Lutheran Mission – Australia’s inaugural Synodical Assembly was conducted on 28-30 August 2026 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Hamilton.

The Synodical Assembly was marked by a sense of joy and unity. The Assembly was attended by 58 member representatives, nine international guests and a large number of volunteers, LM-A staff and observers. Daily numbers varied between 160 and 190, with the Closing Divine Service attended by over 300 people from near and far.

The Synodical Assembly of Lutheran Mission - Australia has voted to approve altar and pulpit fellowship with three Book of Concord Lutheran churches internationally. The decisions are of great historical and spiritual significance after decades of relative isolation from the international Lutheran community.

The LM-A Confessional Statement commits the Church to pursue altar and pulpit fellowship with church bodies that share our confession of 'the doctrine and all its articles' (FC SD X.31) when it states, 'We welcome into altar and pulpit fellowship sister churches "among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity" and the holy sacraments are "administered in accordance with the divine Word."' (3.c.). Such fellowship seeks to conserve and promote the unity of the true faith (Eph 4:3-6; 1 Cor 1:10) and provides a united defence against schism, sectarianism (Rom 16:17), and heresy. As a nascent church body emerging from a context of false teaching, LM-A is particularly vulnerable to theological 'tunnel vision' which could very easily lead to sectarianism. To this end, it is important that LM-A establish church relations with churches who share our confession and can provide a steadying influence as we find our way.

Altar and pulpit fellowship allows the churches involved to commune together, to exchange pastors and churchworkers, to train in each other’s seminaries and to work together to further the gospel.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation:
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation:
Join the full throng:
Wake, harp and psalter and song,
Sound forth in glad adoration.

LH 442, Joachim Neander (1650-1680)
Tr. Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.

Throughout the Synodical Assembly, God’s Word and the reception of His good gifts in the Divine Service were celebrated with great joy. The Assembly worshipped at the start and close of every day. Throughout the services, there was a powerful sense of unity, from the clear and confident responses to the liturgy, the recitation of the Creed and the reverent reception of the Lord’s Supper at the beginning and close of the Assembly.

A highlight of the Synodical Assembly was the in-depth teaching provided on Friday and Saturday by Rev. Michael Frese, who serves as the Deputy Director of Church Relations for The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Pastor Frese presented a detailed Bible Study on the topic, ‘If Moses Had Glory, How Much More Christ? A Biblical and Confessional Case for Reverent, Liturgical Worship from 2 Corinthians 3:7–11.’

Speaking with warmth and enthusiasm, Pastor Frese shared how he came to love the liturgy when a professor in college took the time to show him how the forms and words we use in worship come from the Bible. ‘It was eye-opening - it blew my mind!’ In the same class, he learnt how these forms originated in the Old Testament, how they were developed through the New Testament and then through the Early Church and the Middle Ages. Using the historic forms reminds us that we are worshipping with all the saints who have gone before us.

Pastor Frese taught that the liturgy brings us into the presence of God to receive His gifts. In worship, God condescends to come to us. We meet Him around His altar in Holy Communion, and when the Word is read and preached. ‘The liturgy brings us into close relationship with God - here we have God speaking, calling us to share in the gospel. Having received this gospel, our hearts are changed. Then our hearts, filled with the Holy Spirit, have the motivation to respond to that great gift.’ This is worship; God gives, and we respond.

Read Matthew 16:13-20

Simon Peter seems to have been ‘a larger than life’ personality, a born leader. Matthew calls him ‘the first’ of the twelve disciples (10:2). We know he was married (Mark 1:29-31; 1 Corinthians 9:5). We also know that he was impetuous, inclined to ‘foot in mouth disease.’ Sadly, he denied his Lord three times. But the risen Lord graciously forgave him and restored him to his leadership role among the Twelve (John 21:15-17). In Luke 22:31-32 we read: ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’

We see Peter standing up and strengthening his brothers and sisters in the faith, beginning on Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2) and continuing to do so, often together with the beloved disciple John, through Acts chapters 3 – 12. And some years later, we see this leading apostle of Jesus Christ strengthening the ‘elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia’ through his first letter to them (a favourite of Luther’s), then following up with 2 Peter.

