The following versions of Luther's Works are available free online
American Edition
Lenker Edition
Jacobs Edition
Cole Edition
Library of Christian Classics Edition
Lutheran Insulter
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Internship - Warrambui ARISE internship program
Arise Internships provide a unique opportunity to learn, serve and grow in a dynamic Christian environment over a 12 month period.
It is designed for young adults, whether you be a recent school leaver or someone who is looking to discern your calling in life.
Arise focuses on building a faith foundation where character is built, identity in Christ is revealed, and questions of faith explored, while living and serving in a Christian community.
Interns experience practical aspects of ministry by working, living and learning alongside others in a camp setting.
Throughout the year we intentionally seek to build a faith foundation that will grow the Interns’ Christian faith and character. We grow valuable life skills and ministry experience that will benefit the individual and the communities they are involved with after Warrambui.
To achieve this goal, we have three core elements that help grow the Interns:
- Volunteer service tasks to Warrambui (e.g. Kitchen work, Cleaning, School Programs)
- Biblical and Theological Study
- Personal growth and Leadership Development through involvement in youth camps, youth groups, congregational visits, and team times.
Being part of a Christian community doesn’t mean things are always rosy, but we continue to praise and thank God for the tough times to grow and work through the differences in people’s behaviours and attitudes.
For more information visit https://www.warrambui.com.au/arise/
Froniter School of Mission - update
Frontier School of Mission (FSM) is a mission-focused training and resourcing ministry of the Lutheran Church of Australia, NSW and ACT District.
FSM offers accredited units and courses as well as non-accredited and informal training opportunities, with a practical and missional focus.
Courses being offered include:
- Theology of Mission
- Mission Perspectives
- Introduction to Preaching
- Worship
- Foundations of Christian Belief
- Gospel, Church and Australian Culture
- The Early New Testament Church (a study in early church mission)
- Christian Apologetics (Communicating the Christian Faith in Twenty-first century Australia)
- Applied Evangelism
- Church Planting
- Pastoral Care
- Christian Spirituality
- Jesus and the Gospels
For more information and to discuss your needs for ministry training visit https://frontier.lca.org.au/
Retreat: Shepherds Canyon Retreat
The Shepherd’s Canyon Retreat ministry is committed to providing spiritual and emotional healing to clergy, other full-time church workers and their spouses who are in the midst of various stages of burnout, depression, compassion fatigue, and conflicts of all types, offering the hope and renewal found through the Holy Spirit's work through God's Word.
Each retreat pursues three basic goals:
- Allow each participant to safely unburden the hurts and pressures of life and ministry in a safe, non-judgmental, and loving environment.
- Assist each person to understand herself/himself more completely.
- To encourage the participants to develop new levels of self-acceptance as well as more effective relational skills. This often includes evaluation of expectations, reordering of priorities, improving communication skills and bringing a new perspective concerning their life and ministry.
Shepherds Canyon Retreats was formed by Lutherans
For more information visit www.shepherdscanyonretreat.org
For any Australian Pastors wanting to access this retreat there is some assistance available contact me (richardschwedes@gmail.com) so i can refer you to the appropriate contact.
Being Lutheran series - Introduction
Being Lutheran?
As a young boy growing up in the Lutheran Church, I thought being Lutheran was about 6 or 7 things, and these were not always good:
1. Being Lutheran meant being from a German background, because everyone I met at my considerable sized Lutheran church, had German names or had married someone who had a German sounding name....
2. Being Lutheran meant sitting orderly in hard wooden pews, facing the front watching a man in a white dress (I know it is an alb... but as a young boy it looks like a dress), with a scarf...talk a lot.
3. Being Lutheran meant not liking other church denominations or saying they were not quite right...yes, because of sport, I had friends who went to other Christian churches, but when it came to religion, we didn't really mix...we did our thing, and they did theirs.
4. Being Lutheran meant participating in a worship service where I was told what to say, even though I didn't completely understand it, or it used words I would never use elsewhere.
5. Being Lutheran meant not being overly emotional, unless you disagreed with something or someone.
6. Being Lutheran meant aiming to pass confirmation, by repeating verbatim the catechism and some bible verses so I could fully participate in worship by drinking some wine and eating some white wafer.
7. Being Lutheran meant having people who I knew in the community because I saw them at church.
What about you growing up, what is being Lutheran meant for you...good and bad?
Then overtime by being part of the Lutheran church I began to see and understand that being Lutheran was about something deeper...something more spiritual....and about a different approach to life than how many people in society lived....and that being Lutheran meant I was Christian....
Martin Luther, the person who has inspired the Lutheran Church for many years, as he tussled with being a Christian...by looking at the people in the church and looking at the bible....discovered an important focus on being a Christian and therefore a Lutheran...a key but not the only text, that opened up his understanding of what it means to be a Christian and therefore a Lutheran....is found in Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (NIV)
I am proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith. It is just as the Scriptures say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.” (CEV)
Being a Lutheran is about the Gospel, that God is doing the saving and heavy lifting so all people (not some) can be saved through faith....
How does this affect your understanding of being Lutheran?
2023 - Prepared by Pastor Richard Schwedes
you can use this for devotional and ministry purposes freely
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