Sustaining the mission of Ferryden Park
Two siblings are placed in a foster care home following a sad situation.
On their first weekend in care, they insist that they want to go to the Lutheran Church at Ferryden Park.
Their carers begin to come to church with them each week. The siblings get involved in services, Sunday school and confirmation lessons.
A local person on home detention applies for special leave to attend St Paul’s Lutheran Church at Ferryden Park each Sunday, so they can help serve coffee.
Their electronic detention anklet is low on battery and so they spend a service glued to the wall of the church, so they can recharge while participating in the liturgy.
Not every congregation has stories quite like these, but this is just a sample from the last few months at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park.
While St Paul’s is in metropolitan Adelaide, it is in some ways out of place in the city.
The courtyard is full of pictures from Central Australia, where many of our members and friends originally come from.
As the centre of Adelaide’s Aboriginal Lutheran Fellowship, St Paul’s has long been the spiritual home of Aboriginal Lutherans living in Adelaide, or those who are passing through. Over time, it has become a piece of Central Australia in the middle of Adelaide.
For decades, the Lord has used this church to heal the broken hearted through the proclamation of his gospel and bind up their wounds through the holy sacraments.
He has used this church as a place of reconciliation between God and humankind in Christ Jesus, as well as a place where Aboriginal people can find a home. For as Jesus himself taught, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?” (Mark 11:17)
Now, St Paul’s Ferryden Park is trying to ensure that the decades of mission can continue.
The siblings in foster care and the person on home detention all need a place in the gracious presence of Jesus Christ, but the core people of God’s ministry and mission at Ferryden Park have never had much money. That is partly why they’re so precious to God and key members of the body of Christ.
To help sustain the mission of St Paul’s, the congregation is currently seeking volunteers to help us partner in the gospel at Ferryden Park.
We need drivers for our bus to pick up people for church on Sunday mornings, no special licence required. We need volunteers to assist on our committee, including a treasurer, secretary and maintenance support. And we would love for volunteers to help us distribute food to families in need every Friday night, as we have been doing for many years.
About 30 per cent of our weekly attenders are children and they need Sunday school teachers to lead them into God’s saving word.
St Paul’s also welcomes financial contributions to ensure the ongoing viability of our mission and ministry. And we covet your prayers, that the Father of lights may continue to give us his gifts from above.
Our congregation is weak in the eyes of the world, but in Christ Jesus when we are weak, then we are strong.
Pastor Thomas Pietsch is Associate Pastor at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Ferryden Park. If you would like to support St Paul’s Ferryden Park, please contact Pastor Thomas (thomas.pietsch@lca.org.au or 7120 8200) or Senior Pastor Malcolm Pech (malcolm.pech@lca.org.au or 0429 139 353).
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