The Ordination of Women and Men
In keeping with the Lutheran Confessions, St Stephen’s congregation believes that the Lutheran church calls and ordains pastors for one reason only, and that is to ensure that the gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments are administered. Through these ‘means of grace’ the Holy Spirit continues to create and sustain saving faith in people’s hearts (Augsburg Confession 5 and 14). By withholding the pastoral ministry from women, the LCA/NZ has injected a prohibition into its body of teachings that lacks support from the Bible and the Confessions and strikes at the heart of the gospel.
You are invited to dip into the resources that spell out the conviction of St Stephen’s members regarding the ordination of women. The first is a letter that the congregation wrote to the College of Bishops in 2019, a ‘Here we stand’ kind of letter, in which we make our conviction public for the sake of total transparency. The second is the video that introduced the congregational proposal to the SA-NT District Synod in May 2021, asking delegates to refer to the next Church-wide convention a proposal that the paragraph in the Theses of Agreement that prohibits the ordination of women be deleted (TA 6.11). The proposal, the third document, was carried by a majority of delegates at the District Synod and therefore will be tabled at the next Church-wide General Convention, now deferred until October 2022. Two short papers follow that spell out from different perspectives the congregation’s rationale for the ordination of women, and the final entry is a video of the second of these short papers, Why ordain women? recorded at a conference of the Church-wide Women’s Ministry Network.
You are invited to dip into the resources that spell out the conviction of St Stephen’s members regarding the ordination of women. The first is a letter that the congregation wrote to the College of Bishops in 2019, a ‘Here we stand’ kind of letter, in which we make our conviction public for the sake of total transparency. The second is the video that introduced the congregational proposal to the SA-NT District Synod in May 2021, asking delegates to refer to the next Church-wide convention a proposal that the paragraph in the Theses of Agreement that prohibits the ordination of women be deleted (TA 6.11). The proposal, the third document, was carried by a majority of delegates at the District Synod and therefore will be tabled at the next Church-wide General Convention, now deferred until October 2022. Two short papers follow that spell out from different perspectives the congregation’s rationale for the ordination of women, and the final entry is a video of the second of these short papers, Why ordain women? recorded at a conference of the Church-wide Women’s Ministry Network.
Lenten Devotion Booklets
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In 2010, St Stephen's Lutheran Church Adelaide published its first Lenten Devotion booklet. Selecting one book (or more) of the Old or New Testament, members of the congregation were asked to reflect on a section or chapter, which include a short prayer.
Over the years, many members of the congregation have put their reflections to paper, lay people and professional theologians alike. The Lenten Devotion booklets, therefore, have become a truly Australian source of Christian theological reflection. The March 2016 AGM of St Stephen's Lutheran Church decided to publish the booklets on the church website and making them available for personal use. For privacy the names of the authors have been withheld. If you would like to get in touch with an author, please contact the office of St Stephen's Lutheran Church Adelaide. These resources are protected by Copyright. Permission is given for personal use only and may not be distributed further without explicit permission. |
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Find Us
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St Stephen's Lutheran Church
152 Wakefield Street Adelaide, South Australia, 5000 Office hours: 9.30am-2.30pm, Wednesday-Friday Privacy Policy Image credits © Copyright 2021 St Stephen's Lutheran Church |
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