by Jenny Lange

After the disastrous floods in Australia earlier this year and then the earthquake in New Zealand, the Welfare Committee at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ringwood, in Melbourne, decided to do something to raise funds to support people who were suffering as a result of these disasters.

After worship services, on alternate Sundays we held morning teas for this purpose. A couple of ladies made scones and provided jam and cream to add some culinary sparkle to our normal morning cuppa of ‘bought bikkies’. We charged a gold-coin donation

per plate and donated the proceeds to the LCA Disaster and Welfare Fund.

We raised about $90 to $100 from each morning tea. This seems like a very humble amount, but we feel sure that every cent will be appreciated. If more congregations provided such a simple and yummy service the total would quickly grow.

We are grateful to our ladies who bake and also to those who are happy to buy a plate of goodies each fortnight. The morning-tea fundraiser has proved to be so popular that we are considering making it an ongoing event, but perhaps only monthly.

In June we held our annual goods-and-slave auction, which, as usual, was good fun as well as being a great fundraiser: $1400 this year. People offer not only goods to be sold, (including vouchers for massages, facials and hairdressing), but also their time and talents as ‘slaves’. Over the years our slaves have performed a wide range of services for their masters, including babysitting, cooking or cleaning up at dinners and barbecues, ironing, gardening and car servicing.

We have also organised ‘mystery meals’. Some people offer to act as hosts and others as guests. Names are drawn out of two hats: hosts from one hat and guests from the other. The hosts don’t know who their guests will be, and the guests don’t know with whom they will be dining until a few days before the event. These dinners have been a great success. Guests pay $20 per person, half of which the host may keep for covering costs, but we have found that no-one claims anyway!

The proceeds from our slave auctions and mystery meals support the Bumi Keselamatan Margarita Orphanage in Sumatra and the Siassi Lutheran High School in Papua New Guinea, through Board for Mission partnerships. We also assist families in our general community who from time to time need financial assistance, as well as a family in Arnhem Land who are associated with Mission Aviation Fellowship.

We realise that fundraising is not the most important outcome of our faith in Christ, but if we can raise money for disadvantaged and suffering people while we are socialising and having fun, then we feel that the good Lord would surely approve.

Jenny Lange is a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ringwood, Victoria.

What if …

• After Sunday worship, congregations held community morning teas, featuring the best jam-and-cream scones imaginable, on the front lawn of the church — for all who wanted to come, no strings attached?
• Let the community know through advertising it in the local papers and in letterbox drops.