Office of the Public Ministry’, more usually called the ‘ordination of women’.

Since the initial release of the ‘Ordination. We’re Listening’ materials earlier this year on the OWL website, some of you have been asking for a basic guide to run dialogue sessions in your congregation or ministry. ‘How to plan a local dialogue’ has now been prepared, and by the end of this week it will appear on the website. Some additional pieces have also been posted in the ‘digging a little deeper’ section.

Thank you to all those who have contacted me to say they are praying for the church and for the coming Synod. Please continue to pray as we plan for another official vote on this matter.

If you know of someone who would be interested in these materials but cannot access the web or use a computer, please think about helping him/her with printed copies, or ask your parish office to help. If that fails, you can suggest they telephone the Bishop’s office 08 8267 7300 and we will arrange for printed documents to be sent.

LAMP – update of pastors self-assessment
Lutherans in Australasia Members Portal – lamp.lca.org.au

Most of you are familiar with the online LAMP system. While updates, improvements, and changes are around the corner, it is still the LCA’s single database for maintaining information on congregations and pastors.

Many parts of LAMP are self-maintained – that is, you go in and make the changes yourself, keeping your own information up to date and active. Some of you are very successful at doing this, others less so.

Pastors will know that there is a Self Assessment page on which you answer information relevant to your ministry experience, which is made available to calling congregations. You need to keep this as up to date as possible. The Bishops have recently upgraded the questions, and they are now different than they were. So you need to go there and update your stuff. If you are wondering where the upgrades come from, they are the result of consultation with congregations and call committees who have had experience with what congregations want and need to know about you. Any information you enter will be carried across into any new systems the LCA might adopt.

Solidarity Sunday

This is a little outside our usual range of LCA activities, but I am asking you to consider a day of special prayers in your congregation on 2 November for Christians and other minority groups in Iraq and Syria. This might also be Reformation Day in many places, but I don’t think the two are in conflict. There is a notice about this in the current LCA eNews, and on the LCA website, http://www.lca.org.au/solidarity-sunday-an-invitation-from-lca-bishop.html.

Candidates for the Office of the Public Ministry

The College of Bishops will be interviewing candidates for the office of the public ministry in October. The annual ordination service is planned for Concordia College, Highgate, SA, on Sunday 7 December at 2:00 pm. Please pray for the candidates, their spouses, and their families.

Pastor Henry Proeve

Rev Dr Henry Proeve, now well into his 90s, is a ‘founding father’ of the LCA, and one who well remembers the drafting and completion of our Constitution, adopted in 1966. Dr Proeve served as Secretary of the Church for a number of years. I received news this week that he is in poor health and has been admitted to hospital in the Barossa Valley. Please remember him in your prayers.

USA and Canada relationships

Next week I will be travelling to North America for 10 days to meet fellow Lutheran leaders. I begin in Winnipeg, with the Lutheran Church Canada, and then on to St Louis, USA, to meet with the leadership of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. Next Friday and over the weekend I will be with the 60 bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago, leading opening devotions and speaking about faith in Australia. I will also have a number of other meetings concerning our partnerships in North America.

Relationships with the North Americans have always been significant to us in Australia and New Zealand since they are the largest English speaking Lutheran communities.

Your brother in Christ,
Pastor John Henderson
Bishop


To change your email address, subscribe to other eNews lists, or to unsubscribe, please click here
(LCA pastors and lay workers are automatically included on this list and are required to remain subscribed.)

Visit the Lutheran Church of Australia website

197 Archer Street
North Adelaide SA 5006

P: +61 (0)8 8267 7300
E: admin@lca.org.au
W: www.lca.org.au