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Synod enables ordination of women and men

On 5 October at the 21st Regular Convention of the LCANZ, General Synod voted to enable the ordination of both women and men as pastors in the church.

Delegates resolved to support a proposal from the General Church Board (GCB) and College of Bishops (CoB) to remove from the LCA’s Theses of Agreement the paragraph (VI:11) that prohibits women from entering the pastoral ministry.

The resolution incorporated recommendations from the 2024 General Pastors Conference (GPC) and was passed with a 71.3 per cent majority, 269 votes for and 108 against, with all 377 registered delegates voting.

In effect, this means that the church’s teaching on the office of the public ministry remains unchanged apart from the requirement of the ordination of men only. The proposal passed by Synod included the expectation that the Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR), together with the church’s pastors conferences and districts, will finalise a doctrinal statement on ordination in 2025, to be approved by an online General Pastors Conference and online Convention of General Synod.

The decision also confirmed the commitment to parishes and congregations that they may call a pastor who best meets their ministry needs. Parishes and congregations will not have to call a pastor who is a woman.

Synod delegates prefaced their debate with prayer led by Bishop Emeritus Mark Whitfield, who called for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, singing the prayer in both English and Te reo Māori. LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith said: ‘We commend this resolution to God, trusting his mercy, guiding our feet in the way of peace.’

In a pastoral statement to the Convention after the vote, the bishops of the church noted that the respectful dialogue of delegates showed ‘deep love for the church and the desire to find a way forward together’ and that the tone after the vote ‘reflected the grace of God among us’.

Despite more than three decades of theological study and debate, division has remained within the church about whether the Scriptures permit the ordination of women.

At the 2023 in-person sessions of the 2021–23 Convention of General Synod, delegates voted by a strong majority to direct GCB and CoB to find a way for the LCANZ to operate as ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’ and to report back with a detailed framework to the 2024 GPC and General Synod.

The Way Forward project team and working groups appointed by GCB-CoB worked through the theological, constitutional and governance requirements to allow this directive to be accomplished.

When the Way Forward Detailed Framework was released in July this year, it was the result of the most consultative, collaborative project in the LCANZ’s history, with feedback from across the church shaping the resolution put to GPC ahead of Synod.

The bishops of the church have reaffirmed a commitment to work through pastoral and relational matters following the ordination decision, including providing care and support for those in their districts who did not vote in favour of the change.

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LCANZ elects mission leader as Assistant Bishop

The LCANZ’s General Synod has elected Pastor Stephen Schultz as Assistant Bishop of the church.

He was installed to the role during the closing service of Convention on 7 October at Concordia College in suburban Adelaide.

Assistant Bishop Stephen has been serving the SA-NT District in the role of Assistant Bishop for Mission since 2018. Prior to that, he served as pastor of two South Australian parishes: St Michael’s Hahndorf (2002–2017) and Bethlehem, Adelaide (1997–2002).

He has broad governance and leadership experience, having served throughout his pastoral ministry on numerous boards, councils and committees, including District Church Council and General Church Council, Australian Lutheran College Board and General Pastors Conference Planning Committee. His service on various district committees covers Aboriginal, tertiary, children, youth and family ministries.

As the role of Assistant Bishop is a volunteer one, he will continue to serve in his current role with the SA-NT District.

Former Assistant Bishop Neville Otto, who served in the post for one term, did not stand for re-election.

One of two pastors nominated by the LCANZ’s General Pastors Conference to Synod for election to the role along with Pastor Fraser Pearce, Assistant Bishop Stephen said he had ‘wrestled with accepting the nomination’ because of the time-consuming nature of his district position.

‘But I also recognise our Lutheran Church is at a critical time in its history’, he said after his election. ‘I love our Lutheran Church and feel so blessed to be part of it. I want to serve her to the best of my ability, and I was encouraged by many of my fellow pastors, who I respect deeply, to allow my name to stand.

‘The role has a huge commitment and responsibility, and I feel a bit overwhelmed by it. I’m looking forward to discovering why God has called me into this role and how I can grow and serve through it.’

LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith was elected for two synodical terms in 2021 and so the role was not up for election in 2024.

 

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New home purchased for churchwide bodies

A five-level building in the Adelaide CBD will become the new home for Australian Lutheran College (ALC) and the Churchwide Office.

The building is located at 139 Frome Street, Adelaide, in close proximity to Bethlehem and St Stephen’s Lutheran churches. Ample parking for visitors and staff is available onsite and within 200 metres.

The acquisition of this property follows the sale of the LCANZ’s properties in North Adelaide for a net price of approximately $52.5 million, which was above market valuations.

