Forward together

When our pastors met for their General Pastors Conference in October 2022, they agreed: ‘We acknowledge and lament that we are divided in what we believe is revealed in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2 as identified in TA VI:11, but we have grown in our recognition of each other’s exegetical and conscience concerns in this matter [of ordination].’

The Melbourne Convention of General Synod sought a way forward from this division among us. The delegates did their work with prayer and with the hearing of the word of the Lord.

On the second business day of Convention, we resolved a way forward from our ongoing disagreement on the question of ordination: ‘Can both women and men be ordained to the office of the public ministry?’

General Synod asked the General Church Board (GCB) and the College of Bishops (CoB) to work through the ‘theological, constitutional, and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different practices of ordination’. (You can read the full resolution below.)

LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith said: ‘This resolution was passed with hopefulness by our delegates. Let us go forward together in the name of the Lord with that same hopefulness.

‘So, now there is work to be done, as we walk together towards the next convention to find how we might continue to serve together as a Lutheran church in New Zealand and Australia.’

Already, on two occasions since the February Convention, our General Church Board and College of Bishops have met together to get this work underway.

A Project Management Office (PMO) is to be established under the oversight of the GCB and CoB. The PMO will report directly to the joint group and will be responsible for plan development, oversight and monitoring of working groups, reporting and risk management. A reference group will be formed to support and advise the PMO.

The Executive Officer of the Church will manage the appointment of administrative personnel in the PMO and oversee the day-to-day operation of the office.

Eight working groups will be formed, each with terms of reference outlining the matters to be addressed, timelines and selection criteria for appointment.

The working groups are:

1. Synod agenda and outcomes planning
2. Theological requirements
3. Constitutional requirements
4. Governance requirements
5. Pastoral care
6. Candidacy of both women and men for ordination
7. Communications
8. Finance and budgeting.

Not all working groups will run concurrently, and reporting timelines will differ. Some will be engaged as required, on the basis of work finalised by other working groups.

Further detail and the terms of reference for each working group will be made available to the church through expressions of interest for appointment to the working groups. The expressions of interest will clarify the expected workload and time commitment.

Materials must be ready in good time for General Pastors Conference and delegates prior to Convention of General Synod in 2024. The timeframe is very tight. Accordingly, the expressions of interest phase will be short to enable the working groups to convene promptly.

We ask the people of our Lutheran Church to place before our gracious Lord in prayer, the work of the Convention resolution on ordination. Please pray for our leaders in the General Church Board and the College of Bishops as they undertake what has been asked of them by the General Synod. Please pray for all involved in preparing for Synod 2024, so that with one voice we may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr Nigel Long, Secretary of the Church

The resolution follows:

That General Synod direct the LCANZ General Church Board and the College of Bishops to:

a) Work through the theological, constitutional, and governance requirements to operate as one church with two different practices of ordination and establish a detailed framework through which this could be accomplished, such as one or more existing LCANZ Districts becoming Districts that teach and practice the ordination of both women and men to the office of the public ministry or by establishing a non-geographical LCANZ ‘District’ that does so, and

b)  Submit the fruit of this work in the form of a proposal that should be discussed by the LCANZ General Pastors Conference for Convention of General Synod 2024.

c)  It is the expectation of this General Convention of Synod that both women and men will be ordained in a District of the LCANZ during the 2024-2027 synodical period.