In 2024, the number one threat facing the Western Church is that of feminism, which most commonly comes in the form of the infiltration of female “pastors.” The ordination of women to roles Scripture expressly forbids is the first heresy that later leads to other heresies, like homosexual affirmation.
In June, the Southern Baptist Church refused to codify the Mike Law Amendment, which would have strengthened the cause of orthodoxy with regard to the pastorate. The problem in the SBC comes not from the out and proud female “pastors” but those who function under the “senior” pastor or otherwise in pastoral roles, like minister. Contrary, the PCA did the right thing and banned women from holding pastoral titles.
Down under, the Lutheran Church of Australia represents the “conservative” Lutheran denomination, though not nearly as conservative as the LCMS and would be mainline by American standards. The LCA operates in Australia and New Zealand and possesses around 150K members. For decades, they have dealt with this subversion with four votes since 2000 failing to bring about women’s ordination. Each of these votes achieved a majority but failed to meet the required two-thirds threshold for ratification. For the liberals to break the impasse, they got the LCA to implement the Way Forward Project to implement “one church, two practices” with regard to ordination.
In their October meeting, the recommendations of the Way Forward project were placed to a vote before the synod.
At 71.35%, the LCA general synod affirmed women’s ordination. The LCA released the following statement pertaining to the exact nature of the vote:
This afternoon, 5 October 2024, General Synod resolved to support a proposal from the General Church Board and College of Bishops to remove from the LCA’s Theses of Agreement the paragraph (VI:11) which prohibits women from entering the pastoral ministry. The resolution incorporates recommendations from the 2024 General Pastors Conference.
In effect this means that the teaching of the Church on the office of the public ministry remains unchanged apart from the requirement of the ordination of men only.
The proposal included the expectation that Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations (CTICR), together with the Church’s Pastors Conferences and Districts, will finalise a doctrinal statement on ordination in 2025, to be approved by an online General Pastors Conference and online Convention of General Synod.
The Convention began its debate this morning in prayer led by Bishop Emeritus Mark Whitfield, who called for the leading of the Holy Spirit, singing the prayer in both English and Te reo Māori.
‘We commend this resolution to God, trusting his mercy, guiding our feet in the way of peace’, LCANZ Bishop Paul Smith said.
The complete wording of the resolutions will follow shortly.
Basically, they voted to remove the prohibitions from their ordination requirements as a denomination, so that churches which affirm heresy can remain in communion with the orthodox.
The lesson here is that managerialism and niceties will be used to codify subversive doctrine. Another lesson is that 1 Corinthians 14:34 also applies to conventions, synods, or other such gatherings where authoritative discussions are being had. The convention had numerous female speakers speaking for women’s ordination. Whereas they failed to achieve the threshold on numerous prior occasions, they instead resorted to committees and special projects to ram women’s ordination through, all in the name of church unity, but at least they were cordial in debate.
