Ministry Support serves and encourages the congregations of the District, as they welcome and nurture their households[1], so that they may love and serve their neighbour as Christ in the world.

• Accept and hold the Confessions of the Church;
• Accept the Constitution and By-laws of the Church;
• Submit a Constitution acceptable to the Church; and
• Undertake to participate in the work of the Church and to promote its objects.

Membership of the Church does not consist of congregations and Districts. Districts do not have a mandate to operate individually. Districts really have only one object, viz,  “The District accepts the Objects of the Lutheran Church of Australia, and shall promote them within its assigned area”. (LCA Constitution)

The LCA is divided into Districts in order to promote its objects by its members in prescribed geographical areas [3]Districts are administrative arms of the LCA for an assigned region. Districts must adopt and implement the agenda of the Church. No District has the mandate to create its own individual set of objects. A Districts’ role is clear: to promote the Church’s objects by its members in prescribed geographical areas. The agenda of member congregations is the agenda of the Church also, locally expressed and applied.

The District’s synodical role in the Church’s mission & ministry is to help and encourage congregations to carry out the church’s mission in their local communities and in ever-widening circles. The District serves as consultant on mission & ministry strategy and as coordinator for mission development. Congregations (rather than Districts) are the primary agencies for mission at home and its development.

The LCA in its Statement on Mission[4]  identifies numerous facets of the Church’s mission, and says,

“In sum, the church’s task is to preach God’s word to all people everywhere, to administer the sacraments, to nurture the faith, to help the needy, to reach out to unbelievers and to those who have not heard the call of the gospel. Wherever Christ’s followers fulfil this commission in the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is in God’s mission in the comprehensive sense of the word.”

This summary of mission informs the Council’s Purpose Statement through which we seek to identify the role of Ministry Support, the congregation, and the Christian household and their interdependence in the mission of the Church.

The congregations welcome and nurture their families, so that

Their families may love and serve their neighbour as Christ in the world.

The goal of Ministry Support is not self-promote or self-advancement as a body that does ministry.  Congregations do not provide support to Districts so that Districts can do congregational mission work. All of the various agencies of the District exist for the benefit of congregations and their mission work. Likewise, the goal of the congregations is not institutional self-promotion or self-advancement. Congregations exist to benefit their households and to enable the members of their Christian households to engage in mission to the world, this is where the Lutheran doctrine of vocation is absolutely paramount. Finally, the goal of the Christian household is not to achieve some earthly psychological or social perfection for its own benefit. The Christian household is not simply a social construct that benefits its members by providing an environment for self-improvement or self-satisfaction or self-actualization.  The ultimate beneficiary of the interdependent relationship between the District, the congregation, and the household is the neighbour[5].

The church in mission is simultaneously involved, therefore, in both nurture/edification and outreach/evangelism. The categorising of congregations into either a mission congregation or a maintenance congregation is a false-dichotomy that misunderstands the church’s nature and her work. All members of the church are missionaries – there is no distinction in this regard between clergy or lay; male or female; young of old; educated or ignorant. Every congregation is a congregation in mission– there is no distinction in this regard between rural or urban, large or small membership, being resource poor or weak.

Because mission is part of a congregation’s essential character, therefore, mission work is not an optional activity for Christians or congregations, nor may it ever be considered incidental to a congregation’s ministry to its own members. Every Christian is commissioned a missionary through the sacrament of Holy Baptism and is placed in a missionary congregation. Identity (being a missionary by virtue of baptism) leads to activity (undertaking the role of a missionary) and not the other way around.

The Mission of God
Mission, like every aspect of the Church’s life begins with God. The Father sent the Son on the Trinitarian mission of salvation. Just so Christ the Son sends His church on a mission of salvation as it proclaims and administers His judging and saving presence through Word and Sacrament. Through these divine means of mission the Church delivers God’s new life to people and nurtures them in this new life.

As divinely appointed missionaries, Christians minister on behalf of the Triune God as His ‘royal priesthood, and holy nation’ in the world. Christians minister not only by their words but also by their lives. The life of Christians in relation to their fellow human beings is a life of faith active in love. Reunited with God through Christ, Christians are empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead a new kind of life. Christians love and serve other people because God has first loved and served all humankind. This love for others is expressed in care and concern for the welfare of other people as spiritual, physical, and emotional beings for whom Christ died[6].