The purchase of the building is expected to provide benefits in working more closely on mission and ministry and sharing common facilities, as well as streamlining some back-of-office operations. The new premises are also expected to provide the opportunity for other church entities to co-locate.

Parts of the building are currently tenanted, and this is expected to continue, providing an ongoing income stream for the church.

Settlement on the property is due at the end of November when work will commence to fit out the floors to be occupied by LCANZ bodies. MPH Architects has been retained as the firm to design the workspaces in consultation with representatives of ALC and the Churchwide Office. The project is being overseen by Tony Materne, a director of MPH and member of St John’s congregation, Unley.

The purchase has been funded through LCANZ reserves and deposit monies from the sale of the North Adelaide properties. The majority of the proceeds of the sale are payable in July 2026.

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‘It’s the Father’s ministry’

When Ros O’Donohoe from Good Shepherd Para Vista in suburban Adelaide explains the story of the inspirational ‘Meet and Eat’ ministry, there’s a phrase that comes up again and again. ‘It’s the Father’s ministry.’

These words are a testament to the faith Ros draws on as she and a team of helpers prepare and serve dinner for 80 to 90 people at the church hall every Monday apart from public holidays. Congregation members also eat with the guests and gauge prayer needs.

Some who come for the food, friendship and singalongs have been sleeping rough. ‘All who come are a joy to have’, Ros says. ‘The addicted ones or the broken souls who didn’t want to be in this position, those who didn’t have a basic education; those are the dear ones I will protect.’ A collaboration with the homeless charity Orange Sky means guests can have clothes washed and dried while they eat and use shower facilities.

Much of the food served at ‘Meet and Eat’ comes from Pathway Community Centre at nearby Modbury North. The congregation contributes about $150 each month. ‘The church has been enormously supportive’, Ros says. ‘Basically, we don’t need more money … it’s the Father’s ministry. The church put in a new kitchen, which is such a blessing. And one day a Good Shepherd member asked to help, indicating that he loved to cook – praise God!’

But things don’t always go to plan. ‘When the freezer stopped working, all the food had to be trashed’, Ros recalls. ‘But I believed the Father would supply what we needed. And, by the end of the week, Pathway had an abundance of food, so God kept the food flowing.’

Meet and Eat had its origins in a smaller, simpler ministry, the seed of which was planted in 2008. Ros and her late husband Barry, who died in 2013, received a prophecy that God would start a new ministry through them.

It began with morning teas for several of Ros and Barry’s neighbours who had lost spouses to cancer. Some of them were hostile towards the church. ‘Eventually, we asked if they would come to “a hall”, for me to cook them soup and toast’, she says. ‘They agreed but there was to be “no church talk”.

‘We called it “Soup night” at first. Yet, whatever it’s called, it’s always the Father’s ministry. When the Father starts a ministry, he has all the resources.’

The food, friendship and faith on offer change lives. By 2011, 12 ‘grumpy neighbours’ were being welcomed by six Good Shepherd members, sharing soup and laughter. ‘All of my original grumpy neighbours later asked for Jesus’, Ros says. ‘They experienced love and acceptance.’

Ros explains, too, that, as a small child, her back neighbour saw a picture of Jesus with the words, “Suffer the little children to come unto me”. ‘Her fear was that the man in the picture would make her suffer. I couldn’t change that, despite being her neighbour for 35 years – yet soup and love changed her heart at 93 years of age! She needed what we had. Praise God!

‘So, the greatest blessing is to see others finding salvation over a bowl of soup. That energises me to work with joy.’

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LCANZ properties under contract

The LCANZ’s entire 1.9-hectare property at North Adelaide is under multiple contracts, with the total purchase price exceeding the various market evaluations.

The property was listed for sale in late March, with expressions of interest (EOI) closing on 15 May. All successful EOI applicants were assessed on predetermined selection criteria and have agreed to all LCANZ terms and conditions of sale.

Settlement conditions have been negotiated, with settlements for differing lots occurring over the next 48 months. Vacant possession will be provided over various sections of the site between July 2025 and July 2026.

Brett Hausler, Executive Officer of the Church, said that purchase contracts ‘will support the LCANZ in potentially purchasing a new building for the Churchwide Office and ALC but also provide the opportunity for other Lutheran entities interested in co-locating’.

Potential locations for the new workplace for ALC and the Churchwide Office are being investigated. It is hoped that the new location will provide opportunities to actively streamline operations, create a collaborative and supportive workplace environment, and foster a living missional culture.

‘God has blessed the LCANZ with the outcome of this sale, which has exceeded our expectations’, Mr Hausler said.

