News Archive: First fruits: ALC/Delta Ministries partnership

John Henderson and Stephen Haar with new VET and DTU Project Officer Shannon Hood

The Australian Lutheran College [ALC]/Delta Ministries partnership is already bearing fruit, with the success of its first co-branded seminar. Pastors and lay workers from the NSW district were involved in the Delta/ALC strategic planning and change leadership sessions, which were held at Warrambui Conference Centre, NSW.

'The opportunity to use a real scenario currently facing my congregation at Gosford, as a case study, was appreciated. I'm going to take the real ideas that we generated through our group work back to my congregation—it made the workshop very relevant for me,' said Pastor Michael Grosas.

The success of the workshop is the result of the hard work, financial support, and goodwill invested in the new relationship between Delta and ALC. In February 2010, the Delta Vetamorphus program, some Delta subjects and three staff members came across to ALC.

'The opportunity for ALC and Delta to join forces was too good to ignore. We are taking our first tangible steps together, while we continue to explore exactly what it means and how it will look in the future,' said ALC Principal Pastor John Henderson.

'This relationship is about equipping and supporting people for their ministry in the church. ALC is in a good position to resource the church better by working in partnership with Delta. We are also very grateful for the church for providing seed funding to assist with this project.'

'Delta's workshops and seminars are known for their innovative leaders and excellent course materials,' explained ALC Academic Dean Rev Dr Steve Haar, 'but Delta was limited in its administrative capacity to expand its services. ALC is in a great position to provide that extra support, and in this capacity, we have employed Colleen Andretske to the role of Workshop and Seminar Coordinator.'

'The benefits are mutual,' explains Shannon Hood, Delta co-founder and new ALC Project Officer charged with establishing Vocational Education and Training [VET], and the Development and Training Unit.

'The relationship with ALC also means that pathways between courses will be much easier for students. For example, the Vetamorphus program for year 11 and 12 students remains the same, but the ALC merger will provide recognised pathways into further education for Vetamorphus graduates,' said Shannon.

'We can guarantee the Vetamorphus experience will not change—students will still get the same product, said Steve, 'Transferring Vetamorphus over to ALC is a platform for investing in the expansion of Vetamorphus.'

Travis Doecke is continuing in his role as Vetamorphus Coordinator, and is now based at ALC.

ALC was the venue for Delta's Time and Project Management Workshop in Adelaide in late February. 'Whilst we are always looking to improve all of our courses, the core course content and presenters will remain the same. The ALC partnership will enable the rapid expansion of VET subjects on offer to the LCA,' said Shannon.

'The scope of the new VET products and their national availability will benefit students and the church through greater portability of study and new options,' said Pastor John.