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Welcome to the
January–February edition of
Cross-Cultural Ministry eNews
Hello everyone,
Greetings from the Cross-Cultural Ministry desk and Happy New Year!
We have just marked Australia Day, which always raises some interesting questions, doesn’t it?
Questions like, who are we as a nation? Do we have a distinct culture? How should modern multicultural Australia recognise our Indigenous heritage?
I suspect if you asked ten people, you would get ten different answers, and maybe our freedom to differ is one thing that sets us apart from other places.
Craig Heidenreich
Cross-Cultural Ministry Facilitator
Let me raise some deeper questions that come into focus when we think about our national identity:
- Is our hope and purpose expressed by being Aussies or Kiwis, or are we ‘citizens’ of another place? Where should our allegiance lie?
- Does God have a special affection for our nations compared to other places, and peoples from other times in history?
I would suggest that we need to embrace our higher calling as citizens of another kingdom, and ‘hold loosely’ the fact we live here. Click here to explore some of what this might mean in day-to-day life.
God bless,
Our Local Mission teams are keen to generate conversation about how we can all live missional lives. Please email me at craig.heidenreich@lca.org.au if you have something to contribute or questions we can help you with.
Pray for Tonga
Let’s pray that Tonga can get back on its feet again following the volcanic eruption and tsunami on 15 January. If you would like to donate, visit ALWS's website.
Morley's unexpected blessing
At Morley Bethlehem in Western Australia, a local Sudanese choir was invited to bless the congregation with some African hymns and songs during a worship service.
Something is happening with Afghans
Please pray for the Afghans who have settled in Australia and New Zealand and particularly for the new wave of fugitives who have come in the last few months. Those of us who are in contact with Afghans are seeing unusual ‘openness’, which might be the result of increased prayer of late.
Tonga
After the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami, it seems a good time to highlight our Pacific neighbour as the ethnic focus of this edition.
Back in 1830 a Tongan chief, called Topou, dedicated the country to God in response to Wesleyan missionaries. This brings to mind what Lutheran missionaries were doing in the 1800s when they claimed parts of Australia for the Lord.
Nowadays 96% of Tongans are Christian, and they take ‘mission’ seriously.
‘It’s hard to feel we belong’
A poem by Rev Helen Richmond
It’s hard to feel we belong; we’ve been uprooted and replanted in foreign soil.
Our roots are shallow and sometimes it feels like a strong and gusty wind will blow us away.
In a borrowed language it is hard to share the pain and hope or whisper our fears and prayers.
It’s hard to find our way It’s hard to feel we can have a say in the way things are done around here.
We learn your language. You don’t know ours.
If you take the trouble to sit with us, long enough, we will open our hearts to you, then we may belong to you and this church that has accepted us, but not yet opened its heart to us.
Response: God, may your church have ears to listen and hearts to feel, that together we might find ways to cross the divide that lies between us, that bridges of justice, understanding and love can be built.
‘Developing a Multicultural mindset for the LCANZ’, Lutheran Theological Journal, August 2021, p72.
Cross-cultural online training through ALC's iLearn!
We are glad to announce this online course should be up and running in April for anyone interested in Cross-Cultural Ministry. You may choose to do the training as a group or individually. The seven units will help answer some of those ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions and can probably be completed in 20 hours or so. Having said that, beware! You may end up on a life-changing journey that never ends.
The Cross-Cultural Ministry department currently has Minor grants, which are open. The Minor grants (up to $1000) are open year-round and advertised on the Cross-Cultural Ministry webpage. We will happily work with you if you want to take a risk to reach out and 'spend' some of this money.
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