Naracoorte ladies host the 2026 South-East Lutheran Zone Rally
The 2026 South-East Zone Rally was hosted by the Naracoorte Lutheran Women’s Fellowship and held at St John’s Lutheran Church on Wednesday 5 August. The theme was ‘Being strong in the Lord’ based on from Ephesians 6:10–18. After refreshments on arrival, Naracoorte President, Val Tischler warmly welcomed the 32 ladies and men present, with Peter’s words from Matthew 17:3: ‘How good it is that we are here’.
Naracoorte Pastor, Andrew Everson led a devotion on the theme for the day: ‘What does it mean to be strong in the Lord?’ To be a Christian involves a daily struggle with the powers around us that don’t want us to know and belong to Christ. Paul wants us to be realists, as any attempt to stand strong in our own strength will fail. Therefore, we need to ‘put on the full armor of God’ as it is only in the strength and power of God that we are able to stand firm.
Sue Zwar, South-East Zone President chaired a short business meeting. Following the elections everyone was delighted to hear from Emma Strelan from Lutheran Media. Lutheran Media provides Messages of Hope through podcast episodes, online videos and social message posts. It reaches the daily lives of more than one million people each week. Programs are produced on a weekly schedule and now reach 1 in every 30 radio listeners across Australia. Several interviews filmed in 2025 highlighting the heartbreaking hardship of homelessness and drought. These can be viewed on the Messages of Hope website at www.messagesofhope.com.au
A delicious lunch of soup, casseroles and dessert was provided by the Naracoorte ladies. The proceeds from the lunch, trading table and offering of $1107 were shared between the guest speakers for the promotion of their work. The ladies also generously donated goods and money to Lutheran Care.
After lunch, junior students from Sunrise Christian School entertained the gathering with action songs, including ‘Jesus loves Me’ and ‘I am Jesus Little Lamb’, as well as a couple of songs in German.
Pastor Rob Borgas, who has worked with indigenous communities for over 35 years was the second guest speaker for the day. He spoke about the history of Finke River Mission and the establishment of Hermannsburg, reflecting on how indigenous and other cultures connect through a love of language, family dynamics and shared faith. Early Lutheran missionaries did not try to teach Indigenous people German or English. Instead, they sought to learn local languages and communicate with people in their own language. The donation from the rally will go towards publishing the Finke River Mission Anmatyerr Lutheran Hymnal in the local language.
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