Call for Prayers for LCA Convention

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) has its triennial convention coming up this October and has asked for the prayers of their brothers and sisters here in Canada. In their letter requesting prayer, they noted to Revd Timothy Teuscher, our President of LCC, that on the docket for this fall once again is the issue of whether they will ordain women into the Office of the Holy Ministry. This will mark the fourth time this issue has gone before the convention, and it threatens the unity of their church body as well as the unique relationship that LCC has had with them over the past decades.

The Holy Scriptures are quite clear that the Office of the Holy Ministry is a unique office in the Church, an office which stands in the stead of Christ to dispense his grace in Word and Sacrament. I Timothy 2 & 3, I Corinthians 11, Titus 1 all speak to this Office and the very stringent requirements God expects of those standing in Christ’s stead before his people. It is not an Office that every Christian may occupy, but only those suitable men whom God calls to be his representatives, to speak his Word truthfully, lovingly, reverently for the building up of the saints.

Those denominations around the world that have loosened their adherence to God’s Word on this issue have inevitably opened up the floodgates to question God’s Word on a whole host of other issues and have unduly been influenced by the world. We pray that this may not happen to either our beloved brothers and sisters in the LCA, nor that it may ever creep into our own midst either. God’s Word must stand paramount to everything we believe, teach, and confess.

To that end, the Commission on Theology and Church Relations is asking the people of God in LCC to pray for the LCA as she meets in convention this October. Please, include these brothers and sisters in Christ in your Sunday Prayers of the Church on a regular basis that they may uphold God’s Word and not let the ways of the world deny God’s inerrant truth, or even allow a hint of concern that God’s Word is not sufficient for all “teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (II Timothy 3:16 ESV). Below are a couple of petitions you may use for this purpose.

Petition 1:
Lord Jesus Christ, as You call Your Church on earth to be Your holy Bride, we implore you to guide her and protect her from the arrows and assaults of the evil one. Protect her from false doctrine, and build her up in Your truth; Your Word is truth. Guide our brothers and sisters in the Lutheran Church of Australia as they meet in convention this October that the bonds between us may be strengthened, and that they may uphold Your Word as truth and that You would keep Your Church in the pure doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Confessions and free from the errors of this world; who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Petition 2:
Lord Jesus Christ, keep Your Church in the truth; Your Word is truth. Guard and keep the people of the Lutheran Church of Australia to stand firm in Your holy Word as they assemble in convention this coming October, that they may not succumb to the opinions of this passing world, and the assaults of the evil one who wishes to break apart Your Church, fracturing her according to fleshly desires. Grant that Your Word be purely taught, Your sacraments administered according to Your institution, and that Your Office of the Holy Ministry may abide as You ordained it to the glory of Your Holy Name, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Petition 3 (in General Prayer)
Father, we praise and bless You for the fellowship You have granted us with our brothers and sisters of the Lutheran Church of Australia, and pray that as they meet in convention this coming October, they may be moved by Your Spirit to stand fast in the confession of Your unchanging truth, that the communion between us may be strengthened and flourish to the praise of Your holy name and for the good of Your Church on earth. Lord, in Your mercy, …

In Christ,

Rev Joel V. Kuhl,
CTCR Chair

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