Archive for category: News

The refurbishment of the new LCANZ Church House in Adelaide’s CBD is progressing steadily, with the project now in the final stages of building services replacement and interior fit-out. Staff are expected to move into the new premises at 139 Frome Street by no later than November.

The five-storey building will also include space available for use by other Lutheran entities, which the LCA’s Executive Director of Church Operations, Brett Hausler, said ‘reinforces Church House’s role as a shared resource for the wider church community’.

He also welcomed the progress in relocating the Churchwide Office and Australian Lutheran College (ALC) after the sale of the ALC campus and LCANZ Churchwide Office (CWO) buildings last year.

‘This milestone marks a significant step forward in delivering a modern and purpose-built facility for the LCA,’ he said.

Church House’s key operational areas – levels 2 and 3 – are designated for staff from the CWO, ALC, Lutheran Media, LCA International Mission, Australian Lutheran World Service, Lutheran Education Australia and Finke River Mission, and will include workspace for visitors.

Designed for collaboration and flexibility, level 3 will feature versatile spaces including a boardroom, workshop areas and multiple meeting rooms. At the heart of this level is the staff hub, a multipurpose area designed to support both day-to-day operations and informal staff engagement.

‘A standout feature of this level is the use of operable walls, allowing the space to be reconfigured for a variety of events and functions,’ Brett said. ‘This flexibility enables multiple room combinations, making it ideal for workshops, training sessions and collaborative gatherings. Importantly, this space will also be available for use by other Lutheran entities on a booking basis.’

The ground floor will house the CWO reception and a new events and exhibition space, which will serve as a flexible venue for educational displays showcasing Lutheran heritage and future directions.

‘Designed to support both the wider church and community outreach initiatives, this exciting addition will foster engagement, learning and connection,’ Brett said. ‘This area is designed to welcome both internal and external visitors, supporting community engagement and outreach.’

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Joyful praise has rung out among Lutheran communities across Australia and in New Zealand in recent months, as the LCANZ has welcomed seven new pastors – bringing to eight the total of ordinations so far this year.

Seven people joined the LCANZ’s ordained ministry ranks within six weeks in April and May, including three women in what has been a first for the church.

Following the decision by the Convention of General Synod in October last year to remove from the church’s teaching a paragraph that previously prohibited women from being ordained, Maria Rudolph, Sue Westhorp and Tanya Wittwer were determined by Australian Lutheran College and the College of Bishops as properly prepared for the rite of ordination and became the church’s first female pastors.

The octet, who are now serving in five of the church’s six districts, also includes a Mandarin-language pastor and two First Nations pastors.

Following the ordination of General Ministry Pastor (GMP) Sean Hotinski by LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith at Blair Athol, South Australia, on 16 February, Specific Ministry Pastor (SMP) Mark Tung and GMPs Maria Rudolph and Sue Westhorp were ordained in April.

Pastor Sean has begun an assignment serving Queensland’s Goombungee/Maclagan Parish, while Pastor Mark has been installed to serve Botany Lutheran Church, Auckland, in Aotearoa – New Zealand, a predominantly Mandarin language-speaking community. He was ordained in Auckland on 6 April. Pastor Maria was ordained on Palm Sunday, 13 April, at Concordia College, Highgate, in South Australia. The church’s first female pastor, she has been assigned to serve St John’s Lutheran Church Perth, alongside Western Australia District Bishop Peter Hage. She and her husband, Pastor Michael Rudolph, who serves at Duncraig in suburban Perth, are the first pastor couple in the LCANZ. Two weeks after Pastor Maria’s ordination, Sue Westhorp joined the Roll of Pastors through her ordination on 27 April at Luther College Croydon in Victoria. Pastor Sue has been assigned to serve St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Box Hill, in suburban Melbourne, alongside Pastor Neville Otto.

In the following fortnight, four more pastors were welcomed by the church. Justin Allen was ordained as Pastor to the Papunya community in the Northern Territory on 3 May at Papunya NT, while Abraham Poulson was ordained as Pastor to the Utju community NT on 4 May at Areyonga NT.

Dr Tanya Wittwer was next to be ordained as a GMP on 10 May at St Stephen’s Adelaide, where she also has been assigned to serve; while Adam Morris was ordained on 11 May at Aberfoyle Park SA, where he will serve as Specific Ministry Pastor.

All eight candidates were ordained by LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith, who encouraged the church to pray for the new pastors.

‘In our Lutheran Confessions, we declare that those who bear these offices stand in the stead of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ he said. ‘Please pray for these newly ordained pastors that they would faithfully nourish God’s people with the gospel.’

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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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