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There is not one exclusive pathway to ordination in the LCANZ. There are in fact four pathways, which are explained in the ‘Candidacy Pathways for the Office of the Public Ministry’ document released to the church in December last year.

The four pathways are:
• General Ministry Pastor
• Specific Ministry Pastor
• Entry from outside the LCANZ (e.g. overseas or other denomination)
• Case by case.

The ordination pathway likely to be best known across the LCANZ is that for General Ministry Pastor (GMP). After serving out their first assignment after ordination, GMPs are eligible for a call from anywhere in the LCANZ. To be ordained as a GMP, candidates complete the Pastoral Studies Stream at Australian Lutheran College (ALC), which typically takes a minimum of four years.

Students can complete the entire course from anywhere, as all required classes
are livestreamed.

As the title implies, the Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) program prepares candidates for service in a specific ministry, for example, in a particular congregation or parish, school or aged-care ministry, or a culturally specific ministry. Assessment of readiness for ordination is through colloquy, consisting of not fewer than three pastors appointed from case to case by the LCANZ Bishop. The timing of the colloquy is dependent on the assessment of the district bishop that the candidate is ready. Unlike GMPs, SMPs are not available for call.

Ordained pastors of other churches, including non-Lutheran churches, may be admitted to the Roll of Pastors after they successfully complete a number of steps, including a colloquy and psychological assessment.

Finally, there might be special cases that do not fall into any of the above categories. Thus, an individualised process towards ordination will be required.

A candidate approved for ordination will have their first call under assignment by the College of Bishops. The first call will be equivalent to the graduate pastor call for GMPs, that is, participation in the Graduate Pastor Program, regularisation and a first call of four years.

LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith said the documentation on candidacy had been produced ‘to help the people of the church to better understand the different pathways that have been established to provide pastors for the mission of God amongst us’.

‘Our bishops oversee the important work of determining which candidates are properly prepared to be admitted to our LCANZ Roll of Pastors, either through ordination or otherwise’, he said.

‘I thank God for the women and men who offer their gifts to publicly proclaim the gospel. They seek to serve in the mission of God so that those who dwell in darkness would be gathered into the light of God’s love for them.’

The document ‘Candidacy Pathways for the Office of the Public Ministry’ is available for download at www.lca.org.au/ministry-pathways

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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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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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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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