High up in the ceiling of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome you can see, written in Latin, this quotation from Matthew 16, verses 16 and 18: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.’ On this basis, down through the centuries to Pope Leo 14th in our day, the popes claim to be St Peter’s successors and the vicars of Christ on earth. In our Book of Concord, we find Philip Melanchthon’s response to these grand claims, entitled, ‘The power and primacy of the Pope.’ On the basis of Scripture and church history Melanchthon argues persuasively that these claims are spurious; the rock on which the Christian church is built is ‘the preaching and teaching office’ entrusted to all pastors.

his review is part of the ‘Good Books’ series we are running highlighting wonderful books which share God’s wisdom.

Pfeiffer outlines his task this way:

In this book, I use this spiritual posture of looking to explore the Christian life in the context of today’s world. While there are powerful forces at work encouraging us to look inward for hope, identity, purpose, and meaning – indeed, for life itself – Christians are fundamentally to look elsewhere, to lift our eyes from ourselves.   We look up to God in faith, and we look out to our neighbor in love.   Martin Luther was insistent on this point. God and neighbor. Faith and love. Looking up and looking out. When we get that right, we do truly look forward in joyful anticipation to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, and there is even a sense in which we can rightly look in at ourselves [i]. 

Lift Your Eyes winsomely fulfils the author’s intentions.

What are you hoping for? Who are you trusting to fulfil your hopes?

Jesus’ disciples often had these questions in mind, especially as they painfully tried to make headway on the tempestuous waters in the Sea of Galilee. After close to nine hours battling the wind-tossed waves in the dark, the disciples would have been desperately hoping to reach the shore at Gennesaret.

They were on their own. This time Jesus wasn’t with them in the boat! They couldn’t wake Him to calm the storm! Then terror struck! They cried out in fear when they saw Jesus walking on the water, thinking Him to be a ghost!  

Immediately, Jesus speaks to them. With His Word, Jesus encourages their faith and overcomes their fear, ‘Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid’ (Matthew 14:27).

Jesus walking on the tempestuous sea has already shown them that He is the Lord and ruler of creation. Yet, it takes His Word to reveal that He is their eternal Lord! ‘It is I’, he says, in Greek, ‘ego eimi’, literally ‘I am’! Jesus reveals that He is truly God. ‘I am’ is the name by which God revealed Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:13-15). The name by which Moses revealed that God was present with His people to save them.

Jesus was not there just to take away His disciples’ fear. He was not there just to overcome their being tossed about by the wind and the waves. The Lord Jesus was there to be their Saviour. He is the Holy One of God they could trust!

In advance of our Synodical Assembly, the LM-A Committee of Management has approved the Synodical Order, which outlines the roles, relationships and responsibilities of the different offices and bodies within the Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A) Synod, seeking to rightly order our life together in a manner that promotes and fosters the mission of the church.

A significant part of the Synodical Order is Church Discipline for the Care of Souls, which ‍

provides the foundation to deal with all conflicts, disputes, false teaching and sinful behaviours that occur between individuals and entities of LM-A. It must be noted, however, that the chief goal of this approach is not conflict resolution in and of itself, but rather the restoration of the sinner through the power of the gospel of Christ (Luke 15:7; Acts 3:19; Galatians 6:1; 1 John 1:9; James 5:19-20).

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - On Tuesday 21 July, the Convention of Synod of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod voted unanimously in favour of Resolution 5-02, ‘To Support and Encourage Recognition of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship with Lutheran Mission - Australia.’ The decision was greeted with applause and the singing of the doxology.

On Sunday 19 July, Bishop Emile Nkurunziza of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Burundi was delighted to ordain eight pastors into Word and Sacrament ministry. This brings the total number of pastors serving this rapidly growing church to 12 pastors serving in 12 parishes.

Among the 12 parishes, six parishes now have church buildings under construction: two are almost finished, one is making good progress and three have a long way to go in their construction. The other six parishes are fundraising and collecting local materials to buy land and start construction. Three of these parishes have now purchased land.

Bishop Emile expressed HELCB’s gratitude to LM-A for our support through the mission appeal. Funds we sent have helped students preparing for ordination and the fundraising to buy land for church construction.

The latest Sem Vlog has just been uploaded to YouTube and can also be seen on our Videos page. In the video, Pastor Michael Prenzler outlines current developments with the Sem and identifies ways in which students can prepare for their studies with LTS-A in 2027. Information on how to enrol should be announced at the LM-A Synodical Assembly in August.

