Date: 22 April 2022

We are encouraged to hear that the College of Bishops and General Church Board will meet in May to discuss the various issues before the LCA/NZ in the lead up to the in-person sessions of the 20th regular convention of General Synod in February 2023.

The purpose of this letter is to add insight to this discussion. We are providing the following stories so you can consider the reality of some women within the LCA/NZ who are called to serve in the ordained pastoral ministry in our Church.

Women continue to experience significant limitations within the LCA/NZ. Perplexingly, even when there are no males available to fill certain ministry roles, women who are theologically trained and equipped, and even invited into these ministry roles by the congregations, aren’t being accepted and recognised in some ministry spaces because of their gender.

To illustrate this, we share the following realities of women called to serve the LCA/NZ in pastoral ministry.

Sue Westhorp

“God’s call to ordained ministry has woven its way through my life from ‘playing’ church at home as a young girl of 6 to paid lay ministry work in the LCA/NZ and hospital chaplaincy ministry work in the health sector. After many years of shoe-horning my inner call into various aspects of ministry, I made the decision to intentionally re-engage with answering the call to ordained ministry last year. I converted my study in a Masters of Pastoral Care into a Masters of Theology at ALC (my BTh was completed at ALC in 2005) and have enjoyed studying alongside my full-time work, even though it is often exhausting. This study and its practical application have strengthened my sense of inner call.

This inner call now also grows externally from my congregation as I serve in worship co-leadership roles and in other ministry leadership roles. I feel such joy at being able to serve in this way and yet am constantly reminded of the limits of lay ministry in sacramental ministry. The calling has grown ever-stronger over the past 40 years, affirmed by those I minister to, both within the LCA/NZ and outside of it. I have noticed that there are pastoral issues that people would rather share with a woman, and my experience of this has shown me the power of having both male and female ministers. Ordination is not something I feel entitled to, nor that I have a right to claim. I simply want to answer God’s call to love and serve his people through the means of grace so that all may know his healing salvation. To serve in this way in the LCA/NZ would be a privilege and honour, as well as a faithful response to the ways in which God has shaped me.”

Tanya Wittwer

“It is now more than 62 years since my earliest memory of the certainty of knowing I would be a Pastor when I grew up. I was confused when I learned in Confirmation that this was not possible, as my conviction about vocation had not lessened, and the same Scripture used to prohibit the ordination of women included stories of women serving pastorally. While I initially put the calling aside, it was not many years before I not only received the affirmation of the church through formal calls to a variety of roles, but also extraordinary affirmations regarding my calling from family, friends, those I served, and strangers. God used these “angels” to uphold me in the face of stonewalling and verbal and written abuse. During my time at Wartburg Seminary the spiritual dissonance I experienced in the LCA faded.

I really don’t know if I would have said no to a Call from a congregation in another denomination in South Australia, or to my congregation in the US, if I had known women’s ordination would take so long within the LCA. At each of those times, and some subsequent ones, I’ve said, “Thank you, but no. My call is to the

LCA. It is the church that has nurtured me.” My grief has intensified as each beloved older woman who had known God’s call and not been able to respond to it nor seen women’s ordination happen in their lifetime, has died, and as each younger woman has left to serve in another denomination. I cannot believe these grace-filled women have been wrong to perceive God’s call, so can only conclude that the church has been wrong to not celebrate their call with them.

I have been sustained by the opportunity to serve at the Adelaide College of Divinity. I have had supportive colleagues, constant affirmation regarding wisdom and giftedness, and the blessing of watching students grow in their relationship with God alongside their skills in pastoral and preaching ministries.

I don’t know what my calling has meant. Did God really call me into a perpetual wilderness or will I be able to support those women who are the first to be ordained in our church? I can only pray that the church will soon ordain those in whom the church recognises God’s call. Then there will be greater integrity in my support for the two young women in my congregation that are clearly gifted and graced for ministry. Then there will be fewer reasons stopping me inviting friends to church. Maybe a few of those who have left the church over this issue will return. Maybe I will move from endless years of sojourning in Easter Saturday, and finally get to Sunday.”

Kathy Matuschka

“In around the year 2000 I first heard God calling me – out of the blue – toward ordained ministry within the LCA/NZ.

I have discerned this call through theological studies with Australian Lutheran College and leadership within my congregation. In 2018 I retired from my profession as a Physiotherapist to become a lay worker – serving within the LCAQD as Assistant Director for Ministry & Mission (ADMM). A key aspect of this role is supporting the missional health of congregations.

With each step forward I find that there is more heart work to be done and opportunities to dig more deeply into God’s grace. When I am tempted to grumble, I remind myself that if I were a congregational pastor I would face many of the same challenges … so I’d best address these soul issues now, or they will just come back again!

I am grateful for the numerous opportunities I have through my ADMM role to communicate the gospel in words and actions, and for the support, encouragement and instruction I receive within the communities of the LCAQD. I believe that my work also blesses others.”