‘We look forward to where God leads us next, as we explore options for the new home for ALC and the Churchwide Office, as well as investing the balance of the proceeds to support the operations of the ALC as well as supporting mission and ministry.’

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To God be the glory

by Helen Brinkman

Whether it’s a home-baked cupcake, a home-grown pumpkin, or a handmade bracelet, giving glory to God comes in many forms for retired teacher Anne Kotzur. Life is a whirl of baking, gardening and volunteering for the mother of four and grandmother of eight.

Despite celebrating her 80th birthday this past month, she’s as busy as ever supporting her family, her local Our Saviour Lutheran family in Rochedale, Brisbane, and even families as far flung as Ukraine and Ethiopia.

Her dance card is full with giving – everything from weekly cupcake bake-offs for Our Saviour Sunday school children, to distributing the 40 pumpkins grown in her own backyard.

It’s also in receiving that Anne gives thanks to God. She is thankful for the handmade ‘Swifty’ bracelet made for her birthday by a student at the local school where she volunteers, as much as she’s thankful for the $500 birthday donation she’s sending off to the Australian Lutheran World Service (ALWS) to support Ethiopian families. It was just what she wanted for her birthday!

The donation came from the high tea celebration her church friends hosted to honour her coming of age – becoming an octogenarian, that is. She didn’t want presents but suggested that people could instead donate to the latest ALWS campaign supporting Ethiopia.

Supporting ALWS has been a lifelong effort for Anne.

‘Ever since I was a little girl, my grandparents always had a bowl on their Christmas and Easter tables for gifts to support Australian Lutheran World Service’, she recalls.

‘So, I grew up under the banner of ALWS and I always have had a heart for this organisation.’

In May this year, Anne was among the volunteers at the registration desk checking in almost 900 walkers taking part in Brisbane’s Walk My Way Ukraine which supported Ukrainian families displaced by conflict. About $190,000 was raised. ‘It was such a joy for me to see so many young families with little children, strollers and scooters, as well as older people too’, she says.

‘It brought joy to my heart seeing people come to walk to support families in Ukraine. The reason I wanted to support it was so children could get back to homes and schools, so schools could be repaired and school bomb shelters built. That was my motivation. I love the way ALWS partners with different agencies to help in these situations.’

The Rochedale community remains the hub of Anne’s world. It’s where she was born in 1944, the eldest of three, to mum Pearl and dad Colin Francis, who were local farmers, cultivating paw paws, potatoes, tomatoes and more.

As an adult, she’s still in the same family home in Rochedale that she and husband Elmore moved into 54 years ago. Elmore died four years ago after 52 years of marriage. ‘I give thanks as we had a wonderful life together and I am very grateful for those years’, Anne says.

The only time she moved away was when, as a 21-year-old graduate teacher, Anne answered a church call for teachers at the Hope Vale mission school in northern Queensland.

‘I always had a heart for mission and for Aboriginal people. I loved teaching and loved the children, so when there was a call out for teachers at Hope Vale, I went, she says.

It was at Hope Vale that Anne met farm manager Elmore Kotzur. Two years later they married and moved to nearby Wujal Wujal, where they had their first two sons. They returned to Rochedale in 1970 and were later blessed with two more sons.

Anne went back to teaching when the boys were at school, retiring about 16 years ago. Retirement has allowed Anne to put more time back into her home and community. She still gardens, cooks and visits. She also volunteers every Wednesday for the breakfast club at the local state school, organised through the school’s Scripture Union chaplain.

Anne is inspired by her favourite text: ‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).

‘I thank God that he helps me each day. And I can still walk, garden, mow, and help at church and be involved with my church family’, she says.

She comes away from her weekly hospital visits to the sick giving thanks, and grateful for the beautiful attitudes of those she visits.

And every day she gives thanks, having experienced breast cancer twice, five heart bypasses, open heart surgery and a stroke. She’s grateful for God’s wonderful healing hand which has made her well and grateful for his goodness daily. ‘To God be the glory – that’s the main thing I would say, just to give thanks to God for his goodness every day’, she reflects. ‘Wake up each day and thank God for his goodness. He is good all the time and his mercies are ever new each day.’

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Disagreeing well

As well as serving a Lutheran school community as its pastor, Chris Mann helps workplaces deal with conflict. Recently, he shared his thoughts with Lutheran Media’s Messages of hope about how to ‘disagree well’ with others. This is an excerpt adapted from that podcast interview.

Conflict is a values clash. When a conflict happens, it’s always around something valuable to us and therefore has some emotions attached to it.

