Bethlehem Lutheran Church is another of the Barossa churches which is set in splendid isolation. From here we see that there is a patch of trees to the left, and in fact the car access to the property is through these trees, off Heinrich Road. Close by the trees is a toilet block, and from here we can see the sanctuary apse of the Church.
2. SIGN AND CROSS
The Church signboard is on Gomersal Road, and needs some updating! Nearby is a rough wooden cross which I found touchingly symbolic in this country setting.
3. SOUTHWEST VIEW
This is our first impression from Gomersal Road: a well built, attractive church built of local stone. There are four nave windows on each side, with intervening painted cream buttresses. At the West (near) end is a porch, and we observe two historic plaques. At the far end is an attached vestry.
4. PLAQUES
Above the small West window of the porch is a simple plaque with text in German: ‘Ev. Luth. Bethlehem Church’. Lower down by the South entry door is the foundation stone for the new Church with text (in German): ‘This stone was laid to the glory of God, 5th September 1926.’ It was laid by Pastor H.F.W. Roehrs with the assistance of Pastors J.H.S. Heidenreich and R. Held.
5. THE VESTRY CORNER
We walk around the outside of the Church in an anti-clockwise direction, arriving at the vestry corner. The vestry has just one Eastern facing window.
6. VIEW FROM THE EAST
From the East we can observe the sanctuary apse with its three windows. The vestry at left is balanced by a water tank on the North side.
7. NORTHEAST VIEW
We continue our walk around the Church. The Northern nave windows have adjustable louvred shutters to keep out the strong afternoon sun.
8. FROM THE NORTHWEST
We complete our circuit of the Church as we return to the castellated front porch. The early Lutherans built their churches with style!
9. SIGN OF THE CROSS
The Cross which has become the symbol of Christianity is found in unexpected places!
10. VESTRY DOOR
It is a week day, and we enter the Church through the vestry. The vestry window lies in front of us, and there appears to be a built-in unit to the right. Above the door is a colourful Gothic fanlight window featuring the fleur-de-lys. We shall find that this is a recurring theme with the windows in this Church.
11. VESTRY: PLAN AND PICNIC
Two interesting items in the vestry: a detailed plan of the proposed new Church, and a photograph of the 1901 Sunday School picnic. There were large congregations in those days ... .
12. VESTRY WINDOW
In this vestry window, we see the unusual ‘Eye of providence’ symbol. It is a symbol for the all seeing eye of God, and is often associated with Freemasonry. Here it is likely to be God keeping an eye on the Pastor!
13. VESTRY WALL
On the North wall (to our left) is a large notice-board with photographs of the Church’s pastors. I am intrigued by the fact that the board is placed against a large (now unused) window. Through to where?
14. MORE PHOTOGRAPHS
To the left of the large photo-board are a couple more photographs which did not fit in the display.
15. THE LAST SUPPER
And on the West wall of the vestry, between the doors (?), is this rather unusual painting of the Last Supper. Judas can be seen leaving on the right, holding his money bag.
16. CHURCH BALCONY
Entering the Church from the vestry, our first view is the West wall, with the balcony across. Some musical instruments can be seen on the balcony, but no pipe organ. Below the balcony, on the right there are stairs, and on the left a bookcase full of children’s items. Five windows are partly visible: the West entry porch window, a window on either side facing outwards in the same direction, and the end North and South nave windows.
17. FRONT PORCH WINDOW AND BALCONY STAIRS
The West window in the entry porch shows the format of all the windows in the Bethlehem Church, having the fleur-de-lys motif at the top. The horizontal strips are caused by the outside shutter. The balcony steps partially obscure the Westernmost nave window on the North side, but we see that the lower emblem displayed here is Luther’s Rose (or Seal), chosen by Luther to represent aspects of his faith.
18. OLD ORGAN
Up on the balcony, there is an old harmonium with foot-pedals which appears to be still in use.
19. BALCONY VIEW
From the balcony we obtain our first impressions of the nave and sanctuary, particularly the German inscriptions, and the colourful red carpet. The altar seems tightly enclosed by the walls of the apse. We now return to ground level and look at the side windows of the nave.
20. NAVE NORTH WINDOWS
As we noticed from outside the Church, there are four windows along each side of the nave. These windows differ only in the central motif. The window at left is how it would appear without the balcony staircase! From left, the motifs are: • Luther’s Rose; • a square budded cross; • the Chi-Rho symbol (C-R in Greek, short for Christ); • the Holy Bible. Windows of this type are widely found in the Valley Lutheran churches.