Version History
Current published version
Today's Business, Issue 1. pp. 97-98. Original floor committee resolution.
No later published versions have been added.
Official Resolution Source Text
Resolution: 5-02
Canonical number: 5-02
Committee: Theology and Church Relations
Source: Today's Business, Issue 1
Printed pages: pp. 97-98
PDF pages: 97-98
Version: original, current-published-proposal
Source reference: Issue 1, pp. 97-98
Line numbers follow Today's Business, Issue 1, with numbering reset on each printed page, so delegates can compare this page with the official PDF.
Page 97
- To Support and Encourage Recognition of Altar and Pulpit Fellowship
- with Lutheran Mission—Australia
- RESOLUTION 5-02
- Overture 5-02 (CW, 336–37)
- Preamble
- By its own acknowledgement, the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ; hereafter LCA) has struggled
- with deep theological divisions for decades. One of the most public areas of disagreement has been the question of what
- the Scriptures teach regarding the ordination of women to the pastoral office. In a document published in July 2024 the
- LCA stated: “Despite more than three decades of theological study and debate within the Lutheran Church of Australia
- and New Zealand (LCANZ), we remain divided on whether or not the Scriptures permit the ordination of women”
- (Lutheran Church of Australia, Way Forward Detailed Framework, 2024, 3).
- As this statement illustrates, the longstanding division in the LCA over women’s ordination has been rooted in
- fundamentally differing understandings of the authority and interpretation of Scripture itself. Lutheran Mission—Australia
- (LM—A) President Matthew Anker has stated: “The key issue that led to the establishment of LM—A was the
- undermining of the authority of the Word of God in the LCA’s theology and life together. Even before women’s ordination
- was introduced, we no longer shared the same confession and needed to be unyoked from heterodoxy, which constantly
- demands sacrifice through compromise.” In addition to the question of the ordination of women, other troubling
- theological developments evident in the LCA (as articulated by LM—A leaders) include the ambiguous commitment of
- many LCA leaders and pastors to the Lutheran Confessions, Gospel reductionism, antinomianism, the unscriptural
- theology of many of those teaching church workers, the devolving theological agenda and trajectory of the LCA college
- and seminary, a lack of faithful adherence to clear and orthodox LCA public statements such as its own constitution and
- the LCA’s Theses of Agreement (including the Theses of Agreement’s teaching on church fellowship), lack of church
- discipline, etc.
- For many years, pastors and laity in the LCA fully committed to the authority of Scripture and to the truth of the Lutheran
- Confessions remained in the LCA, hopeful of a return to its foundational confession and commitments. Those hopes were
- severely undermined at the LCA’s 2021 convention, when then-Bishop John Henderson publicly stated: “We are not going
- to solve this issue [women’s ordination] with further truth claims, even about Scripture” (“Agenda 3.1”,
- lca.app.box.com/s/disizprdt6mrps427dqw5yfyrkte1twv, accessed March 19, 2026). Soon thereafter, in early 2022, several
- LCA pastors met to form a group called “Lutherans Confessing Christ,” anticipating the likelihood that the LCA would
- soon formally endorse women’s ordination, which would make it necessary for some pastors, laity, and congregations to
- leave the LCA for reasons of conscience. Anticipating this eventuality, LM—A was established as a legal entity in May
- 2024. In June 2024, Rev. Anker was called to serve as LM—A President. At the LCA’s October 2024 convention, the
- LCA officially changed its position to allow for the ordination of women to the pastoral office. The next month, LM—A
- was officially launched and President Anker was officially installed as its President by Rev. Antonio Reyes of the Lutheran
- Church in the Philippines (LCP), a sister church of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS).
- From July 2024 to the present, over 70 informational sessions have been held around Australia to inform interested
- individuals and congregations of the existence, purpose, and mission of the LM—A. The first LM—A congregation was
- established on Dec. 1, 2024. Currently, there are 22 LM—A congregations, together with around a dozen congregations
- pursuing or contemplating membership. The LM—A currently has 22 ordained pastors, with several others in the process
- of colloquizing into the LM—A.