However, if we’re in a conflict and we don’t see the other person’s perspective, even if we win, we lose. So, we might win an argument, but we lose our relationship with them, and we lose something within ourselves. We lose compassion, we lose wisdom and we lose humility.

So, instead of thinking, ‘How am I going to beat that person? How am I going to win in this situation?’, from a faith perspective it is: ‘How would Jesus have me deal with that situation?’ Sometimes that is turning the other cheek. Sometimes that is going the extra mile, but sometimes it’s having appropriate boundaries.

And, before talking about a difficult topic, I check my motives. Am I just trying to fix a problem, or am I trying to love a person? If I truly care about this person, I’ll find a way to speak the truth, even if it’s going to be difficult for both of us.

Ultimately, being able to admit that we’re wrong can be the most important skill we have when it comes to conflict.

Another thing that makes a big difference is pausing and taking a breath so that we can think clearly and not take all our conflicts personally.

Of course, being a Christian is an amazing help. We know that part of the Old Testament is about people being in conflict with God; people not wanting to do things the way that God wants them to do it. But, in Jesus, God chooses to enter our shoes in our conflict, and experiences as a human what it is to be in conflict with others.

So, Jesus knows what it is to enter a disagreement as a human being and knows how to respond well. But we see especially in Jesus going to the cross, that sometimes in a conflict we actually have to just suffer and suffer well.

Sometimes suffering well results in the life that we were trying to fight for in the first place. And God’s wanting to provide life for everyone on the other side of a conflict. We don’t always get to experience that, unfortunately – our world is broken.

But that is God’s best for us: life on the other side of a conflict.

You can listen to the full interview at www.messagesofhope.org.au/disagreeing-well

School pastor at Endeavour College Mawson Lakes in South Australia, Chris Mann is also a leadership coach specialising in communication under the banner of Lifelong Leaders. Photo by Amy Dahlenburg

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Website resource to support congregations

A Congregational Life website designed to support congregations and agencies in areas including worship, pastoral care, discipleship and faith teaching, outreach and church planting, and community service is being developed by the church.

As an outcome of a recently released report addressing the LCANZ’s ongoing ministry challenges, including its pastoral supply shortage, the website will help equip faith communities as they adjust to the church’s changing context. To be launched later this year, it will offer relevant resources and raise awareness of learning pathways that are currently available or being developed.

The website was recommended in the summary report of the Ministry Future project, which was received with approval in May by the General Church Board (GCB). Led by Victorian District Bishop Emeritus Greg Pietsch, the project was established by the College of Bishops (CoB) in 2022, with the support of GCB, to ‘consider and develop a coordinated response’ to the decreasing number of pastors in the LCANZ and the changing nature of its communities.

The report contains a multi-faceted approach to tackling what Pastor Greg says are ‘clearly evident’ difficulties facing the church. The three-part response developed to address these challenges is:

  1. a regional rather than solely congregation or parish approach to organising pastoral ministry,
  2. suitable pathways into general and specialised service – both lay and ordained, paid and voluntary, and
  3. a regular way of ordering the service of lay people involved in word and/or sacrament ministry, in addition to the existing preparation and call of Specific Ministry Pastors (SMPs).

‘(We have) a large number of pastoral vacancies, long periods in vacancy with frustration over the call process and communities struggling to afford a pastor’, Pastor Greg says in the report.

‘Yet ministry needs and mission opportunities still continue in the Lord’s harvest field.’

Pastor Greg says the Ministry Future project ‘does not pretend to be every answer to the changes we face’, but rather that it hopes to be of help. He also asks LCANZ members to commit the church, its communities and the project outcomes to prayer.

Read more, download the Ministry Future report and access a question-and-answer document about the project at www.lca.org.au/ministry-future  

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God’s word lights the way to life

by Helen Brinkman

Hedley Scholz credits dairy farming for giving him his strong voice. To be more precise he says it’s a credit to the cows and the working dogs which herded them.

‘I think God has blessed me with a strong voice, as I was a dairy farmer for 69 years and I had been shouting to the cows and dogs so much’, says Hedley.

It’s this upbringing that has established a voice perfect for lay reading, a service that Hedley has provided to his local Lutheran congregations for the past 70 years. That achievement was recognised in April by his fellow members at St John’s Lutheran Church, Eudunda, in South Australia’s Mid North.

Despite being set to turn 90 in August, Hedley’s strong voice still allows him to continue to serve as a lay reader. It’s a role that he began at age 20 at the Ascension Lutheran Church, Julia, SA. Over time, he has also helped out at other local Lutheran churches in the parish.

