A Day of Great Joy for Wistow

Pastor Lee van Rossen is installed as pastor of Wistow Lutheran Mission by Pastor Matt Anker and Dr Greg Lockwood.

On Sunday, 6 July, Pastor Lee van Rossen was installed as the pastor of Wistow Lutheran Mission in the Adelaide Hills. Pastor Lee was installed by LM-A President, Rev. Dr. Matt Anker, with the assistance of Rev. Dr Greg Lockwood. The service was held at the Wistow Community Hall, where the Wistow congregation has been worshipping since it began in December 2024. Over 100 people, including members of Pastor Lee’s family and visitors from other congregations, attended the service, which was followed by a community lunch.

The service began with a processional hymn, LH 460 ‘Praise the Lord through every nation’. In his sermon, Pastor Matt Anker asked the congregation,

Jesus Himself has commanded that we ‘pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ and so you have prayed. And thanks be to God, today we receive God’s answer to that prayer in Pastor Lee. God’s worker for this harvest begins his work among us today. But my question to you is, are you ready for the Lord’s answer to that prayer? Are you ready to receive the one who comes in the name of the Lord Jesus? Are you ready to listen to him as you would to Jesus Himself? Are you ready to rejoice in the ministry the Lord will enact through him so that you names would be written in heaven?

Reflecting on the Gospel text for the day, Luke 10:1-11,16-20, Pastor Matt noted that “Installation services are times of great joy and anticipation for congregations”, because

It’s a day on which we acknowledge that the Office of the Ministry has been established by Jesus Himself and He promises to work through this office for the sake of the people of God. As He says to the equivalent of pastors in our text today, ‘The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.’ And so when you hear Pastor Lee proclaiming God’s Word in this place, when he speaks it to you in your homes, you are not hearing a human opinion to be accepted or rejected as it suits you, but you are hearing the voice of your Lord Jesus proclaimed with authority and power. You are hearing the voice of the One who longs for you to receive His gifts of forgiveness and life which He secured through His own suffering and death, so you would have the sure and certain hope of eternal life.

Addressing the Wistow congregation, Pastor Matt said

Dear friends in Christ, in Pastor Lee you have called a faithful servant of the Living God who is charged to preach the Word in season and out of season. To care for your souls with this same Word both proclaimed and visible in the sacraments. He will do this as a forgiven sinner who will need your forgiveness from time to time. But he will do so as one called by God and with the authority of Christ to forgive your sins, to proclaim peace to you, to bless you in the name of Jesus and to work to have your name written in heaven. So receive him as a gift from God. Honour the office in which he serves and accept his ministry even at those times he is obliged to call for repentance, knowing that he only does so in order that you might receive the fullness of God’s love in Christ Jesus.

Concluding his address, Pastor Matt thanked God for the way Pastor Lee and his wife Sonja “stood firm on God’s Word and trusted in His provision even when the future was uncertain,” and speaking directly to them, thanked Lee and Sonja “for your patience and joyfulness even as the days grew longer… I also thank God that today as you are installed as pastor of this congregation, you become my pastor as well! I rejoice in this because I know you are a pastor who loves and dwells in God’s Word, and who seeks to serve with faithfulness no matter what the cost.”

After the installation, Pastor Lee was greeted by Dr Greg Lockwood and by Clive Wundersitz, the Chairman of Wistow Lutheran Mission and Elder Jon Footner. Sonja and children Malia, Eli and Cora were invited forward to join Pastor Lee for a blessing. All present then received God’s blessings through Holy Communion.

At the close of the service, greetings were brought by the Chairman of Barossa Lutheran Mission, Philip Krahling, and Peter Wittwer from Adelaide Northern Suburbs Lutheran Mission. Clive Wundersitz read many greetings from congregations around Australia and from members of Wistow who were unable to attend in person. Chairman Clive presented gifts on behalf of the congregation and Narelle Bormann and family presented a large hamper of pantry items and gift cards gathered by the congregation to welcome the van Rossens to the community.

A delicious community lunch was shared by the large gathering.

Pastor Lee and his family are settling into their new home and look forward to serving the Wistow congregation.

Pastor Lee van Rossen, his wife Sonja, and children (L to R) Cora, Eli and Malia, outside the Wistow Community Hall.