LLL History Book
The Challenge of Change - An expanded history of the Lutheran Laypeople's League 1921 - 2021 is available for download or viewing online.
Download the pdf or view the flipbook.
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The beginning - 1921
The driving force behind the establishment of the Lutheran Laypeople’s League (LLL) was Mr Ben Koch. He had a vision that a pool of money could be established, and this could become a revolving fund to promote, encourage and achieve church development. Funds could be loaned or grants given to assist church mission projects. After a number of meetings between Ben and other lay members, The Lutheran Laymen’s League (as it was originally called) commenced in November 1921. Initially, the pool of funds was established through gifts from members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA).
The original intention of LLL was that providing financial support through LLL should not detract from the responsibility of congregation members giving through the weekly offering plate at church.
‘By June 1922 the LLL had received 570 pounds from 24 contributors. Of the total money in hand 560 pounds came from 13 South Australian supporters. In June 1923 contributors had risen to around 500, and funds received to over 1,000 pounds. Although the number of contributors remained about the same, circulating capital by 1929 was over 4,000 pounds.’ (From Strength to Strength, John B. Koch, 1996)
The funds of LLL grew slowly in those early years, due mainly to the Great Depression and periodic droughts throughout Australia.
Post World War II growth
In the late 1940s, LLL introduced savings accounts in addition to the pool of donations originally set up. From that time, funds have grown substantially.
‘In terms of actual money, the growth of the LLL was such that listed assets of around 16,500 pounds in 1941 grew to exceed one million pounds by 1962. The following year loan deposits alone were over the million [pound] mark. By June 1966 assets were over three and a quarter million dollars.’ (Koch, 1996)
Lutheran Church of Australia - 1966
In 1966, the two main Lutheran Synods, namely the ELCA and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (UELCA), united to form the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA). As Koch (1996) states, ‘The role of the LLL in this new Church was constitutionally clarified as that of the Church Extension Department of the LCA. This meant that the functions of the LLL were in no way altered, but the context for operations was enlarged’.
Other key milestones
1971 – LLL introduced Earmarked or Matching Deposits as there was more demand for loans than there were funds available. This relationship between savings accounts and loans encourages local support for a particular project.
1972 – LCA Tract Mission was launched.
1981 – LLL moved to its purpose-built property at 175 Archer Street, North Adelaide. Prior to this, LLL had always shared office space with entities of the Church.
1983 – LCA Property Provident Fund (now called LCA Insurance Fund) began operations as part of the support services provided by LLL.
1995 – The Lutheran Laymen’s League was renamed the Lutheran Laypeople’s League.
2002 – In April, LLL launched an internet access option for all account holders called LLL@Home.
2005 – LLL launches and begins to administer LCA Online Donations and Payments.
2007 – LLL begins administering LCA Subscriptions including The Lutheran and the Lutheran Theological Journal.
2009 – Depositor balances hit $500,000,000.
2009 – BPAY® bill paying service is launched to online customers.
2011 – LLL turns 90 and has a logo change, adding the 'Finance with a mission' tagline.
2013 – The new Lutheran Tract Mission (LTM) display area opened.
2014 – LLL begins administering the subscriptions for Lutheran Women magazine.
2015 – Depositor balance reaches $1 billion.
2018 – NPP, faster payments and PayID® is launched.
2018 – LLL became a company limited by guarantee – Lutheran Laypeople’s League of Australia Limited.
2019 – LLL becomes an ADI (Authorised Deposit-taking Institution).
2020 – The LLL app was launched.
2021 – LLL celebrates 100 years of operation.
2025 – LLL returns to Religious Charitable Development Fund (RCDF) status
® Registered to BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518. PayID is a registered trademark of NPP Australia Limited.
LLL became an ADI on 1 February, 2019
For many years, LLL operated as a Religious Charitable Development Fund (RCDF) with exemptions from the Banking Act and applicable ASIC Class Orders. In August 2016, LLL was notified that regulatory changes would alter the way in which charitable organisations in Australia must operate, with these changes preventing RCDFs from providing at-call savings accounts to retail depositors unless they obtained an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution (ADI) licence under the Banking Act.
As a result of these regulatory changes, the LLL Board made the strategic decision to apply to become an ADI and be fully regulated under the Banking Act, meaning LLL could continue to offer at-call savings accounts in support of the Lutheran Church.
LLL returns to RCDF status on 10 February, 2025
In 2022, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) updated its regulatory prudential standard relating to associations and dealings with related entities. The changes imposed stronger requirements for ADIs to monitor, limit and control risks arising from transactions and associations with related entities.
The updated requirements were relevant because of LLL's support of the Lutheran Church – which is regarded as a related entity. These requirements would have required LLL to significantly reduce our support of the Lutheran Church in order to comply with the updated prudential standard.
We had no intention of doing this as the support of the Lutheran Church is fundamental to LLL. Consequently, it was determined that it is no longer suitable for LLL to remain an ADI.
This decision affected the products LLL was able to offer customers, notably at-call accounts would no longer be available to the majority of investors.
A thorough transition process was undertaken during 2024, including extensive customer consultation, and LLL resumed its RCDF status on 10 February 2025.
Legacies and donations
Significantly, throughout the history of LLL, many people have left legacies or given donations to LLL. Legacies and donations are placed into the LLL Permanent Funds and the capital amount of the gift is never spent but will continue to work and support the wider Church annually*. To know that this gift is going to provide ongoing support for the mission of the LCA is something which is very attractive to many people.
*LLL Board policy is to retain all legacies and donations as reserves which are not to be spent.
The future
The mission of LLL is to provide business and financial support to the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) while providing excellent service to all customers and safeguarding the interests of investors. In doing so, LLL aims to support those who proclaim Christ as Lord and Saviour and seek to show His love to all people in word and deed.
Rejoicing and telling the missional story of the LCA and LLL is a key objective of LLL, to share in the outcomes supported by LLL grants, sponsorships and bursaries the Together in Mission publication is published annually and our website information hub Mission Matters is updated regularly; we encourage all investors to witness their support in action.
The latest financial information about the LLL is in the current Annual Report.