Frequently Asked Questions

LM-A was established to support, encourage and strengthen confessional Lutherans in their faithfulness to God and his Word and to eventually establish a synod which ensures that people are served through the proclamation of the ‘whole counsel of God’. It is committed to ensuring that people in Australia are served with both the law and gospel so that God’s desire to bring peace and forgiveness of sins by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone is realised. LM-A confesses the whole of the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God and subscribes to the Book of Concord of 1580 because it is a faithful exposition of the Scriptures. LM-A upholds the Theses of Agreement of the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA).

The name Lutheran Mission – Australia has been chosen to emphasize both the strong commitment to the Lutheran Confessions and to the mission of preaching the gospel to the people of Australia and beyond. It seeks to support and advance the preaching of Law and Gospel that all people may be given the opportunity to ‘repent and believe’ (Mark 1:15) and so be saved.

The Augsburg Confession, article 7, defines the church as the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. At this stage LM-A does not have any congregations and therefore does not fulfil this definition of a church.

However, LM-A has been established to facilitate the formation of a new church in the future by gathering like-minded Lutherans (lay people, pastors, and congregations) with a view to establishing a synodical body that will continue in the faith which has been delivered to us by our mothers and fathers in the faith.

Women’s ordination is a symptom of deeper problems in the LCA, rather than the key issue.

The key issue we are concerned about is the way in which the authority of the Word of God is being diminished in the LCA’s theology and life together. We are seeing many instances where the Word of God is being compromised as the LCA and her agencies accommodate to the spirit of the age contrary to the clear teaching of the Lord’s Word.

This is evident in:

• the preaching of a new gospel of inclusion that normalises sin;

• the strategic direction of Australian Lutheran College;

• the toleration of practices amongst LCA congregations that are contrary to its official teaching;

• areas such as sexual ethics.

LM-A recognises that by God’s grace, there are Confessional Lutherans across Australia who are affiliated with several different synodical bodies. Rather than claiming to represent these people, we are committed to serving Confessional Lutherans and others by providing the means, structure, and guidance for those seeking an alternative Lutheran Church that is thoroughly grounded in the comfort Lutheran theology offers to burdened consciences as it makes clear the free gift of forgiveness for sinners in the name of Jesus. 

We use the term ‘Confessional’ as defined by the International Lutheran Council, who state that Confessional Lutherans ‘proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God.’ We therefore reject all attempts to re-interpret the Scriptures and Book of Concord by making them subject to culture or history, and humbly pray that the Lord of the Church would grant us His Spirit that we may be faithful to His Word in all teaching and practice. 

Every individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own decision to either remain and fight for orthodoxy or leave the LCA for a church body that faithfully confesses, practices and teaches the truth. Clearly there are sound reasons for staying and fighting.

What we can say is that there is much to learn from church bodies who have gone down this path before us. Confessional pastors and members of Lutheran churches in places like Sweden and Finland have found that despite assurances that their ‘more conservative’ confession will be granted tolerance, inevitably this has only lasted for a short period of time. As a result, those who remained to fight have suffered isolation, forced compromise and, in some situations, a loss of faith.

We acknowledge with thanksgiving the faithful saints who have contended for the truth in the LCA for many years. Recent developments have led those who have formed LM-A to conclude that this battle has been lost.

Ultimately, those who formed LM-A believe that, sooner or later it will be necessary to separate from those who hold to a different confession. Although separation is painful, our priority must be faithfulness to God’s Word. In fact, the LCA Theses of Agreement recognises this and, in order to preserve the clarity of the gospel, encourages separation when there are errors in doctrine (Theses of Agreement 1.4.a; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Titus 3:10-11).

As a priority, LM-A is working towards a peaceful and equitable separation from the LCA.

LM-A is not departing from the confession of faith as articulated in the Theses of Agreement, but rather seeks to uphold it in its fullness. Disunity and division are being foisted upon us by the attempt to introduce contradictory teachings in the one church body which is theologically and confessionally impossible. The Theses of Agreement states that ‘where a difference in teaching or practice is a departure from the doctrine of the Bible, such difference cannot be tolerated, but must be pointed out as an error, on the basis of clear passages of Holy Writ, and if the error is persisted in, in spite of instruction, warning, and earnest witness, it must at last lead to a separation’ (TA I.4a). 

