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Challenges of living far from a local church and women’s fellowship!

After many, many years of being active members of Lutheran congregations my husband Gordon and I sold our farm and retired to the township of Grenfell in central NSW so that our youngest child could finish his schooling before seeking employment in Sydney. Our nearest Lutheran congregations are now 100 kilometres away in all directions, and the nearest Lutheran women’s fellowship is the same distance. I miss the fellowship of Lutheran women’s gatherings very much. Gordon and I both miss the various State Fellowship Days and Conventions as we always …

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LWNSW Retreat January 2020

Come on a journey with me and I will give you more than you can imagine! Opening my Bible to Ezekiel 34:11–16 with a heading The Good Shepherd of Israel little did I know what a ride it would be! A chance to prepare a Retreat for the women of NSW/ACT was like a gift that came from a freshwater spring. An amazing pathway back in March 2019 with the title Pathways to the Good Shepherd took a direction of its own and, tending it with prayer and by being …

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Immanuel, Woden Valley NSW

The year 2020 has been challenging for our Immanuel Church, Woden, Guild Ladies as I’m sure it has been for all small groups around the country. Seniors’ luncheons were cancelled indefinitely. Retreat, fellowship days, Convention, ACT Church Women services, were all cancelled. Church services were live-streamed – thanks to the technical wizards who made that possible – and the rhythm of all our lives was changed, seemingly overnight! Phone calls, though, are a poor substitute for face-to-face fellowship and we resumed almost normal meetings in July. The “proper” spacing was …

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St Peters Ladies Fellowship – Port Macquarie

After COVID-19 restrictions, we are back! The ladies of St Peters Ladies Fellowship in beautiful Port Macquarie met for our first face to face fellowship in July. After many telephone calls, texts, and notes with one another during the lockdown period, we have been busy ever since making up for lost time. We have been sharing wonderful BYO luncheons at the church before our Bible studies, taken from the Lutheran Women magazine each month, whilst enjoying the fellowship and catch up with each other. Towards the end of July, we …

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Henty Ladies Fellowship

(with apologies to A.B. Patterson) There was movement down in Henty for the word had come to me, The time had come to do my first report; Remembering all the activity, devotions, hymns, and songs, Stretches the feeble mind just as it ought. Our meetings are but once a month at ‘2’ on each first Friday, We plan our year, then have a rest in Jan’ry; One member gives devotion, and we sing a couple of hymns, Our pastor chooses his own Bible study. When members leave for Jesus’ home …

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Southern Zone Rally – NSW

The theme for the 2019 Southern Zone Rally was Who Am I? hosted by St Stephen’s Church Women’s Fellowship, Culcairn, in the Uniting Church, 56 participants attending. President Betty Scheetz opened proceedings and introduced Pastor Kees Sturm, who based his devotion on the theme. Our identity in Christ is set out in St Peter’s letter to the churches in 1 Peter 1:1–25. Pastor Kees opened his message with the worldly, earthly names that describe us, like Australian; our surname; nurse; mother; student, etc. These labels identify us and are the …

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Immanuel Women’s Guild, Woden

A chance remark from a mother to her daughter resulted in a wonderful invitation to members of our Guild. That remark was along the lines of “I wonder if anyone will invite us to a ‘Seniors Luncheon’ when we’re too old to continue this service ourselves”! As is the situation in many areas around Australia, the average age of our group keeps creeping up with the oldest member approaching 90 and others, in, or approaching their eighties. Younger members of the congregation work, have other commitments, or don’t feel the …

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LWNSW President’s Report

Thank you for the opportunity to let you know some of the ways we serve, share, come together and grow. Each year in March we hold a three-day retreat at Warrambui Retreat and Conference Centre. Each retreat is hosted by a volunteer fellowship or group of ladies, making very diverse weekends. It is wonderful to see how God moves the hearts of these host ladies to choose themes and then focus our attention on God through that theme. In 2019, Culcairn ladies showed us the constant-ness of God by comparing …

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St Luke’s Evening Fellowship Albury

St Luke’s Evening Fellowship, Albury, is a small group of about eleven members who continue to meet on the third Tuesday of each month. Members are rostered to take the opening devotion of their choice, often using one from Lutheran Women. Pastor David Grulke leads us in Bible Study, the focus of our meeting and providing us with a greater insight into God’s Word. Our program for the year has included a variety of activities and interesting guest speakers. We all enjoyed a games night playing “Scattergories”; watching a movie …

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Our Meryl receives Australia Day honours

Meryl Packer, along with her husband Rex, both long-time members of Immanuel Woden Valley congregation in the ACT, were each awarded an OAM in the 2020 Australia Day Honours for service to the Lutheran Church of Australia. Their service notably includes over 40 years’ commitment to the Warrambui Retreat and Conference Centre, from the time of its construction, in a large part by volunteers. In recent years each has been recognised as a ‘Warrambui Legend’ for their many contributions. Meryl served as Board member from 2004–14, undertaking effective liaison between …

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