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God’s love – our care.
by Colleen Fitzpatrick.
‘Love comes to life’ when we see the image of God in every person – no matter how much age has wearied their body and mind – and honour them with patient care, dignity and respect.
In 2017-2018, a review of the governance of Lutheran aged care services and community services was undertaken, and a resounding message that came from that process was that board members, chief executive officers and the congregations closely connected to the services all see the services as an important mission and ministry of the LCA.
There was also a request for the ethos on which these services are based to be spelled out and resources prepared for the induction of board members and staff members, which explained in lay terms why the church should be providing these services.
In light of this, it was decided to combine the 2015 synodical resolution to revise One loving God – two hands saving and caring, a statement on the theology of caring, and the ethos and induction preparation into one project.
This project was generously funded by the LLL. The theology statement titled God’s love – our care was prepared with input from Pastor Ian Lutze and Dr Peter Lockwood.
The ethos statement Called to transformative action was developed through a process of writing and consultation with aged care chaplains and it is available as a booklet and a summary version which is one page. The documents can be found here.
I commend these documents to you and would encourage you to have a look at them. God’s love – our care is set up for Bible studies and is easily available to download and print or you can order copies from cma@lca.org.au.