The preparing and equipping of Christians for mission occurs within a very specific and peculiar paradigm[7]. Christian parents and the Christian home is the primary relational context where faith is formed and missionaries are trained through the sharing of the common baptised life in the world: the basic paradigm of “Child in our Hands”[8].

The congregation is a subsequent and ancillary context to this primary relational context. The local congregation cooperates with their Christian households in preparing, equipping, and involving all of God’s family members in His mission through worship, nurture, fellowship, service/justice, and witness for the world. Here we must underscore that the congregation’s focus and role is to support the Christian household. It ought not to be that the time, energy, and resources of the Christian home become singularly focussed on supporting the programs, the projects, or the activities of the congregation.

The Christian household impacts the world on a daily basis through the vocation of the household members who interface with the world in ways that a programmatically understood institution simply cannot. However, the congregation as it is seen as the corporate expression of all of its Christian households interfaces with the world daily to a degree that is not always readily understood. Through vocation God draws Christians into His work for the life of the world through His earthly government (His left-hand-work) and through His heavenly government (His right-hand-work).

The Two-handed God
God daily maintains outward peace and a tolerable life for people on earth through His earthly government – His left-hand-work. We understand this earthly government to be represented by such things as food and drink, clothing, sustenance, marriage and human relations, work and employment, the natural world of creation, technology and science, good government, education and schooling, social welfare, worldly peace and security, etc. Theologically we say that these things fall within the Law because they rely on human works in order to occur.

Even though God’s earthly government is based upon the Law, it is still an expression of His love. God expresses himself through all people, whether they believe in Him or not, in His work of creation and provision. From the perspective of God’s left-hand-work it is far better for the welfare of humanity to have an extremely talented surgeon who may be an atheist than it would be to have an incompetent surgeon who is a Christian. At the critical time of illness or injury, the neighbour is in greater need of the surgeon’s medical skill (a gift of God through creation) than in her declarations of faith (a gift of God through His Spirit). At a time of Israel’s great need God used his left-hand to provide a political solution for His people through the Persian king Cyrus[9]. The political intervention of Cyrus was a precursor to God’s right-hand-work through Nehemiah and Ezra.

God involves people in his left-hand-work through vocation[10]. Through vocation all people perform works of service which affect the well-being of other people. God’s creative work goes forward in the everyday activities of ordinary people. God’s left-hand is also where we see His love through His good gifts: food through farmers, fishermen, merchants etc; external peace through government, judges, police, and armed forces; knowledge and education through parents and teachers, etc; healthcare through doctors and nurse; and so on. But God does not work in this world in a one-handed fashion only.

Through the heavenly kingdom Christ is king and His gospel alone rules: this is God’s right-hand-work. In the heavenly kingdom there is no Law, and therefore no human works. Good works and vocation exist for the world and for the neighbour, not for eternity and God our post-communion prayer seeks that we grow in faith toward God and in love toward one another. God does not need people’s good works, but the neighbour certainly does. The earthly vocation of people is most perfect when through the gospel people see with absolute clarity that their works in vocation – no matter how much others might benefit from them – have nothing to do with salvation. God calls for and receives faith. The neighbour calls for and receives good works. The Lutheran Confessions (Augsburg Confession Article 27) describes the Christian life in this way:

For this is Christian perfection: that we fear God honestly with our whole hearts; and yet have sincere confidence, faith, and trust that for Christ’s sake we have a gracious, merciful God; that we may and should ask and pray God for those things of which we have need, and confidently expect help from him in every affliction connected with our particular calling and station in life; and that meanwhile we do good works for others and diligently attend to our calling

Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this world[11]. The gospel, which is the centre of God’s heavenly kingdom, is an eschatological message, in the sense that it promises things that belong to the future – eternal life with God.

God gives the gift of “life and salvation” via His right-hand-work in Christ through the forgiveness of sins. God gives His heavenly kingdom as a promise. When faith hears the divine promise of eternity, the promised eternal life begins here on earth.  It is a reality which is now-but-not-yet. Eternal life is now because God Himself has spoken it in Christ. But it is also not-yet because God will fulfil His promise of eternal life in Christ through the veil of earthly death. Everything that falls on this side of death is only a weak beginning of what will be revealed and fulfilled on the other side of death. But God never separates His earthly government of the here-and-now from His heavenly government of the now-but-not-yet in the life of Christians.

