Grace and peace in Christ to you.
Ephesians 2:19-20: ‘So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints
and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone’.
Some LCANZ members may now have heard or read about a new Lutheran church body called
Lutheran Mission-Australia (LM-A) and become aware that Pastor Matthew Anker has accepted a
call from LM-A to be its inaugural Pastor-President. Some members of the Church have had various
questions about what LM-A is and its relationship with the LCANZ.
This communication comes from the LCANZ College of Bishops and General Church Board to help
LCANZ members know and understand important details about LM-A and the status of Pastor
Matthew Anker.
At the 18 July meeting of the College of Bishops, the bishops of our Church received the resignation
of Pastor Matthew Anker from the LCANZ and the bishops granted him a peaceful dismissal from the
LCANZ Roll of Pastors. Pastor Matt will no longer be a pastor of the LCANZ, effective from 24 July 2024.
Pastor Matt has been serving as our LCANZ Assistant to the Bishop – International Mission. His
acceptance of his call to the role of Pastor-President of LM-A was recently published in our regular
LCANZ eNews about calls.
LM-A has been formed to establish a new Lutheran church body in Australia, and so the LCANZ
understands and recognises LM-A as a church. In our Lutheran theological teaching of the marks of the church, we understand
that Pastor-President-Elect Matthew was called to serve as a Pastor-President for the purposes of the preaching
of the gospel and for the administration of the sacraments. President-Elect Matthew’s call was not issued under
the oversight of the LCANZ or by any of our LCANZ bishops. This means that LM-A expresses itself as a new Lutheran church and President-
Elect Matthew has acknowledged that this is correct.
The LCANZ receives LM-A as sisters and brothers in Christ who are faithful to the Scriptures with us, and
who preach, teach and confess the doctrine of the Lutheran Confessions with us but who are now a
separate Lutheran church body. Any separation in the Church is a painful matter but we honour one
another’s Christian conscience. As we work through these difficult matters, we place pastoral care for
one another at the centre of our Christian witness and service.
Our Church’s Way Forward Project has a working group specifically tasked to help guide the people and communities of the Church in
providing pastoral care in collaboration with the pastors, bishops and others of the Church.
Bishop Paul Smith and President-Elect Matthew Anker met together on 15 July with respectful
engagement for the establishment of a proper relationship between the LCANZ and LM-A. This is a
matter that will unfold over time, as the two church bodies work through formal processes that have
been established for the recognition of a relationship with one another.
Since late April, representatives of the LCANZ have been in discussions with President-Elect Matthew
and representatives of LM-A, formerly known as Lutherans Confessing Christ. These conversations are
continuing and will need to address the steps for recognising a relationship between church bodies,
as prescribed in our LCANZ statements. Regularly, this includes work to be undertaken by our
Commission on Theology and Inter-Church Relations and our General Church Board. As in any
separation, we work through the pastoral and respectful processes for peaceful dismissal and
pathways for any who might seek to depart from the LCANZ to join LM-A.
A key matter for President-Elect Matthew and those who formed LM-A is the Way Forward proposal
that was resolved at the General Synod in Melbourne in 2023, which has been the focus of work
across the LCANZ since the Convention. LM-A has stated in its confession as a new church, that the
pastoral office is for ‘men who fulfil the biblical requirements for the office’.
We pray for all our sisters and brother in Christ of the LCANZ and for those who have formed LM-A and
we ask the Lord of the church to join our voices as one, that together we might glorify the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the witness of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
It may be helpful for you to read this communication in your local community or to publish it for your
people to read. Our LCANZ Churchwide Office has shared this communication with President-Elect
Matt. Please direct any further questions or concerns about this matter to our Churchwide Office.
