‘Before Christ and the World’ Seminar a great encouragement
On 7-8 June, Dr Stephen Pietsch led a wonderful weekend of learning and mutual encouragement at the ‘Before Christ and the World - What it means to be a confessional Lutheran’ Seminar, which was held at St John’s Lutheran Church in Tanunda SA. The event was attended by approximately 100 people, with a large number of people viewing the livestream.
The seminar began with an opening responsive prayer service, led by Pastor Lee van Rossen, and a warm welcome on a very cold, wet day from Pastor Mathew Ker, who acted as MC throughout the weekend.
Dr Pietsch began the seminar by exploring what confessing actually means, why Christians have confessed their faith since the very earliest days of the church, and why “confessing the faith clearly and openly teaching the doctrines of Scripture is an essential calling of all Christians, and is, according to Luther, a ‘mark of the church’, that it teaches, confesses and proclaims the word of God.”
After a sumptuous morning tea, provided by Barossa Lutheran Mission who were our hosts for the weekend, participants returned for the second session, in which Dr Pietsch focused in on the Lutheran Confessions, discussing the context in which they were developed and why they continue to be the confession of the Lutheran church almost 500 years later. As Dr Pietsch explained, the Confessions “clearly express the whole witness of Scripture which is the rule and norm for our teaching and practice.” He emphasised that the Bible is the “norm of norms” - the overarching authority under which the Confessions sit. The session concluded with group discussion of Luther’s Small Catechism.
I must still read and study the catechism daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain.
Luther
The Saturday afternoon sessions explored the Augsburg Confession, particularly Articles 1-12, which were described as “the beating heart of the Lutheran Confessions.” Dr Pietsch showed how the Augsburg Confession was a response to Roman and radical theology and practice of the time and were a return to the teaching of the Apostles and the Early Church. Above all it emphasises the centrality of justification by grace through faith, which gives believers the certainty of forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. The day concluded with a detailed examination of the first 12 articles, and group discussion focused on how the articles challenge our society’s beliefs.
Pentecost Sunday began with a wonderful worship service attended by a large gathering of seminar participants, locals and visitors. LM-A President Matt Anker led the Holy Communion service, which featured the reception of three LM-A pastors: Pastor Lee van Rossen, Pastor Mathew Ker and Pastor Wally Schiller. All three pastors have been faithfully serving LM-A for some time but were officially recognised in this service. Pastor Mathew Ker was then installed by Pastor Anker as LM-A’s Vice President. The whole service was uplifting, and the congregation raised the roof with their enthusiastic singing. After the service, Wistow LM Chairman, Clive Wundersitz, and Barossa LM Chairman, Philip Krahling, presented greetings to Pastor Ker on behalf of their congregations, and Philip also shared greetings from Pastor Martin Scharnke from St Paul’s Lutheran Mission Circuit. President Anker shared the exciting news that Pastor Lee van Rossen had accepted the call to serve Wistow LM, and that Barossa LM will call a pastor on 22 June.
Following worship and morning tea, Dr Pietsch taught on the chief article of the Augsburg Confession - Article 4 on Justification; “Justification by pure grace, for Christ’s sake by faith is God’s and Scripture’s answer to humanity’s greatest, deepest and most desperate need. Every other teaching in the Christian faith either leads to or flows from this one. It is what Christian faith is all about. (Romans 1:17, 6:23, Ephesians 1:8, 2:7),” and explored Melanchthon’s defence of this teaching in his Apology to the Augsburg Confession, Article 4.
The final session of the seminar examined the Formula of Concord, which was the last of the Lutheran Confessional writings, and which responded to the controversies and divisions among Lutherans on theological and spiritual issues. The goal of the Formula of Concord (or in Latin, Concordia) was to give a comprehensive confession “with one heart.” It continues to have a lasting impact and importance because it “deals with theological and spiritual questions which come up all the time in the church’s long history, and which still cause discord and confusion for Christians today,” such as predestination, the Real Presence and the role of the law in Christian life. Dr Pietsch taught on several articles, including Original Sin, Free Will, The Righteousness of Faith before God, Good Works, Law and Gospel, the Third Function of the Law, and The Holy Supper of Christ. Participants were invited to join in a spirited discussion of the Real Presence and Lutheran teaching on the Lord’s Supper.
Dr Pietsch concluded the seminar with a passionate encouragement to all Lutherans to read the Lutheran Confessions and absorb the wealth of wisdom and sound doctrine they contain, and to remember that what we believe we also speak, teach and proclaim.
President Matt Anker concluded the seminar with a brief responsive prayer evening service, and Vice President Ker thanked all those involved in the seminar, especially Dr Pietsch, the members of Barossa Lutheran Mission who catered for the weekend and Creative Word Fellowship who ran a large book display and managed all of the livestreaming and audio-visual elements of the weekend.
The videos from the weekend will be made available on the LM-A Youtube channel here and on the Video page of our website.
Photo gallery: images from Barossa Lutheran Mission, and seminar participants
