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ILC welcomes Lutheran Mission – Australia into membership

by | Oct 17, 2024

AUSTRALIA – The International Lutheran Council (ILC) has accepted Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A) into membership as a Recognized Organization. The decision came during a meeting of the ILC’s Board of Directors on September 17.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Lutheran Mission – Australia into membership in the ILC,” said Rev. Dr. Klaus Detlev Schulz, General Secretary of the International Lutheran Council. “We appreciate their principled stand on the authority of Scripture, and we look forward to a strong relationship going into the future. May God bless their ministry as they seek to make Christ and His Word known throughout Australia.”

Lutheran Mission – Australia is a newly-formed organization in Australia which seeks to “ensure Confessional Lutheranism has a home in Australia for generations to come.” It arose out of a confessional movement within the Lutheran Church of Australia/New Zealand (LCANZ) which was concerned that the church was declining from historic Lutheran teaching and practice—visibly on the issue over women’s ordination but even more fundamentally on the nature of the authority of Scripture.

“We believe connection with Confessional Lutherans around the world is vital for the health of an emerging synodical body,” said LM-A President Elect Matthew Anker. “To this end, LM-A is seeking membership in the ILC to provide ecclesial accountability, to foster faithful theological reflection, and to seek the consolation of the brethren.” President Anker formerly served as the LCANZ’s Assistant to the Bishop for International Mission.

Less than a month after Lutheran Mission – Australia was accepted into membership, the Lutheran Church of Australia/New Zealand voted on October 5 to authorize women’s ordination. As a result, The LCANZ’s status in the ILC was automatically reduced to Observer Member status in keeping with the ILC’s bylaws.

“We join with faithful people the world over in lamenting the recent decision of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) to abandon the clear teaching of the Scriptures and embrace the unbiblical practice of the ordination of women,” LM-A President Anker wrote in response to the vote. “Abandoning God’s Word in such a manner is bound to have a detrimental impact on the faith and life of God’s people…. Our hearts break for the damage this will wreak on people’s faith.”

He continued: “In light of this sad news, Lutheran Mission – Australia is more committed than ever to pursuing the establishment of a thoroughly Confessional Lutheran synod in Australia for the sake of the Gospel and the mission which the Lord has entrusted to His people.”

The International Lutheran Council is a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies and groups which proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to Holy Scripture and to the Lutheran Confessions.

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Lutherans in Australia, New Zealand prepare for another vote on women’s ordination

by | Sep 11, 2024

AUSTRALIA – The Lutheran Church of Australia/New Zealand (LCANZ) will hold another vote on women’s ordination at its upcoming Convention of General Synod in October.

The LCANZ has debated the issue of women’s ordination repeatedly for more than three decades, holding five votes on the matter since 2000. In each case, resolutions seeking the adoption of women’s ordination have failed to reach the 2/3 majority required to change church teaching.

The most recent vote took place in 2023. Despite that vote failing, the church went on to adopt another resolution calling on the LCANZ to prepare a detailed framework by which the church could become “one church with two ordination practices,” with a proposal to be submitted in anticipation of the LCANZ’s Convention of General Synod in 2024. That resolution also asserted: “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.”

The new proposal—known as the Way Forward Detailed Framework—was released at the end of July. It envisions amending the LCANZ’s Theses of Agreement so that “the Church changes its teaching to allow for the ordination of women and men.” The proposal argues that, while there are “different theological positions on the gender (male and female) of pastors in the Church,” such differences are “non-divisive of church fellowship, enabling the LCA to remain as one Church.”

Lutheran Mission – Australia

Other Lutherans in Australia disagree that the issue of women’s ordination is non-divisive; a group of concerned Lutherans in Australia have recently launched a new organization—Lutheran Mission – Australia (LM-A)—to “ensure Confessional Lutheranism has a home in Australia for generations to come.” Elected to serve as LM-A’s inaugural President is Rev. Matt Anker, who formerly served as the LCANZ’s Assistant to the Bishop for International Mission.

“LM-A was established to support, encourage, and strengthen confessional Lutherans in their faithfulness to God and His Word, and to eventually establish a synod which ensures that people are served through the proclamation of the ‘whole counsel of God,’” LM-A’s website explains. “It is committed to ensuring that people in Australia are served with both the Law and Gospel so that God’s desire to bring peace and forgiveness of sins by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone is realised.”

While women’s ordination is one of the most visible areas of contention among Australian Lutherans, LM-A argues that it is just a symptom of a more fundamental disagreement in the LCANZ over the authority of Scripture. Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming vote at the Convention of General Synod, LM-A says, “sooner or later it will be necessary to separate from those who hold to a different confession.”

International Church Relations

In addition to causing internal division in the LCANZ, the adoption of women’s ordination could affect the church’s relations with international partners. For example, the LCANZ is an Associate Member of the International Lutheran Council (ILC), a global association of confessional Lutheran church bodies. But the Bylaws of the ILC state that any Full or Associate Member which changes its church teaching in a way contrary to the ILC’s Doctrinal Basis will be reduced automatically to Observer Member status.

Lutheran Mission – Australia, for its part, has indicated its intention to also seek membership in the International Lutheran Council.

The Lutheran Church of Australia/New Zealand will formally consider the proposal on women’s ordination at its General Pastors Conference from September 29-October 2 before bringing it before the Convention of General Synod from October 4-7.

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