Western Australian bishop re-elected

Pastor Mike Fulwood has been re-elected as Bishop of the LCA’s Western Australia District.

Bishop Fulwood, who was first elected to the post at the district’s 2017 convention, was endorsed for a further two-year term last weekend in the Perth suburb of Morley.

Also at the district Convention of Synod at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Pastor Peter Hage from St Johns Lutheran Church in Perth was elected to continue as Assistant Bishop for a two-year term. Pastor Hage had been appointed to his district role by Western Australia’s District Church Council in 2018 after former Assistant Bishop Richard Schulze accepted a call to Luther College in the Victoria-Tasmania District.

After being renominated for the lead district role, Bishop Fulwood had said he was ‘humbled to be renominated’ and ‘conscious of the privilege of being a servant of the Lord amongst you’.

‘I continue to ask for grace to fulfil these responsibilities well’, he said.

Both district leaders were elected unopposed.

LCA Bishop John Henderson preached at the convention worship service on Transfiguration Sunday on the text 2 Corinthians 3:12–4:2, highlighting the Synod theme: Certain in Christ, Bold in Action.

He encouraged convention-goers to ‘go confidently about God’s business’, because the glory of the gospel brings truth into the light.

‘Such a light reveals everything’, Bishop Henderson said. ‘There is nowhere to hide, because there is no need to hide.

‘We can go confidently about God’s business. We can act boldly when otherwise we might falter and fail. Our new found confidence is not the egotistical pride and selfishness that stains so much of our present age. We do not point to ourselves and our achievements. Christian confidence is the antithesis of the spirit of this age, which is “all about me”.

‘Christian confidence lets us say simply, “I was wrong and I’m sorry”, and to ask for forgiveness. Christian confidence changes us from self-serving and self-glorifying behaviours to turn to others in service. Christian confidence is not made weaker, but becomes stronger, when we learn to put others ahead of ourselves. It’s no longer about me, but about Jesus.

‘Unafraid, in the plain sight of God and the world we will act boldly for Jesus, pointing to him, so that all people everywhere may see the glory of the Lord.’