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Meeting in Melbourne for the in-person sessions of the 20th General Convention of Synod, delegates were informed in a presentation by GCB member Mel Zerner that the church’s headquarters in North Adelaide is operating with an annual shortfall of approximately $1.5m.

Melbourne’s city skyline was a stark contrast to the vast verdant landscape of Central Australia for four Aboriginal delegates attending the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand’s 20th Convention of General Synod from 9 to 12 February 2023.

Today delegates at General Synod directed the church’s General Church Board and the College of Bishops to explore the theological, constitutional and governance issues involved in establishing ‘one church with two different practices of ordination’.

Today the General Synod of the Lutheran Church of Australia and New Zealand (LCANZ) did not pass a proposal to change the teaching of the church which would have permitted the ordination of both men and women.

Bishop Paul Smith tonight reminded those gathered in Melbourne at the LCANZ Convention of General Synod that they are meeting in the name of the worker of miracles – Jesus Christ.

As people in parts of Aotearoa–New Zealand face the devastating aftermath of deadly floods there late last month, Bishop Mark Whitfield has invited all members of the LCANZ to join him in prayer for ‘those members of your whānau (family) who are suffering’.