appointments

LCANZ bishop-elect Pastor Paul Smith says he is ‘humbled’ by his election by General Synod and has asked for the prayers of church members as he prepares to take up the role next year.

Pastor Mark Vainikka has been installed as the new bishop for the LCANZ’s Queensland District. Watched via livestream by family members, including his parents, who were in lockdown in Victoria.

The Right Reverend Lu Guan Hoe is the new bishop of LCANZ overseas partner church Lutheran Church in Singapore (LCS). Bishop Lu, who succeeds Bishop Terry Kee Buck Hwa, was installed as the third bishop of the LCS on 26 June.

The Lutheran World Federation Council has elected Estonian theologian Rev Anne Burghardt to be its next General Secretary. She will be the first woman and the first Central-Eastern European to hold this leadership position for the global communion of Lutheran churches.

Pastor Mark Vainikka will be the next LCA Queensland District bishop. He was elected unopposed during the District Convention of Synod at Eight Mile Plains in Brisbane’s south last weekend (4–6 June).

Rev Dr Michael Lockwood has answered the call to serve as a missionary with the Lutheran Church in the Philippines (LCP), a partner church of the LCANZ. His move is in response to a request last year from LCP President Rev Antonio Reyes for assistance with the training of pastors and deaconesses.