As I consider how God has formed me since I was first called, I often wonder ‘what’s next … where is this going?’ While I was studying with ALC, the next steps were in my hands. Now I have the momentum to keep stepping forward, but the path is not open to me. I am not interested in battering down a locked gate, but I would like to do all I can to ensure that I am being faithful to my calling.

Not far from my home I notice two congregations that are understaffed – each has one pastor in place where they really need two. With my unfinished business, I wonder whether one of these ministry locations might present a mutually beneficial growth opportunity (i.e. for me and the congregation) in 2023.”

Maria Rudolph

“Since coming to faith in Jesus at Bethlehem Lutheran Church Adelaide as an 18 year-old, I have had a strong call into pastoral ministry. I have completed a Bachelor of Theology and a Bachelor of Ministry at Australian Lutheran College. As part of this study, I served in an LCA congregation as a pastoral ministry intern under the supervision of a pastor. My joy of studying was saddened by the acknowledgement of my male classmates as they received their preaching licence and were officially installed as vicars while there was no tangible way in which my studies were affirmed to serve my Church. I experience joy and warmth from the members of LCA congregations everywhere I go as I serve in their midst. This is mixed with the sadness people express about the current situation of our Church where women cannot be ordained and often results in whispered encouragement to ‘keep going and serve regardless of the lack of recognition.’ Because there is no clear pathway to ministry for me, I have often felt frustrated and wanted to give up pursuing my call within our Church. This has been amplified when males with lesser theological qualifications than me are accepted for Word and Sacrament ministry and as Special Ministry Pastors, by merit of their gender, while I was excluded from all of those roles simply because of my gender. I explored other denominations and ways to serve, yet God will not leave it alone. My call to serve as a pastor in the LCA/NZ remains strong despite the many obstacles and personal pain this causes. God has opened up many opportunities for me to serve, including currently leading the German speaking congregation of Perth, as I am also a native German speaker. But even in this context where no suitable male could be found to fill this role, Word and Sacrament ministry continues to be closed to me because I am female. Ministry in this context is limiting for the congregation members and restricts my potential and call. I also long to serve the LCA/NZ more widely as a general ministry pastor. I pray that together we can step into a new time for our LCA/NZ where my call and the calls and gifts of all our people are recognised and encouraged so we can serve God together.”

We would also like to draw your attention to the attached article by Dr Tania Nelson which has been submitted to Lutheran Theological Journal and shared here with her permission and support. This article clearly expresses the issue at hand from a practical perspective and emphasises the need for men and women to minister together as lay people and clergy.

Opportunities:

1. We share the common purpose you expressed in proclaiming the Gospel. What an amazing opportunity we have as a Church to share the Good News through all men and women of the LCA/NZ. The opportunity is to re-focus on the mission work at hand rather than focussing on the gender barriers that seem to restrict the work of the Gospel within the LCA/NZ.
2. We can achieve consistency between the theology of the LCA/NZ which teaches that all are equal in the sight of God and the way this plays out in practice, thus finally embracing all men and women in all ministry capacities in our Church.
3. Finally, there could be a clear pathway for long term ministry opportunities for women studying theology at ALC.

What next?

We invite you to discuss the following questions:

4. How the abilities and calls of these women can be used to their full capacity within the LCA/NZ?
5. How can women be encouraged by you as the leaders of the Church to work for the Gospel, rather than experiencing ongoing limitations and discouragement because of their gender?
6. How can women be reasonably rejected when God calls them to serve, and the Church has many pastoral vacancies and is praying for workers to bring in the harvest?
7. If the efficacy of Word and Sacrament ministry does not depend on the character or gender of the person who ministers, but on God’s institution and his promise to build up and strengthen all those who hear and receive the Word with faith, how can the LCA/NZ limit Word and Sacrament ministry to males only?
8. Instead of limiting the discussion about how the Church can move forward to mostly what men can do, how can you open the discussion and decisions around using all our people to serve the Gospel together for the greater good of all within the LCA/NZ community?

Thank you for taking the time to hear and consider our voices. We will publish this open letter by 06/05/2022 on the public pages of Streams in the Desert and Women at the Well and would like to publish your response on these platforms with your permission.

Signatories
1. Maria Rudolph
2. Libby Jewson
3. Cathryn Hamilton
4. Liz Winderlich
5. Margaret Modra
6. John Zeppel
7. Helen Lockwood
8. Tanya Wittwer
9. Kathy Matuschka
10. Sue Westhorp
11. Joy Christian
12. David Christian
13. Geoff Burger
14. Steen Olsen
15. Robert Voigt
16. Jeff Silcock
17. Dean Zweck
18. Bob Kempe
19. Vic Pfitzner
20. Shelley Koch
21. Stephen Haar
22. Maurice Schild
23. Peter Lockwood

Access a PDF of this Open Letter and the attached article by Dr. Tania Nelson here.