- During the past triennium, both before and after the legal formation of the LM—A, current LM—A leaders met formally
- and informally with LCMS leaders, including President Matthew Harrison, Director of Church Relations—Assistant to
- the President the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Commission on Theology and Church Relations (CTCR) Executive Director
- the Rev. Dr. Joel Lehenbauer, both Synod seminary presidents, and others. These meetings confirmed that, as is clearly
- stated in its constitution and Confessional Statement, the LM—A accepts “without reservation the Holy Scriptures of the
- Old and New Testaments, as a whole and in all their parts, as the divinely inspired, written and inerrant Word of God, and
- as the only infallible source and norm for all matters of faith, doctrine and life,” and that it “rejoices in the clear, biblical
- and evangelical teachings of the Lutheran Confessions” because (quia) they are in full agreement with the Word of God.
- In December 2025, LM—A President Anker met with the CTCR and, after thorough discussion and consideration, the
Page 98
- CTCR unanimously recommended recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship with LM—A pursuant to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2
- (b)(2).
- WHEREAS, The LM—A is a small but growing confessional Lutheran church in Australia consisting of around 1,000
- baptized members in 19 congregations served by 18 ordained pastors; and
- WHEREAS, LM—A leaders, pastors, and congregations are to be strongly commended and encouraged for their faithful
- and courageous confession of the truth of God’s Word in response to heterodox positions taken by the LCA due to
- erroneous views of the authority and inerrancy of Holy Scripture; and
- WHEREAS, Formal and informal discussions directed toward altar and pulpit fellowship with LM—A leaders began
- in 2022 and concluded in December 2025, when the CTCR unanimously recommended recognition of fellowship with
- LM—A; and
- WHEREAS, The LM—A accepts all the canonical books of the Sacred Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testaments
- as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and practice and the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran
- Church, compiled in the Book of Concord of 1580, as a correct exposition of Holy Scripture; and
- WHEREAS, The LM—A is actively pursuing altar and pulpit fellowship with the Synod’s sister churches in Canada
- (LCC), Finland (ELMDF), and the LCP; and
- WHEREAS, The LM—A has been a full, voting member of the International Lutheran Council since September 2025;
- and
- WHEREAS, LM—A leadership has expressed a hope for altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS; and
- WHEREAS, At its December 2025 meeting the CTCR unanimously recommended recognition of altar and pulpit
- fellowship with LM—A pursuant to Bylaw 3.9.5.2.2 (b)(2), which says: “Formal recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship
- between the Synod and a small, formative, emerging confessional Lutheran church body (identified as such by the
- President of the Synod as chief ecumenical officer) may be declared by the Synod President only after the approval of the
- commission and consultation with the Praesidium. Such recognition shall be subject to the endorsement of the subsequent
- Synod convention”; and
- WHEREAS, The LM—A will hold its first churchwide convention in August 2026, at which time it hopes to recognize
- altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS; and
- WHEREAS, President Matthew Harrison has expressed strong support for recognition of fellowship with LM—A, and
- has indicated his hope to be able to recognize fellowship at or after the LM—A’s first convention; therefore be it
- Resolved, That we acknowledge with gratitude the unity of confession that has been given to our church bodies under
- the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and be it further
- Resolved, That this convention commend and support the CTCR’s recommendation to recognize altar and pulpit
- fellowship with the LM—A and President Harrison’s hope to do the same at the appropriate time; and be it further
- Resolved, That we give thanks to God for the faithful Lutheran witness the LM—A provides within its own country
- and beyond; and be it further
- Resolved, That we encourage and support the LM—A as they proclaim the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost
- world; and be it finally
- Resolved, That as a sign of encouragement and support of the LM—A’s confession and witness and in joyful
- anticipation of our mutual recognition of altar and pulpit fellowship in the near future, the convention assembly rise and
- sing the common doxology.