Lutherans make much of maintaining a proper distinction between Law and Gospel. Indeed, unless a proper distinction is maintained one of two undesirable outcomes occur. On the one hand people are lead to presumptuously believe that they may obtain God’s favour and acceptance by him as a result of what they do for Him: this may include an understanding of faith as a perfected form of obedience to God. On the other hand people are lead to utterly despair of ever attaining that righteousness before God that saves[12] because they know of their lack of obedience to God’s requirements. Both results are bred by the Law.

Law and Gospel properly impact on Christians in tangible earthly forms when on the one hand the law commands good works through vocation while on the other the gospel speaks comfort and hope and produces faith in God and trust in Him apart from human works or achievement. In proclaiming the word as Law and Gospel the Church directs faith toward eternity and heavenly things where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father while at the same time directing vocation to the present world and the need of the neighbour.

Law and Gospel are applied in the Christian life through repentance[13]. Through the Law proclaimed in Holy Baptism God executes the candidates burying them in Christ’s death. But through the gospel God applies Christ’s resurrection to the executed candidates in order that they might rise and live a new life in Christ. God announces His promise of eternal life and seals that promise with the baptised as absolutely trustworthy by giving His Holy Spirit as a guarantee.

This rising in Christ’s new life, as we hear in the Small Catechism, takes place daily – “It signifies that the old Adam in us…should be drowned by daily repentance and be put to death, and that the new person should come forth daily…” But the old Adam (and Eve) does not take to death like a duck to water. Adam and Eve are very accomplished swimmers. God Himself must bring about this daily death to self-indulgence and self-service. He does so in a very tangible and earthly way through vocation.

The basic understanding of Sin concerns an exchange[14]: God for self and truth for lies. By nature people will look to vocation to serve self and such self-serving will simply encourage us to be even more curved in upon ourselves and focussed on our own desires. But God has determined that earthly vocation is not for the benefit of the one who fulfils the vocation but the neighbour who receives the good works of the vocation. This has far-reaching and fundamental implications for the members of congregations as they seek greater meaning and purpose in their everyday lives that so often are devoid of these.

Congregations need to find creative ways in which to challenge, encourage, and assist their members to live out true Christian repentance[15]  through authentic earthly vocation. In this respect we need to be reminded that any particular vocation is never self-selected. Vocation is always a gift from outside of us. A person may wish to be a pastor and even believe that God has called him to it. However, until that person is called by the Church and placed in a congregation with a clear mandate to be the pastor such a call does not exist. In the same way, another person may wish to be a doctor and truly believes that she has been given that vocation. However, she will not be a doctor or live in that vocation until she is recognised as suitably qualified and given authority by the government to practice medicine. The desire to be a parent is not the same as having the vocation of a parent until a person has a living, breathing child to parent.

Christ is the key
Throughout the Christian’s life there is tension between death and resurrection, Law and Gospel, vocation and faith. But in all this Christ alone is the key. Regardless of the task that is undertaken Christ is present with Christians as they fulfil their vocation. He is present so that He might bring forth faith. The world’s natural tendency is to see vocation from the perspective of what benefits it brings to the one who occupies it: the notions of self-service; self-advancement; self-fulfilment; self-realisation. But when people begin to view vocation from faith then good works will immediately force themselves forward in search of the neighbour and not for the good of the one who performs them. This will occur as a person stacks the grocery shelves in a suburban Supermarket and as a person helps to repair a flood-damaged village in Cambodia. The world would say that the person in Cambodia is doing a much better thing that the person stacking the Supermarket shelves. The world would say that because of what Mother Theresa or Fred Hollows have done they were much more worthy of God’s favour than the almost invisible cleaner who walks around the local shopping centre wiping up the dropped ice cream and chewing gum from the floor. God sees things from a much different perspective.

Through the gift of faith Christians see that no matter how hard they try their good works always fall short of what God and the neighbour really require. Faith is the life-line that brings Christians back from the mountain-top of pride or out of the abyss of despair. Faith turns away from works as the basis of confidence and turns toward[16] Christ as the only authentic place through which to receive God’s assistance and help – without Christ we can do nothing[17]. Through vocation God sets the baptised free to serve the neighbour and to place their faith in Christ’s righteousness.

