bishops

by Bishop John Henderson

It’s nearly time for our church to gather as a synod once again, as we do every three years. The synod includes all our congregations and parishes across Australia and New Zealand, and representatives from various ministries, such as Lutheran schools.

by Bishop John Henderson

When speaking to the recent online General Pastors Conference, I described the church as the ‘beachhead’ of heaven on earth. If we pay close attention, we will hear the distant surf crashing on its beaches and see the glow of the rising sun on the far horizon heralding the new era of justice, peace.

by Bishop John Henderson

The first letter of Peter in the New Testament is addressed to Christians scattered across Asia Minor in the first century after Christ. It is a practical manual on how to survive persecution. We live very different lives to believers back then, but we, too, could soon face more active opposition.

Pastor Mark Vainikka will be the next LCA Queensland District bishop. He was elected unopposed during the District Convention of Synod at Eight Mile Plains in Brisbane’s south last weekend (4–6 June).

LCANZ Bishop John Henderson will not stand for re-election at this year’s Convention of General Synod in September–October. First elected in April 2013, he will retire after serving three synodical terms in the role.

Rev Steven Lawrence was consecrated as the fifth Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia (ELCM), a partner church of the LCA/NZ, on 4 July. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the service of consecration was re-designed, as the church sought to meet the new requirement of local authorities.