Hedley recalls travelling the nine miles (14.5 kilometres) from his home to Julia church on a cold Sunday morning one August with thick fog developing. Despite there being only three members in attendance for worship that day, Hedley didn’t shorten the service!

Born in 1934, the youngest of four siblings, Hedley was part of the fifth generation of the Scholz family in the region. His great-great-grandfather, Johann Gottfried Scholz, was born in Silesia in 1805 in present-day Germany and migrated to South Australia in 1845.

Johann settled at Light Pass in the Barossa Valley and was known to walk the more than 40 miles (almost 70 kilometres) led by the light of the moon on a Saturday night to Klemzig in Adelaide. There he would attend church services led by Pastor August Kavel – which were known to last for hours – before returning home again on foot.

Hedley has documented the lives of seven generations of the Scholz family in a book called The Diaries of the Scholz’s of Buchanan. His second book, The Hundred of Julia Creek, informs the reader of the struggles his forebears faced, living through droughts, dust storms, fires, floods, depression and isolation.

Hedley’s third book, entitled The Pioneers of the Sutherlands Area, recounts the lives of some of the first German and English emigrants to arrive in South Australia in 1838.

Hedley’s interests have also extended to membership of his local Returned and Services League (RSL) and Gideons International.

A heart problem caused Hedley to miss marching in this year’s Anzac Day march, from the local cenotaph to the Eudunda RSL club.

However, it has not stopped him driving around his area witnessing at local schools and churches for the past 16 years, through his promotion of the work of the Gideons. This gives Hedley an opportunity to provide New Testaments to secondary school students and share stories of people who have been touched by God’s word.

‘I go with God’s help and always pray that the students will accept a New Testament because it is not compulsory that they take one’, he says.

In August 2023, Hedley celebrated 60 years of married life with wife Joy (nee Materne), their two sons David and Michael and their families, including five grandchildren.

When reminiscing on what has guided nearly 90 years of life, Hedley shares that one of his favourite Bible verses is Psalm 119:105 – ‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path’ (KJV).

Hedley says: ‘God’s word has been my guide in life. It offers direction, correction and forgiveness. His word helps me see right from wrong.

‘The world leads us the wrong way, God’s word shows us a forgiving God and the way to eternal life.’

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Learning can help bring change

by Angela Mayer

Some years ago, God led me to work in men’s behaviour change programs and, through the people I met, I became passionate about working to improve the lives of families experiencing domestic violence.

We can change people’s lives, increase safety and help them feel the love of God in their homes and families.

Consider the following scenario and ask yourself what you could do: You receive a text from a friend, wanting your help. They have only been married a couple of years, but their spouse has become quite different from the caring person they married. They have been expected to give up work they love to stay at home; their spouse gets angry if they disagree; they can’t even have coffee with a friend without their spouse ringing to check up, and they sometimes feel afraid.

This is domestic violence (DV).

Four facts you may not know:
• The rates of domestic violence in the Christian community in Australia are the same or higher than in the general community (National Anglican Family Violence Research Report 2021),
• DV is not just physical or sexual abuse, it is any behaviour that is intended to create fear, intimidate, isolate, or control. It disproportionately affects women and children.
• DV is not a one-off event – it is a pattern of behaviour that, without professional support, usually becomes more frequent and severe over time.
• DV can affect people of any age.

Most of us have heard of DV, but would you recognise the signs in your congregation? Would you be able to provide helpful support? Do you know how to encourage a person using abusive behaviour to seek help?

The LCA’s Learning Hub offers the Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention online module which explores domestic and family violence, keeping in mind a Christian perspective.

In the online module, you can read whole sections, or dip in and out. There are ideas around being an ally to those experiencing abuse. Other sections explore how we as a church respond to those who perpetrate abuse in ways that do not silently collude.

Start today. Be ready to offer help and resources when someone asks you about domestic violence and be the change you want to see in the world.

Angela Mayer is a member of the LCA’s Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Taskforce.

How to access the LCANZ Learning Hub

Those with LCA email addresses can access this through the LCANZ Learning Hub button on the LCA Portal.

People who have had previous access to training via ALC iLearn can access the Hub using their ALC iLearn credentials via the ALC iLearn page https://ilearn.alc.edu.au/

Others will need to contact the Church Worker Support Department (email to churchworkersupport@lca.org.au or phone 08 8267 7300) for a once-off enrolment key. This will enable them to enrol and log in via the ALC iLearn page.

If you or someone you know is affected by domestic and family violence, visit ANROWS Get Support webpage or call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), the 24-hour National Sexual Assault Family Domestic Violence Counselling Service, or Lifeline Counselling (24 hours) 131 114. In an emergency, call 000.

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