As the pastoral and diaconal stream courses will be held at a bachelor’s degree level, students should be prepared for tertiary study. Deaconess Kathleen Mills can assist any prospective students to enrol in an Academic Research and Writing unit which begins online at the end of August, and which is designed to build the skills needed to succeed at university level studies. Students should be in contact with Deaconess Kathleen ASAP, as enrolments close mid-August.

The video further distinguishes between general admission students and LM-A sponsored students who are preparing for service as a pastor or deaconess in LM-A. While general interest students and those from other church backgrounds have some flexibility in their enrolment choices, LM-A students must follow a set academic and formational curriculum. LM-A is planning on offering full scholarships to cover tuition for sponsored students.

On Sunday 19 July, Adelaide Northern Suburbs Lutheran Mission (ANSLM) experienced a wonderful event. In that service we admitted two adults into God's family through the rite of holy baptism. We then admitted a family of four, who had worshipped with us for over a year before deciding to join, into membership. Finally, we held the rite of Confirmation for five adults, most of whom had been worshipping in Lutheran churches for years but had not been confirmed in the Lutheran understanding of the faith.

I share this not to boast about our little congregation, but to encourage the rest of the church with what God is doing in LM-A. All credit must go to Him as He draws people to Himself (John 6:44) and gives them the gift of faith (Ephesians 2). At the same time, God gave the people of ANSLM an opportunity to partner in His mission, and I thought it might be helpful to share with you our collective journey. This is not meant to be a ‘formula for evangelism’ (as if there is ever only one way of bringing people into the church) but is simply an example of how opportunities unfold if we keep our spiritual eyes and ears open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Dr Stephen Pietsch reviews Dr John Kleinig’s latest book as part of the ‘Good Books’ series we are running over the coming months highlighting wonderful books which share God’s wisdom.

“From Shame to Glory” is a bold title. It might make a prospective reader think of the kind of spiritual self-help literature that is so prolific today, promising the Christian ways to overcome their own shame through perfecting certain spiritual techniques or practices.

Kleinig’s book could not be further from this! It is a biblical account of how God removes human shame and puts in its place not just honor or self-esteem, but His very own heavenly glory.

Like many, over the years I have struggled with pinning down what exactly shame is and how it works. Its exact nature is elusive and it seems to operate in complex ways. Our culture has scaled it down to just another kind of victimhood. It is popularly believed that if we have a healthy self-image and we are otherwise well adjusted, we should feel no shame, nor be shamed by others. It has been reduced to “bad feelings about yourself which others put on you”. There is much more to it than this.

On Sunday, 12th July, a crowd gathered at the local footy club to celebrate the installation of our new pastor, Pastor Bryce Clark, supported by his lovely wife, Judy. Brothers and sisters in Christ travelled from many LM-A congregations including Mildura, Loxton, Callington and Jeparit, as well as international visitors from the LCMS (a complete fluke that they were visiting on this particular weekend!). 

The opening hymn, 191, began the service by reminding us all of the foundation our church is built upon:

“The church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord
she is His new creation
by water and the Word:
from heaven He came and sought her
to be His holy bride;
with His own blood He bought her,
and for her life He died.”

Pastor Matt Anker led the congregation in the Divine Service, with his sermon focussing on the gospel reading from Matthew 13:1-24: The Parable of the Sower. What a wonderfully appropriate text for an installation, as Pastor Bryce has been called to be faithful to the pastoral duties of Word and Sacrament ministry, bible study, home visits and catechesis of the younger members of the congregation, faithfully sowing the seed of God’s Word.

On Sunday 5th July, St Paul’s Lutheran Church Ararat was received into Lutheran Mission - Australia. St Paul’s is now the seventh congregation to join LM-A in the ever-growing state of Victoria. The gathering was marked with encouragement, song and thanksgiving.

In the Parable of the Sower, the Sower sows the seed, the Word of God, but for three kinds of people, it doesn’t produce its desired effect. Why not?

The International Lutheran Council (ILC) holds a conference for the seminaries of its members every three years. This year the conference was held in the last week of June 2026 in South Africa, at a working farm and conference centre on the outskirts of Pretoria. Its theme was ‘Being Human, Being Christian: Theological Anthropology in Church and Seminary.’