Through earthly vocation the baptised experience their resurrection as a promise hidden deeply within their mortal bodies and present in this life only through faith. Just as Christ experienced the resurrection of the baptised can only come after their crucifixion and death. Through the Law of earthly vocation and service for the neighbour God crucifies the old nature. Through the hearing of the gospel the new person rises with Christ in innocence and blessedness. The new person in Christ is then directed back to the neighbour. In this way God continually incorporates people into Christ; through earthly vocation into His cross and through the gospel-ministry of the church into his resurrection.

It should be clear from all this that the baptised work out their salvation within the context of the world: the ordinary events of everyday life. Parents must raise, nurture, and discipline their children; children must work and learn at school; employers must manage and oversee workers; employees must work under the direction of bosses; politicians must deal with the demands of the electorate; the electorate must receive good government and suffer incompetent leaders; doctors, nurses, and patients must deal with disease, suffering, and death as well as good health, healing and wholeness.

This emphasis on vocation does not mean that the ministry of the congregation is of less importance in wider mission of God. God has called each member of the Christian household through the gospel, He has enlightened them with His gifts[18], and He has sanctified and preserved them in true faith, just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith[19].  Households gather together in congregations to publicly receive the forgiveness of sins in Word and Sacrament, to respond by offering themselves, their time, and their possessions as signs of God’s goodness and as symbols of their love, and to encourage and console one another as the people of God[20].

Ministry Support identifies the role of congregations to be that of welcoming Christian households into the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and of nurturing them in that fellowship through the means of grace. Ministry Support does not understand mission in which the two functions of service/justice and witness/evangelism are seen primarily within an institutional framework, that is, under the organizational umbrella of congregations. It is true that Christian households who come together as congregations may wish to combine their resources in a specific way to serve the neighbour – for example, through emergency food parcels or through an outreach activity along the lines of an Alpha Course.  But such locally-focussed activities or programs are seen best as secondary or subordinate to the service and witness that Christians engage in through vocation. This understanding does not eliminate congregational projects and service to the neighbour through the work of Australian Lutheran World Service[21]. Ministry Support strongly encourages a corporate support of ALWS as it can serve the neighbour overseas in greater ways than a Christian household through vocation can on its own.

Congregations as goals
Just like Christians, congregations can be self-absorbed and self-serving. Their reason for existence becomes their own well-being, comfort, success, and survival. Congregations often engage in works of service/justice or evangelism/witness, whether overtly or covertly, as a means of recruitment. This recruitment can be incorrectly focussed on making people members of the congregation rather than making disciples of Christ. In order to keep people within the local institutional boundary, congregations may try to develop themselves into alternative self-contained communities that provide their members with everything they desire. In addition to the traditional congregational activities such as Sunday school, youth-groups, Ladies guilds etc, congregations might offer a myriad of other programs and activities: Church-based sporting groups; church-based keep-fit classes; church-based garden clubs; church-based child care; church-based this, and church-based that. Such an approach to congregational life can distract or prevent Christians from interacting with the world any more than is absolutely necessary.

The breadth of Ministry Support
The various agencies and auxiliaries of Ministry Support serve, encourage, and help to facilitate the congregations of the District in their nurture of their Christian households. In this way the various groups and agencies (Child, Youth & Family, Tertiary Ministry, Camps, Lutheran Women and Men etc) are not self-contained or self-focussed organizations that exist for self-promotion or self-advancement. They focus upon achieving their primary gaol, which is the support of congregational ministry. These groups do not exist as independent mission or ministry agencies. They reflect on their work from the perspective of how they can best serve, encourage, and assist congregations. However, in a secondary or subsequent way the groups within Ministry Support become involved in ministry through their programs and activities. In this way the groups serve as “entry points” for those people who are outside of the household of faith to make connection with the Church and transition into a congregation. Strategies for this are contained in the various groups’ ministry plans.

As an accompanying document to this section see: Dr Gene Veith, “The Doctrine of Vocation: How God Hides”, © 1992-2002, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals webpage. It is reproduced on the District webpage with Dr Veith's permission.