Lay person sought for LCA secretary role

The General Church Board (GCB) of the LCA is seeking an experienced lay person to fill the position of the Secretary of the Church.

The position has been vacant since late last year, after previous incumbent Pastor Neville Otto accepted a call to serve at Box Hill Parish in Victoria. Pastor Otto was Mission Director/Secretary of the Church for the LCA for six years, before the secretary’s role became full-time from 2015.

In the latter part of 2018, the GCB issued a call to a pastor to replace Pastor Otto which was subsequently declined. The Board reflected further on the position and whether it was necessary for a pastor to fill the role. A key consideration was an acute awareness of the growing number of pastoral vacancies across the church. The GCB resolved that many functions of the role could be carried out by a lay person, with pastoral duties assigned by the LCA Bishop. In this way, the duties of the Secretary of the Church could be appropriately fulfilled without taking a pastor out of a congregation or school.

The GCB also noted that the position of secretary was split between two people in the early 1990s and that a lay person held the administration-related part of the role, so this decision was not establishing a precedent.

LCA Bishop John Henderson said the Secretary of the Church had ‘long been an important role in our churchwide structure’. ‘This fresh focus comes in response to changing circumstances, to better meet our goals in mission’, he said.

The position is currently being advertised. If you are interested in applying, please refer to the details on the LCA website or in the upcoming April edition of The Lutheran. If you know of someone who may be equipped to serve in this capacity, please draw their attention to this opportunity.