Representatives came from every continent except Antarctica, reflecting the multicultural makeup of the ILC. Of the approximately 60 attendees, the largest contingent came from Africa, with the next-largest group being from Latin America, reminding us that most Christians (and Lutherans) are in the ‘Global South’.

… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  

Isaiah 55:11

Our churches teach that the Word, that is, the Son of God [John 1:14], assumed the human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary  (AC III).

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg in 1517, he started a reformation that had far reaching ramifications. Historians and commentators have highlighted the many political, educational, and social changes that took place in and around the reformation. New technologies such as the Gutenberg Press enabled the work of Luther and early reformers to be spread quickly and effectively.  (Just imagine Luther with a laptop and the internet!)

What may be overlooked or diminished is that always at the heart of the reformation was the work of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross that all people may be saved. The primary work of the reformation was the proclamation of the Gospel so people might repent of their sins, receive the forgiveness of sins, then the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8).

Isaiah exhorts God’s people to seek the Lord while he may be found.  Today many people speak of being spiritual but not religious, or some variation on that theme. We hear it from movie and music stars, and this may be mimicked by your friends and family also. It suggests a keen desire to chart one’s own course, but to have a mystical someone or something to fall back on if things get difficult.

Against worldly thinking, Isaiah sounds a clear warning, ‘seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near’ (Isaiah 55:6). The living Word is incarnate through the person of Jesus Christ.  We have ready access to Jesus through His Word and through the sacraments. In baptism we are joined with Jesus into the one true and apostolic church, the family of God. Through Holy Communion we receive the true body and blood of Jesus which we carry into the lives of our family and friends.  This is our faithful witness.

LM-A President Matt Anker reports on his attendance at the LCC Convention of Synod, where LCC resolved to recognise fellowship with LM-A.

‘Oh, you’re one of those Aussies serving here!’ Such was the way I was greeted again and again as I attended the thirteenth regular Convention of the Lutheran Church – Canada (LCC). I was honoured to be confused with and numbered among our faithful brothers who are serving LCC congregations, and privileged to officially represent LM-A at this convention.

As many of you know there has been a long and blessed relationship between the LCC and Australian Lutherans. In 2024 President Tim Teuscher addressed the LCA Synod and declared with deep sadness that with the decision to ordain women, the LCA had broken fellowship with LCC. Shortly after that event President Teuscher contacted me to advise that the LCC desired to work toward altar and pulpit fellowship with LM-A.

Photo: Guntars Baikovs

Subsequently, LM-A and LCC held formal discussions based on our respective confessions of faith and the LCC’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations concluded that ‘these discussions have revealed a clear unity in the doctrine of the Gospel and all its articles and in the right administration of the Sacraments (AC VII)’ and recommended altar and pulpit fellowship be recognised.

While there were many moments of great encouragement at this convention, none were more encouraging or emotional that when the Convention considered the resolution to recognise fellowship. Those in favour were asked to stand and there was not a person left sitting on their chair. When the applause died down, the convention spontaneously sang the common doxology, acknowledging that it is God Himself who establishes unity on the basis of His Word through the work of His Holy Spirit.

The Northern Tasmania Lutheran Mission was blessed to have Pastor Avito da Costa conduct a Rite of Reception into the LM-A on Trinity Sunday (31 May), after receiving official approval of their membership application on 29 April 2026. Held at the Blythe Heads Hall, the service was a true celebration as the congregation belted out joyful hymns to the organ music played by Anna da Costa.

The fledgling congregation has forged ahead over the last 20 months since members could no longer support the direction of the LCA. The membership includes former LCA members from Launceston, Devonport and Burnie, as well as former Anglican members who had become disillusioned with the direction their Anglican Church was taking. All were seeking a home where the Scriptures are taught in their truth and purity. 

Moving from services in a residential basement to various public halls, the Northern Tasmanian Lutheran Mission now holds services at Blythe Heads Hall, with a once-a-month service in an old church building owned by the Sassafras Community Hall Association. For much of 2025 and early 2026, the Northern Tasmanian Lutheran Mission was fortunate to have weekly Holy Communion services, led by Pastor Sam Modra, as he awaited a permanent position.