Lutheran Church confirms male-only pastors

he Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand will continue its practice of ordaining only male pastors (ministers), as confirmed by a vote at its General Synod, held this past weekend in Melbourne.

A vote on changing the church’s constitution to allow the ordination of both men and women has been put to previous synods but has been consistently rejected. The church requires a two-thirds majority to pass the amendment; 229 votes were required at the weekend’s synod, but the vote fell 26 votes short.

The practice of ordaining men only was written into the Theses of Agreement, the document outlining the bases on which two Lutheran synods came together as the Lutheran Church of Australia in 1966.

Calls for the ordination of women have been growing within the denomination, reflected in the voting patterns at recent synods. A process of wide consultation across congregations and the publication of materials expounding the biblical and theological issues have failed to resolve continued division over the issue within the church.

At the weekend’s synod, a follow-up proposal was made to explore a model allowing two different practices of ordination within the church. This proposal, which required only a simple majority, was passed. The model may allow for two different synods, possibly non-geographical in basis, which would take the issue to the congregational level, effectively allowing congregations to make their own decisions as to whether they would install a woman as pastor. A completed model is due for presentation to pastors in 2024, and to the wider church, possibly for a vote, in 2025.

Lutheran churches worldwide disagree on the practice of the ordination of women. Lutheran churches in many European countries ordain women, but the Missouri Synod of the United States continues to ordain men only. 

Nick Mattiske blogs on books at coburgreviewofbooks.wordpress.com and is the illustrator of Thoughts That Feel So Big.