New way for mission-focused pastor to serve

Pastor Mark Schultz has accepted a call from the LCANZ to serve as the church’s Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission from next year.

Despite serving for 18 years at Sydney’s LifeWay Lutheran Church, Pastor Mark wasn’t looking for a change. He often told people ‘God would need a sledgehammer’ to move him from his role as lead pastor at the multi-ethnic, multisite church, which includes Chinese and online worshippers and worshipping communities at Newcastle, Illawarra, Western Sydney and Cambodia.

It turns out that the churchwide international mission role was the ‘sledgehammer’ that God used to move, disrupt, and eventually dislodge Pastor Mark from his ministry at LifeWay.

Nearly halfway through LifeWay’s 10-year Beyond Limits Vision 2030 strategic plan, and with new ministries beginning, Pastor Mark said he didn’t give the LCA International Mission role any real thought when expressions of interest (EOI) were first called for in August this year.

‘There was more than enough change and work to do at LifeWay and I was happy to grow here for the rest of my ministry’, Pastor Mark said. ‘We have some exciting ventures planned, with an online discipleship pathway, the Vertical Villages Project and Midtown Eats community outreach, as well as a new ‘Next Chapter’ ministry beginning in the Illawarra. So, it wasn’t something I was looking for. I’ve always believed that the grass is greenest where you water it, and it is really lush here!’

However, Pastor Mark said God wouldn’t let him ‘find peace or let it go’. ‘I was restless and everyone around me, my pastoral team, other trusted colleagues, and ecumenical leaders that I had great relationships with, to the person, expressed that they believed God had a bigger part for me to play in the church than just remaining at LifeWay and that I should submit an EOI’, he said.

‘During this time, I had also personalised the vision prayer that we pray as a community, “Lord prepare my heart for what you have for me next and give me a heart of faith to go where you go call me to go” and added, “and use me where you can use me best for your kingdom purposes. Amen”.

‘The peace returned the moment I pressed send on the email with the EOI attached!’

Pastor Mark will succeed Pastor Matt Anker, who served in the role from early 2019 until July this year. LCA International Mission Program Officer Erin Kerber has been Interim Assistant to the Bishop and will continue in that role until Pastor Mark starts early next year.

With a call to ministry at the age of four, Pastor Mark was ordained in 1995 and first served in Auckland, New Zealand, in a community with more than 28 different languages. He then served at St Peter’s, Loxton, in South Australia’s Riverland and moved to St Mark’s Epping, in suburban Sydney, in November 2006.

In 2014, the congregation changed its name to LifeWay and embarked on a multi-site ministry as part of the vision God had called members to.

During his time at LifeWay, Pastor Mark has led nine mission teams to Thailand and Cambodia and has been involved in running intensives on leadership, worship and, most recently, ‘Law and Gospel’ to 55 village pastors in rural Cambodia in June.

These ministry experiences, along with his churchwide service on the LCANZ Council for Local Mission and as a current member of the Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) Board, have all been training grounds for this new role. ‘Looking back, it’s hard not to see how God has been shaping me for this new adventure’, Pastor Mark said.

He said he is excited about ‘reimagining what collaborative and interdependent partnerships can look like in this new era of mission and ministry’.

‘We are entering an interesting time in international mission, as Christian mission is no longer seen as emanating from the West’, he said. ‘As the LCANZ, we can gain as much from our partners as our partners can from us, and these insights will be critical on the local mission front as Australia’s cultural diversity continues to increase. That is an exciting prospect.’

Pastor Mark is also keen to strengthen the collaboration between LCA International Mission and ALWS: ‘I’ve seen firsthand how developing communities’ (love in action) aerates the ground, so people hear and believe the good news of the Word incarnate Jesus Christ. Word and action together are vital in mission both locally and internationally.’

Pastor Mark will be installed in the role on 23 February 2025, at his home congregation in Mount Barker, in South Australia, but will remain based in Sydney.