Devotion

The Early Lutherans in Australia

Have you ever been asked to leave something you love for the sake of what you believe? In the 1830s, many Lutherans in Prussia (part of modern Germany and Poland) faced exactly that choice.

The Prussian king wanted the Lutheran and Reformed churches to be joined into one, and he required everyone to follow the same form of worship. Many Lutherans could not do this in good conscience, because it meant giving up the teaching they had received from Scripture and the Reformation. Pastors who refused were punished, some congregations were fined or shut out of their churches, and worship in some places had to take place in secret.

One of those pastors was August Kavel. Together with his people, he began to look for a place where they could worship freely. Through the help of a generous Christian businessman in England, George Fife Angas, the door opened to a new colony in South Australia. In 1838, several ships carrying hundreds of Lutherans set sail on a long and uncertain voyage across the world, arriving in South Australia late that year.

It reminds us of Abraham, who “by faith... obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). These families left their homes, their farms and their language behind. What they carried with them was far more precious than furniture: their Bibles, their hymn books and their catechisms.

Once they arrived, they got to work. They established villages, many of which we still know today, including Klemzig, which was named after a village they had left behind, and Hahndorf, named for Captain Hahn, who captained one of the ships. They built homes, planted crops and, remarkably quickly, built churches and schools. For these families, gathering to worship and teaching their children to read the Bible were not extras. They were the centre of life. More Lutheran settlers followed in the years after, and the church grew across South Australia and beyond.

You can see this story in our own community. The Lutheran church and Lutheran schools in Australia grew from the faith of people who believed that God’s Word is worth sacrificing for, and that children should be taught about it. When we open the Bible in class, sing together in chapel and pray for one another at Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School, we are the heirs of that story.

The early settlers weren’t perfect, and their lives were hard. But they trusted that God was faithful, and that he would go with them even to the other side of the world. They remind us that faith is not only something we hold on to when it’s easy. It is something that shapes how we live, even when it costs us.

Prayer

Lord God, thank you for the courage of those who came before us. Thank you that they trusted you and brought your Word to a new land. Help us to be thankful for the freedom we have to worship, and to treasure your Word as they did. Go with us wherever we are called to go. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Blessings!

Will Wallace

Principal