After many years of persistent instruction, warning and earnest witness, we recognize that the LCA is continuing down a path that is a departure from the doctrine of the Bible, and therefore our own confession compels us to separate. We therefore believe this action is a godly one which is required of us, as St Paul writes in Romans 16:17: ‘I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them’ (see also Titus 3:10).  

Division is caused when a church body departs from the doctrine we have received (Jude 1:3) through the Holy Scriptures and is an inevitable consequence of such. We do not rejoice in the situation in which we find ourselves, but in seeking to remain faithful are compelled to act. 

When we take the Word of God seriously, we inevitably find ourselves at odds with some who are dear to us, and so the question is, how can we most faithfully serve them in this difficult situation? We show godly love for our brothers and sisters in Christ by standing firm on the Word of God and making a good confession. If you are convicted by the Word that the LCA is no longer faithful to her own confession, you can best serve family and friends by joining faithful Lutherans, and with humility and love explaining your actions and inviting them to join you in this confession. We recognize that this is a very difficult time and yet have confidence that the Lord will bless us and those we love as we seek to be faithful to Him and His Word. LM-A will provide resources to assist with these conversations. 

We understand that this will be the situation many Confessional Lutherans find themselves in, but want to encourage you not to be disheartened. Remember the Lord’s promise that where two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20). While your congregation may not be ready to leave the LCA, God willing there will be others in your area who are similarly convicted of the dire situation we find ourselves in. LM–A will support such gatherings of people to establish mission congregations where the Word of God will be preached with clarity and joy, and the Sacraments faithfully administered so that the Lord may bless His people and grow His church. 

We encourage you to contact us to discuss any concerns you might have with respect to our Statement of Faith. We have worked hard to make this statement clear and faithful and will gladly discuss any aspect of it with you. 

All of us have been heavily influenced by our culture of individualism where we think in terms of what fulfils our own wishes and desires. As Christians we are called to a communal life where the priority is love for the other. And so, while it might be true that your congregation will never call a female pastor, all of us have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are tempted to ignore the Scriptures in favour of women’s ordination. To simply let them have their wish would be to neglect our responsibility and fail to serve them, as hard as that might seem. We cannot knowingly remain in an erring church without also being complicit in the errors it has embraced. 

Yes! The strength of a church and its mission is intimately connected to its seminary and the teaching that is offered there. As Confessional Lutherans in Australia, we are uniquely placed to serve not only our own churches, but also the churches of Southeast Asia as they seek faithful education of their future pastors and church workers. We believe that in-person instruction by experienced and confessional pastors is vital for the faithful proclamation of the Word of God and the care of souls. We have begun investigations into the establishment of a seminary in Australia and are engaging with international partners to ensure this is done faithfully and sustainably. The location of the seminary is part of these ongoing investigations. 

As stated earlier, women’s ordination is a symptom of the LCA’s problems and not the only issue that has led to the establishment of LM–A. The very fact that the Way Forward project is attempting to find a way to introduce a new teaching on ordination which would have equal weight with our current teaching despite contradicting it, all while pretending we are united in the one church, reveals a significant issue with the way the LCA now views the Word of God and church fellowship. It is impossible for the teaching of male-only ordination and male and female ordination to both be true. They are mutually exclusive positions and the Way Forward process is attempting to find a way to make God say both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Jesus Himself commands us to ‘Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”,’ and warns that ‘anything more than this comes from evil’ (Matt. 5:37). This approach to resolving theological disagreements is inconsistent with our own confession and Lutheran tradition. 

In acting before the Way Forward process is completed, we are making it clear that our concerns are much deeper than the issue of women’s ordination, and seeking to provide a viable option for like-minded saints when the time comes. 

‘I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.’  (Romans 16:17) 

‘As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.’ (Titus 3:10)  

‘If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions.’ (1 Tim. 6:3–4) 

‘Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.’ (2 John 9–10) 

‘Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. (Acts 20:28–30) 

We welcome contact from anyone who wishes to discuss these matters and will do our best to address your concerns. Click here to open up a contact form and one of our team will be in touch as soon as possible. 

Pastors and lay leaders in LCA bodies may wish to consider formally objecting to any changes to teaching or new practices of the LCA by entering into a state of confession (in statu confessionis). This allows for pastors and lay members to continue serving LCA congregations and calling bodies, whilst clearly signalling their intention to teaching and guiding their congregations according to their confession.

Resources for this option can be found at the bottom of this page.