Read Romans 6:3-5
In regular meetings of the Lutheran bishops who oversee the Church in Australia and New Zealand we recently introduced what is called a ‘Mission Minute’. One bishop is allocated for each meeting to share an example of how the good news of God has impacted people in a significant or unexpected way.
Recently in my ‘Mission Minute’ I shared a story (which I also told in my report to District Convention) that highlighted the impact of the Christian message contained on the website of a Lutheran School.
A father was considering enrolling his child in a local Lutheran school. He was neither Lutheran nor Christian. The school’s website had a faith statement which caught his attention. He told me, “When I read about the beliefs of the Lutheran Church, something resonated with me.”
He discovered there was a Lutheran Church in his community, so he went along. He was so welcomed by people there that he continued attending that church.
The congregation had no pastor, which is where I came into the picture. I volunteered to help them out by leading a service on Easter Sunday. When communicating with the people about the service they asked, “Are you happy to conduct an adult baptism?” Of course I was!
I soon learned that my part in preparing for the baptism would need to be minimal because the congregation had attended to most of it. The second great blessing in this story is that one of that congregation’s members had met weekly with the man, worked through a booklet on the basics of Lutheran teaching (Usually a pastor would do this!), and answered the many questions he had.
What was left for me to do was to meet with him once prior to Easter Sunday and to conduct the baptism, which was a moment of great joy both for him and for the congregation.
I was able to share with the people there that as they gathered to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, they had just witnessed a second resurrection. As the words of St Paul declare, “We were therefore buried with [Christ Jesus] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection” (Romans 6:4, 5).
Praise God for the witness to his good news that he brings through the schools of the church as the Holy Spirit works through his Words that are spoken or written – even on our websites!
Pastor Lester Priebbenow
District Bishop, Victoria and Tasmania
