Ordination consultations begin

All LCA/NZ members are invited to be a part of the discussion regarding the ordination of women and men in the church, with consultation meetings beginning next month.

The first dates, for consultations in the Western Australia District and the New Zealand District, have been announced and are listed below and on the OWL (Ordination We’re Listening) website at owl.staging.lca.org.au/consultations.

District bishops and members of the LCA’s Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR) will travel to centres across Australia and New Zealand for the meetings, which will discuss the CTICR’s draft doctrinal statement on the matter.

The commission has prepared the draft statement at the instruction of the LCA’s 2015 general synod, which requested that it present a theological basis for the ordination of both women and men, and why this need not be church divisive.

Consultation project officer Timothy Pietsch said the draft statement was now ready to be discussed by church members in preparation for the 2018 LCA Convention of Synod.

‘Every member of the LCA and the LCNZ is invited to join that discussion in person’, Mr Pietsch said.

LCA Bishop John Henderson said all church members, particularly synod delegates, were encouraged to come along to listen and contribute.

 ‘This is an important conversation for our church, as we continue to grow in serving our Saviour, Jesus Christ’, he said. ‘Please pray for those doing this work, the consultations and the church, as we continue what has proven to be a very long and difficult conversation for us.’

Invitations to congregations to attend the consultations will be sent from the district offices, and the dates and locations will also appear in The Lutheran and on the OWL website. The website will also offer relevant materials and provide the opportunity for members to contribute electronically to the discussion. As at press time, the available details of the first round of consultation meetings are as follows:

New Zealand

• Saturday 4 March 2017, 11.30am–2.30pm, St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Wellington NZ
• Tuesday 7 March 2017, 9.30am–12.30pm, Church Workers Conference, Sisters of Compassion Convent, Jerusalem, on the Whanganui River NZ
• Saturday 11 March 2017, 11.30am–2.30pm, St Luke’s Lutheran Church, Palmerston North NZ
• Saturday 18 March 2017, 11.30am–2.30pm, Mountainside Lutheran Church, Auckland NZ

Western Australia

• Thursday 2 March 2017, 9.00am–12.30pm, Pastors Conference, St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Albany WA
• Saturday 29 April 2017, morning, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Morley WA